Motorcycle Driver Down – March 26th Bike Ride
This morning my wife and I worked in our front yard flower bed. After that I wondered how my bike ride would go and if the muscles would respond. The bike muscles answered the call but the yard work muscles may not be so good tomorrow afternoon when we work some more. With the yard work I did not start the ride until 1:54. I needed to activate my new cell phone before the ride as well but that did not take too long.
Once I got biking around the 6 mile mark I looked ahead of across Northpines Drive in the Harley Davidson of Kingwood parking lot just in time to a motorcycle fall over as the driver made a left turn. I sped up to get there and as I almost got there a man ran over from the west side of the parking lot. The driver just bought the HD last week and he was learning how to ride it. The other man turned out to be his son. I asked if I should call an ambulance but they said not yet. Shortly another man arrived who helped shade the driver from the sun as he lay on the concrete. Next another man arrived. He was an off-duty EMT. Now the son agreed to call 911. So he called 911. Because this was in an area close to the Houston city limits the 911 call got switched from Montgomery County 911 to the Houston fire department. While the call was in progress two women stopped to see if they could help. They were nurses from the medical offices in the center across from the Harley Davidson lot. BY now there were plenty of people so I said my farewell and resumed the ride. The driver did not look too banged up with some road rash and blood on his right elbow and complaining of left shoulder pain. His helmet had some mean scratches on the left side. He said he was relieved he had it on and it probably saved him from a bad head injury.
The weather today started off great and by the time I started the temperature hit 86 and landed at 88 when I finished. If I looked hard I could spot a few small puffy clouds in the bright blue sky. The wind almost did not seem to blow but it was 7 mph from the SE.
My bike developed a tapping sound some time back and it does not want to go away. I am not sure what the cause might be but my guess is the bottom bracket has something to do with. The tapping sound only happens when I pedal and it sounds at the same point in the pedal rotation. I tried a different rear wheel in case that might be the cause but the tap persists. Looks like a trip the bike shop is the next step.
Some numbers from today’s ride:
- 29.63 miles
- 1:57:19 riding time
- 15.2 mph average speed
- 22.0 mph max speed
- 80.0 RPM average cadence
- 493.52 miles in March
- 1129.62 miles YTD
- Garmin Connect data link
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