Lucky

Just when I think the whole biking thing is smooth as butter, I get kicked in the shin by the Universe. Quite literally, in this instance. On the ride in to work this morning I rolled past a truck with a for sale sign in the back window. It was a 94 Dodge Dakota for $1100. Now, I'm not really in the market for a new vehicle. The one I've got doesn't get driven enough to make it worthwhile. But this seemed like a fair swap. Probably gets about the same mileage as my Mitsubishi, a little newer, and only $200 more than I paid for the Montero. So I decided to cruise back around and have a closer look.

The initial reverse was fine. I checked for traffic over my shoulder and turned a 180 into the southbound bike lane on Minnehaha. But a car had turned onto Minnehaha a block away and it prevented me from completing the 360. So I stopped. And I waited. And the cars went by. And I waited. I saw my break in traffic and started across. But, I didn't have the pedals lined up just right and somehow got all discombobulated. I nearly made the rookie mistake of crashing from a standstill because I couldn't get going and I couldn't unclip.

Just as I felt the bike start to lean left and I knew that I was for sure going down, my right foot unclipped. There must have been a part of my brain still frantically trying to send the Unclip! signal to my foot after the rational part of my brain had given up on staying upright. Once I realized I was free I made an awkward lunge to keep from going over. I stayed up, but managed to put a decent scrape on my shin in the process. I've been riding clipless for over 2 years now. I kinda thought I'd put this behind me. Oh yeah. The truck, upon closer inspection, was a piece of crap.

Date: April 11
Mileage: 25
Ride type: Commute
April mileage: 166
Year to date mileage: 872

Date: April 12
Mileage: 25
Ride type: Commute
April mileage: 191
Year to date mileage: 897