We spent some time adjusting and lubricating his chain and he was ready to set off. Just as he was putting on his gear, he asked if I wanted to join him.
I'd been sick the night before and skipped a New Year's party that we were invited to - so I hesitated. But I was feeling much better and the temperature had risen enough to be slightly better than unpleasant ... so I agreed. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't.
Read on to understand why.
We set off, me leading at his request. I always enjoy riding down E MacPhail Road in Bel Air and that's where we headed first. I came to the 4-way stop sign at Brierhill Drive and stopped enough to yield the right of way to a car or two that had also stopped at the intersection and we were off.
That stop sign marks the beginning of one of the funnest short stretches of road in Harford County, so I took off at a good clip.
This was stupid for a variety of reasons:
1. My tires were still cold, and they had little chance of heating up with the weather being as cold as it was.
2. Recent snows had caused road crews to dump salt down on the roads. The salt melted the snow to water, which evaporated but left a salty residue on the road.
3. (Most stupid of all) I was riding with a friend and I wanted to show off.
Approaching the forth corner (a left-hander) thinking I was in third gear and trying to keep my revs up, I down-shifted to second gear in an attempt to "engine brake" into the corner.
However, I was (apparently) already in second and downshifted into neutral instead, which didn't slow me at all. The split second to took me to realize what had happened was enough to break my concentration and the next thing I knew, I had to grab the brakes hard. With the conditions mentioned above, the tires let go and I fell. I was probably only going 20 mph by that point, but I was already nearly kissing the guardrail and not leaned into the corner at all.
There was a loud slam as the bike fell to the ground and some of the plastic exploded. I jumped right up, a little dazed, and went to work standing the bike up and rolling it down to a pull-off about 20 yards back.
As I put down the kickstand at the pull-off, I realized how much my left shoulder hurt and, at the same time, realized that there was some grinding going on in there - I knew instantly that I had broken my collarbone (or clavicle, in medical speak).
Today marks four weeks since the accident, and today is the first day that I feel like any healing has actually taken place. Pain and grinding have been going on since it happened.
For the sake of reference, this is what a normal clavicle looks like:
And here's what mine looked like after the crash:
This is what the SV used to look like:
But this is what it looks like now:
The parts to fix the SV were all ordered and have arrived, but due to the terrible weather conditions we've been having all month (aptly named the "Polar Vortex"), I won't be able to paint the new fairing pieces until it warms up to at least 50 degrees.
That's actually a good thing as it will give me an excuse to rest my shoulder and let it heal a bit more.
If you're interested in the parts I ordered, here's a list including costs:
