Thursday evening a friend and I decided to hit the local bike path. He runs and I ride my bike. We travel 3 miles to the next town, turn around and head home. We misjudged how soon the sun was going to set and the path has a nice canopy of trees so it was dark very quickly. I thought I was following the path until I felt my front tire go into the dirt and panicked. I must have squeezed the brakes too hard because the bike and I were flipping down a 10 foot wooded embankment.

When I became aware of my friend I could not understand why he was so upset. He later explained that he had trouble finding me in the dark and had been shouting out my name. He asked did you not hear me yelling? I must have been out for a few minutes. He was about to call 911 when I moaned. He said he would help me up and I asked for a minute to do inventory of my body to make sure nothing felt broken. I was fine so I got up on my feet. He wanted to help me up but I had visions of us both at the bottom again. I decided to climb up on all fours. Once on the bike path we walked the mile and a half to his car. I had lots of cuts and one really big lump on my left wrist. We talked about the hospital but I had great range of motion in the left hand so we went to my sisters and she dressed the wound. I put some ice on the swelling and that helped. I would have liked to hug an ice sculpture since much of my body was bruised and swelling but not as bad as the wrist.

We headed home and I finished baking a lasagna for our dinner. We drank some wine and teased each other about how crazy the night was. Then about 4:30 AM the Tylenol, wine and probably a small amount of shock wore off and I was hurting. I felt like a pinata they could not get the candy out of it. I cursed my self for not leaving the Tylenol at the bedside with a glass of water. I was able to get more sleep until it was time to get up, shower and head off to jury duty. The other folks on the jury were surprised by the change in appearance and the number of bandages.

I am feeling better this Saturday and Sunday. Off to Sears to have my glasses bent back into shape. At first they looked like frames by Salvador Dali. I also need a new wristband for the watch that was torn off of me. I am no longer finding twigs in odd places.

Much to be grateful for this Sunday. No broken bones or serious injuries but the bike will need more repair than me. Still stiff and sore but getting around well. The strange thing as I was falling and tumbling was a sense of peace and the knowlege to just let it happen. I never tried to reach out and stop the fall. That might have caused damage. Of course I might have knocked myself out early and was unaware of what was happening. All in all I was lucky and lucky to have a good friend with me when it happened.