I've been putting off writing this post, since in hindsight it's quite embarrassing, but everyone else on the forum is so good at sharing so here it goes.

It was Memorial Day Saturday, 2006, and I was about 38 miles into a 45 mile ride and new to this type of distance. I had a new road bike, with clipless pedals. Unfortunately I didn't know much about hydration and bike nutrition, and didn't have near the bike fitness that I have today, and I made a terrible decision. I came to a stop sign and thought I heard a car coming. It turns out the car was on a parallel road, but I didn't know that at the time.

I was completely dehydrated and not thinking clearly, and I couldn't decide whether to keep going through the stop sign or stop. The next thing you know, I'm falling over in slo-mo like Artie Johnson on his tricycle on Laugh In (now I'm dating myself).

I heard the snap as soon as I went down. I got myself out of the clip, my friend picked my bike up off of me, and I said to him "I think I broke something, I heard a snap." I got up gingerly but my left ankle was swelling quickly.

I tried to walk it off. The paramedics showed up shortly thereafter and told me in no uncertain terms that there was no walking this off, that I had most likely broken my leg. When I got to the emergency room they confirmed that I had broken my fibula about 2 inches above my left ankle.

In the ambulance, I was so dehydrated that they couldn't start an IV because my veins were so small. I had lots of bruises on my arms from the many attempts.

It was a terrible lesson in hydration and unclipping. I sat in a La-Z-Boy recliner for most of the next 8 weeks, with my leg elevated above my heart, dreaming of getting back on my bike. That is when I discovered the TE forums and all of you fine folks. It took me a while to not be afraid that I would break a bone every time I fell. I actually had an almost identical clipless fall later in November 2006 when I got back on the bike. Slo-mo fall down on the same leg. This time nothing but a bruised ego because I was on a group ride. But it was good to see that I wasn't always going to break.