Battle of the Wounded Knee

Well today I wiped out on my bike…or should that be OFF my bike. It was a nice day, I was on a bike trail, had successfully dodged doggies and many walkers/bikers along the way. Was in the home stretch.

Two Biking Lessons:

1. wear the helmet, like it or not
2. don’t turn your head to look behind you or talk to someone

I followed Rule #1 – wore my helmet. It’s Rule #2 I screwed up on. Turned around to look behind me, the front wheel went just off the paved trail, skidded along the side and in that second I didn’t get control to drive through the grass. Meaning I tried to pull back to the pavement, the wheel didn’t make it and I found myself spilling over. Would have been great to fall on the grass side, but no – skidded along the pavement.

There was a really loud thud on the left side of my head. Left brain took a hit – well, I never liked doing math anyway. Hope nothing important goes on over there. Otherwise, my knee took the brunt of the fall, with other contact points on both hands, shoulder and one ankle. Pretty good coverage, eh?

I laid still for a minute to assess the damage, paying attention to how my head was feeling, if I was conscious, anything not quite right. Natasha Richardson, the actress that fell and hit her head while skiing and didn’t make it, came to mind. Mostly my knee and right hand were hurting – a lot.

After sitting in the shade for a bit, I fixed up the wounds as best I could with a few first aid things I have on my bike. After a while I was OK and got back on the bike to finish the trip home. I’m sure the bright red, uncovered wounds were scary to small children and animals as I went by.

In closing I will say that the last time I wiped out on/off my bike was in 1996, so I think 13 years of biking without mishap – especially during 2003, riding in the MS150 and getting lost on a training ride in Irving Texas…is pretty strong.

And…I guess sometimes it’s a GOOD thing to have a hard head! (covered by a helmet)