That was my bike – in the past tense. She served me well, and in fact, may have protected me till her untimely end. My full carbon armory may have absorbed a lot of the impact when I was, unfortunately, hit by a taxi.
Matthew said these words: R.I.P. Orbea Ordu. It is normal to humanize inanimate objects. We objectify things. We give it pronouns like ‘she’ and ‘her’ when we refer to our vehicles. She was supposed to join me in Taupo, New Zealand in early-March.
I have yet to collect the remnants (almost wrote remains) of my late-bike. I believe that I was watched over by powerful forces of nature on that day. My partner, Mel suggested that I collect whatever is salvageable from her and transplant it onto another bike. I’m still divided by my decision – should I leave her be and dispose her in an environmental-friendly way? Or, should I collect those parts that may have survived the ugly crash?
I have a few photographs with my Ordu, and these were non-posed, race-related moments. The main photograph you see on this blog was I on my bike in Ironman China 2009. She was road worthy and withstood the pressure of competition. In ways inexplicable, we mirrored each other. The one you see now was taken – ironically – that fateful Sunday afternoon, hours before the accident.
Fellow bloggers, Eve, Matthew and Reeves have encouraged me to reflect on this mishap. They believe that I will bounce back from it. John Bryant Hope described in his book Love Leadership a principle called 'Losses Create Leaders'. Even my cousin, Serene who is based in Perth said that our family tended to be determined, resilient and stubborn-headed. Her brother was involved in a bike pile-up during a triathlon several years ago and was injured; he now does extreme sports. Perhaps, we need to learn to hold back our enthusiasm and passion for sport a wee bit.
Boys just never learn!
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