Revisiting an old crash

I think it was actually the last time that I had my GoPro camera on a Cycle Folsom ride that hit the tarmac – and caught it all on film.  Because of that it was something of a tongue-in-cheek act when I strapped my GoPro on my helmet again.  This time I was co-leading essentially the same ride with fellow Cycle Folsom member and ride leader Krysta.

I think the above photo is pretty close to where the actual crash took place the first time.  It was definitely colder and wetter this time compared to last.  In fact, as we ended the trip back into Folsom my hands were actually so cold that I found it difficult to manage the controls.  I had made a conscious decision to dress a little lighter than the weather would have dictated at the start, assuming that the fog would burn off and the ride would end up in sunshine.  I was terribly wrong.  The temperature at the start of the ride:  38F.  The temperature at the end of the ride: 41F.  Brrr….

This ride now has something of a mystique to me.  The first time out obviously there was the crash.  The ride back after the crash, however, was plagued with mechanical failures.  This second go at the Ione ride seemed to have more than its fair share of mechanical issues too.  I had a nagging issue with my rear brake dragging.  Krysta suffered a flat early on at about the 15 mile mark.

Honestly Krysta’s flat was something of a blessing.  Due to some ride leader duties, myself and Cycle Folsom’s Chief Evangelist Stan ended up way off the back really early on.  At that point in the ride the main group was being pulled along by the generally must faster Performance group.  That resulted in Stan and myself killing ourselves early on in a 70 mile ride – trading pulls, trying to catch up to the group.  When we saw Krysta and the two folks that stopped when she flatted we ended up with the bulk of the Peloton group together again.

With a history between me and this ride building – I actually can’t wait to nail it out again.  Maybe I’ll wait until it is a little warmer next time, though.