Today was always going to be an interesting day. I had a long ride on the program, 170km or so. Long enough that the road is really the only place you can do it. The only problem was that there was rain on the horizon.
All the forecasts had that the rain was definitely coming, but it probably wasn't going to be too bad. The forecast looked good enough that I had no trouble finding people to ride with. It certainly looked good enough that I wasn't going to consider a 5 hour + session on the Kickr. With optimism in our hearts we headed out.
At first the ride wasn't too bad, it had rained early morning so the roads were wet, but at the time I headed it out, it wasn't currently raining. That did not last.
After around 40km or so the first of many fronts hit. We got wet, very, very wet. Not the sort of weather to ride the Perth hills in. Nonetheless we trekked on.
About halfway up Welshpool Road (one of the major roads into the hills) my front wheel started feeling a bit funny. As is often the case you tell yourself you are just imagining it, but not long after that I was forced to admit that my front tyre was soft. Puncture time. I haven't had a puncture out on the bike for absolutely ages and so I was probably due. Plus, if you are going to puncture, a day of torrential rain is a likely time to do it. No problem, I always have spares. The only problem was that by that stage it would have been down around 5 degrees and I was wet. Changing a tyre while shivering is not the easiest thing I have ever done. It was not a speedy change.
Tyre changed we rolled on and met the rest of the bunch at the top of the hill. While they had been waiting the group had taken a vote and made the sensible choice of aborting the ride and heading to the nearest cafe. Decision made we headed out of the hills, straight into another squall.
At the bottom of the hills is when the ride got really interesting.
Riding through the rain a silver blur came hurtling past us at great (and illegal) speed. It gave us all a fright, but getting buzzed by cars is unfortunately nothing new. But just a little further down the road we were greeted by a scene of chaos. There was a power pole dangling by wires and a pile of three cars, and the appearance of flames.
It took the brain a minute to process, but it quickly became evident that the silver car that had just roared past us had lost control at a corner, gone straight through a power pole before collecting two cars at an intersection. After the impact it had apparently caught on fire.
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| Photo credit to fellow BYLer Trevor Van Aurich |
When I saw the flames my first reaction was that I was about to see someone die. I couldn't comprehend how somebody could possibly survive the sort of crash I was looking at. To my amazement though not only was nobody dead, but nobody was even seriously hurt.
Our pack rolled up to make sure that people were okay and then waited with one of the hit drivers who was visibly shaken up. After a short wait the emergency services turned up and brought things under control.
Standing around waiting for police to take details etc we all got very, very cold. Uncontrollable shivering type cold. The Firies gave us all blanket's that helped a lot, but we were freezing.
Once we were all done and were finally on our way we were chilled to the bone. Despite riding again I couldn't really warm up. The others stopped for coffee but I just wanted to get home and warm and so I rode on.
On the ride home I finally started to warm up again and I briefly thought about staying out and continuing my long ride. However, I wanted to get a replacement tube for the one I had used and to be honest I had sort of had enough of being out on the road.
Once I got home I spent a bit of time warming up and then I jumped on the Kickr to try and finish the ride. By that time the rain had passed and the day had glorious blue skies, but I had no interest on being back out on my bike. Instead I spent another two and a half hours on the Kickr, which has to be said wasn't much of a picnic either.
All up I got the majority of the ride done I think. By my estimates I did about 165km. Not quite there, but after two and a half hours on the Kickr I was done both physically and mentally. However, with the long breaks in the first ride, the long break in between the bike and the trainer and the remainder done on the Kickr, it was hardly a satisfying session. In many ways it feels like a bit of a wasted morning. I know that isn't really the case, I am definitely feeling shattered so I know I have done some work. Just frustrating I guess. I was really looking forward to getting out and getting in a good, long, solid ride. It can be disappointing when things don't go to plan.
Still, the very bright side of all this is that everyone is okay, both in the cars and on the bikes. Really the car that crashed came past us so close and so fast that it had us all a bit shaken. There were certainly a few 'what if' conversations had on the rest of the ride.
Some days you are better off staying in bed.
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