The crash

On the last weekend before the summer holidays Piet had his first ever real crash, after some 25 years on the bike. The weather was great and a long loop around the islands south of Rotterdam was nearly done. Piet was drafting behind his mate Renaat, speeding along a narrow cycling path with no one in sight, when suddenly some geese decided to cross. Renaat braked abruptly, bikes tangled and they were both on the ground. Piet had some bad roadrash (elbow, thigh, knee, lower leg) after sliding on the asphalt, Renaat tumbled in the grass and was fine. His bike however, was missing a 10 cm piece of carbon frame that had snapped off his rear fork. A total write-off for the frame, and stuck in the middle of nowhere… (east of Hellevoetsluis for the connaisseurs). So, Piet got back on his somewhat functioning bike, cycled 25 km back to the car, picked up Renaat, and together they drove back home, to the joy of cleaning wounds under the shower. We will spare you the photo’s of raw flesh! After a few unpleasant nights and 2 weeks of scabs he has a baby-pink skin again. There are a few upsides though: apparently you don’t become a real biker if you haven’t had a serious crash (and live to tell the tale!), and Renaat can start looking for a new bike…