As I was cruising along highway 61 on the bike path, about seven or eight miles from home, I noticed that there were some new colored arrows spray-painted on the path, indicating that a bike ride with three separate routes, signaled by three different colored arrows, had been routed on this path.
Just before I got to the park, the yellow and blue routes veered off to the right, away from the park. Orange continued into the park, then veered to the left, off the path, and up a rocky trail. About twenty yards later, still in the parking lot, an orange arrow appeared again, but turned abruptly to the right before the bridge and headed straight towards the creek. Shocked, I looked away from my path, towards the creek. What did the river crossing look like?
Suddenly, I remembered my own path. I looked up just in time to remember that there is a post in the middle of my path, which is sometimes folded down, but it or its bracket still provides a hazard in the middle of the path.
I was about a foot away from the bracket, and with quick pressure to the handlebar, I cut just to the right and avoided the bracket. But to stay up, I had to cut back left, just as I felt my back wheel hit the bracket.
The next thing I knew, I was airborne, landing on my knee, and it hurt, so I rolled to my thigh, and it felt better. Prone, on the ground, I looked up, and saw my bicycle next to me, wheels spinning in the air. I assessed my condition: conscious, maybe dazed, but nothing hurt too much.
I stood up, and realized that my bike had landed with its handlebars on a low wall, my bike perpendicular to the path. I set it upright - one brake hood was twisted almost ninety degrees, but otherwise, my bike seemed OK.
I took myself off the path, and assessed myself, and my helmet, more closely. No cracks, dings, nor chips in the helmet. My painful knee was the source of a trickle of blood running quickly down my right shin.
I could handle the blood, then I noticed a goose egg, or maybe an ostrich egg on the inside of my left shin. How could that have grown so big so quickly? Slightly shaken by the sight, I banished the idea of continuing up the path, and decided to ride slowly and carefully home. I was surely having a rush of adrenaline, and was maybe suffering some shock. I thought that if that lump grows any bigger, or something else starts to hurt, I want to be closer to home.
I carefully looked over all the components of my bike: wheels, spokes, brakes (needed a bit of tweaking, probably because the handbrake mechanism had been pulled out of position). Frame and paint showed no bends, dings, nor scrapes. I was good to go!
Here's what my legs looked like when I got home:
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