Book Update:

I am currently writing Tri Me: A Working Mom's Road from Last Picked in Gym Class to Iron Distance Triathlon Finisher.
The book proposal is complete, and several chapters are finished!
For some of the thoughts, dialogue and anecdotes that will be included in the book, read my blog below.


Thursday, August 26, 2010

A return to the scene of the crash


Please forgive me for not having the presence of mind to take a photo of the spot where it happened.

My riding buddy Nicole and I did a very conservative ride today. She has a race Sunday and I am ... well, let's face it, I've been scared to get back on that bike trail. Sure, I had some meetings and conflicts, but mostly I was scared.

The weather and road conditions were perfect today, and we started later -- at 6:30 a.m. -- when the sun was really and truly [almost] up. There was another group going out at 6:15 to do the whole trail, but we stuck to our guns and decided to just make it a twosome.

The plan was to ride for 30 minutes and turn around and go back. Nicole needed to be at work at a certain time, and wanted time to get to the club and shower first. Right at 30 minutes we stopped, and I mentioned that I had been hoping to make it to the spot where I crashed. Nicole said, "Well then let's do it! Keep going!"

As it turned out, the crash scene was just around the next bend. We went past it, turned around, and came back through in the same direction I was going when it happened.

Being there helped me see what I did wrong.

Most of the bike trail is visually very skinny. The trees close in on the sides of the path, with just a few clearings. At this point in the trail, though, there is 30 or 40 feet of mowed grass on each side, and you can see all the way through the turn, even though it is a sharp one. That visual openness caused me to think the turn was not as sharp as it really was. It made me mentally take a break from paying attention to my cornering.

So ...
Another demon has been dispatched.
Vanquished.
Conquered.

Time to move on.

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