Ouch

I have a new "worst bike crash ever" now. It happened down at the greenbelt. After flying down a 20' incline I leaned forward to get some peddling going. I wanted to built a lot of momentum because I was heading into a dry creek bed covered in loose stones. Unfortunately I failed to notice the 1 foot drop right after the incline and hit it with my weight far forward. Clearly a recipe for disaster.

After I endo'ed I lay on my stomach and right arm with the wind completely knocked out of me. Everyone has had the wind knocked out of them, so you know what comes next. I drag my body around in a vain attempt to find a comfortable position and gasp like a fish out of water. Finally I get the presence of mind to lie on my back and breath deep. After that I started to feel my right arm to check for breaks and what not, it was in a large amount of pain. My wrist was swelling such that my right hand became paralyzed and there was a gash on my elbow that was bleeding a lot more than seemed necessary. I pulled my left hand back from inspection, convinced that my arm would be fine, and endeavoured to whistle to get Austin back; but as I mentioned earlier my whistle hand was unable to move of it's own accord. So I took my left hand, now covered in my blood, and used it to coerce my right hand into position in my mouth for whistling.

Unfortunately I had just knocked the wind out of myself and the first few attempts at blowing resulted in what I can only call fellating my injured hand. The image is actually comical when you think about it.

By the time Austin got back I was in control of my breathing again and able to make a full analysis of my pain, nothing serious at all, Gracias a Dios.

My bike was fine too, which is really the only thing you worry about after a crash with no injuries. So all in all it was a neat little wreck. I regained composure and hopped back on the bike for the rest of the return trip.

I'm pretty sure the gash would have benefited greatly from stitches; it was a wide gash. But it was small enough that I decided to just give it some primitive first aid, and the bleeding finally stopped fully last night when I cleaned and redressed it. I can already tell you the shape of my new scar.