Giro Against the Odds

The sore throat that's been bugging me the last few days was finally better this morning, so I headed off to the lakefront for the Saturday Giro ride with a warm and humid breeze at my back. From the start, it looked like it would be an unusual day. When I hit Lakeshore Drive, there were already two small groups heading out. It was still five minutes early, so the main group hadn't even started yet. I turned around and got in with the second group and then eventually we all looped around the fountain and rode back until we met the main group. So at least we were all together. It was a big group today and they were having their usual trouble staying in one lane. We were still going slow when we got the the East end of Lakeshore Drive where yesterday's storm had washed some dirt, rocks and miscellaneous other debris onto the roadway. I was right behind Rusty when he reached down to wipe his tires. Next thing I knew, he was careening off to the left. It seems that he hit a big rock just as he was looking down at his tire with one hand on the bars. He went down pretty hard, but since we were going slowly, he was soon back in action with some minor road rash and torn up handlebar tape as souveniers. That was crash #1. What were the odds we'd have another today?

So the rest of the way out to the turnaround was pretty typical. A couple of guys snuck off the front on Chef Highway, but were eventually caught. The pace was fast for a while, but nothing unusual. There was a sprint up there somewhere, but I was too far back at the time to do much about it. As is typical, the pace slacked off after the turnaround as riders regrouped and then very gradually started to climb back up to normal. Just about then we came upon a section of road where the right lane had apparently flooded yesterday. There was a line of tall orange pylons that angled their way from the right edge of the road out to the left edge of the right lane and then back again, forcing everyone into the left lane. The flooded area was dry now, so a few of us cut through the gaps in the pylons because the back was getting kind of tight and there was traffic coming up from behind. That's about when Steve plowed right into one of the pylons. Unfortunately, he didn't walk away from it as easily as Rusty. His new carbon frame had a smashed top tube where the handlebars had slammed into it. He had hit pretty yard with his head, and was sporting cuts and bruises all around his eye socket. We also thought he may have broken his collarbone, so a pickup was flagged down and Robin and a few other guys got him eventually to the hospital and recovered his car from Lakeshore Drive. Naturally, I had decided not to bring my camera today. Damn! Conveniently, it was the same hospital where my father is, so as soon as I got home and cleaned up I went over there for a little double visit. I was glad to find that Steve's injuries were all minor. His collarbone was intact and the CAT scans and x-rays were unremarkable, so he was out of there and on his way home by around 1:00. Unfortunately, his bike was admitted to the Bicycle Connection emergency room.

After Steve headed home I visited my father, and some of his friends who happened to be there. The physical therapist showed up and got him up on his feet with a walker and had him shuffle out into the hallway and back. It looked like it was very hard for him to do, but on the other hand it was encouraging that he could. Baby steps.....