The ETape is looming. My ride is on the 20th and there are only a few more days of training. To increase my fitness I am lengthening my rides and increasing the intensity of the shorter rides. My long ride of 5+ hours is on Sundays and I usually ride with my VQ buddies. We meet at a school in Gurnee, IL and ride all around Wisconsin for 4 hours. Then after the group ride is done I go out and do another hour solo all in the name of fitness and the ETape.
This past Sunday our peloton had a bad accident and I was reminded that riding in a peloton can be dangerous. We were in the last 12 miles of a 75mile ride and all of a sudden there was a loud crash. I looked down and a wheel was sliding toward me. I quickly veered away from the crash. Luckily I did not go down; however 3 members of our group crashed and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. Wally broke is scapula, Don broke his elbow and fractured his hip, and Kevin dislocated his shoulder. While two of the riders had serious injuries none of the injuries were life-threatening. Here is what happened: The lead rider, Wally, was swatting at a bee lost control of his bike crashed into the rider next to him causing a 3 bike pile-up.
The moral of the crash is: leave the bee alone and if you get stung ride through the pain or calmly slow down telling everyone what you are doing and remove the bee. Whatever you do don't panic. I was stung a few days ago. While riding home from a submax a big bumble bee hit my glasses and stung me in face just below the eye. It really hurt. However I kept my head and rode through it. (I did feel like I was being attacked by a swarm but that was my mind playing tricks.) Falling from a bike is far worse then any bug sting.
Luckily everyone involved in the crash will fully recover. The injured parties will be out of commission for 6 weeks then its back to training. I am playing it safe and will be avoiding large groups and dangerous situations. For another week, look for me on the road covered in foam.
