Asphalt is hard. I mean really really hard! I met with said asphalt in a very unfriendly meeting last night. Very unexpected and very very quickly. I went down so fast, I don't even have any defensive wounds … just lots of sore sore muscles and a bent bicycle frame.
It is nothing short of amazing how quickly and smoothly one can get around the city on a bicycle. In my opinion, it is the ultimate transportation. Nimble, maneuverable, light, green and faster than a car by a great distance in heavy traffic in the city, because you can navigate to the front of the huge backups at each and every traffic signal. Literally I can cross the city twice as fast as a car during afternoon rush hour. But all of that is predicated on keeping the two wheels on the tarmac. All of those advantages only come into play when you keep it upright!
When the unexpected, the totally unforeseen is forcibly interjected into the mix, I went down like a sack of cement! I am most thankful that there was no car right behind me at that moment (and beyond thankful for my helmet seeing how my head bounce more than once off the pavement) or there could have easily been an obituary rather than a blog coming out of the experience. But life is very much like this unexpected fall, you are just motoring along and then boom! Down you go!
Now the question for life and for biking is the same - how do you respond to the unexpected, painful though it may be? At least this time, I got up this morning (albeit very slowly and gingerly), climbed back on the bike and started up the hill.
