I have a running joke among my friends that I am better at hurting myself than anyone else. There was the electrocution incident in Greece, the near toe-decapitation in Spain, and of course my climbing/skiing/cycling accidents detailed here. Well, yesterday I had an accident that put all of these to shame. I wish I were joking. Perhaps I really should never leave the house….

I set out on a bike ride over to Alki with a friend and fellow bike enthusiast. The day was excellent: cold, crisp, and sunny. Perfect for a blue-bird ski day or a lovely bike ride through fall foliage.

On the way back home as we were rounding the bend at the West Seattle Bridge, DISASTER STRUCK. From what I recall, I was riding quickly (about 16-20mph according to the bike computer) and approaching a large muddy patch on the right side of the path. There was also an oncoming cyclist, so I couldn’t just swerve around the muddy spot. I hit the brakes, and apparently I hit them a little too hard.  My front tire locked up and I was thrown forward and did a total header into the pavement.

Yes, that really does mean I landed on my face. Luckily I was wearing a helmet (of course!), and sunglasses (which are toast now).

Not Halloween Makeup

After smacking my face, I flipped over and eventually came to rest on my back. I have some abrasions on my left shoulder and right shin, but luckily my clips released and the bike didn’t land under and/or on me. Luna’s in pretty good shape….considering. She just needs some adjustments to the horn. I’m also really glad my partner, who was behind, didn’t run over me!

Sunnies no more

Another cyclist saw the accident and nicely stopped to help. She called her husband, who lived close by, and he gave us a ride to my house. There, I cleaned up a bit, then we headed to the hospital. It was pretty apparent I would need stitches.

Post at home clean up

They took X-rays of my shoulder, a Cat Scan of my FACE, and gave me a tetanus shot for good measure. Everything came back clean, nothing broken (thank goodness). My eyebrow cut had to be glued shut and they put 4 stitches in my lip (gross pictures below – not for the squeamish).

Now I’m resting at home with lots of pain meds. My face is pretty ridiculously swollen today – I won’t subject you all to a full face shot…but here is what my eye is doing:

If this is the Universe’s way of telling me to slow down, I got the memo. I’m lucky to be able to work from home for the next few days while the swelling goes down.

Let’s hope I’m really done with all of this now. I’m ready to be happy and healthy and accident free!