One Tough Kid

A couple of years ago our family rode in the Seattle Tour de Cure ride
for Diabetes. The ride started out in a pretty good downpour so we
ended up getting sprayed in the face with water from fellow riders for a
good hour. After a while the rain lifted so we were still riding on
damp roads but the road spray declined. About 30 miles into the ride my
oldest son and I were riding alone having a great time when we crested a
hill. On the other side of the hill was a steep descent which ended
abruptly at a T in the road. This T in the road really snuck up on us
and since the roads were still wet we had to hit our brakes hard so as
to not roll into on coming traffic. Since I was in the front I hit my
brakes first and was struggling to come to a stop but was able to make
it. As I was coming to a stop I heard what sounded like metal scraping
on asphalt come up quickly behind me. I turned around to see what it
was and saw my oldest son sliding on the ground heading right for me
still holding onto his bike. Apparently, he had lost control of his
bike on the wet pavement and went down hard. He came to a stop right in
front of me but didn't end up hitting me.

Because this was such a dangerous turn the ride coordinators had placed
a couple of volunteers at the bottom of the hill to advise riders to
slow down. This didn't help my son's cause but did provide an audience
for his grand wipe out. The volunteers quickly ran over and all of us
tried to help him up. At this point I figured that the ride was over
with such an impressive crash but with all of the attention he got up
really quick, dusted himself off and reassured everyone that he was all
right.

We rode out of the sight of the volunteers then pulled over to assess
the damage. He ended up breaking a pedal but not totally off and had a
really good size raspberry on the side of his calf. As he picked the
gravel out of his wound I told him that it was okay if he wanted to
quit. He wasn't having any of that at all. As we rode off he turned to
me and said "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!" We talked about the awesomeness of
his crash for a long time. I think it the story got better as the ride
continued.

He ended up completing the 72 mile ride with a broken pedal and a really
good size scrape on his leg. I think he was hoping for a large bruise
to appear the next day but nothing showed up.

I think back about that ride and am amazed that we could have such a
spectacular crash and still finish with a broken pedal. He's one tough
kid. When I grow up I want to be more like him.