Bruised, battered and biking

Last Sunday, I rode my bike after my return from vacation. Rather than take a leasurly trip along flat, well marked bike paths, I accepted the challenge of riding to the Marin Headlands with my friend as my guide. A trip to the Headlands required clipless pedals to make the hill climbs easier on the legs.

I was excited and nervous about the ride. For one, my balance sucks and two, I haven't ridden with clipless since forever. Because of this, I pretty much set myself up to fall at least once while unclipping to stop.

We rode out that warm afternoon, taking the shortest route to Presidio for the short and narrow climb to the Golden Gate Bridge. Once there, I successfully navigated across, following close behind my friend. Once we got to the other side, he failed to mention the hill climb up to the Headlands. He knew the route and fortunately for me, a section of the roads were closed to cyclists. We weren't sure why but I was relieved. My friend really wanted to ride to the Headlands so we took a different route. There were more cars on the road than usual which made me all the more nervous. Undaunted, we made it to Fort Cronkite and where I had my first fall. I turned on an incline, stopped and failed to unclip fast enough. I fell on my left. It was a soft fall but I managed to bruise my left palm, left shin and thigh.

A little shaken and embarrassed, I laughed it off and we rode up to Battery Mendell. The views are gorgeous from there. It was just after 4p and time to head back. We hustled down the road, through one tunnel and across the bridge. At the end of the bridge, there's a sharp and narrow right turn down a steep path that leads to the Presidio. I didn't take the turn sharp enough, my front tire hit a pipe jutting out of the concrete path and I fell on my right side, hard. There wasn't time to lie there and groan. I unclipped, slid out from under my bike and moved off to the side. I was in a blind turn and I didn't want to be run over by another cyclist and cause a bike pile up. My right side was throbbing and sore. I was hurting too much to be embarrassed when cyclists rounded that corner and asked me if I was ok. I kept saying "oww, oww, oww". My friend suggested I rest to get my bearings before riding off. I must have been shaking. I just wanted to get home. I sucked it up and we rode back as quickly as possible. This time, he rode behind me to keep an eye on me.

I made it back safely and now I have matching bruises on both sides of my body; both palms, both thighs, both shins, both upper arms and a big ol' one on my ass. I look beaten up.