Kelly the Culinarian: Head Over Heals For/On My Bike

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Head Over Heals For/On My Bike

My forming black eye and road rash. Hot.
Belle the bike and I set out for a lovely Saturday ride today at Bussee Woods. It was to be my first ride of any considerable distance. It was cold, but I wore layers and made myself a sweet set of cycling gloves by cutting off the finger of a cheapo pair of gloves so I could still shift and adjust my Garmin. Everything was going awesome - I was zipping along, trying all the gears and monitoring my speed.

Then, it happened. I knew I was going to fall off my bike eventually, but I thought it wouldn't happen until I got clipless pedal shoes. At least then, I'd have an excuse.

I really have no excuse for what happened, and I'm not really sure what happened, either. I came to a turn and was going too fast or not paying attention or something, and went off the trail into a grassy area. I flew over my handle bars, landing on the left side of my face. The bike came down over me.

I need a new helmet, because even a little tap should warrant replacing a helmet. I never lost consciousness, so I figured I didn't need to go to the emergency room. Plus, I finished another loop on the bike and I'm blogging, so I must be fine, right?

The bike looks OK, but I'm sure I'll really get my money's worth on the tune up. The final damage to me includes a sizable scrape on my shin, a large bruise on my thigh and a probable black eye. I'm going to look hardcore tomorrow.

I ended up finishing about 15 1/3 miles in a little more than an hour, with an average moving speed of 15.1 milses per hour. So other than my unfortunate and embarrassing accident, it was a pretty good day.

2 comments:

Kim said...

Ouch! You poor thing! I am happy your crash was not worse!

I keep wondering when I am going to crash my bike. It seems inevitable!

Erin said...

Glad you're okay! Now you've encountered the bike riding rite of passage :-)

I fell off my road bike for the first time this past summer. It was a slow motion fall into some grass/sand and the worst part was doing it right in front of a stranger.