144th ride

After riding to work again this morning, and then working a much shorter day than I wished (getting out just before 1:00), I decided to ride straight home in order to catch the Tigers' matinee contest, and do a long ride (perhaps to Dexter, a 26-mile round trip) after the game. The ride home, however, was unexpectedly adventurous.

The fall-o-meter would have to be reset to 0 days, as I fell not only once, but twice. The first, and more serious one, occurred as I was riding south on State, approaching Ellsworth. I was trying to ride between the curb and a waiting semi-truck, and felt I had plenty of room to do so, but I got a bit too far to the right and hit the curb. This sent me flying, which could have been quite disastrous, of course, but I managed to go off to the right, landing in the grass. After a couple of minutes, I was on my way again just fine.

The second spill was as I was almost home, riding on the sidewalk that connects the housing complex next to ours, to ours. The foliage was quite overgrown, and as I was trying to duck my way through it, with obscured vision, I slipped off the walk to the right, and went skidding down.

In both falls my chain became disengaged from the chain wheel—but I am grateful to Doug for the lesson he gave me on how to rectify this situation a few weeks ago (June 3, as a matter of fact), as it enabled me to continue on my way with no more problem than the need to wash up good to remove the grease from my hands once I got home.

I am noticing since getting home, though, that the first fall, which sent me sprawling onto my back, bruised up my left side (back, chest, and upper arm) pretty good—so perhaps, in lieu of a long ride, I'll just let my 5.5-mile round trip to work suffice for today. Or, as a compromise, perhaps I could "only" do the 12.4 mile trip to Saline and back.