I had a crash with my bicycle a week ago, and I still feel the pain. It was my very own fault. I can not blame anyone else than myself. In fact, it was not my inability to ride a bike, but it was a combination of stinginess and too well working bike brakes.
I use to listen to some musik or audiobook or just a radio-programm while riding the bike every day 8 miles in the morning and 8 miles in the evening. Last Monday, riding along the narrow path across the plain fields that circumfere our research center, the right earphone came off and in the few seconds while it was hanging on the cable in the wind it lost its rubber earplug. This earplug costs perhaps a few cent if one buys it in a large pack at Media Markt. Without much thinking, I pulled the bike brake with full force, not anticipating that it is a rather new disk brake. In this second, my only consideration was to get back this silly earplug. The brake on the front wheel worked so well, that it not only fully stopped the bike in a second, but it also made the rear wheel come offb and catapulted me over the handlebar. Since I flew for some moments head on before landing 3 meters in front of the bike, I was perhaps lucky that I use intuitively my hands to protected my head from a hard landing on the footpath. Anyhow, everyting was a matter of tenth of a second, and I can not fully remember which parts of my body hit the earth hardest. But it must have been in the order of
1. right upper leg
2. right chest
3. right jaw
The leg looks pretty scratched (superficially), and I wont post a picture hear unless somebody is keen to get one privatly. But since there are only muscle under the skin, I don’t feel much pain.
The chest, however, is still pretty painfull. I am not sure if a rib was broken, but it could be. It is difficult to laugh or to caugh now, and when I touch the ribs under my right armpit, there is a really pointed, stinging sensation.
The right lower jaw must also gotten a punch, but this I only recognise when I press on it with my fingers.
Conclusion:
1) Hunting for something worth a dime can cause a lot of pain.
2) It is great to see how amazingly potent our bodies are in healing injuries.
3) I still refuse to wear a bike helmet.
