10,000 miles

[Spur's Addiction]

What a beautiful morning for a ride here in the Midlands, low humidity and a temp of 72 degrees. My ride of 18.2 miles put me over the 19k mile mark at 19,004.7 miles!

On to 20k!

That’s awesome.

I haven’t been able to ride as much lately as I would like. Due to work and family stuff going on. But hope to get out more now that fall is on the way.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

That’s awesome.

I haven’t been able to ride as much lately as I would like. Due to work and family stuff going on. But hope to get out more now that fall is on the way.

Yes, great riding weather coming up the next couple of months. It will be a welcome relief from those 100+ heat index days of July and August.

 

[AikenGameFan]

I admire all of you guys biking and running. Back when I was 47, I did my first Triathlon. I ended up doing 6 Tri's then when I turned 50, I did a half-Ironman.
That involves a 1-mile swim, a 55-mile bike ride followed by a half-marathon run. I know for a fact I have gone a couple thousand miles on that bike just training for all those. Back in 2016 I was in another Ironman and had a bad bike wreck. I was carried to the hospital and had bleeding on the brain from where I had landed headfirst on the asphalt and busted up my helmet. I kind of quit riding after that for a couple years but eventually bought another bike.
Later I did get back into running and actually did a marathon in 2019. But after doing that I was so sore I quit all exercising for 3 years.
Lately I do go run a little and I did go ride my bike 10 miles just to see if I could still do that.
I would love to be back at it 6 days a week like I was when I trained for the events, but I do not know that my body is up to it anymore. I wanted to do a tri back in April but gave up training before I was ready. I do know a 60-year-old would have way less competition in a Triathlon but not sure I am up to it.

 

[kingofnerf]

Got out of the jogging habit after getting into some poison oak or something a few months ago. Just couldn't shake it for a while there.

Did a lap on my usual jogging route day before yesterday with my new Asics I bought a few months ago.

Lots of stuff to do around the house before it gets too cold to paint, too.

 

[Spur's Addiction]

I admire all of you guys biking and running. Back when I was 47, I did my first Triathlon. I ended up doing 6 Tri's then when I turned 50, I did a half-Ironman.
That involves a 1-mile swim, a 55-mile bike ride followed by a half-marathon run. I know for a fact I have gone a couple thousand miles on that bike just training for all those. Back in 2016 I was in another Ironman and had a bad bike wreck. I was carried to the hospital and had bleeding on the brain from where I had landed headfirst on the asphalt and busted up my helmet. I kind of quit riding after that for a couple years but eventually bought another bike.
Later I did get back into running and actually did a marathon in 2019. But after doing that I was so sore I quit all exercising for 3 years.
Lately I do go run a little and I did go ride my bike 10 miles just to see if I could still do that.
I would love to be back at it 6 days a week like I was when I trained for the events, but I do not know that my body is up to it anymore. I wanted to do a tri back in April but gave up training before I was ready. I do know a 60-year-old would have way less competition in a Triathlon but not sure I am up to it.

Wow! Glad you survived that one.

 

[AikenGameFan]

Wow! Glad you survived that one.

I am too. I was knocked out. I woke up in the ambulance and tried to figure out what was around my neck. I told them they had to take that off, I had to get back in the race. They told me to leave the neck brace alone and that my bike was not going to be racing anytime soon.

I did not, and still do not, remember the wreck. I had a major concussion. The next day they said the brain bleeding had stopped so late that evening they finally released me with orders to see a Dr. here.

Apparently, I had left the road and hit a short concrete wall doing about 30 MPH. I flew over the handlebar and landed on my head on an asphalt driveway. I had some ugly wounds on my face too. The front tire was bent in half. Both forks were bent. I went back 2 days later and saw where the accident happened and talked to the home-owner that gave me back my wrecked bike. He said he was outside and saw me go flying and he was the one that called the ambulance because I was not moving.

Some people, myself included until then, do not realize how dangerous a bike wreck can be at those speeds. I was just going way to fast on a sharp turn. All I remember was I was doing about 40 MPH going down a hill. They had signs out there warning about the sharp turn. I was slowing down a little for the turn and telling myself I needed to lean a lot. I guess I did not lean enough.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Wow...that was a close call. Glad you're all right, it could have been a lot worse. The first couple of years I rode I was riding without a helmet. After a couple of nasty spills I started wearing it religiously.

The clincher was the day I was riding by myself and a biker coming down the trail in the opposite direction was going so fast that his momentum moved him to my side of the trail on a sharp turn.

He slammed on his brakes and his bike stood straight up on it's front tire and deposited him on the trail. I also slammed on my brakes but it was too late. I slammed into his prone body at his right side rib cage which sent me flying over the handlebars.

I was lucky in that I landed with my head about a foot from a small oak tree but I did get some nice bruises/scrapes from hitting the concrete trail and had the breath knocked out of me.

I've worn a helmet ever since. Several of my crashes have been caused by other bikers and wet leaves. The guy apologized for going too fast on the trail and left holding his ribs.

 

[kingofnerf]

My head seemed to be attracted to pavement when I was a child. I fell and knocked myself out while playing with some kids on our concrete turnaround when it was wet. I don't remember falling, just waking up on the couch afterward. Never went to the doctor for that one.

A few years later I took a tumble on my bike on some icy pavement at the bottom of our driveway during a winter storm. It was a gravel driveway and I wiped on the paved part at the road. I landed flush on my back which kept my head from hitting at angle, so didn't black-out, but I heard the crack and it was definitely a hard lick.

You see kids wearing helmets on bikes all the time these days, but nobody gave it a thought way back when. I still have a helmet I wore when I used to ride a lot on the roads.

 

[FurmanCock]

I've been pretty lucky on my bike -- no head injuries, but I did wreck once when my right pedal clipped a curb, and I went down pretty hard with some nice road rash on knees and legs. Since I was about 13 miles out from my house at the time, I had to "straighten" the front wheel by straddling it while twisting handlebars until it was straight enough to get back home. I definitely learned why real cyclists keep their legs shaved to help with recovering from road rash.

 

[Spur's Addiction]

I've had a couple on my road bike. But they have been more slide outs then full head on collisions. The last one about 2 years ago was on the greenway trail where a toddler was toddling all over the rail, I swerved off the trail to avoid him and slid out onto my side. my head did bump hard enough to crack the helmet. But otherwise I was fine.

Back when I used to Mt Bike more, I had more spills then I can count, several of which sent me over the handlebars. Over time you learn to ball up into a tuck and roll to minimize the damage, but then the bike follows you and lands on top of you.

 

[kingofnerf]

Too bad Swayin' doesn't post here anymore. He took a few tumbles on that e-bike as well.