Bike Issues

I alluded to the fact that I had another biking mishap.  I guess it was a couple of weeks ago, on a day when it had rained very heavily in the early morning but was slowing down to more of a drizzle, like Vancouver rain, so I decided to risk it.  In hindsight I wish I hadn't.  However, I have to admit a big part of the problem was getting so frustrated by a driver who didn't know what they were doing, i.e. did they want to park on King or not, and was clogging the lane, so I missed the light at Parliament.  Then I turned right to do a quick u-turn on Parliament but the traffic was backed up a lot more than it usually is.  I went to cut between two cars and I hit the streetcar tracks and the bike slid out from under me.  (Now later I went back to the scene of the crime.  There is no way that hitting wet tracks, even if not at precisely a 90 degree angle, should have caused such a skid.  I noticed there is a big metal plate across the street, and that is likely what I hit.  So maybe a one in a thousand chance.  So frustrating...)  I was awfully shocked but I jumped up to get the bike out of the street, but the front wheel was jammed a bit, and I fell a second time in front of this car and a very shocked driver.  It took a bit of time to finally get out of the street and try to recover.

I could barely move the front wheel, but I fiddled with it a bit.  Then I turned around and slowly pedaled over to a bike store on King and River.  They were completely booked up and couldn't do a tune-up, but the mechanic did unhook the wheel and straightened it a bit, as well as the brakes, so at least it was rideable.  I debated going home vs. pressing on to work (where I was exceedingly late by this point), and I went in to work.  I believe I biked one more full day, though not really trusting the bike, and then I was able to book an appointment with my local bike shop and they did a more thorough tune-up.

I'm certainly not happy about any of this, including my bad luck and bad judgement, but it could have been so much worse, either to the bike or to my body.  So in that sense I am (relatively) grateful.

My knee/leg doesn't actually hurt that much, so it looks worse than it feels.

My ribs, which seem to have gotten the worst of things, do seem to have largely returned to normal.

The following week, I actually biked in every single day to work, so it hasn't really impeded my travel patterns, though I will probably be even more unwilling to ride in the rain this summer and fall.

Speaking of rain, I thought it definitely was going to rain hard in the late afternoon, so I went home early and took my last calls of the day there.  I wish it had rained, as we are supposed to head over to Budweiser Stage and see Daryl Hall and Elvis Costello.  It currently looks like there is a moderate chance of rain in the evening, which would stink.  I'm definitely hoping they are wrong for once, or if it does rain, it doesn't really impact the show.  I think, but am not 100% sure, that we have covered seats.  I guess I'll find out soon enough.