stupid boy crashes two bikes at once

I was just reminded of how it feels to hit the pavement. I don’t think I’ve crashed like that since my BMX days which ended about twenty years ago. I’ve been doing a lot more biking lately, and so I’ve been concerned about the inevitability of a crash. However, I’ve been assuming it would be related to some incident with a car. This accident was totally different. As I mentioned in my last post, I want to fix up an old bike of mine that I haven’t ridden in about seven years. The bike has been sitting outside that whole time at my parent’s house about 3 miles away. So, today I decided to go pick it up, but since I don’t want to drive a car anymore unless I really have to I decided I could ride back home on my current bike while holding onto the old bike and ride it along next to me. That’s a maneuver I haven’t attempted in about twenty years (again). Everything was going well. I even stopped for a coffee on my way home. Then in the last stretch, the old bike veered towards me and got tangled in the bike I was riding. It’s hard to piece together exactly what happened next. I didn’t want to fall onto either bike so I pushed the old bike out to the left with my left hand and managed to fall right in between the two right on my butt in sort of a slide with my left foot out front and my right foot tucked back and behind me. I wish I could see the replay. As I was sliding down the road on my butt trying to untuck my right leg I looked up to see the old bike ghost riding down the street and into the curb about 40 feet ahead of me. It didn’t want to give up on its first ride in years. It was totally crazy. Somehow, I managed to escape serious injury. My right shoe came off and I tore a big hole in my sock, but no scratches or anything. My left knee and hip feel a little tweaked and my right heel feels pretty bad – I’ve been icing it all afternoon. The old bike looks pretty much fine. The current bike has some minor dings. I’m a little shaken up, but mostly I’m feeling very lucky. I’ll probably be very sore tomorrow.

Most surprising of all, though, is that after seven years, the inner tubes in the old bike still held enough air pressure to roll home.