Klutz strikes again

Road Rash:Skin abrasions resulting from sliding on pavement typically after a cycle accident.

It was so nice Sunday that we packed up the bikes, the peddle variety, and headed to Clio park for lunch and a little riding. Jen's Mom and sister went with us and since we had recently picked up a bike trailer for the littlest member of the family Tristan and his little brother Scott joined us as well. After lunch Tristan and his Friend Dion took off down the path and I hopped on my bike to keep up with them while the rest of the gang got Scott strapped in and began to follow. We rode the half mile to the end of the path and turned around to go back to the park, passing the rest of the gang on the way back, but decided to continue riding to the far end of the path almost a mile outside of Clio park. Following Jen's sister Kimmy with Scott in tow we turned down an offshoot of the trail that landed us at the base of a large and somewhat deep puddle. We stopped. We debated about riding through it or turning back not wanting to get Scott all wet in the new trailer and upset the poor boy who had spent the first ten minutes of his ride crying for his mother to stop. The debate ended in us turning back but unfortunately my chain had come partway off the rear sprocket and when I pressed my foot on the peddle it slipped back and wedged the heel of my shoe in the frame of the bike. I still had one foot on the ground so I made the decision to yank upward with my foot and try to dislodge it from the frame and sprocket. In doing so I lost my balance and fell forward, landing on the concrete with my right knee and dragging my left leg across the spikes of the peddle as I tried to untangle myself from the bike on the way down.

Enter the road Rash! Same knee, just slightly to the right of the last incident of my knee hitting pavement. Unfortunately for me this time I was in shorts and it was skin that contacted the pavement allowing the gravel to embed itself deep in the cuts. The good news, my endorphins were running high from the physical activity of riding the bike and I barely felt a thing for the next thirty minutes. After picking myself up from the ground we headed back to the park and I loaded my bike back into the carrier. the rest of the gang was not too far behind me and we headed home to drop off bikes and see what the damage to my legs really was. With a little help from Jen I managed to get both legs cleaned and bandaged ... three days later they have scabbed over and I am doing my best to keep the scabs moist and prevent the inevitable cracking and pain that will come with it.

Lesson learned ... sometimes it's not the fall that hurts, it's the gravel you embed in your knee after you hit the pavement!