Not So Much Fun Stuff

Well I haven't been up to too much that's interesting enough to report. But I have had a couple nasty experiences I think I'll share. Here are 3 stories of setbacks I've suffered in the past couple of months:

1. I was headed out of Hanover on the way to Seven Valleys when I got a flat tire. It was my first one in several months but still annoying. But the great thing was that this was the very first time I got a flat and changed it all by myself without any outside assistance at all. Anyway, I continued on and arrived in Seven Valleys about an hour or so later. I took the Heritage Rail Trail down to Glen Rock and was starting to head home when my stupid iPhone went from about 65% battery to 4% in the span of a second. Moments later, it completely died. Mind you, I'd left town with my in-phone battery at 100% AND a spare battery also at 100%. I know GPS drains the battery but 200% in less than 3 hours?!?! For the record, my new phone runs for about 3-1/2 on constant GPS (I had the GPS off for about 45 minutes in the middle of this ride) and drains to about 55% so my complaint with Apple is not unwarranted. Anyway, there I am stuck at the side of the road with no navigation or ability to contact anybody. I just start praying. Amazingly, my phone turns on again after a few minutes and I can see enough of my route to get to a road I'm familiar with. I make it the rest of the way home without further frustration.

2. A couple weeks later and I'm riding the same circuit as story number one and literally less than a mile from where my phone died on the previous venture I accidentally ride onto the shoulder which is mostly gravel. Well my narrow tires don't handle deep gravel very well and I end up doing a face plant on the side of the road. I groan for a minute and then drag myself up off the ground. There's blood above my eye. Not just a tiny little bit either. However, I don't think it's THAT bad of an injury so I get back on Fledge (my bike, named after a horse in the CS Lewis book "The Magician's Nephew") and pedal the remaining 15-ish miles home. Once I get home I take off my helmet and beanie and see that the gash above my eyebrow is considerably worse than I'd thought. It looks pretty deep. So I decide to call my stepmom and get a ride over to the urgent care facility. They end up putting three stitches in. My eye doesn't look so good for the next couple of weeks.

Immediately after the injury

About 2 or 3 days later

3. I'm riding home from work the night of the 23rd. It's rainy and misty outside and visibility is low. I'm decked out in all my reflective gear with 5 lights and my reflective rain jacket. A car pulls up to the stop sign of the street perpendicular to the one I'm riding down. He stops but then starts to pull out apparently not having seen me or paid attention to a bicycle. I yank on my brakes but they aren't as effective in the wet weather. I can see the collision coming a few seconds before it happens. My front tire hits the front of his vehicle which is still slow as he's just coming out of the dead stop. I'm going no more than 3 or 4 miles per hour when impact occurs but it's still enough to eject me from Fledge and up onto the guy's hood. My shoulder takes the brunt of the impact. I hit it mercifully lightly but Fledge isn't so lucky. The front tire is pretty bent up. Thankfully, the driver gets out and is very apologetic. A pickup truck driver gets out as well and I get the offending driver's information. He seems honest and upright and promises to pay for all my repairs at the bike shop. He's very concerned that I'm not hurt so I show him I can move around just fine and don't have any serious injuries. As I write this, Fledge is in the shop and the parts for my repair have been ordered. Hoping to get my aluminum horse back sometime this week.