69. Don't [text] while cycling

My colleague Al competes in a couple of ironman triathlons a year, top in his age group.  Dedicated.  Disciplined.

During a training session a month ago on clear day and a straight road, he was going 20 miles an hour (a speed I achieve only on a substantial hill), bearing down on a truck. He looked down at his handlebar odometer and started to fidget with it, perhaps changing from speed to distance or some such thing, and failed to take note that the truck had stopped.

He spent a week in the ICU, lost his lower teeth and still can't swallow. He gets Ensure down a feeding tube, not enough to keep his body fat percentage out of the negative .  He fractured his wrist, critical for his profession.  He'll be lucky if he is back to work by February.

I fully expect him to compete in a triathlon in 2011.

I put new brakes and a front light on my bike.  And it's getting darker, maybe a second flashing red light on the back.