i should come with a warning label...

i've always wondered what it would be like to flip over my bike's handlebars... and now i know.

see, here's how it went... i went for a nice bike ride today. rode through highland park, then climbed the hill that's just past the zoo. then through shadyside a bit, and finally, to schenley park, to climb the hill on overlook drive. i'm embarrassed to say that i haven't been on my bike in months, which is kinda unexcusable because i love being on my bike and we've had some unseasonably warm days this winter. alas, i was having a lovely ride today, traffic was cooperative, i was in control of my own destiny, choosing my own path. lately i've been in kind of a funk, have been trying to make some sense of things that i just can't seem to get my head around, have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the shit that needs to come together in the next seven weeks before the semester is over. so all of this was spinning around in my head while i was riding. i wasn't really trying to make sense of it all; more so i just wanted to have some time to think about it, and for some reason my mind wanders more effectively when my body is active.

anyway, so i'm on the last leg of my ride, coming down the hill in schenley park, and i decide to take this little off-road shortcut to avoid a traffic light/intersection at the very bottom of the hill. it involves a steep but short climb, and i've got a mountain bike, so it can definitely handle it, even with road tires on it. but, to start the climb, i have to jump a little curb, which i grossly miscalculated today, and ended up flying into the air, my bike flying over me and ka-boom! i'm covered in mud on the ground. but don't worry, folks! my fall was broken by...my face.

i really am fine. it wasn't just my face that broke my fall. it was also the left side of my chest and my right elbow. but i literally flipped over the handlebars. it was awesome! yeah, i'm gonna feel like i got hit by a truck tomorrow, and i'm hoping to hell that my face doesn't turn black and blue, but what can you do? i got up, dusted myself off, spit the dirt out of my mouth, made sure my teeth were all present and accounted for, picked up my bike, and sat down for a few minutes to rest and drink some water.

yes -- i feel like the biggest idiot ever, but i probably had it coming. i'm not the most careful cyclist ever. i never brake going down hills, i tend to take turns a little quickly, my head is in my own world more often than not. not to say that i'm reckless -- i play by the rules and i don't cut off motorists. i just turn into my nine-year-old self on my bike, i'm a kid with some independence! it's just so damn fun!

i haven't had a fall in years, not since the first year i was in philadelphia (and that was a similar fall -- trying to jump a curb to get onto the bike path on kelly drive. i had an awesome scar on my arm from that one!), so maybe it was just something i needed to get out of my system?

at any rate, maybe it's a metaphor for what i'm going through these days. you stumble, you get thrown from what you think is taking you someplace really good, you land on your face, but you get up, take a few minutes to catch your breath, and keep going.

jesus, if this law thing doesn't work out, maybe i should start writing greeting cards. blah blah blah...

..but if i end up being a mess of bruises, i'm just going to tell people that andrew beat me up because i didn't want to go out dancing with him at 1:00 in the morning last night.