“Chin Down! Chin
Down !”
At the back
of the morning loop, our route took us down Linda Lane then left into the new
neighborhood. The road there is Williamsburg
Circle. For the longest time, they still needed another layer of
pavement on this road. Halfway around
the circle, a man hole cover stuck up higher than the
pavement. We were cruising along at
about six fifteen AM. Jeff was closest
to the curb on the left, as we rode through the curve. Jeff hit the man hole cover. His wheel kicked
sideways ninety degrees, and Jeff was launched head first over his handlebars. He rolled and tumbled, and landed mostly on
his back and right shoulder. He hit with
such force that it knocked the breath out of him, and he grunted and groaned
really loud as he rolled to a stop. Jeff was flat on his back on the road for
several minutes, trying to get his breath.
The crash must have made quite a commotion, because a lady called out to us
from her porch, and asked if we wanted her to call an ambulance. I said no give us a few minutes. We
gathered around Jeff like an injured football player on the field, waiting to
see what would happen next. His eyes were closed tight, and he didn't speak. I asked him Do
you want me to call Stacy, He shook his head no. I told him this lady over here wants to call
an ambulance, he again he shook his head no.
Jeff finally blinked his eyes really hard, and got to where he could speak. I asked him to poke around on his collar
bones and see if they were broken. He did
that, no broken collar bones. How about
your shoulder? No. Ribs? No. Back? No. Nope, nothing broken. That was great. Jeff’s bike
was a few feet away, and the front wheel was bent. We laid the wheel as flat as we could on the
pavement and jumped on it a couple of times, to straighten it up. That worked, and we stood the bike up. No flat tires. Another good thing. Jeff got into a sitting position on the
pavement and a few minutes later, was joking, and talking to us. We were telling him how lucky he was, and we
thought he could make it home on his bike.
I asked Jeff, “ What were you
thinking when you knew you were going to crash?” He said, “All I could think of was, Chin Down
! Chin Down!” We all laughed, and then
he got up and rode his bike home, like a man.
They have since added the last layers of pavement to the circle, so the manhole
cover is even with the road now. After
that morning, we called that part of the circle, Taylor’s Curve.
Many times since that morning, when I know something difficult, or bad was heading my way, I have thought to myself, "Chin Down! Chin Down ! "