Posted by Daniel Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:36:08 GMT

The high holidays have come and gone, fall is here, and my cycling, while slowed due to the hectic schedule, continues.

Yesterday, I went to check out a bike sale and to drop some stuff off. I decided to try a bike, but didn’t notice a loose stem clamp (around the steerer tube). It was just tight enough that walking the bike out was fine. It was just loose enough that I fell over climbing on bruising my shoulder. Not just a flesh wound either. Ow! Darn that hurts, and was sooo unexpected. I can see how folks break their collar bones so easily. I was probably close to doing so *and* ripping my rotator cuff.

I massaged and took NSAIDs, and cleared up the minor road rash over the nice sized bruise. My wife checked my range of motion and made clucking noises about me killing myself. Today, more of the same, plus a light ride, to see how it was feeling. It was OK, and loosened up nicely while I was riding.

But as a warning… always thoroughly check out a bike before you ride it! I checked but not carefully enough. I presume the mistake occurred because they had built so many bikes because of the sale (they had already sold more than 50 bikes in the last two days) that a little interruption and the tightening was incomplete.

Anyway, I’ll be doing a nice group ride tomorrow morning, and looking forward to it. Then it’s a busy afternoon.