Thumped

I was riding along on Saturday morning, out for my first solo ride on the new bike. Gliding on auto-pilot through the stifling humidity of the forest, and lost in reverie about handlebar rise and rake, I found myself face-down in the dirt, arms pinioned beneath my stomach and my legs arching over my head.

Generalized pain washed over me. Here we go again.

I rolled over to my back and looked at the tops of the pine trees, ever-retreating into the sky. The ripples of pain subsided until there was one throbbing pebble above my right knee. An eyebrow-shaped cut solved the case, stem to knee contact caused by a sawed off stump protruding 4 inches above the trail. In a forest full of trees, this tree defied the will of the bureaucrats and was marked for shoddy removal.

I stood and recovered the bicycle– still a complete stranger, an internet date, a wing-man’s lament. Due to be replaced, I feel no commitment to this temporary ride.

I tried to shake it off and continue as planned, but the disappointment, the ache, and the swollen lemon growing on my vastus medialis obliquus sent me homeward. I escaped the heat and the sand to join the bench full of sick and wounded riders this holiday weekend. I got off easy. The million-dollar wound.

And that reminded me, it is once again Shoulder Season.

Juancho

9 Responses to Thumped

  1. It’s always such a surprise to find yourself empty-handed, flying through the air. I have to say, as I often do, there is something very clarifying and good about a body-slam you walk away from.

  2. Oh man! Glad you walked from that one. The last one of those I had left me unconscious for 30 seconds(according to my following friend) and bloody raspberried from left shoulder to hand. A detailed forensic investigation( I should be an NTSB crash investigator!) and reverse engineering of the crash “scene” revealed the culprit. That made it way easier to get back on the bike and charge.

    🙂

    Keep on Jauncho!

  3. Glad you walked (rode) away. Your shoulder season comment reminded me of a line I had rattling around in my head for years while I was still writing songs. I never could finish the verse, much less the song:

    Summer isn’t gone, but it’s gone too far.

    I know: Good, right?

    😉