A Bump in the Road - Aug. 1, 2014 - 7 miles

    Todays ride began on a wet and wild woods road that led into a broad and level meadow where yellow daises bloomed beside the path.  After a steep climb to the top of a ridge, I was enjoying a 100 mile vista without pedaling as the road now descended. 


    Suddenly a black dog streaked across a yard on my right.  The next thing I knew, I was picking myself off the ground, with the dog barking at me as I checked over my bike.  Noticing that the front wheel was too bent to fit through the forks-rendering it unrideable,  I glanced across the street to the nearest house, whose yard the black dog had come from, but decided to avoid any further encounter with the dog, and walked uphill instead to a house where another dog's bark greeted my knock.  Fortunately, the husband and wife soon responded.  Seeing my torn and bloody T-shirt, and learning of my accident, the young man called an ambulance, who was there in just a few minutes, arriving nearly at the same time as my wife and mother-in-law, who I had phoned earlier.

    X-rays and CAT scans at the emergency room at Central Maine Medical Center revealed a broken right and left clavicle, first rib right side, and left neck bone.  The doctor warned it would likely be a six week recovery for the bones to heal and then more time for the muscles to rehabilitate.  This bump in the road forced a change in strategy for the Pure Water Ride. 

    With bicycling out of the picture for prime weather for the rest of the summer and likely the better part of the Fall, I would have to switch to hiking, if I was to have any hope of completing this year's three hill challenge.