iRide Mon. 16 Sep. 2019

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Sharp reminder

• I took yesterday off for WAAAP (whingeing about aches and pains). We sallied forth on a retail therapy expedition and I bought some warmer clothing for the cooler cycling weather that is approaching—although not just yet as the afternoons are still over 90°F (32.2°C) with plenty of warm sunshine even in the breeze. On the way home we stopped at the license plate pole to take photos.

Today, I delayed the start of my ride start until I was moving more freely. It was windy, but comfortably warm and sunny. I rode steadily and the rest on the previous day and the conservative riding today soon had me feeling much better. I passed several touring bicyclists and wondered how the SPP (self-propelling particle aka Dan Calverley) was progressing on his bicycle journey across six continents. As I climbed the rise to the north cattle guard at the end of W3000S where it bends 90° left, I was thinking what a potentially hazardous journey he had undertaken.

On my way north back down from Sand Hollow Top I received a sharp reminder that danger is ever present even on our home patch. Worst of all, sometimes calamity strikes so randomly that no amount of caution and preparation will serve to keep it at bay. A southbound SUV seemed to have failed to negotiate the bend at the north cattle guard and was lying on its side with a shattered windscreen and a battered front end.

A person was lying beside the vehicle being attended to by the emergency services. I took a photo as I approached and stopped again a little further along, slightly shocked to realize that I had ridden that stretch of road only fifteen minutes earlier. A policeman waved me away, probably taking me to be a morbid rubber-necking gawker rather than someone who was giving thanks that the crashed vehicle and he had not literally crossed paths. A local news website reported that two people—the driver and an adult male passenger—were taken to hospital. Without being melodramatic, I was grateful that I was not the third man in this event.


WEATHER report:
*START* 09:23, Clear, 77°F, Feels like 77°F, Cloud: 4%, Humidity 40%, Dewpoint 50°F, Wind 5mph from ↖, 8mph, UV index 2.
*END* 11:36, Clear, 87°F, Feels like 87°F, Cloud: 10%, Humidity 22%, Dewpoint 44°F, Wind 10mph from ↗, 16mph, UV index 6.
*RIDE* feel 82°F, avg. temp. 82°F, avg. feel temp. 82°F.


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