Pain and Suffering

“Le Tour” has started and the anticipation of riding l’etape has risen once again. One of the attractions of this years’ etape was the stage itself being Mt Ventoux but also the fact that this stage (stage 20) is expected to be pivotal, being held on the penultimate day: It may well decide the winner. All the media coverage I have seen has mentioned this stage and how critical it will become; having ridden it 5 days before the professionals I will hopefully take the afternoon off work and watch the whole stage with a beer in hand. Numerous articles have been published by journalists who have just ridden the stage or climbed the Ventoux and each one talks about pain and suffering!

I had my own pain and suffering at the weekend during a planned 100Km ride. Having settled in after 35Km at a pretty good pace I took on a right hand bend on a country
lane that I have ridden many time before and both wheels slipped away from me. The resultant body slide across the tarmac left several layers of skin behind. I managed to keep my hands on the handlebars and avoid the dreaded broken collar bone but the downside was that instead of my hands it was my side and chin that broke the fall. I managed to slide around 10 metres forwards and onto the verge before regaining my feet gingerly. The bike was unusable and my chin was bleeding profusely, so a couple of calls later and I was being collected by a friend and taken home. Ninety minutes later I has 6 stitches in my chin and was discharged from hospital. We have had great hot and dry weather in the UK for several weeks now and it has been glorious riding conditions, but I the lack of rain means that the surface dirt and oil is not washed away. There was a brief rain shower during the early morning and the corner was damp and extremely greasy, hence the fall. So no long ride this weekend, the need to ride to work and back this week is growing but this may be difficult with various commitments during the week.