The Adventures of Bad Karma Scooter

This morning, after the rain subsided, I went for a ride at the Veloway (cycling park). For the record, I really like riding at this place. There is no car hazard, a cyclist's most feared. As a matter of fact, the worst thing to be concerned with is the potential to run over little kids or inline skaters who do not abide by the Veloway rule that states "slower riders keep 'your ass' to the right". Or, at least that is what I thought.

So, I'm cruising around the park's track doing the usual hotdogging, cutting corners, splashing through the water hazards (that make their way across the track at low-lying areas) and generally having fun. Did I mention that I really like this park? Anyway, back to the story... Then as I'm speeding around a curve to the left (see lower, right corner of Veloway map above), my back tire hits a rock, stick or something in the roadway. Clearly, I didn't see it. Centrifugal force causes my now airborne rear tire to lurch to the right, about 5 or 6 inches. It was then that three things happened simultaneously: I was absolutely sure I was going to have my first Big Time crash, I nearly crapped my stretchy biking shorts and the woman I recently passed (about five bike lengths back) was gasping in horror as I lost control of my bike. This was going to end badly...

Somehow or another, I regained control of that bike without crashing. I don't know how I did it but it happened. Having ridden for about 30 miles at this point and mysteriously avoided catastrophe, I decided it was time for a break. So I pull over and sat on the shaded bench at the park's entrance. Then, I began mulling over how or why my near crash happened. The reason then occurred to me.

Bad Karma. Earlier this week a friend of mine, Erin, smacked into a tree while going on an early morning run. She writes about it in her blog. I, being the perpetual smart ass, called her "Ms. Magoo" in the comments section, as her incident reminded me of that old cartoon. Well...clearly the Karma Gods were pissed at me and decided that Le Scooter Voler was going down for that!

So, Erin (aka, ICE) I apologize and further promise to never call you any non-endearing names in the future.

Random Thought: I hope that does the trick... (Scooter nervously looks left, then looks right in an attempt to determine if the Karma Gods are listening) or else I'll have to start wearing a friggin' football helmet, elbow and knee pads on future rides!