Headed to the Silver Comet Trail today in Smyrna to test out my bike and recover from the horrible monster gear incident. I was excited. I learned to properly change a tube/tire today, and I was armed with the Expert’s (my husband’s) C02 pump.
The ride was great. Well, until I fell twice. Total crash-o-la. But not any real heroic or “cool” crashes. Super lame crashes. I mean “crash” as in both times getting stuck in my clips at road crossings. And screeching, “oh noooo” and then eating the pavement. I might as well been wearing a sign on my back that say, “Idiot rider. No idea what I’m doing.”
I found out that these are called “low speed tipovers.” Nice.
The first fall was at a crosswalk where I crashed with my left foot still clipped into the left pedal. And it was still clipped in, as I tried to get my bike off my face and stand up. This fall was really just a pride injury, because there were about twenty people who saw my sweet skills. And apparently, I said an pretty icky expletive in front of a nice family of four as I went down, which made me feel even stupier. My new sign: Crude Idiot Rider. Earmuffs.
The second fall, I teetered towards the right and then the left, and ended up in gravel on the side of the road. When I went down, I smashed first my hand and then landed on my right elbow, and I’m immediately thinking that I’ve broken either my hand or my elbow (or both). Stupid G-Force (my bike) is twisted up like a pretzel, and I can barely move my hand, let alone get out my multi-tool to straighten out the mess of my bike. And the good news, was that I was eight miles into the ride, so I had to get back, and possibly with a broken bike and hand.
Well, I limped around, got the bike in order and managed to ride back to my car. Now, my ribs are hurting. Holy bikey, I’m hurting. And then I feel the baby road rash. How annoying.
Nevertheless, I managed sixteen miles in a little over an hour – even with two ridiculous spills and a couple of boo boos. So overall, I am happy. As I am slowly typing, I do not think anything is broken in my hand or elbow. My ribs are killing me, and I kinda feel like I’ve been in a car accident. But mostly I’m thinking man, this is going to be a long journey.
First, I seriously have to learn how to ride this bike. And learn how to dismount the bike without falling.
Happy Labor Day!
2 Responses