Direct Hit, Tailgunner Daimler

I get home fairly early today, so decide to go out on a road spin on the 10th Anniversary Fat. It’s a nice night, temp is actually a bit warm, I’ll discover later that the winds are strong. I’m on skinny tires and spinningaway on the road like a roadie, it feels good. There’s early evening traffic out, but I’m fairly comfortable with it. I plan to just do some loops in Hawaii Kai. I pull over at the Hahaione 7-11 to adjust my seat height and angle. I’d earlier swapped saddles so needed to shake things down a bit. That done, I saddled up and headed back onto the road. I turn onto Keahole-Hawaii Kai intersection, prob the one portion that is a bit dicey. There’s a lot of traffic from Safeway and Cosco, it’s on an outside curve so cars want to wander to the right into you, the road surface is terrible (any surprise there?), and no one heeds the 25 mph speed limit. Coming from Hawaii Kai Drive and crossing with the light, it’s not too bad as you can usually get a fair way down the road before the bulk of distracted drivers from the shopping center catch up.

This time around though, as I hit the twenty some odd times patched asphalt, I hear something make a soft noise behind me. What the heck was that? I steal a quick glance over my shoulder and see something dark on road directly behind me. Oh nuts, when I adjusted seat I undid the seat pack and forgot to fasten the main strap! It now lay in the road withthe hoard of cars racing from the light that just changed bearing down on it. Curses, I pull over, get off bike, and walk it back, bike along curb, myself up on the curb. All I can do is watch. Everyone manages to avoid it, except for one Mercedes who runs over it squarely with bothfront and rear tires. I actually utter, “gee, thanks.” I think to myself, damn, this is the one time I wish I rode with a seatpack full of nails, such a malicious thought from me, naughty naughty. After the cars clear, I grab the pack and attach it back to saddle. Doesn’t look too much worse for its little adventure, I’ll take a closer look when I get home.

As I continue my ride for another lap, the thought dawns on me that where the pack had fallen was exactly where I ride. Did give me moment of pause, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me riding. It also reminded me that it’s a good thing to not ride hooked up to some kind of personal music player. I’ve never liked doing that anyway, I like being in touch with the environment and what is going on around. I finish up my ride and empty out the pack. The favorite Wheelsmith tire levers are unscathed, hooray! And actually everything else is intact. The little Rema patch kit box is a bit crimped, but surprisingly it looks like even the tube of glue wasn’t smushed. I guess the spare inner tube and the way I pack the Y shaped tool protected it. Be glad Mercedes that I’m not a ninja and the tool isn’t pointy like some kind of throwing star!

For sng, here’s a gps plot from my iPhone.