I wasn't able to make yesterday's ride with my usual group of riding buddies, because I had a breakfast date with my daughter that morning. It turned out to be a timely breakfast because I found out afterwards that two riders went down after crossing wet railroad tracks. After hearing the details of the crash, I am certain that I would have upped the count to three riders down.

The weather was more drizzly than rainy, but it only takes a little moisture to cause a wheel to slide - especially when traversing over railroad tracks. In this case, it was also the road crossing grates on either sides of the tracks that were extremely slick.

Frank was leading, and his back tire slid out about a foot. He was able to recover, but Dave must have hit the tracks at more of an angle and his rear tire slid out too far to control. As he went down, Jim was right behind him and ran over his rear tire. They both went down.

Fortunately no bodies were injured. Dave's rear tire was bent, but he was able to ride on it for the remaining 5 mile trip home.

I'm certain I would have bumped the rider down count to 3 because I normally follow either Dave or Jim as closely as I can in order to draft as much as possible. I most likely would have run over both of them and then proceeded to fall just like they did.

Instead, I enjoyed a salmon hash breakfast while my daughter chowed down a piece of cinnamon role french toast. And I was able to get out this morning for a 30 mile ride by myself, with no crashes, no flats, no rain... just some bright sunshine and light traffic.