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…two hours with acupuncturist, three sets of x-rays, a whole bunch of tape, handfuls of anti-inflamatories, several lost days (and counting)…… thanks to one litte teeny weenie itsy bitsy millisecond loss of focus.

I fell again on Thursday.

Fell on a solo ride (which I must say was going very well) on my Ibis Hakka, which I’ve ridden thousands of miles (without falling).

Fell because I failed to unclip, after nine years of using clipped in shoes (again, without falling).

Fell because… I fell.

Ignominiously.

In the parking lot of Incycle (a high-end bike shop).

Where I was just stopping off to get some new electrolyte powder in preparation for the big ride today (they were out) (and it wouldn’t matter because guess who is not doing the big ride today).*

*The “Big Ride” (4/27) is known as “Day on the Ride.” It’s the event Kathy worked so hard to prep for these past two weeks . . . you know, after being sidelined the previous two weeks due to tooth/jaw issues—Scott

I mean… this is getting ridiculous. Training seasons are always plagued by things like weather and maybe a flat tire or two (I hate to invoke that because, knock knock, that’s like the one thing that hasn’t really been a problem this year**).  (Maybe because, you know, I keep getting sidelined so much.)

**Ha! Until today when Scott got a flat tire, almost certainly because I jinxed that as well. —Kathy

OK, I’m going to defend myself against my own last parenthetical. Despite the…

• Covid (January)
• Root canal (January)
• Ongoing tooth issues (March)
• Fall on MTB trail (April)
• Tooth extraction (April)
• Fall in parking lot (April)
• Not to mention the weather…

…I’ve actually gotten in a lot of miles. Like way more than usual. Seriously: Go me! But correlation? Maybe. Causation? Probably not.

There is a lot on my mind, and what I’ve been painfully reminded of with this latest fall is that riding takes FOCUS. Like just real focus. Because spacing out for a split second — the WRONG split second — can lead to some pretty fast contact with very hard objects.

So here I am. A sprained ankle, bruised knees, a very sore sternum and ribs, and painfully wounded pride.

Please indulge me as I reiterate—I’ve been doing this ride since 2016 and training for it since 2015. I ride about 2000 miles a year (I know, not as much as some, but still…). I fell once in the early days, maybe before I even had even heard of AIDS/Lifecyle, and that was just pure stupidity (listening to music on the beach bike path and in such a blissful groove that I literally drove off the trail and fell in sand… DOH).

And that’s been IT for falling up to now. That’s it. Even when I learned to clip in and out and everyone said that EVERYONE falls… I’d keep my mouth shut and smile inwardly because I never had. (Thus absolutely jinxing myself, I might add, because we know what pride goeth before…). The fall a few weeks ago on the mountain bike path was a complete surprise. As was Thursday. I just couldn’t believe I hadn’t been able to get my foot out the same way I had THOUSANDS of times before.

Now…. here’s the moral to this cautionary tale. If you are switching between flat pedals (as on the tandem) and “clipless” pedals (which actually mean you ARE clipped in but just not in the old fashioned toe cage way, which just makes zero sense to me) — PAY FUCKING ATTENTION.

That’s it.

I must’ve had a minute glitch in my head at the precise moment I was supposed to pull my foot out (a very easy motion, but… you know, you’ve got to do it), and I didn’t. So there ya go.

Q. How mad is Scott about all this?

A. Suprisingly not as pissed off as I thought. He’s riding the big ride today solo and I’ll meet him at lunch (since the sprained ankle is on the left I can drive, thank god). I’ll see all my other pals and we’ll hug (gently, because of the sternum, but if not gently… it’s still worth it. Love can be a little painful sometime but it’s still love.)

Q. How is the bike?

A. No obvious signs of distress. But I was happy to see that my Garmin noticed the crash. even though it informed me it was unable to send an emergency message.

Q. Will this jeopardize the Big Ride?

A. NO. It won’t. But… seriously… these things need to just quit happening.

Q. When will I be back up in the saddle?

A. All fingers and toes crossed (but not knees or ankles) — hopefully soon. Maybe Monday? We worked SOOOOOO hard to get me back up to speed, and it’s just so distressing to be down again. But we are undaunted! Team Tandem will prevail!