Dangerous road!

Since entering the enormous valley system through which a good part of the D100 highway runs, the weather had become colder and wetter, and road works started to appear with increasing frequency. They are really terraforming the whole landscape to enlarge the D100 highway, making large cuttings, new bridges and even diverting the rivers all over the place. On the bright side, I think any cyclist taking this route from Summer 2011 or later should have a pretty smooth run, as the new roads are dual carriageways with fairly low traffic levels and reliably wide hard shoulders.

Any changes in the scenery as we rolled along and up and down through the valleys were gradual and fairly imperceptible to my eyes, but it was pretty enough. Charlie and I took to slipstreaming when there was a lot of wind, and my bike, probably due to being heavier or having bigger wheels, would usually zip past his on the downhills. Charlie started to 'slingshot' me to compensate, using my slipstream to catch up to me and overtake. However, on one grave occasion this brought us to grief, when Charlie pulled out to overtake me at the same time a car pulled into our lane to overtake a truck.

The first I knew was a little nudge from behind, but I managed to retain control and avoid falling off. A few seconds later, I heard the awful sound of Charlie hitting the ashphalt and sliding some distance on his elbow and hip. I had that sinking feeling and was fearful to turn around to see what had happened. Charlie was on the ground and rose to his feet, hopping and limping and obviously in a lot of pain. His elbow was bleeding fairly profusely and his clothing torn in several places. I was at first worried that he had broken a limb, but thankfully this was not the case. I put my bike down and walked up to him and we treated the injuries - he had chunks of flesh missing from his elbow - as carefully as the roadside afforded, using a compress, bandages.

Testament to Charlie's fortitude he was ready to ride again fairly soon, and we continued long enough to find a campspot and cook dinner in the porch of my tent under the rain.