Road Rash

Well, it finally happened!! No, I didn't win the lottery or anything exciting like that. But my bike and I had our first fall yesterday.

There is a new 2 mile stretch open on the greenway where I bike and I decided to ride it yesterday for the first time. The majority of it is boardwalk since it is going over some wetland, marshy type areas. Seeing as how I'd never biked it before, I decided that I would pedal as fast as I could you would think I would take it slow to learn the path. But how much fun would that be?

We've had some rain in the last couple of days so there were still some slick parts on the wood. But that didn't deter me ... besides, I'm an athlete, right?!?!? Um, yeah ... (cue laughing now) I was about 5.5 miles in and I came down a hill and hit a curve going a little too fast for the conditions. As soon as I realized it, I tried to brake.

Now there were a combination of things that happened at that point and I can laugh about it now. But I laid my bike down going about 12 mph on the wet boardwalk. My bike went about 15' one direction and I went about 15' in the opposite direction. When I finally stopped sliding, my first thought was "I really hope nobody saw that" (hey, a girl's gotta have her pride, right?). I stood up and my legs were a bit wobbly so I took a knee to collect myself.

I took inventory of the damage and realized that this athlete (cue laughing again) is one tough cookie ... so is my bike! My reflector snapped off and ended up in Georgia the shrubs and my bike has some nice scratches on it. After I'd had some water, I realized that I needed to get back on and head back to the parking area so I jumped on my bike and started pedaling and realized that my chain was just hanging there. Crap!!! At that point, I almost wished somebody was there to help me because I'm not very good at fixing a chain. But, I'm pleased to say that I was able to get my chain back on and get moving.

I'm not in too bad shape either. I have a skinned up right elbow and my right thigh has bruised up nicely. I took lots of Motrin last night in the hope that I wouldn't be too sore this morning. If this "isn't too sore" then I'm very thankful that I took as much Motrin as I did. I can't imagine how sore I'd be if I didn't take anything.

But, I survived with my vanity and pride in tact!! Isn't that what's important??

***NOTE*** My mom just brought over some "liquid bandaid" and sprayed it on my boo boo. It stung like a son-of-a-gun!!! I was reading the ingredients on the back of the can and it should've just said 'alcohol' with all the things listed that end in "ate". So, I kept reading and it says:

Bandage will typically adhere for several days. If required, it can be removed with isopropyl alcohol

These people are on CRACK if they think I'm rubbing alcohol on this as much as it hurt to spray alcohol on it. Idiots!!