With my last bike, I took it places that pretty much dictated I wear body armor. Although it was a hardtail mountain bike, not really designed for "downhill", I did it anyway, riding logs, 10 foot high rampways with turns in them, the odd jump and small drop. My shin and forearm armor came in handy many times, at somewhat high speeds.
Riding my road bike, I'm pretty cautious. I haven't had any actual crashes (especially not while wearing a yellow jersey!)
But my two spills on this bike have been almost as embarrassing. The first was because I was talking to N as we came to a stop to cross Canyon Meadows. The huge line of cars waiting at the light all got to see me topple over in slow motion because I didn't unclip my cleats. That was a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, same story, different setting. I unclip one foot at the parkade exit, to stomp on the sensor that opens the door. It's designed to open for cars, so you gotta stomp pretty hard! It wasn't working, so I started jumping on it with my one free foot, still straddling my bike with the other foot firmly attached to the pedal. Next thing I knew, I was going down.
The damage wasn't too bad... scraped knee, a couple scratches running the length of my calf, and a really sore butt-cheek. At least N was the only one who witnessed it...
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Yes, I'm aware of the irony... if I hadn't written about it, N would be the only one who'd know.
For those of you not familiar with the Tour de France, if you're wearing the Yellow Jersey, it means you're leading the race. You can afford to not win a stage one day, and still maintain a lead, but you have to finish pretty close to the stage winner... crashing in the last 500m makes that very difficult!
