Moin

My bicycle Leif and I had an accident last night. Leif is doing better than I, only the front light had to be readjusted. I mean that makes sense since he landed softly: on me.

But let’s start at the beginning: Last night I was meeting with some friends in the next town. It is not that far, about 10km and it is a beautiful tour to cycle. The only trouble was that it is getting dark around 5pm at the moment in Germany and it was raining. So we were cycling in the dark in between towns, without streetlamps. I mean I really love the new bicycle-lights with LED and dynamo hub, they are so much lighter than the old ones. But cycling in the pitch-black they still seem too dark. Especially if the only other light is coming from the cars passing. And those often feel more blinding and if the street is wet like yesterday, you are cycling blind when a car is coming towards you. Well, anyway, because of that I was cycling slowly and carefully, or so I thought. I was pedalling down this low traffic road totally alone, just Leif and me on the street. And then I thought the road had got wider and I should cycle more to the right of the road. But as I was steering to the right, we dropped down some cm, so the road did not get wider, but had some gravel-way beside it. So I got caught off guard by the drop and just reacted by steering right back on the road… and that was a bad decision. Because I hid the edge at a really bad angle, we still got back on the road but tumbled until I finally lost all balance and we fell. So there we were, in the rain and pitch-black in the middle of a street, Leif on top of me and me swearing and shocked. 😉 I had some trouble to get back up because Leif had my leg pinned under him and I could not just pull it out, I had to lift him a little first. But then I was able to stand up, so my next instinct was to get off the road. So I pushed Leif back on the gravel-way and went back to collect my bags and stuff that fell off. My left side was hurting a lot, but it felt like contusions and maybe abrasions. I could move and nothing appeared to be broken or hurt badly. Then I got back on Leif and kept cycling. I mean, what else should I have done? I definitely was not a case for an ambulance. And even if I was taking my raingear and clothes off, right there I would not have been able to see anything. So I made it to my friends’ house and went into the bathroom first, to check up on my skin and found it to be red and swollen but nothing worse. Of course, my friends were more worried about me then I was and I got offered quite a few rides home. 🙂 But I was afraid if I would not cycle back, I would develop a fear of cycling in the dark. So I thanked them and got back on the bicycle when it was time to get home. And I am happy to report we got home ok without another incident. 🙂

But my left side is still swollen and is turning blue… so I will feel that some more days I am sure… Any tips for healing bruises quickly besides Arnica?

keep exploring and smiling

your Fairy