Bike Injury

One of my recent new goals is to be comfortable riding my bike in the city. Like any good suburban kid, I know how to ride a bike. But, riding on the sidewalk of suburban Los Angeles is different than riding on the hilly, crowded streets of San Francisco. So, not too long ago, I pulled my bike out from the basement, dusted it off, pumped up the tires, and asked Eleanor to help me with my goal.

I knew Eleanor would be perfect for this. She bikes everywhere and is smart about it. She is super patient and would be understanding of all my neurotic fears. And, she's just totally fun and incredibly sweet.

Two Sundays ago, she came by my house with her bike and we went for a ride, after going to Box Dog Bikes to get my seat adjusted first. We headed south to the Dogpatch, with the intention of stopping by Piccino. But, we never made it there. Instead, we went to one of the parking lots of AT&T Park, where I practiced using my gears (and we discovered that my front gears weren't shifting) and starting and stopping gracefully. We then rode our bikes back to the Mission, where I rewarded myself with ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery. Eleanor escorted me all the home too.

Last Sunday, I went for a bike ride with Ian and his friends. I was nervous about not being able to keep with them and not being able to bike up hills. But, I managed okay through Golden Gate Park and walked my bike up some hills that were too steep for my legs.

I thought I was doing okay, until I fell off my bike in the Presidio. I didn't even get hit by anything to make a good story. I didn't have to dodge a wild animal either. I just fell off. I skinned my left knee, scraped my left hand, and bruised my right side. Ian asked if I wanted to keep going. There was nothing I could do, really, other than keep going. I took a moment to catch my breath then got back to pedaling. It hurt a little and Ian rubbed chewed up eucalyptus leaves on my cuts. I was bound to get hurt at some point, and, though I would rather not have fallen and scraped up my body, it wasn't too bad. We kept going to Crissy Field, North Beach, Chinatown, downtown, and up Market toward home. We must have gone about 15 miles. Other than falling and having to walk up hills, I think I did pretty great for my third time on a bike in years.

I'm still feeling the pain of my fall though. The right side of my body is sore and it hurts to bend my left knee. I went to visit the school nurse yesterday to check out my knee, which was looking red and swollen. She said it wasn't infected, that it was actually healing well, and that it was just a little inflamed. She stuck a band-aid on my knee.

And, since my body is achy and it hurts to bend my knee, I haven't been running this week, which is disappointing since I was doing well in keeping up with my morning routine.