D’OH!
A while back, Fat Cyclist analysed the merits of different bike-on-car transportation methods. Whenever such a discussion comes up, one distinct disadvantage of a roof rack is the possibility that someday, when returning home after a group ride, still sweaty and hot and wearing bicycle clothes, you’ll forget the bicycle on the roof of the car and attempt to drive right in to the garage. I commented on his post, but after last night, I can no longer place myself in the blissful group of people who have not yet run their favorite bicycle in to the transom above the garage door at five miles an hour, with the bike still firmly attached to my car’s roof rack.
Thankfully, the transom and the bicycle appear to be fine. I rode the bike in to work this morning so it must be okay, and the garage didn’t collapse during the night, so it must be okay, too. I carefully cleaned and checked over the bike this morning before taking it on a little test ride, then heading in to work, so that is a big relief. The bike carrier piece from the roof rack wasn’t so lucky — it is now bent in a lovely shape that might fit a bicycle if Salvador Dali were to build it from molten metal.
Unfortunately my GPS bicycle computer also didn’t fare well, as I found it on the ground in five pieces. I attempted to put them back together last night and was able to get the buttons to respond, but the screen doesn’t display anything useful. Out of curiosity I’ll also try to plug it in to the USB port to see if it’ll pull the data off from last night’s group ride, but I’m not optimistic about it. My next step is I email Garmin to see if they have some sort of repair program for situations like this.