Endo of the Week

This weeks training was pretty routine. I was able to get out after work Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday was the usual errands, followed by bike prep for my Saturday long ride.

So where to ride this Saturday? I wanted to get about 100 miles in, with some climbing, but nothing too hard since next week is our 300KM brevet, with 11,500 feet of gain.

My friend Keith (@cyclewarrior on Twitter) was looking for someone to ride with him from Ramona to Borrego Springs and back. Sorry Keith, but that one would take me too long to recover from, although it would be a great ride, and I want to go back over Montezuma Road. (A 12 mile climb that gains 3,600 feet).

So I decided to head out from the house and go over Del Dios, a modest climb, and through the Harmony Grove/Elfin Forest area. I need to take some pictures of that section for those not from San Diego, it is probably my favorite area to ride. From there I went on up into Oceanside from the East, picked up the San Luis Ray River Bike Path, and headed to the coast. Strong winds out of the north/northwest which meant strong headwinds on the bike path. Once I got onto Coast Highway, though, it meant a pretty nice tailwind. Holding 24-26 MPH through Carlsbad and Encinitas felt great.

Normally I would continue south and go over Torrey Grade before heading a bit inland to home. However, with the pro golf tour at Torrey Pines, I thought it would be safer to go inland at Carmel Valley Road and take the 56 bike path.

Sometimes we should just stick to the plan. As I approached Camino Del Sur, where we have to cross the road, the light was green and the walk sign on; coming down a bit of a hill I looked just to be safe. No cars go for it. Out of nowhere there is a silver SUV about to hit me as I’ve started to cross Camino Del Sur. The only thing I could think to do was to angle right and hope the SUV stopped. It did, but I had too much momentum and hit the center divide. Turned a fabulous endo onto the median, landing on my left forearm and hip. I managed to bounce right up. The driver stopped and says, "what were you doing?” I said going through MY GREEN LIGHT!!!! He says, “It wasn’t green.” I point, and he has the look of a deer in headlights. A classic o-crap! moment. He apologizes. I wave him off as I am more interested in checking my bike out. Front rim looks okay, not taco’d like I had feared. Chain dropped, no biggie. My elbow and hip are sore. I spin the front wheel, looks to be true, so I get composed and put my chain back on. I take a closer look at the front wheel and notice the tire is off the bead. As I inspect it, I see a bit of a bulge. I touch it and BOOM! The tube pops.

I remove the tire, put in a tube, and fill it to about 75 PSI to not put pressure on the sidewall. I test the bike, seems okay. I’m only about 4 miles from Black Mountain Bicycles, my shop, so I proceed to the shop. I want them to inspect the bike and make sure all is okay.

In short, the bike is fine. I’ll need a new front tire ASAP, they had to true my wheel a bit, make a couple of adjustments. As usual, the guys at Black Mountain took great care of me.

I rode on home, just another 4 miles or so. Had recovery drink, food, shower, and have a nice hunk of ice on my hip. Hopefully I won’t be too sore tomorrow; I’d really like to ride.

Thank you, Lord for somehow keeping me safe through that one. If You are sending me a message to be a bit more careful out there, message received.

To all my cyclist friends, keep the rubber side down, and your head on swivel. Let’s be safe out there.

Twitter: @stevecycles200 -- Follow Me!