We got as far as Dunchurch before I cycled out, a good 18 inches, to drop to the back of the pack, when a 'short man syndrome sufferer' took exception to this and decided that the best course of action was to beep his horn to illustrate that he thought we should perhaps be cycling closer to the kerb. Sonny, feeling that this criticism of our cycling was unjust, gently disagreed with the aforementioned testicleless motorist and demonstrated this with a prompt two fingered salute.
Mr Testosterone decide that this subject would now warrant further discussion and pulled over safety, in the middle of the road, to continue this conversation in a gentlemanly fashion. The abrupt stop caused Sonny to brake hard which caused Simon to clip his back wheel and come off. After a few choice word from both parties, Shorty Mc I'm trying to impress my extremely less than impressed girlfriend who I have left in the car on the middle of a bridge cut the conversation short and left. Not to spoil our cycle, we made sure that Simon was ok and persevered.
As we continued Simon made the understatement of the year by saying to Sonny, "Sorry mate, I think that I have scratched your paint," but, again, off we went. Things were fine and the day started looking better. We got through Southam and were on the way to Napton when we noticed that Sonny kept falling behind. Now, since Sonny is quite fit these days, we attributed this lack of pace to the bottle and a half of wine he consumed last night. However, we were soon (a while away yet!) to realise that things weren't ok.
When we reached Daventry we stopped so we could have a look at Sonny's bike because it didn't make sense that he was rolling down the hills much. much slower than us. Turns out there was a slight buckle in the wheel and he had been cycling with his brakes rubbing, fairly harshly, for about 15 miles! It was at this point that we thought that perhaps this "paint scuff" was perhaps a little more serious and decided to cut the ride short and just head home so we could take it to the shop for them to check.
We headed out to Evans Cycles in Milton Keynes and explained the situation to matey. He started explaining that to test for cracked carbon fibre you simply took a 2 pence piece and..... It was at this point he reached Sonny's bike and stopped in mid sentence to reveal that it was definitely cracked because he "could see it"! Oh dear :(
So, what to do? As you would expect a accident damaged bike is not covered through any manufacturer warranty so the cost to replace the damaged frame? £1,800. So at the moment we're waiting to see if the Specialized Crash Repair Policy offers a better alternative.
Meanwhile, Simon had arrived home and took off his show to realise that in fact his foot was a little more seriously hurt than he thought because there was some kind of purple golf ball like swelling. A little trip to A and E informed him that, although not broken, his foot is "badly bruised and sprained".
So, not the best start to our training for our charity cycle but at least we did something. You will all be pleased to know though, that both myself and my pride and joy Bianchi are fine!
Craig
