So, after a long day at work yesterday, and a hard week of training, my wife convinced me to miss my 8:30 swim workout so that I could stay home and “cuddle” with her on the couch. To be honest, she didn’t have to try all that hard to convince me, as she’s a total babe and I wasn’t all that interested in going anyway (and no, she doesn’t lurk here and I’m not just saying that).
So, after some serious quality time with my wife, which is a rarity during the week because of my job and training, she decides that she wants to watch ER. I couldn’t care less about ER, so I (being the hyper-motivated tri-weenie that I am) decide that I’ll get on my bike and do a quick one hour spin while she watches ER, to make up for the missed swim workout. This is made even easier as my bike is already set up on the trainer (behind the couch in the living room, facing the tv) from Wednesday’s workout.
As an aside (and as a little foreshadowing), after my bike workout on Wednesday, I played hockey and was knocked down (I did NOT fall) twice onto the same elbow, which is now the size of a small grapefruit, in a classic case of bursitis.
As I hop on my bike and start to spin, I realize that I have forgotten to tighten the roller onto my back wheel, as I had loosened it after my ride on Wednesday. I ask nicely and my wife comes around and tightens it for me, without too much protest. I warm up and then get down into the aerobars (choking up a little, of course, to protect my injured elbow) and spin away at about 95 rpm, my normal cadence. About every 10-12 minutes I shift into 53-12 and stand up for a little easy climbing work and to give my sore butt a break.
In a truly twisted coincidence, the first time I do so we watch the helicopter crash into the ER parking lot.
As I stand up for my third climbing rep, and just as I’m getting into my rhythm, my bike starts to list, evvvvverrrr so slightly to the left, and then BAM, I crash to the floor, landing right on my (already injured) elbow, and end up eating hardwood with my bike on top of me and my wife frantically asking “Are you ok?”. Now, just so you know, I have never, ever, crashed this bike, and it is my baby. So, there I am, on the floor, cursing like a sailor (trucker, trailer park wannabe, choose your own metaphor), in a good amount of pain, and hopelessly trying to figure out how I have managed (a la Hurricane Bob) to crash my bike while on my STATIONARY trainer. (note, I have rollers too, and have never fallen off of them … )(at least not on this bike).
I pick my bike and myself up off the floor, with my pride wounded more than anything else (my bike is fine), although my elbow is throbbing out a nice tune. As I get up and look at my trainer, it slowly dawns on me what has happened. After my workout on Wednesday, not only did I loosen the roller against the back wheel, I also loosened the trainer on the rear skewer, as I ALWAYS do, to avoid putting unnecessary stress on it while I’m not on the trainer. In my sleepy haze getting onto my bike that evening, I of course forgot to tighten it again, just as I did with the roller on the rear wheel. You would think that realizing that the roller was loose would have twigged something in my brain, but of course, dear reader, it did not.
My workout, of course, ended there and then (although all I really had left was my cooldown). I hope that this will act as a cautionary tale to my cyberspace brethren, and I hope you laugh as hard as I did after my elbow stopped throbbing.
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