Bike Wreck!

Lori is certainly paying her mountain biking dues. I wanted to embellish this story to include “table topping” a Volkswagen, ditching the cops, and a grand finale involving Mt. Timpanogos temple security and an inconveniently-located dumpster.

I was told that if I was going to write anything, it had to be the truth, so here goes. . .

We (the whole family) decided to ride our bikes to Grandpa and Grandma Stevens' house in Alpine for Grandma Retta's birthday. For the sake of the younger members of our family (insolent whiners!), we drove the truck to Lone Peak High School and unloaded the bikes, cutting about 2.5 miles off the trip.

Our travel plans had Stockton, Lori, and Earl riding non-stop to Alpine, with Sawyer and Annika switching off at the halfway point. Lori bought this brightly-colored trailer setup for Sophie, and Annika and Sawyer took turns riding with Sophie.

I got the honor of being the pack animal for the trip. I've seen ladies in our neighborhood pulling these trailers around, so I didn't think it'd be a big deal. Well, it feels like you're towing one of those fat Wal-Mart security guys back to the golf cart recharging depot. With that in mind, it was 95 degrees, and uphill all the way to Alpine.

OK, so I can handle the physical abuse - - it's the mental abuse and male ego-bruising that was the most painful. Annika's constant commentary from the back was mind numbing: “Why are you going so slow?” and “Why are you breathing so hard?”. I looked back once to respond to one of her questions and saw, for the first time, the spectacle of our journey. It looked like a gay Mardi Gras parade: Rainbow colors, loud squawking, garish costumes. . .yes, the stares were long and frequent.

Anyway, the journey went as expected. Annika and Sawyer each whined the entire time their feet were on the pedals. Stockton and Lori performed admirably, and we all eventually made it to Alpine.

After celebrating with Grandma Retta, Lori and Stockton volunteered to ride back down to the high school to get the truck (no way we were going to get the whiny little ones to ride back). Ten minutes later, Stockton came running back in the house shouting “Mom biffed it!”. We found mom in the bathroom nursing her wounds. She had moved off the sidewalk to avoid a trailer parked in the way. When she tried to merge back on the sidewalk, there was a disagreement of some sort between her tire and the curb. I opened the bathroom door to find Lori nursing some nice road rash.

Lori's face and knee received some TLC from the sidewalk. Luckily, she was wearing a helmet, otherwise we'd be talking about more than road rash. Stockton later said that he saw mom “just laying there” on the sidewalk, and that he was really scared. A driver saw the event and stopped to offer help, which was nice. Anyway, we were all scared there for a bit, but the damage is temporary and cosmetic. The nasty chin abrasion is healing fast (no, I do not point at her and yell “leper” in public places). The big knee bruise/abrasion will take a little longer to go away, but it will also heal.

I thought Lori would be a little gun shy after the wreck, but she climbed back on the bike two nights later for another family bike parade up Provo Canyon. A big shout-out to my trail-warrior wife!