I Drove Two Bikes on Top of an SUV Into a House. Guess Who Won?
7 Hour
47 Minute
AM
It was a perfect morning to go riding. We loaded our gear into the car. The sun came up. The temperature was divine. Birds chirped. Chipmunks played. A beautiful day.
I put the bikes onto the top of the X5, strap everything in tightly and proceed to drive the X5 into the garage, smashing both bikes in the process.
Both bikes suffer broken forks at best and possible structural damage at worst.
I couldn't believe it. I knew what I had done the moment I heard the crack. I got out of the car and walked inside without even looking at the damage. Heather was very gentle with me and came inside to give me a hug. I appreciated it.
One week before the race. On a day that found both of us wearing our biking gear and looking forward to a ride, I break both bikes.
What a humuliating thing to do. All I had to do was back up. I've done it quite a few times. When I pulled the X5 out of the garage I considered turning it around without the bikes. Had I done so I'd be biking right now, not typing. And I could have simply backed out once the bikes were on the top. But no, I drove both bikes into the garage.
I later went outside to check the damage. Heather helped me take the bikes down. She's a sweetheart considering that I just smashed her bike.
Both forks broken. Drivetrains likely strained. Wheels possibly out of alignment. Handlebars f'd up. The X5 has some nice roof dents now but I could care less. Shiny new roof rack I bought about two weeks ago is now broken. I'm more worried about the bikes.
I'll take them into All3Sports on Monday and hopefully they can fix them by Friday. Those guys rock and if anybody can fix it they can. Now I just need an excuse: there I was racing Lance Armstrong downhill in north Georgia when a beaver jumped out into the middle of the road and I had to bunny-hop it into a guard rail... I love animals. Think they'll buy it? Heather just read this and said "How are you gonna work me into the equation... you need an excuse." Yeah, good point Heather. How about this: my blonde fiance drove the bikes into the house. They'll definitely buy that one. (For the record, Heather read this and told me to put the word "blonde" in the above sentence.)
No, I'd never do that to Terpa... she's an excellent driver.
In the end I'll suffer a massive pride hit, about $1000 or more and a lost day of riding. Everything will once again be beautiful and happy.
And in theory it's good that it happened today instead of next Friday before the race.
I can't believe it. I feel like such an idiot. But I think that I'll be laughing about it in less than an hour.
I guess that this is what life's about... or maybe that's just my attempt to take something so incredibly stupid and embarrasing and turn it into something wisdom-building. Yeah, that's it. But I'm still a moron.
Running vs. Racing and Runner vs. Racer