Murphy's Law of Biking?

Murphy's Law of Biking?

The great flood of 2005 (the sunshine's so bright it's hurtin' my eyes...)

I managed to fit in a bike ride this weekend. I was so glad the weather was so nice. So warm, I could feel the rays of sun splashing my face.

Spring was finally here, I thought [ed. note: an overnight storm brought 5 cm of snow.]

I was feeling really well. The long winter break allowed my right wrist to heal. The pain in my right hip seemed at bay as well.

The bike felt really smooth.

For this early in the season, biking seemed effortless, I thought.

That was until I rode into the very east end of Fish Creek Park, a natural park close to where I live.

As I was riding along, the bicycle path took a wee dip into a stand of bald poplar trees. At the base of the small knoll the path terminated at a T-intersection.

It was Sunday and the Park was crowded with folks enjoying the well deserved weather.

As I swooped down the hill, I saw a couple of seniors approaching from the right of the intersection.

I rang my bell.

Damn, they weren't going to hear the ring, I thought.

I slowed down for extra measure.

Out of nowhere, a little girl (now more than 8 or 9 years old), riding her Walmart-purchased hot pink bike complete with multicolored bar-end streamers and white tires, came barreling through the intersection from the left.

She was wildly out of control.

Her momentum carried her well into my side of the path.

Distracted just enough by the elderly pedestrians, I swerved.

However, to no avail.

The little girl slammed into my left shin.

An enormous, wretched, sick crashing noise came from behind me.

I turned around to find the little girl lying prostrate over the ground next to the wreckage of her bike.

Miraculously unscathed, she quietly picked herself off the ground and started walking off with her bike.

I checked on her.

She said she was okay.

Her dad watched the whole situation unfold from atop the grassy knoll. He came down and scolded his young daughter for missing the turn. Ugh.

He asked me how I was. I told him I was more concerned about the little girl.

I rode onwards albeit in some shock from the crash.

On the next hill climb, as I shifted to a lower gear, my bike's rear derailleur cable snapped.

I'm not sure why it broke.

What else could go wrong?

I limped home on the three remaining gears...