Why the shop is down...

(do not scroll down if you are squeamish, you have been warned)

click to make bigger...

So that is the picture this is the story. I drove down south to the Blue Valley spot of the Overland Park-Lenexa-Olathe Megatropolis area to an appointment I had made with a purveyor of a two year old Specialized Tricross Sport.

This is a bike that I thought was out of my price range when I was looking for a replacement of my old odd blue Raleigh titanium road bike. I consequently purchased a Jamis Aurora touring framing and have been slowly putting the parts together to put that bike together.

This guy had a good price on it, though it is well ridden and I wanted to go check it out. I thought maybe I buy it, maybe not. If I do I would only keep it until the Jamis is built up, blah, blah, blah. Nice guy, we talked a while and I asked if it was okay if I take it for a ride.

I hop on, ride up the block, shift through the gears, and think, it seems okay. I decide to shift down, stand up, and mash on the pedals. The rest is a flash, some how shifting up I dropped the chain. I was thrown into the front handlebars after I lost my balance, the front wheel and all turned to the right 90 degrees, and acted as the brake. I had enough time for two things: 1) Say the word, "F*ck!" and 2) Turn my head to the side so I wouldn't take the impact head on.

I flipped, smashed, grinded, and then saw the bike go over head. I remember thinking, "I'm okay I think," and "What a eff'ing nightmare." Which I said many times over the next 30 minutes. The bike owner came and checked me out, to his accord he cared about how bad I was, which was pretty bad at least bloody wise. Meanwhile I surveyed that I had messed up his bike.

He helped wash me off, spray on some disinfectant, and dab dry. We talked for too long, I saw that the bike wasn't as bad as I thought (bent bars and front wheel only), and I left to get cleaned up and go see a doctor.

Needless to say I am buying the bike and will get it all fixed up. I don't know if I will keep or sell it but either way it is costing me time and money. I don't feel like I made the right choice.

So be careful while riding, you could get hurt any time by a car, by yourself, or by accident. I don't know what would have prevented this other than me being more careful and not pushing a bike so hard. Ride safe...