Bike Plan Crashed

I bought a bike helmet on Thursday. It was part of my grand scheme of doing my first run/ride. I had planned on running four miles and then riding my bike for another six or maybe even 10.

This plan seemed like a good plan but it blew up in my face.

I dropped the girls off at school and went straight to Target. I bought a nice-fitting helmet there and a few other things and I had intended afterward to pick up my bike and then head over the Mt. Rubidoux. There is a nice bike path over there and I figured it would be a great place to run and then ride. But it was close to 8:30 at that point and when I got home, I just decided to run/ride at home.

The run was great. I ran four miles in about 37 minutes, felt good doing so also. I know I could have run another two or three miles, maybe maintain that pace or not, but I could have gotten to seven miles easy. Instead, though, I wanted to save my strength for a bike ride.

I was curious to see how my muscles would react to bike riding after having run. Of course, it wasn't exactly a duathlon. Four miles running doesn't put a whole lot of stress on the body.

I figured out how to put on my helmet, adjusted it and then got both tires nice and filled with air. Soon after, I headed out, excited, hopeful.

I turned down one street, made a left and got near the end of that street. I went into a right turn when I noticed water. I didn't have a ton of time to react. I went through it and figured nothing would happen.

The back tire, though, had other ideas. The tire slid out from behind me, to the left. I hit the brakes and that's when all hell broke loose. The entire bike slid to the left and I was coming down. I looked up and saw the street rushing up towards me. My head smacked the ground but I barely felt anything. The helmet had served its purpose.

However, the helmet spared me from having any lingering head issues but couldn't protect the rest of me. My knee hurt the most initially. It was quite tender and swelling already. My arms had various scuffs on them but nothing stood out, just the knee. I got back on my bike, unsure of what to do. Almost immediately, though, my knee asked to go home. I hadn't even been a half mile when I fell. I went back a different way and wound up riding one mile.

I wasn't concerned about anything but getting home, of course. My knee felt strange, quite tender to the touch, and that's what I cared about. The ride was shot, nothing good had come of it, and in fact it served to all but shatter my confidence and motivation to ride.

As of this writing (it's late Thursday), my knee is in discomfort, pain sometimes, but I can walk okay on it. Turns out the biggest problem is my wrist. I've resorted to wearing Yvie's old brace to help stabilize it. Having some pressure makes it feel okay. The problem isn't moving my fingers and my wrist up and down or even side to side but when I try to rotate my hand or arm, like if you are turning a doorknob, that's when I get a shooting pain. The wrist looks a little swollen in comparison to the other wrist but I haven't gone to the doctor. I plan on going on Friday if things don't improve.

So there you have it. I get adventurous and try something new only to have this happen. Sigh.


My new helmet saved me from some head pain. Already paid itself off after one wear.

Kind of hard to tell but that's where I smacked myself. Some of that is dirt from falling - the street there was quite filthy - but my knee was already red and tender at this point.