The Kitchen Blog

Cooking, Gardening, Angst and More. Including Job Search Tales and lifestyle tips about island living.

Fall of the Fallen

So there I was, minding my own business, coming home from checking the animals in the upper field when Wham Ass over Teakettle I go, off my bike and onto my right shoulder. Bare arm hit gravel road. Those little sparrows and their stars crowned my head in a lovely halo and it took me a moment to gain my breath.

It's been a long time since I've fallen off a bike. Like 30 years at least. Back then I bounced right back, never a worry. Today I'm off to be checked for broken bones, torn ligaments, or at very least an explanation for the searing pain in my shoulder when I so much as twitch--which actually is all the time because of the searing pain on and on and on in some sort of palsied mobius strip sort of way.

In one deft hiccup is dashed my hopes of an eco friendly mode of transportation. I was already beginning to have doubts about the small frame of the bike--a used ladies model mountain bike gifted to my wife by someone without a hope of ever riding it. I just shelled out for new tires so we could use it to beetle about for farm chores to save on wear and tear and fuel costs for the car. However, either I am the wrong body shape for the bike, or the bike is the wrong shape for me--I don't know which but neither of us worked very well last night.  The loose gravel and soft sand of a country road in ways I will now be more fearful of if I ever get on a bike to ride again.

We will see what happens today. I'm hopefully on the way to the chiropractor at this moment, but it is early morning an I haven't phoned to see if he can fit me in. I need to get to the mainland now if I am to have any hope of being seen later. I also have a lengthy chore list which necessitated driving a stick-shift pickup into town. At 5:30 I was not feeling too confidant, sitting on the edge of the bed in agony, whether I could or should even drive the truck today. But as so often in my past, pig-ignorance one over calm, reflective fear and here I am on the ferry with truck below. Each shift or jounce a wince and groan. If you are reading this now, then I have made it to the coffee shop to post while I calm my already frayed nerves with a mocha. Next stop after that, feed and chiro but possibly not in that order. As they are opposite ends of the county it's challenging enough in a day to make it to both when I feel fine. My next post may detail the exchange. For now I just have to concentrate on my driving. After all, if I can't brush my teeth with my right hand, should I be shifting? Where's a right hand drive car when I need it?

On the plus side the road rash, gravel embedded scaring up and down my right arm should make me look rather hard and tough next time I sport a "wife beater". Either that of tell the unfortunate tale of a pudgy, bald git with some sort of strange arm lesions who shouldn't be fannying about when he is so obviously out of shape.

posted by: ChefNeal at June 28, 2006 07:54 | link | comments (4) |
life, bikes, painful chores

Comments:

#1  28 June 2006 - 08:04

 

ouch! i send healing beams o' energy your way...

howard

#2  28 June 2006 - 08:13

 

Aaaaah! poor thing - you know that I've been there too (though not a la bicyclette - I managed to fall over me own feet!).

A not-so-gentle reminder of how fragile we old folks are.

LloydDavis

#3  28 June 2006 - 10:29

 

Oh dear - unhorsed. I have great sympathy. My main transportation is bicycle, and one of my main hobbies is intoxication, so I'm no stranger to falling off. Still, if you're sober you should be all right provided you take extra care on loose surfaces. Good luck with the shoulder!

jimbo

#4  29 June 2006 - 06:54

 

@ Howard--I think I should buy a vespa, not a bike.

@Lloyd--I recalled your gruesome entanglement with the pavement for a flash second as flesh was being peeled away. After the trauma was over, as I wrote this post I thought, "You wally--no piccies to post, like Lloyd. . . ." But I didn't have the visible badge of honor--on my face--like you. I wore a long sleeve shirt to keep from frightening the kiddies.

@Jimbo--I think I wouldn't have minded being drunk and tumbling. The main reason I am injured is because I stiffened up and "braced" for impact--Ouch! If I'd been legless I would have just been a drooling heap in the lane singing off key with a head the next morning and not a stiff shoulder.

Thanks all for the concearn and best wishes.
When I posted the above, I was quite certain given the lack of bruising and extreme pain that I had broken a collarbone, or torn a rotator cuff or something grim like that. But all is fine. Just a pain in the side of the neck.

ChefNeal

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