the three stooges

The snow and ice has been plaguing us with it's presence here in Virginia for quite some time now. Riding has become very difficult, with temperatures in the -10C and ice covering the roads. I have been pretty much off the bike since December and am not enjoying that fact.

With a slightly warmer day on the radar a little while ago, a few of us jumped at the opportunity to get in a few miles. Chris Gould, John Parks, John Neusbaum and myself met up in Warrenton at 11am for a couple hours of riding and chatting. It was cold as heck. All was going well until we came across a stretch of road with some snow in the middle. We rode on either side of the little stretch of snow, until Chris Gould who was first in line hit some black ice as we headed up a slight incline. His rear wheel went one way, he went the other and hit the floor. I was right behind him and found myself sliding across the ice in now time, eventually turning onto my feet and hands and eventually coming to a stop just in time to see John Parks on his back sliding towards me and only coming to a stop once he got tangled up with my bike on the side of the road. John had some road rash on his butt and forw-arm, Chris cut his chin pretty deep and cut his jersey upon his chest. I got nothing. I think I was wearing so many layers (2 jerseys, 2 thick thermal jackets etc) that I was more like a michelin man bouncy-ball when I hit the ground. No one was seriously hurt, least of all John Neusbaum who didn't even see fit to hit the ground with us and join in the fun. The rest of the ride was fine, though we kept getting nervous every time we saw a shaded dark patch on the road. The crash scene was quite comedic. The three of us crashing looked like cards going down one after the other. The Three Stooges indeed!

Moral of the story is: don't ride in cold countries. I'm going to start a petition to ban cold weather. There are so many other rules and regulations in the US that I figure no one would even notice this one... and if anyone opposes my idea, I'll just sue them. :-)

I'll be back in France on Monday, where the temperatures are a little better.... but it is raining. :-(

Stay safe people, and stay out of the cold!