Monday, July 14, 2008

Stupid is as stupid does...

So this what my bike looks like. The one I haven’t ridden in about two years, but did again yesterday after our nice neighbor gave it a full tune up. Around 5:00 Susanne yelled into the house that Greg had just brought the bike over and it was in perfect shape. Yea!

So like a kid in a candy story I hopped on it and rode down the side walk checking the gears, the brakes etc…perfect. I’d hopped down on to the street and came back toward the house and attempted to gracefully hop up over our little---maybe 4 or 5 inch high curb.

Apparently if you don’t pull the front wheel up high enough to clear it, your bike will to come to a complete stop when you hit said curb. But your body will continue forward, head over heels onto the ground. And, important note. If you weigh more now than you did when you were let’s say 10, you will hit the ground with more force than you may recall.

On the bright side, my femur is NOT broken. It only feels broken. And I’ve got a huge knot of angry muscle tissue to show for it right where I was pinned between the handlebars and the curb (or ground-it’s a bit of a blur.) Fortunately Danny and Susanne (mostly Susanne) were there to help extricate me from my folly

I really shouldn’t use the word “stupid” for things like this though. I’d like Danny to know that people aren’t stupid, but sometimes people do stupid things.

Umm…like a one year old tearing pieces off of big leafy plants and then trying to “put them back” on the leaf. Wait. That’s not stupid. That’s just adorable. Right? -Monica

3 comments:

Mikki said...

OMG!!! How are you feeling today??? The second day is always worse...

CT said...

Glad you're OK!

I've also had the pleasure of finding out that if you approach a curb at too shallow of an angle, your bike will just flop over sideways. Which might not always be a problem, but it is if your feet happen to be in toe clips. And it's double the fun if you do it in the middle of a neighborhood business district with lots of people there to watch you gracelessly topple.

Susanica said...

Hi Mikki and C. Yes, I'm feeling worsee today than I was yesterday, and I do feel oddly grateful that I was not in a busy business district so lots of people could see this incident. Not that I'm not tempted to go try this again. As a very controlled experiment mind you and not until a little time has passed. Fortunately I didn't have toe clips on. That could have made things MUCH worse. Oh well. After this lazy day of recuperating at home, I hope to be back to work tomorrow. Thanks for our comments! -Monica