On my way home the other day I met foggy and drizzly weather. For some reason I generally enjoy the bike ride home in inclement weather – rain, snow, god-awful cold, you understand the type – but yesterday I was enjoying the ride because a year ago at this time I was in a shoulder immobilizer. If you have never had the pleasure of a shoulder immobilizer it is especially pleasant when you are trying to sleep.

I was in this awful situation because a few days earlier on my way to work a car turned in from of me and before I knew it I was airborne. Now I bet you are expecting me to lament on the crash, how cars do not see bicycles and haw bicyclists are always in the right. That will be in another post and really I do not think that way we all have a role … like I wrote, another post.

I was airborne on a pleasant October morning – 50+ degrees – sunny – calm winds – no advanced notice of the flight – no ticket. What confuses me a year later is that from the time I realized that there was nothing I could do and I was going to collide with the front panel of some chevy sedan, like a rock, my reaction was unexpected, kind of, but still troubling. As I flew through the air my thoughts are not on the impending fear of impact but a slow motion examination on how I am going to make contact with the ground. Will it be the crash where the helmet splits? Will it be the time where I land on my feet, again? Or will it be the time from which I spend the next decade in elementary school gyms explaining the virtues of bicycle safety education?

I hit a primary downtown street surface scapula first, body second, bicycle a distant third to add insult. For those unaware or as forgetful of seventh grade health as I, scapula equals shoulder blade. Break it and the next three months are reserved for pastries, tortilla chips, and other evil foodstuffs in the face of the physician directed placid lifestyle.

As I leaped up from the asphalt I quickly inventoried the gear – head intact, coffee in the pannier a loss, no broken limbs well not at first check – then in between profanities I notice a man on the sidewalk coming to me asking if I am alright. I respond, “Did you see that, I bet it looked awesome.” As a group was gathering around me I all I was interested in is whether someone was able to take a picture.

Is it right to think about the action video that could have been or to think of your health. Hard to know. I do know this watch out for turning cars and if someone did take a picture send it my way.