Another Bicycle Wreck

This morning I wrecked my bike again. It happened as I rounded a corner on the entrance to one of those jogging/biking trails. You've seen them; with concrete posts to prevent motorists from entering the trail. Anyway, I was zooming as usual and I didn't see the stump of wood laying at the apex of the corner. It took my front wheel sideways, changing my trajectory such that I ran directly into one of the posts.

The front brake hydraulic line is severed, the front fender is broken in two pieces, and the air horn mount is broken. I think that custom front wheel is OK but I'll take it to the shop and have them check it out.

My right wrist is probably sprained, my right knee has a nasty abrasion, and my right quadracep feels like one big charlie horse. The quad took a direct hit on the post.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

In the future, I may take the corner out in the street and go between the posts in a straight line. It will be slower that way, but probably safer.

Update: adding a photo of the "stump of wood" that caused all this grief. I put it next to the OEM tire that came off my bike since the bike is currently in the shop being repaired.

You may ask, as I have, "how could I not see this in the road?"

I can only claim the Moon Walking Bear defense.

Glass Bead Class

Last weekend I took a class to learn how to make glass beads. We were only taught the basics of how to work with the tools, and they showed us a couple of techniques like how to make a heart.

I took this photo of the beads I made. Notice that Monya has already turned a pair of them into earrings. Those two beads are the only ones I considered a success, while all the rest are technically failures, but even the failures look pretty interesting.

The tiny white beads were just my markers, to identify my beads from the rest of the students. I liked them too, so I kept them. Next time I'll try to make them a bit more uniform. I'm planning to take another class and learn some more techniques.

Another Capsize Recovery

Another Capsize Recovery from Jim Zimmerman on Vimeo.

This video, taken on September 4, shows how a roll recovery, when done properly, can be so easy that it's possible to pull yourself up so hard that you throw yourself over the other side.