This morning's crash

[wonger]

Can anyone comment on what happened this morning? Mandy ended up with a wrecked derailleur and rear wheel. Thanks to Mark and Mark for waiting with her for a taxi to show up.

[AJ Neale]

Hi Geoff,

I hope Mandy is fine. You might want to ask Allan C. for possible details ( I was in another group ) ... I think he was at the scene. Most of the roads were either dry or damp yesterday, but it was definitely wet and raining lightly at the top of Blenkinsop at 6:15. There is also quite a bit of slippery crosswalk paint there.

Andrew

[Claire]

Mandy didn't crash, Mark did. Unfortunately, Mandy's derailleur got mangled as Mark went down and the derailleur subsequently got ripped off as someone tried to straighten out the hanger. No injuries. Mandy and her bike took a cab home. The supporters were seen later at coffee.

The crash happened as the group was turning from Blenkinsop onto MD Parkway. I believe some road paint was to blame - made slippery by the rain. It was that kind of morning... We had a few wheels slip out on painted lines and manhole covers. Sheesh, this sport is dangerous!

[Alan]

I was at the front of the pack when we turned onto Cordova Bay Road after coming off of Blenkinsop when I heard a loud scraping sound. And we heard Mandy had gone down but wasn't hurt and seeing as she had Mark as backup, we continued on our merry way. Suffice to say I had no idea what happened to Mandy's bike, but I suspect, somehow, Steve Lund was probably involved, the sabotaging Strava Wanker that he is.... I know it's not worth wasting your breath trying to blame him, he's all deny, deny, deny and then he'll point to some fresh Strava drawing of a dragon or a maiden and call that his alibi. As they say en Francais: Maudit tete de merde!

Poor Mandy, however, had to call a cab. A CAB!! Doesn't that just blow your mind? When she has a perfectly healthy nearly 50-year old manservant waiting at home with nothing better to do than drive one of his insanely ridiculous VW vans out to rescue his maiden. His insensitivity knows no bounds.
I'm done here. Slagging two buds in one post is my limit.

[Lund]

Alan's right. People try to ride as fast as me – which is stupid, because that's impossible – and then they crash. Mea culpa. Sorry Mandy. And everyone else who's crashed while hopelessly pursuing the impossible dream.

My advice is to always ride really slow. Like Alan. (As they also say in French, "L'homme est un nigaud unsufferable.")

[Fozzy]

Anybody know how Mark is??

[mtsmith439]

Sorry for the late reply. I was pretty busy at work last week and didn't get a chance to check out the forum.
I am doing fine. My hip was stiff for a couple of days. I don't know whether to blame the crash or old age for that. As far as the cause of the crash, there was a slowdown into the turn (I assume the group was nervous about the slippery road - rightly so) and I misjudged the decrease in speed. The next thing I knew, I was into Mandy's rear wheel. Perhaps, if it wasn't 6:30 in the morning, and I was a bit less asleep, my crash avoidance skills would have been better.
I feel bad for Mandy. Having a broken bike sucks. I hope she got it fixed up.
I think I have to disagree with Alan. I don't see how Steve Lund could take any of the blame on this one.
I had planned on riding last Friday but the weather was too nasty for my liking.
If the weather improves, I should be out this Friday. If it's like today, assume that I am in bed sleeping.
Thank you everyone for your concern.