Post mortem

After the second crash, Roger and were both sore, bruised and a bit emotionally worn out. But we got on with things gradually, and he was ready to get back to riding much sooner than I. In fact, I'm still not riding, and it's been over two months since our accident. Of course, with a fractured pelvis, I am particularly concerned about sitting on the bike. Best I can tell, the spot where it's cracked is right where we have our "sit bones" - the bones you feel if you put your hands right under your seat. I'm still a bit tender there and in no hurry to apply the intense pressure of a bicycle saddle right on the sore spots.  But other than that, I am pretty much feeling fine. I have a couple of abrasions that still look rather raw, but they do not cause any pain. I guess eventually the scar will fade out - or not. Maybe I have a new "beauty mark" on my shoulder!

When we were just hanging around the house, right after the accident, Roger went down into the basement and decided to clean and inspect our tandem. It was at this point that he found a hairline crack in the frame, near where the down tube for my seat connects to the rear hub. Finding the crack really put him into a tailspin. He was depressed for several days.  I totally understood this. I had myself mourned the loss of the bike after we got home in November.  By January, I was getting over it, and now finally, it seemed, Roger was experiencing what I had felt. I guess I had taken his earlier assessment that the bike was totalled literally, while he had perhaps not actually meant it that way. After his close inspection, though, he found the fracture and so had to face literally what I had faced figuratively weeks ago.

The Silver Queen has a fractured pelvis, also.

In a way, I think learning about the crack in the bike frame gave me a small bit of comfort. I've taken to saying that the Silver Queen has a fractured pelvis also - so we share this injury. I am healing, and so will she - though obviously not in quite the same way.

It was sometime in around this period that we got the settlement check from the insurance company for the bike. They did not quarrel a bit with the assessment that Don's prepared for building a new bicycle based on the one we have. Knowing that we would be able to replace our bike gave Roger a new direction, and he began researching our options.

We discussed repairing the tandem, and then selling it, but I didn't ever really like that option. We thought about having the tandem repaired, and keeping it to use for club rides, and then getting a new bike for touring. He spoke with the guy who had built our new wheels during the trip, and we seemed to be on a path to having him work with Seven to put a new bike together, with specs tailored to touring.

While all this is happening, we're still not sure that I am going to be able to sit on a bike seat. So it seems a bit premature, even as we are moving forward. . .

At some point, it occurred to me that if we were going to have the bike repaired, and the problem was just with that back end - then maybe we could have it rebuilt so that it would support our touring.  That way, we would not have to worry about what to do with the Silver Queen. We could continue to use her and we wouldn't need to buy a new bike! This was the most wonderful option of all to me.  We were on our way to the Grand Canyon for a little vacation when we thought of this, and Roger even called Seven to ask if this would be feasible, so I was hopeful that we could make it work.

I can't remember exactly what transpired next, but for some reason this approach fell out of favor, and we were back to the idea of building a new bike and repairing the broken one. Roger took the frame over to Don's, and they shipped it to Seven, and we waited. Lo and behold, when Roger spoke with their guy, he said that they would repair the fracture - under warranty!  The conversation evolved over several days, and it turns out that they can indeed rebuild the back third of the bike, and will do so to accommodate our requests for a touring configuration. We'll pay for the modifications, but all in all, I think we are going to end up with the best of both worlds. We will still have the bike we love, and she will be set up to handle touring.

This makes me very happy, indeed!