Flamingo ride and my stupid move
Getting dropped on Hwy 1 It was cloudy by the coast in the morning. There were six of us at the start of the ride. Two riders joined on the way to Felton, and one left at Felton, turning right at Graham Hill. By that time, it was sunny. The seven of us continued to the first break by Redwood Elementary. At Saratoga Toll Rd, we broke up into two groups. I tried staying with the group in front, and managed to hang with them until the Hwy 236 intersection, when I dropped back. Soon, the group of three disappeared ahead, while the other group of three remained together a few hundred yards behind me. We then regrouped at the fire station.
After the fire station, the one guy who joined us on Hwy 9 headed back, so it was the original six of us the rest of the way. We were also joined at the fire station by a couple in a white Miata who were on the race team, I think, and they took pictures of the ride along Skyline and down Alpine, and also joined us at Pescadero.
There were signs on Alpine warning of gravel. I descended cautiously, falling to the back. At one left turn, I saw the guy ahead of me slow with his left root out of his pedal in a cloud of dust. As I took the turn, I saw the Independent Fabrications bike was down. Apparently, there was suddenly a lot of gravel at that turn, and the first guy through managed to make the turn by hitting the dirt berm on the outside of the lane, but the second guy, following the first guy's line went down. Fortunately, noone was hurt. After that, we descended fairly slowly for a while, so I stayed close to the back of the group. The Miata came by for a few passes after that on the descent of Alpine. After most of the twisty parts, the pace picked up again, but we managed to make it to Pescadero Rd as a group.
On the climb up Haskins, the two fast guys went ahead. The remaining four also split up later, with one guy reaching the top a hundred yards ahead of me, and the other two maybe a hundred yards behind me. After the part of the descent in the sun with the sharp switchbacks, the four of us joined up again. We passed the flamingo house, where I saw that only two flamingos remained. A little after that, we caught up to the two fast guys, who must have been taking it easy. After that, we were joined by another strong rider who rode with us all the way to Pescadero, where it was cloudy again.
We got lunch at Arcangeli's. I got a sandwich and a coke. After lunch, instead of Cloverdale and Gazos Creek, we took Bean Hollow to Hwy 1. I think it got sunny by the time we got to Hwy 1. We also had a tailwind. I was working really hard just to stay with the group, but I managed to stay with them by Waddell. The climb out of Waddell, though, was just too much for me, and I started falling back as we went by the northern Swanton intersection. I took a picture as I was getting dropped. After that, I was by myself. I could see the group ahead of me for a while though. On the climb after the bridge over Scott Creek, I saw the group a few hundred yards ahead of me, but on the flats after that, they were gone, and that would be the last I saw of them.
Approaching Davenport, I would perform my stupid move. I was moving pretty fast with the tailwind, so, at the railway tracks, on an idiotic impulse, I tried to jump over the tracks without getting perpendicular. Of course, at that angle, there was no way I'd be able to clear the tracks. I jumped and got both wheels off the ground. Then I landed. Then I fell. The next thing I remember, I was on my back, on the shoulder of the road. My bike was about three feet from me, on the right side of the car lane. I tried to get up, but couldn't move my legs.
X-ray of my leg a month later Some people stopped and got me covered up, called for help, and moved my bike off the road. Eventually, emergency people arrived, cut off my clothes, and got me moved. Getting moved was the most painful part. Some minutes later, a helicopter arrived, though I never saw any of it except the ceiling, and took me to the hospital at Stanford. In the emergency room, they took X-rays and put my right leg in traction. My right femur was broken a couple inches below my hip. After some evaluation and stuff, I was moved one last painful time to a gurney, and got wheeled to an operating room, and got put under by the anesthesiologist.
So, it will be a while before I'll be able to ride, or even walk, again. The ride is in my GPS, but it will also be a while before I'll be able to get that data into this post. It will aso be a while before I get pictures into this post.