Un Cachito

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This is in the context of cycling. Basically, I crashed. But don't despair, I'm actually somewhat happy about it, and I'll tell you why.In the miniseries Band of Brothers, there's a quote that hit me which goes something like,

"The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier's supposed to function - without mercy, without compassion, without remorse."

So, in a less dramatic sense, I took a similar approach with cycling, realizing that I'm going to crash inevitably, and each day I don't is basically a free day. The fact that I didn't get hurt that much (relative to what I feared) is what makes me happy. I might be more careful going around corners for a bit, but I'm not stopping cycling.It happened last Monday and just Jason and I were out for a lunch ride. At the time, I was in the lead with him on my tail and cruising down a street at a speed that was probably in the mid-20s (mph). We came to an intersection where we were turning left and I signaled that to a car waiting at the intersecting street to turn left onto my street. I leaned into the turn and was partway through the turn when my bike just shot out from under me and slid across the pavement until it crashed into the curb on the other side. I followed in roughly the same path, though I didn't make it as far as the curb before I stopped and jumped up to my feet. Fortunately, Jason made it through fine and I, being pumped - full of adrenaline - grabbed my bike, waved off the now-concerned witness/motorist, and started to go. Jason stopped me to check out the damage (which didn't appear too bad), and then we set off to climb a big hill. Concerning why I crashed, Jason says I was leaning too far, but I really don't think I was. I can't think of anything else that could have been a factor, and he definitely had the better view of what happened, but I didn't feel that steep.Oh well, as I mentioned, the damage wasn't too bad. The handlebar tape on my bike is a little shredded, and there're some deep scrapes and missing chunks of metal from by pedal and rear quick-release bolt on the rear. As I slid across the intersection, I wore holes through my left sock, left glove and left hip of my shorts, along with some layers of skin, but again, it could have been much worse. At Jason's urgings, I've posted some pictures of my hip wound, but I'll warn you they are a little gross. I've tried to edit out anything that might be deemed inappropriate, but they are flesh wounds with outstanding bruising. The gauze embedded in the wound doesn't help either ;). Well, you've been warned. The pics can be accessed here.

Posted by charr at 2:04 PM

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