SNKCR Day 17
The day our luck ran out. Day 17, 236 km, hilly, cold and raining, yuk. Amherst to Lower Sackville, NS. We started off with a 60km shuttle, saddled up and set off. Grinding in the rain, feeling your shoes fill with cold water, face splattered from the rider in front of you, not my favourite kind of day. We were about an hour into the ride when we descended a hill rounded a corner and were meet with a steel bridge, the kind that look like a hatch pattern, and like black ice when wet. . A warning sign 10 feet from the bridge, no time to slow down. Mike Kelly made it across, but Graham went down right in front of me, I swerved to avoid him but my bike slipped out from me, Wham! Carnage everywhere, Peter and Martin went down hard, Mario just fell off, and Damon was able to bunny hop his bike over Graham’s wheel and landed upright. All told there were 4 out of 7 of us bleeding and laying prone on the bridge in the cold rain. Just like hitting a human cheese grater. Dang did it hurt. We were cared for by Linda and Darryl. Many others stopped to offer blankets or help till the ambulances arrived. We were transported to Amherst Hospital, Graham and I were shipped to Halifax. All told we were lucky, an on coming vehicle would have done us in. We owe a lot to our support team and the kindness of strangers .
