Bike Training/Accident

My bike riding and training schedule has consisted of riding 10 miles a day, each weekday morning, indoors on a training stand. With the 25 mile Diabetes ride coming up I know I should get out and do at least one 20 mile ride. With this in mind I headed out a week ago last Saturday with Brooke and Andrea for a 20 mile ride on the Mount Vernon Trail. Unfortunately, we had to cut the ride short after the crash. Yes, the crash. We were on a part of the trail where a wooden path takes a curve through the woods and goes over a stream. It appears to stay in the shade all the time so the wood was damp. A guy was coming the other direction way too fast, lost the back of his bike, and went sliding right into Brooke's path. She hit him straight on and went over the handlebars and into the railing, almost falling over into the stream. She ended up with a nasty cut right next to her right eye. When I saw what was happening I hit the brakes so hard that I also lost the rear of my bike and went down on my left knee (it's scraped and bruised but otherwise OK). We turned around and headed to a bike shop for a bandaid and then back home. We convinced Brooke that she needed more than a few butterfly bandages so she went off to the emergency room, refusing to allow anyone to go with her. Four hours later she was back, sporting 7 stitches and ugly bruising, but otherwise in good spirits. We're going to try another ride this weekend.

Last weekend I rode in a small, local event called "Joe's Ride". It's named in memory of a little boy that died of brain cancer. All proceeds go to supporting various childhood disease and care groups. I had decided to do this ride before I decided to do the Tour de Cure and signed up for their 10 kilometer ride. Their only other distance is a 45K ride, more than I want to do, especially at my current level of training. The ride was pretty uneventful and not very challenging. However, we were forced to ride single file on sidewalks and trails meaning that your pace was dictated by the person in front of you. With many children and casual riders involved I was forced to do much of the ride at a pace slower than my liking. There were a few places where I did pass some in front of me and I finished the ride in the front group of 6. While I would have preferred something like a 20k the ride did give me some experience with riding in groups and with the whole cycling event thing.