Saturday 12 November 2011

8 Days, no training :-(

Well after a great 230 mile week commuting I went for week 2 of the same. So 210 miles into week 2 and bang, crash ouch! I suppose with the amount of miles i've covered in the last 18 months of training and commuting its inevitable that I was going to get knocked off the bike by a car. I was in the left hand lane which was clear and the right hand lane was static waiting at the lights when some idiot didn't check his mirrors before flashing the lights to let someone traveling in the opposite direction turn right. The guy pulled through after being flashed and I collided with the front corner of his car but with my forward momentum and the fact that he was also still moving forward I was thrown about 2 foot up in the air with enough time to see that I was going to land in the middle of his bonnet. As I landed the bike unclipped, hit the road and bounced back up about 3 foot and fell to the floor and I slid off the bonnet to land next to the bike. I've got off quite lightly considering the hit I took, left knee joint still sore, after 8 days I can now move my shoulder but can't take any weight through it yet and the bruising on my back has settled down. The bike took it quite well, carbon forks broken, front wheel broken, frame seems in tact but i'm not keen to get back on it even though visibly it seems fine. I had to drive all this week but i'm going to see if I can ride next week a couple of days, just don't know what bike to ride though, don't fancy using my good road bike but don't fancy using a mountain bike either. This is the problem with an accident like this, if it was my fault I would pay to get the bike fixed asap but its not my fault and unfortunately I now have the hassle of claiming for the damage to be fixed which can take weeks and at this time I don't have the £445 the bike shop are quoting to repair the bike. I personally would rather see it written off because if the frame breaks at a later date due to fatigue cracking I won't be able to go back to the drivers insurance so would be happier to have it replaced. Crashes are so inconvenient and i'm now really annoyed at being in this position. Not a happy bunny at the moment. Grrrrrr