First Crash

I experienced my first bicycle crash last month. Yes, yes, it was last month. I'm playing catch-up here.

It was definitely not a "serious" crash. I was following Kasia much too closely when she stopped unexpectedly. I did a panic stop, followed by a "super man" over the handlebars and a face-plant on the asphalt.

I remember going over the handlebars, but I don't remember unclipping my shoes from the pedals. After fraction of a second on the asphalt, I felt my bike crash into me. At this point, I decided to just lie still until I was absolutely sure the crash was completed.

Pity no one was standing by with a video camera. I would love to see how the accident actually transpired.

The temperature that day was rather cold, so I was bundled in multiple layers -- cycling shorts + rain pants, base layer + jersey + polartec jacket + cycling jacket, and 3 pairs of gloves. The only exposed skin was my wrists, and my right wrist received a tiny bit of road rash. The layers protected me from the asphalt, so I was left mostly with bruises on both knees, both elbows, my left inner thigh, and my sternum (breast bone).

Here's the injury rundown:

Most Painful: The bruised sternum. It was difficult to raise my arms above my head. Even driving was difficult, and washing my hair in the shower was a nightmare. Turning over in bed was also high on the Not Fun list.

Most Inconvenient: The bruised elbows, although this may have helped with my table manners, as it was just too painful to put my elbows on the table.

Most unattractive: The bruised inner thigh. Over the course of several days, this bruise grew to the size of a salad plate and roughly the shape of the continental United States. It featured a lovely mix of hues -- black, blue, purple, green, and pink.

Luckily, I survived with all of my bones, joints, and teeth intact. I will certainly live to bike another day.