My Crash

There is a reason why I am not into extreme sports. Or sports in general. I would much rather be behind the lens of a camera while visiting the soccer field, volleyball court, or swimming pool. We enjoy our hobbies, right? Well, sports are not on my list.

I do love to exercise. Although anymore, walking seems to be about the safest option for me. I used to roller blade ALL of the time. Loved it. I went almost every single summer evening with a good friend, and we had a nice little route we would complete while chatting away. Well, when you do something often enough, while you should improve over time, it always opens up more margin for making a mistake. I can recount 2 huge wipe outs in my years of roller blading, all in which resulted in some nice injuries.

My newest love has been riding my bike. I love it. Last night, I really wanted to go on a bike ride. The weather has been very pleasant… in the 70s, mild & warm. Last night was the perfect evening for a ride. So I hopped on my bike and pedaled off, taking a route I often walk on with a friend. After the route was complete, I just wasn’t satisfied. The night was too nice to leave behind, so I just kept going. I biked all over town.

I had headphones on and unfortunately, I had forgotten to put my ipod in its case so I was holding it in my hand to avoid dropping it. Every once in awhile, I would look down to select a song or to advance to the next one, as I wouldn’t like what was playing.

I decided to end my trip after biking down the street right by our High School. It is literally 3 blocks away from where I live. While doing so, I was approaching the busy street we live off of (Jackson St.), but I was also preoccupied with my ipod, trying to select the perfect song to end my wonderful trip. As I was doing so, I noticed that out of the corner of my eye that Jackson St. was approaching much more quickly than I expected. Without looking up and in a split second, I panicked and slammed on my hand brakes.

Big mistake. My bike jolted, stopping immediately and literally launching me off of my bike. I knew what we coming but could do nothing to stop it. My knees were the first thing to hit pavement, followed by the rest of my body landing on top of my bike and my hands on the road. My ipod safely hit the concrete and escaped with no scratches. Figures.

It was painful. I have always wondered what it would feel like to be hit by a car (weird, I know) but now I don’t want to know. The instant shock was to my knees… they hurt pretty bad.

I was literally horizontal on the ground, on top of my bike. I felt very out of control. In order to regain some sense of composure, I immediately stood up and picked up my bike. My pants had a hole in the knee. I had no clue what damage had been done, but pride caused me to start walking my bike on home without making a show of it. No tears, no emotion, I just started walking as if I had simply dropped my phone on the ground and had bent over to pick it up. As I approached Jackson St., I noticed a lady who was walking her dog who had turned around and was gawking, and most likely saw the whole thing. I smiled sweetly at her and kept walking.

Once I was at the safety of my driveway, I parked my bike and sat down on the step and examined my injuries. Pulling up my black pants, now equipped with a hole to the knee, I saw that I had completely skinned both knees and big, red patches were there. I had a knot the size of a golf ball on my right leg, and my feet were a little scratched. Amazingly, my hands suffered the least damage, just a simple road burn from landing so hard and fast.

I limped inside and cleaned up my wounds. Today, everything is doing alright. Nothing too life-altering, although I will have some nice black and blue bruises on my knees, and I may not be kneeling for awhile. Also, I noted that a lot of the strange positions I find myself in while taking pictures on photo shoots may have to change.

I am thankful that I didn’t knock teeth out or fall flat on my face… thanks to my knees for footing most of the crash.

As I think about all of this, though, it really is confirmation that I’m in the right field—doing something creative, safe, and for the most part requiring no coordination or athletic ability. Not that roller blading or riding your bike requires too much athleticism, and actually, my fall was moreso due to a panicked attempt to avoid biking into oncoming traffic rather than biking technique, but, you know. Well, that, and distraction due to my ipod. I’ve been avoiding buying one of those arm straps for my ipod but maybe it’s about time.

So here I am. Doing what I do best. I won’t stop biking… love it too much. But next time, I’m going to be more careful.

Love you all!

T