KABOOM!

Well today it was illustrated to me why I am not a betting man. The one thing in the past uncountable years. The one certainty I would have bet on, the Calgary Transit work stoppage has been avoided by a tentative deal that goes for ratification tomorrow. Crazy. No such thing as a sure thing.

So there are a few places in Calgary where the bike paths suck ass. Some of the paths are wide sidewalks, and then they suddenly turn off. Not at an intersection mind you, but in the middle of the road. The signs say bike path left and forward. If you look on a map though it shows that the forward path is a designated on road route. So now you are actually riding on a sidewalk. Something I sorta hate and still do sometimes. Yesterday I had elected not to turn off on to the park path, but instead to go further north before turning into the neighborhood and snaking my way home. I have taken the route in previous years no big deal.

So there I am on the sidewalk, approaching an intersection, tree is obscuring the vision a little so I slow down as I approach. I see a car approaching the intersection. He slows, i ease off the breaks, and get ready to coast across. He stops slowing. Fuck. At this time I suspect I should have jammed on the pedals and tried to slip by him, but no. I hit the breaks and stop dead infront of him. I actually thought for a second, a brief fleeting second that his bumber would stop in time. Long story short he bumps into me a little. I get a couple of scrapes, I don't even get knocked over. The front tire is however BENT badly, unrideable.

The guy was nice enough about it, left me his number as he had offered to pay for repairs and drove me the rest of the way home. Probably a bit older than me. Saucony shoes in the front driver seat as well as a health club tag on his key chain. At least I got hit by someone who can appreciate cycling and not a total redneck douch like the prick that ran over Fish and then sped off.

Rock and a hard place. I wasn't on the proper side of the street. I was against traffic and on the sidewalk. I was not in the right place. He certainly did not look right as he pulled into the intersection, he slowed initially because he was looking left at oncoming traffic. Could have just as easily been a small child chasing a ball instead of me. Part of me really dosen't think he should pay, part of me would take half. None of me thinks he should pay for all of it.

I looked over the bike tonight a little closer, since I need to take it in for repairs. (What kinda shop opens at 10am?) Front wheel is pretty obviously screwed. Back wheel looks pretty decent, it maybe has a little whobble, but it might have been there already. It isn't enough that it touches the brakes. The rear shifter seems to work fine. the front shifter works, but on the smallest gear the cage is now touching the cage. I do not believe the forks or frame is bent. So hopefully it's a new wheel and a minor adjustment on the cage and I am good to go again.

interestingly enough the title of this entry has nothing to do with a collision. Instead it refers to TNT, Timed Nutrition Tactics. A new work by Adam Campbell and Jeff Volek. I have been fortunate enough to have a sneak peek of what it will be like and am basing my new nutrion plan around it. The next 4 weeks are low carb. Not atkins VERY low, but low. No grains, breads, sugars etc. Plenty of meats, fats and vegetables.

I am stating this new plan in time with the JPfitness 61 Day Summer Challenge. My tracking spreadsheet, personal goal section and grocery bill are all available at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcYKF234Hk5WTYj2BGLy7JA
My training log for at least the next 61 days is at
http://forums.jpfitness.com/showthread.php?p=391537#post391537

It should prove to be interesting. The 52 day challenges at Mens Health have been a great help to me in losing the weight.