Crash

I crashed my bike today in the rain on our group ride. I have an idea what happened but I can't be sure. There were about 15 of us die-hard types in a steady rain. I was talking with Rob next to me as we rode side by side (much the same as this photo from last week's ride) in a paceline with plenty of room between riders. I saw up the road that a couple guys had broken off the front and were maybe 20 seconds ahead of the main group. The next thing I noticed was that one of them was turning back in the direction of the group and at the same time I could see that the riders in front were beginning to slow. Out of nowhere, I began to go down. It all happened so quickly but in very slow motion. From what I can tell, the rider behind me was a bit too close and was unable to slow in time to avoid me. I talked with Rob later and he said that Leonard made contact with me from behind. He said it looked like I was going to be able to keep from crashing but with the wet roads and all I wasn't able to keep my bike up. I hit the deck pretty hard but got up right away to assess damage to my body and bike. I don't know if Leonard was embarrassed or what because he sat on the ground for over 5 minutes and still hadn't gotten up by the time I headed for home. It turned out he had no injuries whatsoever so what's up with that? I had some areas of road rash which bled nicely on my ride home. I banged my knee pretty hard but all in all, I came out of it okay. My jersey got torn up pretty badly which sucks but it ought to look pretty tough. I didn't break anything except for a twisted spoke on my front wheel. I got it to Hollywood's shop and he had me fixed up later in the day. (great new shop in the Minneapolis area btw)

When I went to Hollywood's later to pick up my bike he said that Leonard had been in and that he was fine. His rim was messed up but he wasn't hurt. I didn't think he looked bad as I saw him sitting up after the crash. I think he was a bit dazed and that was all—maybe a bit embarrassed, too. Anyway, Leonard was saying that he thought he was behind me so that would make sense that he touched wheels with me from behind and washed my rear wheel out. Hey, it happens.

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