On the Thursday just prior to our Alabama Tandem Weekend, I violated the primary law of tandem riding. I cross a wet railroad track at a less than optimum angle and crashed both Bev and myself. Unlike many accidents where you can see it coming in slow motion, the crash was nearly instantaneous. I was upright and suddenly, my helmet struck the ground. As I lay there in the moments after the crash, I thought we'd been hit by something. I wanted to just lie there but my first coherent thought was Bev, so I struggled up to see to her. Our riding companions had gathered around to help. She was stunned and said she felt like blacking out. I called Cheryl to come take her to the ED. I knew she would be faster than the ambulance. Her x-rays checked out ok and by that evening, we were all at the Fish Market for dinner. I had hit pretty hard but I kept it to myself. We had the tandem weekend to run. Besides, it wasn't a lot worse than my karate days. I'm still sore here a week later, and I've got some large bruises and a hematoma on my hip. All my activities have been hindered a bit, but I've continued to cycle and run despite it. This will be an expensive crash. My new helmet was broken and Bev's will be replaced just on principle. These were purchased new at Christmas. But that's what they were for. I think if my head hit that hard, I'd have been seriously hurt, if not killed.