The Road, she is a Cruel Mistress

If you bicycle long enough, its almost a given that you will learn the pain of road rash. I put some real miles on this summer, and I paid my dues this weekend.

Saturday started nice, with a ride out to the Red Hook Brewery on the other side of Lake Washington. It's a fun, easy ride, about 20 miles each way. We had a beer and split some appetizers, then headed home.
The ironic thing is, I had a crash not long after leaving the brewery that could have easily resulted in injury. The trail led through a park, and a little kid rode directly across the trail and t-boned me right behind my front wheel. I wasn't going very fast, but my feet were clipped in and I had already started turning away to avoid him. When he hit I came to a complete halt, and fell right on top of him. Fortunately neither of us was hurt...it could have been bad. (side note, Katie, seen above, crashed while trying to avoid us. She is scraped and bruised.)

It wasn't until I was almost home, at the bottom of Stone Way (leading up the hill to my house) that I crashed in earnest. Again I wasn't going very fast, and to be honest I'm not sure how it happened. That stretch of road has a lot of dirt and loose gravel, and I was crossing from the trail on the left to the right side of the street. I must have hit some loose gravel and started a slide. All I remember clearly is seeing the curb coming diagonally towards me, and not being able to do anything about it. I think I slid sideways into the curb...I know I did a face-plant into the sidewalk.
My chin took the brunt of the damage. You can't see it very well, but there is a dime sized chunk of skin at the bottom that is torn back. I also have scrapes and bruises on my shoulder, knee, and both hands...but the chin is definitely the beauty. Thankfully this picture doesn't do it justice, because in person it's pretty disgusting.
I went to the doctor this morning to have him check out the wounds. I was also concerned because I almost passed out in the shower Sunday morning. It wasn't because of the pain, nothing really hurts that much. I think I may have had a mild concussion. The doctor checked everything out, but wasn't too concerned. I got a tetanus shot as a precaution, and some antibacterial for the wounds. As for the bike, everything checks out except I need to re-tune the rear derailleur.

Oh well, it's my sacrifice to the road. Hopefully my account will be paid in full for some time to come.