Crash!

Yep, that's exactly what I did. Yesterday my mother and I were on a bicycle ride in a nice Open Space near us with a good blacktop path through it. Going downhill is fun if you're a good rider, and I'm usually pretty good at it. I was doing fine, just like any other time, until I hit the little section at the end of the path where several cracks in the blacktop are raised. O.K., I know better than to hit those cracks going fast, and I usually slow down enough to make it safely over them. I forgot. The front wheel began to fishtail and I lost control, skidding a little ways and coming to rest with a roll, finally stopping and finding myself lying on the ground, my pants ripped and sudden aches and pains all over.

Of course it nearly gave my mom a heart attack coming around the bend behind me and seeing me sitting on the ground hunched over. The bicycle is fine, the chain came off, the seat went crooked, and the brake handles got chewed up, but it will be O.K. Me, I'm just thanking God I wasn't hurt worse. I could've broken bones. As it is one knee is scraped and burned raw, and today I'm sore in a lot of places, but it could've been much, much worse.

At any rate, that means I'm stuck being somewhat sedentary for awhile, as moving around is rather painful. And so I've learned my lesson: slow down when you hit the raised cracks, and don't think you're invincible.