only a matter of time

I guess it’s only inevitable that I would eventually take a spill while riding around town. Last night was my first, and gravity was surprisingly gentle with me. It had been raining on and off for most of the day, and the roads were still a bit slick. I was riding into Chinatown to pick up dinner, took a left and the next thing I know I’m lying on the road tangled up in my bike frame and bag strap. Other than a few scrapes and aches, I’m fine. I feel dumb, but ultimately I feel extraordinarily lucky. Dark, busy road on a wet night, that could have been much worse.

The scary part is that i have NO idea what actually happened. I’ve written it off as wet pavement and a sharp turn, but what really happened? I wound up about 50 feet from the intersection, so i guess I made the turn and continued on for a moment before I fell. Maybe I teetered for a bit while straightening out, and caught a manhole cover? Somehow I wound up with scrapes on the left side of my chin and on my left knuckles, but my right brake lever was bent in. I know I stayed on my bike as I went down, but can’t figure out how the damage to my person and to my bike line up.

The only things I do know, are the pieces I can put together after the fact. I can put together the pieces of my helmet, which took a bit of punishment. There are discussions regarding the usefulness of helmets, and I never really understood the anti-helmet argument. How could it possibly be BETTER to not wear a helmet. OK, so if you get run over by a cement truck, your helmet isn’t going to help, but when I look at the front of my helmet, it’s clear as anything what my forehead would have looked like without it.

Slow and steady…