Further misadventures of H. Dumpty

I swear, some days if it wasn't for my bike and the falls I take from it, I wouldn't have anything to write about at all. Today's tumble takes place right next to where I work, at the bottom of the hill where Catherine Street meets West Medical Center Drive:


In the pastel colors of Google Maps, the turn (circled in red) looks pretty harmless, but, trust me, going west down this hill you can pick up a lot of speed, especially if you don't brake.

After this week's meteorological misery (see Thursday's post), today's conditions -- full sun, blue sky, mid-50s temperature -- came as a buffet to the famished. I was taking everything fast, playing a little too reckless with intersections, turns, curbs, and stops, and I knew it. The road was dry, and I thought, tires never fail to grab dry road. Oops.

As I often do, I was making the turn off the seat, hanging off to one side to coax the bike in one direction. Most times she responds: I'll hear the rubber peel the road, and I know things between us are capito. Today she made the turn but then slipped out from under me.

Luckily, being off the seat and a little closer to the ground, I didn't have far to fall. But I still fell: right hand, right arm, right leg, chest, the rest of me, until I was all splayed out. Breathe -- I'm alive. A quick look around -- no oncoming traffic -- thank God, I'm not going to die today. I got up -- no immediate pain, that was good -- righted the bike and gave myself a push down Medical Center Drive. All this took just a few seconds. By the time a pedestrian thirty feet ahead turned to check out the ruckus, I'd already passed her.

I got home and headed straight to the bathroom to survey the damage, took my shirt off and saw this:


Ouch! Apparently I'd sandwiched my sweatshirt zipper between my chest and the pavement. A closer inspection of the wound revealed two parallel curves -- I think you can see this in the photo -- representing the bite the boxy zipper enclosure put on me. A little roughed-off skin on my right shin, not even worth taking a picture of, rounded out the damage. Overall, a better situation than last July's fall.

I'm finishing this post midday on Sunday, the next day. The weather's again great -- a virtual repeat of yesterday's sun and sky -- and I'm feeling good enough, just good enough, to go out and try my luck again.