Ever get your bicycle wheel caught in the groove next to railroad tracks?
I have, and I know lots of experienced cyclists who have also even though we know better.
On a recent 300k, I saw a rider Karl who was always ahead of me by a kilometer or so for much of the day. Occassionally, I'd see him up ahead on a flatter, straighter section of road. At one point I saw him riding way ahead in the distance. Then I saw what looked like something in the middle of the road. A cow? No. It was Karl, broadside to the road.
As I got to him he was dusting himself off, inspecting his ripped clothing and taking an inventory of the condition his condition was in. He seemed OK excepting the ripped jacket and general banging up one gets from getting one's wheel stuck in the gap between the rail track and the pavement.
He said he just kept going too fast. The track also intersected the road at an oblique angle, and it required an especially cautious approach.
My fall came on a morning commute to work a few years ago. How many times had I crossed those very tracks? Countless.
One side benefit of wider tires is that they don't get caught as easily. That's a benefit I'll have with my new ride with its 650B tires.
In thinking about this post I got this old song stuck in my head: Choo Choo Ch'Boogie. Heard of it?
Written by Darling, Horton and Gabler according to Wikipedia, I first heard it at State College, Pa during my college days. It was performed by our local bar band, Tahoka Freeway. I loved the song, but never fully got the lyrics.
The song was first performed by Louis Jordan in 1946, and it tells the tale of the returning GI's from WWII. They returned home (once they hit the coast) by train. The song recounts their high expectations for employment opportunities only to find the opportunities not so much. It tells this tale through the refrain of the clickity clacking train.
My Dad came home from the war the same way. My Mum tells the story of how she was in a cab on her way to pick up her returning GI-husband who she hadn't seen at all for the two years he'd spent in Europe. The cabbie figured out that she had asked to go to the wrong train station (imagine more than one train station in any town today!), and he told her she had it wrong! He then took her to the right one where she indeed met my Dad.
Today, they'd have texted one another that evening and of course would have emailed all along any way. Far cry from the occassional letter over several years!
Since my Dad had worked for Westinghouse before the war and such companies were required to take back the soldiers, he returned to his old job.
Before I veer off further from the subject of getting thrown by the tracks, here is a link to Louis Jordan's version. I prefer the Tahoka Freeway version, a little wilder and with slide steel guitar and beer. Here are the lyrics of Choo Choo Ch'Boogie:
Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
Headin' for the station with a pack on my back
I'm tired of transportation in the back of my hack
I love to hear the rhythm of the clickety clack
And hear the lonesome whistle see the smoke from the stack to pal around
With democratic fellow named mac
So take me right back to the track, jack
Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo
Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie
Take me right back to the track, jack
You reach your destination but you don't go back
You need some compensation to get back in the black
You take a morning paper from the top of the stack
And read the situations from the front to the back
But the only job that's open needs a man with a knack
So put it right back in the rack, jack
Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo
Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie
Take me right back to the track, jack
Gonna settle down by the railroad track
Live the life o'riley in the beat down shack
When i hear a whistle i can peep thru the crack
Watch the train rollin' when it's ballin' the jack
Love to hear the rhythm of the clickety clack
So take me right back to the track, jack
Choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie, woo-woo
Woo-woo, ch'boogie, choo-choo, choo-choo, ch'boogie
Take me right back to the track, jack
Take me right back to the track, jack
Keep it right back to the track,
CurioRando
