What am I doing today...?
Hobbling about, doing a post-crash inspection.
I've been off work since Tue as our contract paperwork, etc. hasn't caught up. Sometimes happens. I'll probably be 'unpaid' thru this week. Kind of like being retired for a week. Ah well, it is a 5-yr contract which will take me all the way out to actual retirement so I'm a happy guy.
Being off work has let me ride just about every day, yesterday being no exception. Miz Diane and I had a weight-loss-clinic meeting at 3:30pm so I needed to ride earlier than usual (Miz Diane is at work
). Usual track is to jump on the MUT (
http://www.traillink.com/trail/aldridge-creek-greenway.aspx) which runs past about 1/4 mile west of our house. Lately, I've been climbing uphill out of my neighborhood and then taking the subdivision roads about a mile north to the trailhead at Publix (supermarket). No problem there...except the trailhead bollards are tight and you have to make a hard left turn into them. Normally I stop and creep thru (or walk thru). I rode thru yesterday for the first time...not very safe, I'll walk thru from now on.
So, I cruze the trail normally; runs about 5 mi to the Tennessee River and there's about a mile of 'extension' that runs east along the river, so I can get a full 12-mi loop out of this MUT. About 2hrs into the ride, my phone rings and it is Miz Diane: she's got a migraine and can I come home now?
From where I took the call, it is only 3mi from the house. School traffic is just starting to build so I figure I can take the trail to the nearest major road that runs past our house and be home pretty quickly. Trouble is, there is no really good 'moving exit' from the MUT to the road. There is a sidewalk...with ramps to the road but getting on the very narrow sidewalk is a 90 deg right turn and there are traffic islands, etc...they must be negotiated perfectly. Fail.
I didn't make it thru that first turn to the right. Hindsight: I shoulda gotten off, picked the bike up and set it in the merge lane... Problem is, I turn
left there at every northbound pass down the MUT. Right should be no trouble...right?
Not!
It was a very slow-speed 'fallover' (not quite an AJ). As the task overwhelmed me I made a critical error, I stuck my left foot down and tried to prop myself up. I know how to fall,
I simply reacted wrongly. As a result, my left foot got sucked back under my butt and the whole mess collapsed on top of that leg. The leg ended up severely compressed in the 'full squat' position (painfully) with my foot twisted inwards and trapped under the edge of the seat. The rest of me was sitting up (I kind of knelt down, got a little concrete rash on the left knee) but my weight was mostly still on the bike...effectively trapping me in place.
Luckily, I had unclipped instantly...and before I hit the ground.
I ended up having to lie down to the left and 'bounce' myself and the bike to shift my weight off the bike so I could extricate my left leg. That left knee...I've been off the bike for a couple of weeks because of it (arthritis, etc.) and I surely thought I'd blown it for good. I was able to put weight on it immediately and after futzing with the chain, I rode home with no problem. Whew!
I've been really good about not being stupid about learning to ride the V. Practice, ride safe, etc. Letting my confidence overwhelm my abilities is a genetic flaw in my family...we always think we can do it (whatever "it" is). "Test first, lesson after" should be our motto...it is a wonder any of us have survived.
I'm giving my knee a couple days off. Miz Diane is having her gallbladder removed tomorrow so nothing doing tomorrow. I'll get out and ride Saturday, for sure Sunday. Today I'm working on the Catrike after I clean up the V. I'm planning on riding the Catrike a couple of times for old-time's sake and then putting her up for sale.
