Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ooooooooooh...


Last week, I was riding my bike around the lake with my old friend Bruce, who was following me around these narrow trails with a bit of 50 year old care and concern (he was wearing a helmet) and slowing down my pace just a little.

So I got hurt.

There was a small foot bridge that cut across a small "bay", allowing the trail to stay right along the water's edge during the winter months when the rising water turned this area into part of the lake. On one end there was a large slab of wood set to act as a step. On the other end there used to be a slab, but winter rains had dislodged it and floated it off into the bushes.

With Bruce behind me for the first time, I thought I'd cross the bridge and stay near the water's edge, since riding next to the lake was far superior in view to riding up to the road and around and back down...

And I thought I'd do it carefully.

Usually, if I take the bridge, I step off my pedals and stay on the bike, then climb the two steps and proceed to ride across the wooden planks, jumping off on the other end and continuing on.

This last time, I decided not to demonstrate to Bruce something that may cause him to test out his helmet, so when I got to the far end of the little foot bridge I again stopped and put my feet down. I would simply walk off the bridge carefully- demonstrating to Bruce that I too could be careful, even though I did not wear a helmet- and then start back riding again once safely off the bridge.

Trouble was, the missing step made the drop off too far down to stop my front wheel at the new ground level before my entire body spilled over the handlebars and dumped me very unceremoniously on my head.

Ever watch a circus bear fall off a bicycle?

It was something like that. I fell slowly and clumsily over the handlebars and then did a judo roll till I was flat on my back and laughing.

Bruce stopped to look at me and decided to get off of his bike completely, thereby sidestepping the flipping over part of my technique and avoiding the same fate.

I brushed off the dirt and continued on, and we laughed about my silly fall until something else mattered.

It's been almost a week since, and because of a couple of old goofing-off injuries I picked up along life's pathways, I am still hurting where my clavicle is joined to my rib cage (the ligaments get traumatized when you strike your shoulder hard), and my neck is full of sore and tender places...

Oooooooooh...

5 comments:

Jeannie said...

Well - at least you could laugh at the time...funny how the body doesn't mend quite as quickly as it used to.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, things seem to hurt more and longer as you get older. I don't like that so much.

fairyhedgehog said...

Ow, ow, ow! That sounds horrible. I'm sorry you're still not better from it. I hope it doesn't take too much longer to heal.

Cheesy said...

Sending you a virtual massage... Klutz~

kario said...

Just don't go the way of Natasha Richardson....