What a day we had at the Brompton Australian Championship 2014. Lots to post about, from the pre-race meetups, the actual BAC & the various post-race activities (including my slightly embarrassing attempt in the Brompton Folding competition?) – but all revelations to come later…
First off, the major happening was at the end of the day, when Mrs Aussie misjudged a driveway ramp angle & came to grief, launching herself onto the pavement! The ramp was pretty slippery with a fine grit covering which dumped her pretty heavily & rapidly onto her left side. A few abrasions from knee to head & a rather sore hip & arm but we loaded the bikes into the Tardis (parked not too far away) & headed for home. After a cleanup it was decided to get the sore arm checked out. A few impact-area X-Rays at our local hospital & the crack to the radius head at the left elbow was disclosed (cue pic of patient -)
The initial appraisal needed confirmation with a specialist & today he arranged CT scans which showed the sorry state of a “mushed head”, with a piece requiring relocation & pinning! The specialist will be operating on Wednesday & so Peregrine will be “taking a break” for a while?
For reference, Peregrine’s condition doesn’t appear to require much surgery, with some scuffing to Ergon bar-end & Brooks saddle…
Aussie on a Brompton 
So sorry to hear of Mrs. Aussie’s (and Peregrine’s) mishap(s)! Hope they didn’t taint the BAC experience otherwise, and that mending will be expeditious. We’re eagerly awaiting further — and, we hope, happier — tales of your weekend.
PS — your Brompton-to-be is actually claret, not Merlot, isn’t it? It’s a bit embarrassing to get that wrong; I’m practically a teetotaler, as you can probably tell. Never mind, lovely color whatever the name. Speaking of which, also eagerly awaiting the new Brompton name — the Aussie household has a fine reputation to uphold there!
Ta Brommie. Surgery-day today & so the journey begins…
As for Brompton colours, the new ones could be a struggle to nominate for some. In this part of the world Merlot is well-known as a red wine variety, whereas the UK just seem to use Claret to cover any of the red Bourdeaux wines (an anti-French thing?). I suppose that dropping Claret from the colours will save some confusion in parts of the Brompton-world?
Oh no, poor Mrs. Aussie! I’m glad she got to enjoy the day before it happened, and I hope she heals fast and well. If only we were as sturdy as our Bromptons.
Ta for the comments. She’s a good source for blog post material at times although not so amusing for this one?