During my first long..ish (60 Mile) Bike Ride of The Year I learned a Very Important Lesson! 

I normally ride with a group that is about 10 miles south of me, so I have a nice warmed up before joining the group.   The group generally goes up north so I can drop off on the way back to my house.  This is a win/win for me, since I get warmed up, can start  earlier ( I have 2 small kids) and get home a little earlier.  However, it doesn’t always work out so great, and that’s what happened this past Saturday.

As a bicycle injury lawyer, I am acutely aware of how careful a rider must be on the road.  In addition, to riding careful, it is vitally important to make “safe” decisions when you ride.  This is where I failed and urge all my readers not to make the same mistake…

Ok, so back to this past Saturday  On this particular day the group was not going straight north and I would have to drop off about 15 miles west of my house.   There were two problems with this.  First, a minor one, 25 mph winds from the East and I was heading East the entire 15 miles.  Second, not so minor, the road I needed to take was extremely unfriendly to bikers.  I was in a rush to get home and figured I would simply gut it out.  Let me say this was a very bad decision.  I am lucky to even be able to write this blog today.  I was VERY lucky to not get hit or crash but the chance of either was probably 50%.  At least three times a car basically rubbed paint on me while passing and the gust wind made it difficult to keep the bike straight.   There was no shoulder and the speed limit was 50 mph.  I was forced to often take up enough of the lane so a car would not feel it was safe to pass me.   This resulted in many choice words being yelled at me.  In addition, I didn’t have the group to share the work of riding into the wind with.

The right decision would have been to ride with the group back to the starting point and ride an additional 10 miles on safe roads to get home.   Instead, in my immediate desire to get home earlier (and avoid an already angry wife) I almost made her a widow.   So please when you ride, make sure you stay off roads that you are not comfortable on even if it means getting picked up.  Much more important to have a bad day on the bike than to have no future days on the bike!!

Ride. Be Safe.  Have Fun.

Andrew Kass
Bicycle Accident Lawyer/ Enthusiast
844-Bicycle

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