Hanging Lose + A bizarre Incident…!

Like the Rastafarian Bear in Benton Harbor, I’ve been using this week just to “hang lose” and continue to work on my preparations for the last race in the Clot Buster’s calendar. It is hard to believe that we are reaching the end of this fundraising effort. It is been a blast I have to confess. I would do it all over again for sure. I can only hope that NATT has been able to receive that exposure it deserves to continue their mission of education and awareness about blood clots and blood clotting disorders.

So, here is the summary of where the Clot Buster stands on his racing mileage log…
224.2 Miles COMPLETED!
31.3 Miles LEFT TO GO (September 10th will be the day!)

Have you considered helping out with matching some money for every mile that I am racing? If you are considering the possibility please checkout the breakdown below…

$$ Nickel per mile = $12.78
$$ Dime per mile = $25.55
$$ Quarter per mile = $63.88
$$ Double Quarter per mile = $127.75

Also, if you are interested in a Clot Buster Jersey they are also available for you to wear and look as good as Mr. and Mrs. Clot Buster… If Abraham Lincoln bear would have had a choice I know he would be wearing one of our jerseys for sure!

PLEASE! If you are out there riding make sure you wear your helmet…! I wish I had a fancy helmet like the ones below… Do you think it would me faster? I think I could have one made with a polka-dot design. That would be really cool. But I am going away from my original point. Yesterday, on my ride in to work something happened that you probably will not believe because it is VERY STRANGE.

In order for me to make it work on my bike I have to travel a 20 mile route that I was able to map out through back roads mostly so that I can avoid heavy trafficked streets and therefore have a “safer” way to go to work. However, it is not always that safe on these neighborhood roads. Yesterday, I timed my ride so perfectly on this particular street that as I was going through minding my own business at around 6:27AM with no wind at all I had a branch from this one tree break off and fall right on top pf me. This tree was rooted about 8 feet from the curb and it was a pretty old as its trunk had a considerable size. The secondary branch, the one that broke, was big enough to knock me down and block the street completely. The branch did not completely brake off from the main trunk it “peeled” off. So, you can start to imagine the size of this branch as it was still connected to the main trunk and yet it covered the entire street so that no cars could come through.

I can’t even begin to explain what went through my head during this time. I could not believe it! After I scrambled out from under the weight of the tree and looked back I realized the size of this branch. I could not see my bike it was buried.

So, after taking a moment to look around I was glad to know that outside of some scratches and some stiffness nothing much more serious happened to me. I had to break several smaller branches to free my bike from the mess and find out that she was also all right. It was a great relief to know that I could still make it to work on time after the small mishap and about 5 more miles still left to go.

On my way, I spotted a police officer and let him know about the road being blocked because of a fallen tree. He looked at me pretty perplexed after I told him that tree branch fell on top of me. He saw my scratches and the green stains on my jersey but somehow he thought that I hit the tree and for that reason the branch broke off. Don’t ask me how you jump to that conclusion but he did. At any rate, he was able to get a dispatch out to the intersection of Amesbury and Linclonshire to check things out.

So, it was a very good thing that I wore my helmet for my commute ride… it may not be a fancy helmet but it did trick and kept me safe.

Watch out for falling tress out there!

Thanks for reading,

The Clot Buster