Hammer To Conversation

Is it always windy on Saturdays now? Come on! Once again a stiff wind out of the northwest sent the three of us working a short pace-line and echelon up to Hanover. This was, as always, hard work. The wind was gusty and as our trek moved in to more open terrain the heart rates climbed closer to their maximums.
The turn at Hanover was, of course, welcome but only five miles later, the thud, the involuntary yelp, and the sound of carbon and asphalt colliding broke over the hum of the tires.
Apparently a gust of wind moved one rider into the front tire of the other. Some bar tape was ripped, but no other apparent bike problems. A good sized scrape on the left quad, some blood on the shin and elbow. His jersey was shredded under his arm and down his left side along his ribs.
He had a small ding on his helmet, so I asked him, if he knew who I was. He did. No headache, no bones or bike parts broken...we were back on our bikes.
We couldn't have been any farther from the cities at any other point in the ride, so we had a long way to go to get home. Fortunately the wind was at our backs.
Gingerly we shepherded the wounded comrade back to base. He found as we rode that he got stronger and the stiffness was kept at bay. Shortly we were once again moving at a pretty good clip, albeit aided by a 15-20 mph tail wind.
I pointed out to him that technically this was not a mechanical problem or flat, so he was lucky I stopped for him. I'm such a good guy.
It turned out to be a fun ride, even though Steve was bleeding. The hammer effort was replaced by some very enjoyable conversation. We shortened things up as best we could, but it was still 45 miles before we'd get back to the start.
I told Steve I'd be happy to put his bike in my truck and give him a ride home from my place. He took me up on the offer, but by the time we got to my place, he said he felt good enough to go the additional 15 miles on his bike. That's a tough boy! 83/19.5 Not bad for a crash ride.