Yes, it was only a road ride but with Bernie, there is always going to be drama.
Bernie, Robbie, Sara, Alan from Bikeline, and Bob Eichlin make for a pretty unusual group, and Bernie's new 20lb. lighter outlook meant he was ready to go. Alan was, too, making sure to put it to Bernie for all the free "warranty: I was just riding along" headaches he had caused him. There he was (Alan), pressuring at the front. There was Bernie, dangling off the back and not saying much. Bob and Robbie were like Pac Man, surfing back and forth, pulling it all back together. Perhaps it was riding injured, or all the extra work he had put in with Saturday's 40mph headwinds, but Robbie was getting fried.
On the way back into Nazareth, the crowds were getting lined up for the parade. They were everywhere, and crap was blowing all around. A little camp chair blew into the road and Robbie thought it would be smart to remove the hazzard from the right of way. He would have been smarter to not try to flick it with his front wheel -- up into the forks it went and up over the bars he went. All we saw were footsoles and his BB as he pancaked at speed in front of a town's full of rabid Halloween Parade spectators. By the time he was done with his facedown/feet-up Main Street skid, Bernie was already yapping away telling trucker jokes to the crowd (I'm not kidding).
Results? One Campy shifter, one side bar tape, one helmet, one bruised ego. Like Bernie said' "and it was only a road ride..." Oh yeah, one Joey Transue sighting, too.
