2008 Zimmerman MS Bike Ride

Saturday, November 8, 2008

You are giving me a ticket!

Accidents and crashes are inevitable if you are a weekend warrior or competitive racer. As we spend a significant amount of time riding on the busy roads of South Florida, the odds are that one day you will have an incident with a motor vehicle. The question is not if but when. And when that day arrives you can only hope that you walk away unscathed, minimal damage to your bike and you haven’t broken a collarbone.

Today was my day! As our group of 50 + Zmotion Riders hammered north on A1A to the Palm Beach Inlet, the ride started out fast and hard! The first 50+ miles where at a steady pace of 27 - 29 mph. (So much for taking it easy in the off season!). The weather was perfect; no wind, sunny and about 70 degrees. After a quick stop at the Shell station we headed back south to finish off a 100 miler. About 5 miles into the return ride, we came upon the round about. As I was into the turn, anticipating the Volkswagen Passat Wagon to continue on her way, she seeming thought it necessary to come to a sudden stop. Seeing 50+ cyclists coming thru the round about must have made the driver frightened and instead of driving thru she decided to stop short right in the middle of the road. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to be able to stop as quickly and rammed into the side of her vehicle with my right shoulder going thru the back side window!

I was extremely lucky as I only have some deep cuts on my right thigh, bike seems to be ok and I did not break any bones. Then the Police arrive, make sure everyone is ok and proceed to write me up for a ticket. – Failure to Yield! Are you kidding me! However I cannot complain as I am ok and will be able to ride the HH 100 next weekend!