First, let me be clear, I am fine (although you’ll notice that my sunglasses weren’t as lucky). The Doctor said that it’s OK for people to now mock me.
This post was supposed to be about how I easily beat the much stronger Barry up one of the steepest roads in France (he was testing super heavy Paniers for his upcoming Tour through Switzerland).
But as usual, it’s all about me!
Let me be clear, this crash is completely the fault of ERIC (who wasn’t even there) and BARRY. Because:
- As usual, I paid for Barry’s coffee.
- Recently, Eric fixed my brakes so that they actually work for a change.
After climbing to the top of Col de la Croisette, we had stopped for a coffee in Croisette. As we left, I mounted the bike and was fiddling around, putting the change in my back pocket (if Barry paid, no change!). I
hadn’t yet put the helmet back on and I had my other hand on my front brakes.
Suddenly i noticed that I was going pretty fast, so I squeezed the brake not expecting much, but they worked perfectly (Eric’s fault!) and I went right over the top.
Luckily my nose broke the fall.
When the doctor first looked at my nose, she touched a bump and said “broken.” I had to explain that that particular bump was thanks to a punch from a Bouncer back in my youth. But that’s another story.
I very shakily descended this monster climb and we drove to my Swiss Clinique / Emergency. God bless Swiss health care. In not much more than an hour, they cleaned me up, examined me, took X-Rays of shoulder and nose, examined X-Rays, booked follow appointment, etc. Great!
Net, I have a broken nose and a strained shoulder – which is very sore but I don’t think too serious.
The Col de la Croisette will be the feature climb on one stage of the upcoming Dauphinée Libére race on June 12th. See here for more details.
Below: Barry with Paniers
20 Comments
Will, I warned you not to beat me up the hill 🙂
Sorry Will, but if I would have been around, this would most likely have happened a couple of 100 meters higher up, with a few meters of snow under our feet. You would have crashed with a soft landing, we would have laughed and continued. And oh btw, I want to remind you that you still have to sign the disclaimer sheet that I gave you after I fixed your front brake. And of course there is the “Now that Eric fixed my brake, I swear on my nicest bike´s frame that I will take 2 days of cycling school before HITTING THE ROAD AGAIN”. That last part was not to be taken literally.
So time for 2 new rules: 1) STOP SCARING DOREEN 2)STOP SCARING ALL THE REST OF US.
Happy you are OK and TG Barry was around!
That sucks Will. Hopefully the pain will subside soon. I hope they gave you some good Swiss pain killers too.
Glad it wasn’t worse. Heal up fast!
Martin
PS – Glad to I see I escaped any and all blame in this one. 🙂
PPS – How is the bike?
Ouch ouch ouch ouch!!!
Will – I’m glad you’re OK and could smile for the camera. What more can I say but “sorry about your nose and shoulder”, “hope the Swiss doctors prescribed good pain-killers” AND most importantly, “speedy recovery”. Good that Barry was with you and accompanied you to the hospital…naturally, as you claimed he was partially at fault.
I guess this means:
1) “Forget” to bring money next time and make Barry pay for your coffee
2) Get to know your bikes again after Eric fiddles with them
3) Buy a better pair of sunglasses as this one seemed to not have been strong enough to withstand the fall and protect your nose.
Martin, I forgot:
It was also your fault as well as your new sexy Pinarello made me ride a little crazier.
Bike is OK – just the old hybrid.
PS – Being a stud, I turned down the offer of painkillers (you guys know my addictive personality) 🙂
No painkillers…you went right up in my esteem again. OK, you can’t handle a bicycle, but at least you are a tough wreck 😀
PS : Let me know if you need help fixing the bike after the crash.
Just noticed : you actually look better after, than before. Doreen, what do you think???
Will, clearly the bump on your head has made you delusionary. That wasn’t coffee… it was milky water 🙂
http://www.gps-sport.net/trainings/It-was-a-cold-misty-mornin_21901
All, I’d been meaning to compliment Will on his last post re: Martin’s new bike — so funny and you guys all crack me up….but he’s given me something new to write about. Here’s how the phone call went:
Me: Hello
Will: Uhm, do we have any disinfectant?
Me: No. Why?
Will: Uhm, well, I had a bit of a crash.
Me: WHAT?!?! Are you ok? What happened? Where are you? Are you ok?
Will: No big deal, just thought I’d ask.
Me: Shall I come home? (asked anxiously)
Will: No, no, I’m fine. And if you come home, I won’t be here. I might go to Emergency. It’s ok, Barry’s here. Bye (hangs up)
Me: Hello?!
So I race home from work and find soggy bloody paper towels strewn around the house. But there’s a fresh pot of coffee in the living room so maybe he is ok after all?
Anyhow, he seems ok now (tough guy that he is) and on the plus side, the big bump on his head gives him almost an extra inch of height.
Doreen
Hey Slogfester
I forgot about those kids (convicts on work time) fixing the potholes atop Croisette for the Dauphinée perhaps.
I’d send you the other photos but it also died in the crash
Doreen, you are the true hero here. Men could not be men without women like you. (And my apologies to you for the brake.)
“So I race home from work and find soggy bloody paper towels strewn around the house. But there’s a fresh pot of coffee in the living room so maybe he is ok after all?”
The guy invites me back and I have to make my own coffee (something about “I’m bleeding”, yeah whatever) and its got chicory in it for C#$%^s sake!
Barry, if you ever want to find “true love” you can keep thinking the same, but don’t say it (LOL).
Not so much I can add to the comments already here except for a call for the bouncer story.
I only say: get well
At least you could put on a brave face. So another bump to go with the bouncer’s gift?
OUCH! Well that is a beauty. What a badge of courage you have now. I love the story… but sorry that you have a broken nose. By the way, whose idea was it to stop for coffee? Did I miss that? I hope it was a damn good coffee.
Incredible Will’s stories
I wish you a good recovery (again !) 🙂
Ouch! looks like it was a painful day all around.
Very, very steep climb and a broken nose.
I hope it has stopped hurting!
As an after thought, if like those terribly sensible Brits and their Ozstralian bretheren, you’d have had your back brake on the left, this may not have happened?