Hi guys - I just have to share this stack I had yesterday. Had gone out at lunch time - on my birthday - as a treat. Planned ride - 3 hills - went well, but took much less time than I thought it would. Went back past work with an hour to spare. What to do? Keep riding of course!

So went down to do a bit of this flat course around the harbour. It was really windy, and at one point I realised I was going really fast - for me at least! 36.7k/hr (or 22.8m/hr) & thought - Gee can I get over 40k/hr. So started really pushing it - as you do!

I don't really know what happened - I went around the point & the wind hit me & my front wheel got in this groove between the gutter & the tarmac - but what order I'm not sure. I had enough time to try to recover & then realise I wasn't going to & so decide to fall to the left as the cars are on the right.

My chin has this huge lump and cut, my left wrist & forearm are swollen and really really sore. Have had so many x-rays that I'm surprised I don't glow. No fractures - YAY! - so only my pride broken. I am now a devotee of lycra! The only part of me that lost skin was my left shoulder, where I had a polyprop under my cycling top. All other parts of my arms & legs have huge bruises - all my left side is a bruise basically - but very little gravel rash. And gloves - I am most sore where that little bit of padding is on the base of the thumb. But imagine if there was no padding & I'd not worn gloves. Also - I know helmets aren't mandatory in the US, but they are here. My helmet has scratches all over it, as do the left lenses of my styley new glasses. Cannot say how happy I am that I had a helmet on.

So what are my lessons here?

Experience - I very well may have had more idea how to recover with more experience.

Speed - well how do you go past an adrenaline rush? This has been a perpetual issue for me. Bike, skiing, body surfing, sailing out on trapeze.... With 2 small children - maybe my mum is right & I need to take more care. But you cannot live your life in fear of what may be.