Martin Takes a Dive
By Will • Jun 10th, 2007 • Category: CyclingAn energetic ride with Martin through Geneva countryside and along the Jura foothills.
Martin had a little trouble with his bike shoes, losing a couple of screws mid-ride. Failed repair attempts left it difficult for him to unclip. I was searching for a secret road back into Switzerland from France near CERN and found it, but it had a barrier to block cars. I walked my bike around the barrier, but my far more technically talented partner tried to cycle this tight path.
Suddenly, he lost his balance and couldn’t unclip - I turned to see Martin about 3 feet below me, fallen in a ditch. Before I could see if he was OK he started to laugh for a good 5 seconds - phew. Then suddenly he just disappeared from site - falling into one of the deepest ditches I have ever seen. SILENCE. WOW! WORRIED! As I leaned over to see where the hell Martin had disappeared to - he started laughing again - a good 10 feet below me. It took him several minutes to unclip and find a way out of this giant pit. No broken bones and just a slightly damaged tire.
The rest of ride was filled with bouts of us both howling with laughter - and me making the odd raw sewage joke. Why don’t I bring my camera for every ride? One sign of a great cycling partner is someone that instinctively sees the funny side of adversity.
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Will is Happiest while cycling uphill. More enthusiastic than talented, his 2008 Challenge is to (again) cycle 160,000 metres of vertical ascent.
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