Road Rash or Anatomy of a Not-So-Serious Bike Crash

Well, it was bound to happen... my first "bike crash". Not even one full week since I got my new bike and this morning, Orin will be taking it back to ChainReaction for repairs.

Late afternoon yesterday, we took the bikes out for a ride around the neighborhood. We took the dogs, too, as they are family and we were trying to get them out as well. Orin had the huskies pulling him, as they sometimes do, and I had Quinn. Well, it was Quinn's first time out with the bikes and my first time with a dog and a bike. Mistake #1.

We didn't get far, just 2 blocks over, when we turned around in a court. After chatting with a very nice neighbor for awhile, we headed back home. Just before turning on our street, Quinn started moving to my right side. In order not to get his lead caught in my bike chains, I tried to maneuver his lead with my right hand, keeping my left hand for steering. Quinn stopped suddenly to "do his business", I stopped suddenly with the left hand break... the one that stops the FRONT tire. Mistake #2.

As far as I know, my front tire stopped, Quinn stopped, but nothing else did! The back-half of the bike and I flipped over. (I realized this about half-way home, as I noticed the steering column was backward as I was walking the bike back.) The front gears are broken, shattered in the crash. Nothing else seems broken, so it shouldn't be too hard or horribly expensive to replace.

As for me- no bones broken, but I'll be sore for at least a week.
- My palms are scrapped up. The right hand looks like a mild case of stigmata.
- My elbows are mildly roughed up, just some torn skin on the right elbow; but the left elbow has a few scratches and it will definitely leave a scar.
- Left shoulder is scrapped up, not bad really. Feels like a sunburn, looks like cat scratches.
- I am horribly sore from my left shoulder all the way down to my left hand.
- My left knee is a little less scratched that my left elbow.
- My left upper thigh is bruised and knotted up... that's gonna hurt for awhile, I think.
- Small tight bruise on my left hip.

A few observations about my fall...
... my life did not flash before my eyes, so either I knew it wasn't going to be that bad, or my life wasn't interesting enough for that. (wow, that's a pathetic thought! LOL.)
... tuck and roll... yeah, right. Unless you fall ALL THE TIME, there is no way to "train" for tuck and roll. I did the natural thing... I stuck out my hands to break my fall. That's why my palms are ripped up.
... I obviously landed on my left side- that's the side that hurts more.
... after the initial stinging and pain passed, the first thing I could think of was... and you knew it was coming... I need photos to scrap! Sadly, I thought of this as I was cleaning myself up, and the initial dirty bloody photos would have been better. Gladly, I did not have my camera with me, or it would have been totaled in the crash. I think the loss of my camera would have pained me more. (Can I get an "amen"?!)
... I didn't eat a cookie to "make me feel better". But I think if my hands didn't hurt so much, I would have!
... this is my first bike crash that I can remember. Even with driving a scooter in Taiwan, I never crashed it.
... I've got all minor "injuries"... they are so minor I hesitate to call them "injuries". For this, I am truly grateful.
... I don't handle pain well AT ALL. This explains the whinny blog post! ;)

Orin has been guilt-ridden, it was his suggestion to take the dogs with us, and I've been pretty whinny. It's no one's fault by my own... maybe Quinn's fault a little! LOL. Orin's been so sweet to cater to me all night- even sending off an email to my Digitals designer group for me; and this morning, he made sure I had all I needed before going to a meeting and dropping my bike off.

I had a rum and coke last night-- to ease the pain and help me sleep, of course. And Orin will get compresses for my bruised up and knotted thigh (that's my clutch leg and I need to drive!). I'll get pictures up as soon as I can... they are on Orin's camera and I'm no good with getting photos off that one.

Thanks to all my Digitals designer buddies for their sweet emails and joining in on my pitty party. I've got a lot of catching up to do, so I'd better get to work.

Thanks for reading!