I missed you all this past weekend. Actually more than you can imagine. It was a great ride along the Cumberland River...except for the crash that was happening around me.
It was a 31 mile route that I let the masses leave before I struck out with Matt (my son). Pretty soon we had caught up with a large group that seemed to moving ok. I moved behind a two person draft that was working its way through the masses. We started down a long hill and along the way I happened to have looked down and saw 36 mph. It was a long hill that you could see the turn at the bottom. Really not a bad hill compared to some that our club has been on.
I let the couple riding in front of me take off as they were riding the center line to pass slower riders. As soon as the front of the group entered the curve, a car was coming the opposite direction. It was riding the yellow line too. Screams, brake pad noise, bikes flipping around seemed to be happening all around me. The girl in the two person draft suddenly was slidding down the road backward with her bike on top of her. Someone else slid down on the other side of me. I was on the brakes praying that I could stop before hitting the girl who was now directly in front of me. Holy moses! I was thinking about an endo over the girl...know what I mean?
The girl and i were looking eye to eye as I finally stopped with my front tire on her rear wheel. Can you say close call. The girl was screaming out in pain as she probably hit the ground around 30 or so. Her closes were shreded. Lots of blood. No broken bones, somehow. The other rider needed stitches for a small cut on his chin. The girl had several finger nails ripped from her hand. Ouch...otherwise, just a lot of road burn. The road was really rough...it was a old country road.
Anyway a long story to say...I missed riding with yall. It will be a while before I want to ride with a group of folks that I dont know. Scary stuff...