Roadside Emergency

OMSH is having a roadside emergency contest. Here's my entry for the photo category:


I know, it looks like I took a photo of a serial-killer on a scenic by-way, but that is really me, in the middle of a week-long roadside emergency. (And fashion emergency)

I did the Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage in 2000. Actually the whole five-day, 400-odd mile trip was a roadside emergency. We camped in a gravel pit, on an airfield, next to a glacier, and finally next to a demolition derby at the State Fair. Plus we were riding bikes, in Alaska, where there are mountains. And we used Port-A-Potties. And only Port-A-Potties.

Anyhow, they picked this certain week in August because it had never in recorded history snowed. Well, you guessed it, it snowed one day. At first it was cool, I had never been on my bike in the snow. But then it got cold, very cold. First, I couldn't feel my feet, well that wasn't so bad. But then I couldn't feel my fingers, which I needed to steer, brake, and shift the bicycle. Many riders had to be rescued by the National Guard. I came through pretty unscathed. The gel in my bike saddle was destroyed, and oozed out the rest of the ride.

And yes, that's a propeller on my helmet.