Cycle: On falling off your bike

 
(This post is from way back in March. I never got around to posting it then, but will now because I think it's funny.)

I wanted this post to be about sunshine and spring time and purple crocuses and how I've got my bike back (again) after taking it in to the bike shop because the gears were acting up (again).

But instead, this post is, I'm sad to say, about falling off your bike. Sigh. I'll try and get the pity party out all in one go.

I'm sitting on the sofa to write this, my legs on the footstool because I can't bend my knees and my hands resting rather comfortably on the keyboard due to the gauze and tape. My boyfriend Steven likes to watch me slowly go up and down the stairs because he says it's entertaining to laugh at a 20-something who walks like a pensioner and I've taken to calling myself Lurch in my head. (Frankenstein was just too cruel.) Rolling onto my side in bed last night was an absolute luxury because it took bloody ages to achieve.

Adults aren't meant to fall down. And it's why it's such a shock to your system when we do. I experienced that moment of thinking '... oh this is going to end badly ...' yesterday morning on my cycle in to work. I was already sore from my Thursday night yoga class, where I think I got a better grip on what it means to 'grip my outer hips together' but my ride was going well. It was chillier than I thought it would be and I nearly stopped to out my gloves on. *I should have stopped to put my gloves on.*

Have you seen that video of the cyclist in New York who after being given a ticket for not staying in the cycle lane decides to only cycle in the cycle lane to prove how impossible this actually is? My favourite bit is when he rides into a police car (parked, in the cycle lane).

My fall was not nearly as glamorous (?) as a headlong crunch into a police car. I had to move off the pavement (sidewalk to us North Americans) and onto the road to get around a transit van that was parked on the end of someones drive (yes, yes, I cycle on the pavement - but only sometimes and where the road is particularly narrow or where the cars go particularly fast). As I was moving to get back up on the pavement, I hit the curb at too shallow an angle and as the curb was higher than I expected, my wheel caught the edge and down we went. I bounced up pretty quickly - aware that I was wearing tights and a kind of short dress which may have ridden up over my bottom when I fell - too shocked to really remember. I picked my bike up as it was kind of hanging into the road and then felt really nauseated. Falling as a child never made me feel sick - just like crying. Falling as an adult makes me feel sick and like crying - crappy deal.

I took some photos of my ripped up knees and hands but it's kind of gross to share them I think so I'll leave it at summary of my physical woes - not including of course, my bruised ego and slight fear for getting back on my bike.

And now I'll sing my ode to Savlon Advanced Healing Gel and also to the nice man who stopped to see if I was alright. He insisted I call Steven and go home - which I think was a good call. I'm not sure that showing up to work with ripped tights would have made a great day. Nor would have leaving bloody hand prints on my mouse. Though in the large scheme of things, my trauma is peanuts. For example, my friend Hannah went over her handle bars and cracked her ribs - I'm such a wuss! Will aim to get back on it shortly - as soon as I can bend my scabby knees.