Tour De Bier? More like Tour de Bruises

Yep!  Things didn’t exactly go as planned Sunday, but right up until that fateful point, things were going pretty well.  But let’s recap the week shall we!

Thursday

Thursday, James, Tara, and I met up down at Velo Garage again for the Thursday night ride.   It was a decent ride along cliff drive, but there were some mechanical issues with other riders that slowed it down.  Still we had fun and got some miles in.

Friday

It was national Ride to Work day on Friday.   Did you ride?  I know I did, and I learned a better route to get home from my office through Swope Park instead of going up 85th St. during a high traffic time.

Sunday

Tour De Beir.  One of my favorite rides took a turn on us.   First it rained pretty good in the morning.  I started my ride to Knuckleheads for the official ride start dry, and it hadn’t started raining yet, but by the time I got to Knuckleheads, I was drenched.  They delayed the official start about 30 minutes, which was good as it gave us all a bit to compose and prepare.  Once you’ve resigned yourself to riding in the rain, it’s actually not that bad.  You never get overheated at least.  We took off, dealt with rain, chill, and a flat tire, but still we were all in good spirits and having fun.  (Some pics below).  FYI, if you’re going to have a flat, having it right outside a bike shop is the best place to have it happen.

As the ride went on, we decided to break from the coarse after stopping at the Green Room in West-port, and headed back North to go to Brewery Emperial.  This cut out the ride down to KC Bier Co, which we were all fine with.  We took Broadway North and were crossing East on Pershing (down by Union Station) to get back down into the crossroads.   This is where I encountered a seam in the road and had a really bad time.

Thankfully I don’t remember any of it.  Best description I have is that my front wheel slid out, or got caught in the rut, and I went down fast.  Luckily I protected my brain with my helmet and my least useful body part, MY FACE!  Not like I was a looker to begin with, so all is well.  Apparently I was unconscious for a bit, then I woke up and tried convince people that I was alright, despite the blood coming out of my eye and nose.  Obviously I wasn’t because I don’t remember any of it.  I don’t have any memory until we were on our way to the hospital.  End result, I got a nice ambulance ride; a non existent memory of the incident; a little bit of road rash on my face, knees, and hip; a mild to moderate concussion, and I got three broken bones in my face, including my orbital bone under the eye, the shelf that is essentially your cheek bone, and a ridge that supports it all from the side of the face.   I also got a strawberry milk shake out of it from Jeff, so… a plus there!   Strawberry milkshakes always make life better.

This incident pretty much ended the ride for most of the group.  Megan road in the ambulance while the rest of the group rushed back to Knuckleheads or their places to get their vehicles.  Thanks to Megan, Jeff, James, and Craig who waited on/for me at the hospital.  Also thanks to the Blasi’s for helping me get to the Doctors office yesterday.  I’m thankful to have been riding with a great group.   This could have easily happened while out on a solo ride, and I’m not sure what would have happened then.

Regardless!  Cycling season continues, and I urge you all to continue to ride.  Upcoming rides can be found here:  http://breakfastbikebeer.com/rides/

The next BBBR ride is Saturday June 8th.  We’re going to start at Browne’s Irish Market which will be hosting an Irish Breakfast that morning.  I hope to have my bike back in riding shape by then.  Whether or not the Doctors let me ride is another question, but I can at least SAG for the group and I will not miss out on this breakfast and the beer afterwards.

Hope to see you there!