The bad news: I crashed Saturday 10 miles into the Knoxville Double Century and totaled my steel Rock Lobster frame...
The good news? I got to go the "candy store"...
Here's how it happend:
Happened about 10 miles into the Knoxville Double Century yesterday. Was riding with 3 friends at about 6:00AM (before sunrise). The road was rather rough right in there. The first rider lost her bike computer and went to grab it as it was falling, then she knocked her light off of its mount, second rider yells 'stopping!' and scares rider one. ... Read MoreRider one crashes. Rider three crashes right in front of me. I don't think I hit her... It would see that the frame buckled due to the me hitting the front brake. The failure occurred at the end of a gusset that reinforces the joint between the downtube and the headtube. This pitches me over the handlebar... I landed on my back after hitting first with my hands and then my helmet (helmet is toast as well). All told though, I got off relatively injury-free: my right thumbnail has blood under it, and the tendons are sore. A few of my fingertips are numb. And my back feels like it's bruised, although no bruising has surfaced yet.
Fortunately, Joan was heading out to work at one of the rest stops. So I ended up being an "involuntary volunteer" at rest stops 2 and 4.
And now I get to shop for a new road bike and then head to the frame builder to hopefully get a warranty replacement ordered up for the frame...As for the candy store part...
I test rode the following: Specialized Tarmac Pro, Specialized Roubaix Elite, Specialized Roubaix Pro, Trek Madone 5.2, Trek Madone 6.2, Jamis Xenith Comp, Bianchi Vigorelli, Bianchi Via Narone, Look 566 and a Look 595. I liked the 595 so much that I stopped looking altogether and bought the frameset off the wall... The shop is now transferring the parts from my Rock Lobster to the new frame. This should knock at least a few minutes off my BOOB time! It really wants to fly!
Here's a pic:
