Crash and burn

I've taken a few stumbles on a mountain bike in my day and one or two silly road bike fall-overs waiting for a stop light, but this weekend I had my first good road bike crash and burn. Yesterday, when the predicted rain didn't come, I decided to head out on an easy ride by myself. Doug was "mulching" and I didn't think that sounded like nearly as much fun.

As I nearly got to the turn around spot (ie, the farthest point from our house...thanks Murphy), I went to take a left hand turn and all of a sudden my bike slid out from under me and I had no time to get my feet out my pedals, so I fell on my elbow, hip, shoulder and noggin. Luckily, this was the first time out with my new helmet (an awesome sample from Rudy Project!), so it held up just as it was supposed to. Like all things, it happened so quickly that before I knew it, I was laying in the middle of the road accessing the damage. When I un-clipped my feet I saw a big puddle of liquid, my first thought was blood. Luckily, I quickly realized it was just from my water bottle popping open. Phew!

Elbow ding


(hip is sexy, but you're not seeing it, it's a little high:)

Once I scurried to the side of the road, I saw my elbow was bleeding, but my shorts didn't rip on my hip and my head seemed to be okay (I've gotten pretty good at self-diagnosing concussions). So, I realigned by handlebars that were horribly askew and tried to get back on and continue riding. About 30 ft. later I realized my front tire was flat and my hip was hurting, so I got mad, got off my bike and sulked for about 2 minutes and decided I didn't want to fix my flat, I just wanted to get home. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone, so I flagged down some old people and borrowed their phone to call Doug. Here was the conversation:

Me - Hey, it's me, I crashed my bike and have a flat tire, can you please come pick me up. I'm by the race track.

Doug - You're okay right?

Me - Yeah, banged up, but I'm okay.

Doug - Why don't you try changing your tire?

Me - Doug, please just come and get me. My elbow hurts and I don't feel like fixing my tire right now.

Doug - I'll definitely come get you, but I really think it would be a great chance to try to change your tire in a stressful situation, it could be good practice if it happens in a race.

Me - Can we talk about this later? I'm borrowing someone's cell phone, can you please just come pick me up?

Needless to say, I didn't fix my tire, I walked my bike up the road until I saw Doug. He looked at me, decided I would survive and said "so, you didn't change your tire did you?"

I suppose that sometimes it's good to have a partner that is unsympathetic. It makes me not sweat the small stuff and makes me tougher...I didn't even cry when I fell. But sometimes I really just want someone to feel bad for me. So, when I got home I called my mom and told her all about it (and all about Doug's reaction) and of course I got the sympathy I was looking for.

Today I feel like I got hit by a car, but I'll survive and at some point I'll even get around to fixing my damn tire.