As seen on the web

While conducting some research today, I came across the following quote on someone's web page:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different Sun."
-- From a letter by Chris McCandless to his friend Ron Franz, March 1992.

Plowed by car

Update: Yesterday, I received a notice from my insurance company that they won't pay for my x-rays because the injury was the result of a motor vehicle accident. I'm out $270. Let this be a lesson, get the driver's insurance information whenever possible. Sucks.

I went out for a trail ride this evening. I borrowed my neighbor's pedal wrench, pulled the pedals off my mountain bike and put them on my fixie and hit the trails. This is the first time I've ridden the fixie on the trails. It was fun and uneventful.

I can't say the same for the ride home.

As I was making the turn from 6th Street to New Hampshire on the curve in the right third of the picture above, a driver was pulling out of the parking lot checking the traffic on her left and didn't see me coming on her right. I yelled for her attention, but she didn't hear me and broadsided me. She hit my calf and sent me toppling over. I scrapped up my elbow, bruised my hip and possibly broke a rib. There's a big tower that serves as a nice blind spot keeping riders from seeing cars and visa-versa.

The bike was mostly fine, the back wheel is tweaked a bit and I'll have it looked at tomorrow. I hope it's nothing major.

The driver felt bad, but honestly, I don't blame her for what happened. I was committing two cardinal sins of cycling. One, riding on the sidewalk and two, I was going too fast for the conditions. I've ridden across Kansas half a dozen times and been riding bikes for years without incident. I've even crossed the bridge in the photo and taken this exact route on the sidewalk dozens of times, but I've never even had a close call at this location.

Today was my day. Remarkably, I kept my cool and didn't say a single harsh word to her. She was more shaken up by it than I was. Granted, I'll have the pain to deal with for the next week or six. I didn't get her insurance information. I just wanted to get home to my family.

I just hope that both of us proceed more cautiously in the future.

In other lighter cycling related news, I did my first Alleycat last Friday night. It was put together by a couple local folks who are calling themselves BDK, short for Burning Down Kansas.

Here's a highlight video of the race. I think I'm in there a few times, but may be hard to spot.