Ouch.
I rode my bike to go visit my friend Wendy yesterday. She lives out by City Line Avenue, so I took 48th Street to Lancaster, followed Lancaster to 57th and headed North. The weather was hotter than hell and I thought I was going to die.
However, it was the ride home that killed me. Heading back the way I came, I was cruising at about 15-20 MPH when I hit a pothole in the bike lane. It wasn’t one of those fully exposed holes, but the kind where a sink has formed under the asphalt: unless you’re looking very carefully, you won’t necessarily see that you’re coming up on a hole half-a-foot deep.
Which is what happened to me. The bike stopped abruptly, I went hurtling over the handlebars, and slid across the blacktop on my shoulder for a yard or two. My left shoulder is covered with road rash, as are part of my forearm and my left shin. I’ve got two big old scabs forming over the open cuts right now. Worst of all, this happened on my left side, which is the side I sleep on, so it was tricky actually dropping off last night. However, I didn’t lose any teeth, my head’s OK, and I found my glasses. The bike wasn’t damaged, so I got back on and rode slowly, and a bit more eagle-eyed, home.
Suffice it to say I’m home from work taking it easy today.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Yikes. I inexplicably fell of my bike last year and cracked my helmet wide open. I was glad I was wearing one.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I’ll bet you really miss your old life now.
I rode a motorcycle in the 1980’s, and one of my biggest fears was a missing man-hole cover.
I hope you are back on your bike soon.