Wednesday, September 10, 2008

bike crash

Rode in to work today -- nothing remarkable, other than that I was 5 minutes late for my bus across the bridge -- which just meant that I was 25 minutes early for the next one. (ha!)

On the way home, however, because I was at work so late, I decided that I would just catch the bus in front of T-Mobile rather than ride over to Bellevue. I also decided that I would just wear my street clothes home. On my way down the hill a car turned in front of me into a driveway. I braked hard, locked them up immediately, and went over the handlebars.

Wow.

There was this moment when I realized that, yes, I was going to go over. Don't remember much after that; I quickly got up and picked up my bike and tried to get out of the way (since the car was now blocking traffic). I limped off down the sidewalk, trying not to cry, muttering curses. The driver mouthed "Sorry!" and I just kept walking, not knowing what else to do. It wasn't until I was at the crosswalk that I realized that my chain was off. Decided I could wait to fix it until I was across the lake -- more room there; more privacy.

Got the bus, rode to the end of the tunnel, and then flipped the bike over to reset the chain. Except that it was trapped, somehow, and I couldn't get it back on the cog. Much fiddling, a bit of metal bending, and I got it back on the crank -- but it wouldn't turn very well. Also discovered that the rear wheel is bent -- not sure if the spokes are okay, but the wheel is definitely out of true.

The bike couldn't be ridden, so I pushed it a few blocks to where I could pick up the 28. Then the 28 home to Ballard. Now here with my knee iced and elevated, my elbow cleaned and bandaged, and my head pounding a little. I'll be taking Silver over to Eric's for a visit to the vet. A tiny bit worried about my knee, as it's very swollen and sore.

2 comments:

  1. What kind of a jerk cuts in front of a biker and what kind of an ass does not get out of the car when they can clearly see what has happened.

    I hope you are ok. I can always piggyback you around the office until you are feeling better.

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  2. He's just lucky you had to pick your bike up so you couldn't kick his butt! Well, at least, you can check that off the biker list. Welcome to the big leagues, badass biker!

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