Crash, boom, bam...

More often than not, circumstances do not permit the full use of your lane from yellow line to white line and back again. ~ Nick Ienatsch (from The Pace)

Yesterday: Hike - Raccoon Trail, 1 hour
Today: Hike - Coyote Trail, 1.5 hours
Tomorrow: Swim - Gilpin County Rec Center, 30 minutes

So this morning's meeting was postponed until tomorrow and I took a different route in to another client meeting in Denver. As I cruised down Golden Gate Canyon, I was joined by another rider on a Ducati. Shortly thereafter, a third rider joined the group on a big Yamaha sport bike as we got jammed up in traffic a bit. Once the road opened up, we were able to pass the slower moving cars and Senor Yamaha took the lead. I followed him for a bit but wasn't too thrilled with his pace and apparent experience. As I rounded a tight, left-hand corner, I saw him up ahead, leaning against the concrete guardrail - his bike in the dirt up against the barrier, wheels still spinning. Yup. He ran out of road.

I pulled over to the shoulder along with the Ducati rider and we walked back to the Yamaha guy who had now removed his helmet and turned off his bike. He was pretty shaken up but didn't appear to have suffered more than a little road rash. He was VERY smart to have been wearing a helmet, however as his sunglasses were crushed and his helmet badly scraped up from the impact. We picked up his bike, inspected the damage (broken plastic and mirror, dented tank, scratches everywhere) and the Ducati guy offered to follow him down to the mouth of the canyon to be sure that it was still ridable. I needed to get down to a meeting so I headed out.

Boys and girls, not only should you be safe out there but be sure to wear protective gear. I ride in a helmet ALWAYS as well as my Aerostich super suit and big-ass boots. Yes, it is hot. Sometimes uncomfortably so. But it is a helluva lot more comfortable than skin grafts.

Keep the rubber side down.

~stubert.