The morning started off with what could have been utterly catastrophic. We rolled out of the hotel early in the morning on our way to the mountains. With the enthusiasm of getting back on a bike, Peter took off accelerating down the main road in Pokhara. Behind him, I could hear him clicking down through the cassette and he was moving faster then I could keep up with. Suddenly, it looked like he hit a land mine and launched into the air, flipping over 180 degrees and coming down hard on his head. The bike tumbled away and he rolled to a stop, fortunately he jumped right up and after shouting a few choice words, gathered the bike off of the road.
Immediately we noticed that the front wheel was very messed up, one broken spoke and several other bent ones. I don't think we realized the full extent of the damage until later, though. When we finally did examine his helmet, we realized that it was completely toast. The foam was so cracked and crushed, the internal plastic skeleton was showing like a broken femur sticking out of someone's leg. The overall shape of the helmet was slightly more kidney bean then oval, and the external plastic cover had buckled in a few spots. We're convinced he would be dead or a vegetable if he hadn't had his helmet on. I still can't believe how well he fared, considering the impact. His foot hurt for a while, and he had a mild headache, but that was about it.
His cleats were worn, and had come unclipped sending his right foot into the front wheel where it locked up against the fork.
Considering the possibility that he just suffered a mild (or maybe not so mild) concussion, we decided to take the ride easy. Actually, it would have been smarter to cancel the ride. Had he gotten any worse during the day, we would have been far away from any help, with no real roads, transportation, or any other people around.
That night, I woke him up every 2 hours to check his alertness and mental status, just to make sure that nothing developed. He seemed fine, so I think we are really lucky.
Here are some shots from the ride:
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