because DFs *never* crash, bump wheels or anything.  What a crock of crud.
 
BTW, I had a guy from the texas wheels yell at me t'other night for leaving the pack in the dust when we started our ride on the straightaway.  Seems that even though the fast riders catch up with me in the hills, they dislike being taunted by a recumbent a mile ahead of them.  
 
When is the next ride this leader is on?  I say we all show up.

Dang, glad you weren't seriously hurt. Seems like df riders around here are blaming everything except bad mortgages on recumbents these days. What's up with that?

Quote from FooRider on Sep 8^th, 2007, 1:15pm:

 
Glad you are okay. Her 'wish' is absurd and can be taken to logical extremes. Racing is dangerous. Driving is dangerous. Bikes are dangerous. Life is a sexually transmitted, terminal condition.  
 
Sorry you had a bad experience.  
 
woo

Foo,
 
I care little about the scared roadies whinning. I seem to remember some glorious wrecks and quite a bit of blood in previous tour de Frances. Seems there were no recumbents invoved. I am glad your ok. If you gotta crash its best done on a bent. Sad to hear the bike was pranged. I did notice as I went into the office bedroom this morning that my Corsa had shed a little tear.  I am confident that you will ride again to make the DFrs carp some more. They are just jealous that you can go so fast without torturing your body.  
 
 
 

I still wanna know who the ride leader is.  It's worth the drive to to annoy them.  

excellent.  Glad to know that's not the PBA's consensus.  Just seems like there's been way too much anti-bent sentiment in the area lately and it's starting to fray my nerves.

Quote from Strada177 on Sep 10^th, 2007, 8:10pm:

 
 
Was that a "shot" at Ms. Strada???  

I went down taking toys on the Santa ride last year and still have the bump on my knee to remind me wet leaves and sand make for poor traction.
 
Opus

Hey Foo....look for me at Cotton Patch if you do make it.  I'll be the Cat 5 racer at a rest stop after getting dropped
 
Sorry for how this went down (you and the sentiment)...
 
DB

I've had some humorous comments on recent GDB rides since posting about Mike's accident...  and a few people thought it was ME who was in the accident!!!   Last weekend, I hadn't even gotten my bike off the rack before I heard, "I'm sorry, sir, but recumbents aren't allowed on this ride, they're too DANGEROUS!!!"  
 
I just told 'em they were "Number 1"...
 
The wisest comment I heard was, "It's not the type of bike, it's the RIDER that makes a bike dangerous or not..."   Not unlike the "it's the nut behind the wheel" corollary for cars...
 
Get back out there and give 'em what fer, Mikey!!!!
 

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Sep 11^th, 2007, 5:06pm:

 
Who is "Natalie" trying to be here... the NTSB? Newsflash...they're called accidents,generally occuring from more than more causes. I'm curious,did she find the "black box"? Did she interview witnesses? Any video evidence? Did she secure the "crime Scene"???  What a MENSA ! 'Nuff said.

Paul's right, Robert  Steve.  
 
In the wake of the accident, Natalie has taken no official position on recumbents.   I've followed the thread on the PBA site, where there has been some discussion of the crash, and there has been no further talk of specifically banning recumbents or mountain bikes from the Tweener ride.
 
I tried to word my original post to say that the ride founder voiced her wish (as in "preference") that recumbents not participate in her ride.  She never forbade me to participate and, in fact, backpedaled pretty vigorously when she realized that she was discussing a possible recumbent ban with the recumbent rider.  Of course, there was no taking back her inclination toward doing so, and why would I force the issue by riding where I know I'm not welcome?
 
I guess the thing that chaps my hide is that the forum discussion has painted the incident as being the fault of some hotshot going off the front, pushing the pace, and pacelining on a ride where paceline riding is expressly prohibited.  The fact is that, at the time of the wreck, I was averaging around 6 feet behind the guy in front, and slightly to the right so I could see around him.  We were rolling at between 16 and 18 mph, but it wasn't consistent--hence my keeping a comfortable buffer.
 
As to the guy who ran up my back, I suppose the crash might have been my fault for not realizing that I had someone sucking my wheel, despite the fact that you can't draft a recumbent.  On the forum, no names have been mentioned (not that anyone knows mine), and no one has pointed a finger at "that thingy on the recumbent", though it feels that way.  
 
I admit my perceptions of all this are probably colored by the ride leader's comments and by those of at least one person on another forum (apparently we're sneaky and creep up on other riders without announcing our presence--something DF riders never do).  Maybe I just need to go ride with some people who aren't biased against me because of my bike and get my happy thoughts back.  

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Sep 19^th, 2007, 8:07am:

No, not this one.  I was referring to the thread over on the PBA club forum.
 
Quote:

Absolutely not, which is kind of why I felt like I should attempt to further clarify.