Thats What I Get for Signaling

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Man falling off bike in the rain."][/caption]

I wish I had a picture of myself last night. If I did it would probably be as comical as this one. I ride my bike nearly every day, so I should be quite good at it. However, last night I was distracted, thinking of other things, and not paying enough attention to the road.

I was signaling to turn left which took my left hand off my handlebars. Then I noticed that with traffic coming from the other direction I would have to slow down and wait before turning. So I applied my rear brakes with my right hand. Just then I got that "something's not right" feeling. I'm still not entirely sure why exactly I lost control but it was probably due to a combination of factors.

I ended up quite embarrassed and lying in the gutter. I quickly checked to see that nothing was broken and then got to my feet, wile dragging my bike to the curb. After looking around and getting ready to assure people that I was O.K. I realized that no one had stopped, to see if I was alright, much less glance my way. I didn't know weather to be glad that I had avoided embarrassment, or outraged at the lack of compassion from my fellow humans.

Instead of dwell on these thoughts overmuch, I opted to do a more trough check of my person and my transportation for signs of damage. I got away with a scrape on my elbow, a bit of a scratch on my knee as well as a bruise on my ribs. The bruise on my ribs must have been where I cushioned the fall of my bike, since its roughly the right shape and other than my bike light being knocked out of alignment my bike seems fine.

So all in all it was a quite harmless lesson. Just as when operating an automobile, it is important to pay attention to the road at all times. So don't ride/drive while distracted. That or, signaling is dangerous. Take you pick.

Remember accidents can happen to anyone no matter their skill level or amount of practice. If you're riding a bike you're only likely to hurt yourself but if your driving a car there is the very real possibility of killing someone. So ditch the car and... Get a Bike!