Mike's Bike Blog

No I didn't crash on the bike, but read along. Today there was a hike scheduled with Ethan's cub scout den. Friday we got word that it was cancelled, since Jack and Ethan were excited to go we decided to load up the mountain bikes and go for a ride at Brushy Creek Park. Brushy Creek Park is a mix of paved pathways along with pebble/dirt sections that meanders along Brushy Creek.

The boys were doing quite good, I was surprised at their speed. We averaged 9 mph for the first 3 miles. We stopped at 3 miles at the Brushy Creek MUD pool to use the restroom. Once done we shoved off, Jack was in the lead but Ethan was gaining on him. This was quickly turning into a race.

Ethan started to pass Jack on the right as Jack started to move to the right. This forced Ethan off the pavement and into the dirt. He attempted to get back on the sidewalk but his front wheel caught the lip of the pavement and he didn't make it. in a blink of an eye he went down head first. The front of the helmet luckily took the blunt of the impact. He walked away with some road rash on his face, knee and arm. When he crashed he was going 12 to 14 mph, I was going 12 mph trailing behind the boys and he was pulling away from me.

He didn't think he could ride or walk back to the car so I took off back to the car to drive back down to the pool where they were waiting at. When I was flying back to where we parked I got yelled at by a couple of mommy walkers. They were walking with their strollers 2 abreast and I came upon them at 20 mph and didn't shout out "On your LEFT". I wasn't expecting them to be right in the middle in essence taking up the entire path. I did slow down to a decent pace before I passed them. However that wasn't enough for these two, I got yelled at by one of them to be courteous and let people know I was approaching. I don't do much riding on such multi use pathways, but when I do I have not noticed many walkers/joggers/runners head my warnings, most of the people I pass are so self absorbed with their workout and their iPod that they don't hear me anyway. Even cyclists on pathways seem to be oblivious to others with their tunes on so loud I can here it when I pass.

Ethan is quite the tough guy, he was back to his old self once we got him cleaned up. There wasn't any noticeable cracks or impact dents on his helmet, but I didn't want to risk it so tonight we ventured out to the LBS and he got to pick out a new helmet.