Friday, May 9, 2008

Wipe Out- More Adventures in Bike Riding

I don't consider myself a klutz by nature, but I have my moments. And when I do, well, let me just tell you: they are LEGENDARY. And VIEWED BY MANY.


While riding bikes with my husband Saturday afternoon, I had one of my moments. At Lake Hollingsworth. Where, like, 75,368 people walk, jog, skate, drive, etc. per day. Only this day, I'm sure that number was even larger, because I tend to command quite the audience when I mess up.

We were headed downhill on one of those streets between Lake Morton and Lake Hollingsworth. On the downhill headed to Lake Hollingsworth, I realize (too late) that I'm going too fast to make the sharp left-hand turn to get on the bike path.

I hit both my brakes to get things under control again. That did NOT "get things under control." It made my back tire come off the ground and for a nanosecond, I was balancing on my front tire.

Suddenly, my bike had this apparent flash of reality. If bikes could think, I imagine mine was thinking, "Hold up! I'm not a unicycle!"

And at that point, it decided to fling itself onto its side.


I determined I wasn't going down without a fight. I had this Carey Hart moment, where I thought I could ride this thing out. You know, take second, lean back, get the back tire to love Mother Earth once again.


Instead, I went all Cirque de Soleil on the situation- minus the graceful landing. After some weird contortions, I realized there was no getting out of a complete wipe-out. So I surrendered the handle bars, threw out my hands and landed on my hands and knees- all while remaining precariously wrapped around my bike in pretzel fashion. I lost a shoe, scraped my pride and bruised myself pretty darn good. One bruise is shaped like a baby's foot, minus the toes:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was you?! The neighborhood is still talking about it. Evidently, you flipped harder than the Pugsy Bates crash of Ought Six.

Anonymous said...

It runs in the family - your niece did her amazing klutzo running tumble in a pothole on the playground thing, in front of God and everybody at lunch yesterday. She broke her ankle in the deal. They didn't even have a camo-colored cast anymore, like you had. Now the kindergartners and first graders are not permitted to dig there anymore.

How hard did Mike laugh?

The Mom

Anonymous said...

I am starting a blog on injuries called "Camo-Colored Cast."