Taking on the pavement again
You know, I was just thinking the other day that it'd been a while since I'd picked up any new scars from falling off my bike. Turns out I was overdue.
Rain came through Ann Arbor tonight, starting around sundown. I was just leaving Silvio's, having finished off a couple slices of arugula pizza, when I felt the first sporadic drops hitting my arms. Actually, the day had been hot, up into the high 80s, and the moisture felt nice.
By the time I got close to my apartment, the rain was coming down steady. I was having trouble seeing the road through wet glasses, and periodically I tried ducking my head to shake the water off. As a last resort I'd go a few seconds at a time with my eyes closed, trusting my own memory of the road home.
I nearly made it there laceration-free.
On the last turn -- the one into my apartment parking lot -- the old, familiar feeling came back: The tires slicked out from under me, and I felt my unsupported torso heading earthward. Automatically I put my arms out, and my elbows mashed into the pavement. Right afterward I picked myself up, looked in every direction, and just like the previous times, sighed relief to discover I hadn't been run over.
In the end, my butcher's bill turned out to be manageable: two scrapes on the right elbow.
Hours later, I've still got a sting in that arm, but I'm no less ready to head out on the bike again, hollering: "Bring it, pavement! Is that the best you can do?"
5 Comments:
You're like an extreme cutter! Stop it!
Ouch! Put some neosporin on that! Even the most extreme wear band-aids, or at least duct tape.
Isn't that your left elbow?
Stew, you've got to stop it with these bike accidents! that stuff is dangerous man...
i've only wiped out once--got my tires caught in the Muni tracks on Church St, while trying to change lanes to turn into the Safeway parking lot.
I haven't yet worked up the nerve to ride in NYC traffic.
Thanks for the comments, everyone! The elbow's healing up nicely, and I'll soon have a couple of new scars to show for it.
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