First crash today...

[MojoGrrl]

This has been a month of firsts. At the beginning of the month, the day after I was talking about my fear of getting stung by a bee while riding and my boyfriend assured me that "you will get stung," sure enough I got a bee sting. Today, after a year and two months of riding with no wrecks, I had my first crash.

I did a really, really hard climb on a narrow, very twisty road which is kind of scary to descend. I've been up and down it a few times before, last summer, but today coming down the last bad (hairpin with no visibility) turn I locked up my rear wheel because I was braking too hard and I started to slide. I was able to regain enough control to crash "well" (at 26 mph!!). I realized I was going to eat sh*t but I was able to go with the slide, ride into the side of a hill (avoiding the boulders sticking out!!) and just ride into dirt/weeds and roll over my bike easily. ZERO injury other than a slight scrape (didn't even break the skin) on my shoulder, no damage at all to the bike. I guess I've had enough falls off of horses to know what to do - just relax and roll and keep my arms in and head tucked.

After I got up, I was like, "WOW! That was lucky!" and looked over my bike, then got back on and kept going (including zooming down the non-scary fast part of that descent).

*WHEW.*

I guess that is the best first crash I could have...

[Reesha]

Well congrats-- I think it's a lot more awful before the first crash. It's just an inevitability for most of us on two wheels. I'm glad you are ok and that you were able to enjoy the rest of your life. The few times I have crashed I have also been ok with an ok bike and I enjoyed the surge of adrenaline after, that's for sure!

Speaking of bee stings, I got stung on my boob on my ride the other day... Wore my Sugoi fizz tank and found myself reaching my hand right into it to grab the bugger at 25 mph. Luckily we were single file! I don't think anyone noticed.

[Artista]

Quick thinking on your part, Mojo. Good going!

Reesha, I wouldn't care WHO saw me pull a stinging insect off of my boob. They could see the whole boob for all I would care as long as I could get it to stop stinging!