Well, I had a blast for the length of the official ride too. As for the rest of it - I promised a recap and, well, let's start the night before:
Friday night I walk out of Safeway to find a note on my bike - "sorry, I knocked it [IT!] over. Give me a call." Damage: bent clip-on bar, busted tailpiece, battery acid on frame, broken footpeg, bent and unresponsive clutch.
It rode ok, so Saturday morning I go down to meet the SF crew at Scuderia - it becomes increasingly apparent that my bike is not happy, even after Juan's gracious assistance in switching the front and rear right pegs and fiddling with the clutch. so I wait till Munroe opens - within 25minutes they've got me up and running, even bolted my loose tailpiece and cleaned my mirrors for the ride, and sent me off with a cheery wave (they called it a "pit-stop" and were really into it; they were awesome). I was running late so I came in to the top of the ride from Walnut Creek, meeting the first group at the bottom of Summit Road. Through to In-n-Out, it was very nearly perfect, laugh-out-loud bliss.
On the way back to SF with the Paul Dent experience, I suffered what will in time likely go down as the most stupid fall in the aggregated history of two-wheeled automated vehicle operation. I was off on the Alameda Dr. shoulder, ahead of the group, rolling along at 15mph and staring into my mirror to see if I missed a turn, unaware that I was drifting to my right. I finally bumped into the curb and went down with all the grace and style of a flying mallet. Damage: dented tank, scratched-up crank case, messed up brakes, scuffed pipe, etc.. Inquiries into my physical state and condolences were heard all around and, thinking the worst had to be behind me, we all set out again. No reason to be spooked, right?
Wrong. Not a mile down the road, I came in wide on a turn, must have hit the front brake or something, and went down AGAIN, not 20 feet from the big orange "LOOSE GRAVEL" sign. Of course, displaying equanimity of cosmic proportions, this time my bike fell on its left side. I ended up face first in a ditch which, while pretty uncool, seem kinda fitting.
Damage: busted headlight and bracket, blinker, barend, pretzeled shifter (any photos guys?), TWO dents in the tank and various sundry scuffs on the case, pipe and fork. Fortunately I was totally fine (battle-scar on my jacket. woohoo!).
ANYHOW: The point of all this is to highlight how awesome the 7 guys with me were. Everyone was so helpful, so concerned (though not overbearing) - if I appreciated it then, I do even more in retrospect. Juan and Cesar in particular pulled some wizardry of the highest order on the shifter. I owe you guys a beer. I made it home fine and dandy. Despite holding everyone back for over an hour, nobody seemed to care. So thanks to you all - I'm glad I met you and I'll see you at the next ride.
Hopefully I've filled my faceplant quota for the next little while... ;D
Re: Mt. Diablo ride is a success
<br />USA >> CA >> Los Gatos<br />
Linear Mode
