Happy Labor Day everyone! Today I thought I would be out climbing a mountain or exploring an unexplored part of where I live. Instead I’m sitting indoors with my foot propped up and I’m gingerly holding my elbow in an elevated position. I’m doing this because I’m a reckless idiot.
Last Friday I went on my normal after-work bike ride on the trail that goes right by my house. I have found a route that takes just over half an hour, which means I can count tooling about on my bike as exercise. Also, the halfway point is a rather steep hill that’s fun to go zooming down. I have been known to yell “Yahoo!” and/or cackle maniacally at this point of the ride.
You can probably see where this is going.
So there I was, whizzing down the hill, thinking to myself, “Wow, I’m going a little faster than normal.” Then suddenly the road turned, I tried to brake, the road rose up to meet me, and then I wasn’t going fast at all. In fact, I was splayed spread-eagle, face-down on the ground a few feet away from my bike. I got up and looked around.
The first thing I noticed was that I was only wearing one shoe. The other shoe was nowhere in sight.
The second thing I noticed was that the shoeless foot was fine, but the foot with the shoe had a nasty scratch/gash on it. I wasn’t sure which.
I looked at my shirt. I was filthy. The right side was torn up, and the left side had blood on it.
The blood turned out to be from my elbow.
The tears turned out to be from my keys, which I had tucked in the waistband of my pants. Oddly enough, the pants were fine. The keychain wasn’t, however. I am sad to report that my Utah bear keychain (which was already legless and missing an arm) is no more.
Of all of this, the most perplexing thing was my missing shoe. Where had it gone? I realized I was in no state to start tramping around the underbrush trying to find it, so I got on my bike (which wasn’t damaged that badly, thank goodness) and rode home.
It turns out I got very lucky. Yes, one arm is now road-rashed and sports a large scab. And my foot is really fine, but I’ll have to be careful about which shoes I wear for awhile. Otherwise, I just have bruises. And I was wearing a helmet, so my head is intact. In fact, I still have all my teeth. I am very lucky indeed.
*Edited later to add: I just got back from a reconnaissance mission. My shoe is nowhere to be found. Apparently a homeless one-legged person came down that trail right after me and got a nice surprise.*
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2 comments:
Eep! Glad you're okay after your tumble. Poor Utah bear! However will the haunted house spooks identify your keys now??
That was exactly my thought! I'm going to have to start looking for an equally awesome replacement, which is basically impossible.
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