So, there we were, riding down the smooth, beautiful Lake Wobegon Bike Path (of Prairie Home Companion fame), tooling along at about 16-17 miles per hour, flashing past beautiful scenery. It was, to be honest, perhaps a bit boring, and so Eric and I were chatting with each other. He reached back to adjust his jersey and then, in a flash, we hit a bump hiding in a shadow. Both of us swerved, he swerved to correct, flailed his front wheel, got caught between my wheel and my pedals, and then I was going down, sliding into the path as he fell near me, tumbling into the grass. From behind I heard a tiny "Oh No" and Kaylyn hit me, rolling up onto my back. And then it was over, and I was lying in the grass, panting and moaning or, as Eric said, "trying to have a baby".
Yep, I got in a wreck. After 10000 miles, I guess I was due. All told, I got pretty lucky. Considering it was a full speed crash it could've been worse. My hip hurts, my back and neck are sore, and my elbow took the brunt of it; there's a big gash on it and it hurts like hell. The front wheel of my bike was bent (and thus unrideable), so for the first time ever, I got in the van. I always said it would take a crash to get me in that van, and there you go. I only missed about 25 miles of some fairly easy riding so nobody can say I chickened out. There were some positives to the day; I got to go to Culver's (yay!) with Amanda and Bob (remind me someday to tell the story of Bob and pain and the thumb). The bike is fixed and I'll be riding again today, so that's pretty good, only 25 miles missed. And it was fun to hang out in the van. Kaylyn did a great job of patching me up on the spot, tweezering out the gravel, wiping me down, wrapping it up. And Jennifer V. has been keeping an eye on it, so I think it'll be OK. I didn't crack my phone or my watch, which is kind of amazing really.
Whenever something like this happens, you realize - as I've often said - how important health is and how much we take it for granted. I am so lucky to generally be healthy and able to ride and do this, and it can really all be gone in a flash. Being grateful is not just some hippie trippy thing; it's a logical response to the way life works. We have to value what we have while we have it.
