crash boom bang

why is it that when you slip, trip, or fall the first thing you do is quickly spring to your feet and look around to see if there were any witnesses? is embarrassment really that much more powerful than pain or concern for you own well being? before even determining if you are injured you will tell any onlookers that you are totally fine, and try to move on about your business as if nothing happened. at least that is what i do.

in fact, it is exactly what i did this morning when i fell off my bike.

before i go into the details of my fall, let me just say that i am totally fine. no major injuries to speak of.

here is how it went down. i was riding through campus, and coasting down a gentle hill, when up ahead there was a girl waiting at a crosswalk. she had the right-of-way so i began braking with both hands to allow her to cross. she couldn't tell that i was braking, so i reached up with my right hand to signal that she should cross. lifting up my right hand left only my left hand on the brakes. those would be the front brakes. the front wheel seized up, and i went over the handle bars and onto the pavement. the bike continued over me. in the end, both the bike and i were on the pavement having done complete flips over each other. luckily the car behind me was far enough back that they could stop.

there was no video footage of the incident, but had there been it would have looked a bit like this:


as i said before, i sprung to my feet as fast as possible and declared that i was alright. i looked around to find that there were only 50 or so people that could have seen the whole thing happen. i immediately scooped up my bike climbed back on to continue the 100 feet or so to where i lock my bike while at work. during those 100 feet it became quite apparent to me that i was in a decent amount of pain. a visual survey revealed that nothing appeared to be broken or bleeding so i proceeded to lock my bike and limp into my building. i decided to take the elevator instead of the stairs since i still wasn't 100% sure of my condition. the elevator also seemed like a pretty good place to hide my wounded ego. who did i encounter in the elevator? none other than the girl who moments before was politely waiting to cross the street when i did a face plant into the pavement at her feet. it turns out she works on my floor. she was very nice and apologetic about the whole thing, even though it was 100% my fault (or 50% my fault and 50% bad luck). upon arriving at lab i did a full survey of my injuries to find that all i had were some scrapes on my hands, a bit nastier scrape on my forearm, a slightly sore knee, and a more than slightly sore wrist and elbow. nothing broken and nothing too badly hurt, although i am typing with only one hand right now. seeing as the sore wrist and elbow are on my pipetting hand (right hand), i am struggling to get done the work done that i had intended to do today. you will be happy to know that in the name of science i was able to perform the majority of my work with my nearly useless left hand. now i am just writing the post while i wait for my valentine to come pick me up so i don't have to ride that death machine again. at least not until tomorrow.