A Hard Head and a Failure to Bounce

Two Saturdays ago Sponge Bob hit a bad section of road and crashed. He was found in the middle of the road with no clear idea of how he got there. This is a scenario that scares even the most seasoned of riders. There was no sign of impact with a vehicle, and SB is a well seasoned rider with very good bike handling skills. What happened?

There is a section of road in Granjeno that has had a lot of heavy truck traffic. The trucks have caused collapse of the road substrate, leaving a few tire shaped trenches. At first glance they just look like a little dip in the road, the asphalt is all of one color. A closer look shows a sharp 3 to 4 inch vertical wall on the inside away from the shoulder. If a rider goes into on of these holes, it will seem like a dip in the road. Should the rider move to the left at all, the whole front wheel goes out. This is what happened to Sponge Bob.

One Saturday ago, I was riding with a group in La Joya. The group turned up Jara Chinas road and I failed to catch the last wheel. There were various reasons for this. The pace picked up on the turn, I did not feel like sprinting up to the last wheel and I thought I would close the gap when the pace settled back down. Well. the pace never settled back down, it actually picked up and I watched the group ride away from me. I watched them ride away for six miles, getting smaller and smaller on one of the loneliest roads in the valley.

Sponge Bob doesn’t remember much of his accident. The clues suggest he did an endo. That means the front wheel ceased to rotate and he went over the handlebars, ending in a header. His helmet has four big cracks in it and his pelvis has two cracks. There is a cracked or broken rib as well. He will be off the bike for six to eight weeks at best.

My little story ended up with the group stopping for someone else to catch up and me catching up as well. I was very steamed that they had just rode off and left me and decided I would not ride home with them but would ride the beach instead. The beach is an even lonelier stretch of road that's has 2 to 6 inches of loose sand over caliche washboard. This is not a road for a road bike but I was pissed.

Sponge Bob doesn’t bounce well. He is a white guy and we all know white guys don’t bounce. He has a very hard head though. There is some debate whether the tarmac or his cranium broke his helmet. His stubbornness will serve him in good stead. He will use the same discipline he uses in training to recover and get back on the road. He will ignore the friends and family who are asking him if it is finally time to quit cycling. Instead he will rely on the strength of his cycling family to get back on the road.

My hard head got me rapidly no where. The beach section of Jara Chinas has virtually no houses and little traffic. When a vehicle does come down the road there is a Saharan dust storm accompanying it. I made it almost five miles. I saw a second dust storm approaching, this one with two kayaks on top. It was my friends Betty and Susan and they gave me a lift back into civilization.

Stubbornness can be a curse or a gift depending on how you use it. Some times it is called perseverance, will or strength. Other times it is obstinance, ego or jackassnicity. Friends on the other hand are a wealth beyond words.