At last Sunday’s track bike meet up! I decided it was a good idea to crash head on into a garden island which was sat in the middle of a pathway. The pathway leads back from a small village called Cramond back into Edinburgh running along the edge of the coast.  At the time it was pretty much zero visibility, there are no street lights and it was pitch black. The only visibility markers I had was the light from over the sea to my left, some black shadows of cyclists with bobbing red back lights in front, some shadows of trees and the odd shade of grey changing on the pathway. I was finding it difficult to see even with my front light and I found judging my distances almost impossible as what I could see was blocked by the riders in front, so I had no choice but to trust their back lights as my guide. Plus you can’t see how quick your rolling unless you spot a bin when you shoot past one. So I continued to follow the bike lights in front.

The crash happened really quickly, over in a matter of seconds. one minute I was cruising at a moderate speed, then the red lights in front of me moved, there were no warnings, and from no where I was presented with a wall about 3 feet in front of me, this is when I realised, “fuck I’m gonna hit this!” by now I had hit the wall.

I have three freeze frames in my head from the crash, the wall, the sky and the sea to my right. It was a pretty violent and frightening affair, I didn’t know where I was or what the f**k was going on! I was chucked from my bike and rag-dolled on to the top of the island (which luckily was covered with grass). I landed onto my head to the side where I then slide and rolled until I stopped. The scary part was as I was sliding I manage to jolt my head and neck. I remember shitting myself at this point and jumped to my feet instantly grabbing my neck! then shock kicked in and I realised, fuck I have crashed and I’ve trashed my bike! and began to lay on the floor to get myself together.

Deek and I then grabbed a cab to A+E in Little France. After quite a few hours later and lots of neck and skull x-rays, I arrived home at 3.30am with a broken bike, a few bumps on my head and a severely strained neck! a pretty dam fucking lucky escape. No cuts, scrapes or breaks.

Ride safe.

nice fork project going on in milwaukee

Source: Prolly is not probably , flickr

this made me smile…

SUBURBS CREW x FIXED GEAR LONDON x BRIGHT TRADESHOW 09 / FRANKFURT /// TRICKS EDIT from Androsky Knauer on Vimeo.

Boogie Nights 1.2 from ace carretero on Vimeo.

As my riding style is changing by the day, I’ve updated some parts, replaced some and lowered my gearing to create a more fun, trick ride… which after yesterdays test ride… works perfectly! it doesn’t bar spin but hey hey! new frame and forks next.