October 13. The day a soccer ball knocked me off my bike.
A few weeks ago I decided to take a different route home from work. Cutting through the former Cubberly High School seemed like a safe way to avoid traffic, and I'd never been through there before.
Happily cruising beside the busy soccer field, I saw a kicked ball miss the goal, heading straight at my bike. At that point I recall that time slowed, and I saw that the ball was going to hit my front wheel. It did, and my bike stopped (I think the front wheel turned really sharp.)
I flew off, landing on my face, left hand, and left leg in the dusty gravel path. The coach of the middle school soccer team came over and asked if I was OK. I didn't know, and it took me a few minutes to get up. I could tell that I was bleeding from my nose, my upper lip, and from several spots on my arms and legs.
I was able to get back on after about 15 minutes. The biggest pain was on my upper front teeth. The bike showed no damage at all. I was able to ride, somewhat unsteadily, to the church (about 1 mile) where I met my wife. At this time, I didn't feel much pain, but Ann helped me to wash off the dust. I had dinner, took a shower and went to bed.
The next day's assessment showed that my nose, upper lip, lower lip and chin were bloody from being scraped. Maybe the beard helped avoid worst damage. My upper lip was split on the inside - I had clearly hit my face pretty hard on the ground.
Both knees had scrapes, the right wrist had an open patch, and my right ankle proudly bears 7 puncture wounds, evenly spaced, from my top chain ring.
My left wrist and left knee ached, and my chest was also tender, letting me know when I moved too fast or tried to twist. I went to work that Thursday, but drove.
The following day, Friday, I rode my bike again, but the left wrist let me know that was a bad idea. Since I needed to drive most of the following week, I took it easy. The knee was feeling much better, but the wrist still ached, as did my chest.
Since I was still aching almost two weeks later, on Monday Oct. 25, on the recommendation of my wife, I went to PAMF. A wrist X-ray revealed that the fall had stretched a tendon, which pulled off a small patch of bone.
Since then I've been wearing a splint, and the wrist seems to hurt more easily when I remove the split for showering. I'm hoping that's an indication that it's trying to heal. I guess I'll know when I return to the doctor on Nov. 17.
I'm missing my bike...
