TOUR de BROWARD

Still feeling somewhat anxious over being slammed into by another bicyclist eight days ago, I am opting out of this Sunday’s Tour de Broward http://www.tourdebroward.com/ 100 km bike ride. I won’t even subject myself to the alternate 50 km ride.

Although physically capable of doing either the 100 km or the shorter 50 km, I have a great deal of reservations in regards to placing myself in the middle of an anticipated mass of 1500 crazed cyclists hell bent on riding from point A to point B as fast as they can. That, in itself, is lunacy.

And if I opted to stay near the end of the pack, I would then be subjecting myself to hordes of inexperienced bicyclists. It was an inexperienced bicyclist that caused me to crash eight days ago. No thank you!

Furthermore, we are not talking about riding along isolated roadways devoid of vehicular traffic. All avenues of travel this Sunday will be on roadways semi-clogged with motorists oblivious to cyclists, pedestrians or other earthly creatures moving about.

And as far as the advertised police escort is concerned, only the lead cyclists have the benefit of being escorted by a small brigade of motorcycle police officers. So if you are not traveling at an ultra-fast pace on your two-wheeler, you’re on your own the entire distance.

Putting my existing cautious demeanor aside for a moment, I recall being almost run down by speeding cyclists during the beginning of last year’s Tour de Broward. I also remember being nearly forced off the road by motorists when traveling south on Dykes Road near the end of the 100 km ride.

In conclusion, in my opinion, as well as the opinion of many others who have traveled on those particular roadways, the 50 km and the 100 km course may be horrendously hazardous to a cyclist’s health.

By the way, I have no qualms over paying for the ride and then opting out.  That's my choice!  The monies could not go to a better cause, Joe DiMaggio's Children Hospital in Hollywood, Florida USA.  

RECOVERY RIDE NUMBER TWO

This morning's ride should be categorized as another post-crash recovery ride.

The first 5 miles, all under a 10 mph pace, was spent circling the shopping mall watching our police department disperse a large crowd of potential shoppers that had all intentions of swarming our mall with hopes of being the first ones to purchase a certain make and model athletic shoe. I'm not making this up!  I praise our men and women in blue for keeping our mall devoid of stupid, overly aggressive idiots.  

All riding after circling the mall was done in a small group at a moderate pace on both city and country roads. Please keep in mind that our country roads are equivalent to most people's city roads.

Total mileage for the day was just under 30 miles.  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/151723306

RECOVERY RIDE

Monday morning’s ride, a typical out and back from the shopping mall to Einstein's Bagel Shoppe in Weston, was just what Dr. Bobo ordered.  (I'm Dr. Bobo)  After feeling a great deal of anxieties after Wednesday’s bicycle crash, I’ve now regained my self-confidence.

Today’s ride included a little bit of escort duties, slow conversational type riding and occasional sprints to speeds just below 25 mph.

As far as the weather was concerned, it couldn’t have been more pleasant. We were blessed with 62 degrees at the beginning of the ride and 70 near the end – with clear skies and wind out of the north at 5 to 10 mph.

We rode on city streets, a couple of sidewalks, over interstate bridges, and on country roads.

The only thing that could have made this ride better was if we would have had a pile of flapjacks covered with maple syrup waiting for us at the completion of the ride. 

Oh, and some hot coffee and Florida orange juice.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/517604

BICYCLE CRASH

Wednesday afternoon at 5 PM, I joined two others from Team Memorial in Brian Piccolo Park for some laps in the park’s fenced-off area.  The area is fenced off specifically for bikers that wish to do laps.  

I felt great up until some asshole, inexperienced biker slammed into my right side when he attempted to pass me on my right side (strict rule: Never pass another cyclist on the right) as he was turning left. He had maybe two feet of usable pavement on my right and a good 20 to 25 feet of pavement on my left, yet he still made his move on my right.

When he cut in front of me, the left side of his rear tire slammed into the right side of my front tire, forcing me to topple onto the pavement at an approximate speed of 15 mph. Big OUCH!

Lots of road burn, plus, I landed on my right shoulder and right hip. Both hurt, as you can imagine.

And to make matters worse, I rode my bike to this park (3.7 miles from home), which meant that I had to ride my bike back home – in the dark of night.

Rule number 1 through 100: Never, ever ride with inexperienced cyclists.

You can bet that I'll never break that rule again.

X-rays show no breaks.  I already had an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon yesterday at 1 PM for an unrelated issue, so he went ahead and did a series of X-rays even though they had nothing to do with why I was there to see him.

NEIGHBORHOOD MTN BIKE RIDE

After opting out of this morning’s group bike ride because of the strong wind, I later decided to do seventeen miles on our neighborhood's sidewalks just to break even for the week at 100 cycling miles.

There’s not too much I can say about this ride other than it was truly enjoyable riding past the many spirited children playing in the parks, casually observing people scurrying about in the shopping mall, and then going extra slow so that I could truly appreciate the flowering trees, grassy fields and all the sub-tropical shrubs and flowers that Florida has to offer.

Stopping for a moment when circling our lake, I happily observed the many ducks and Ibis that call that particular body of water, home.

But most of all, above all else, I appreciated my freedom.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/149166893