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Thursday, November 3, 2011

I Slammed Into The Golden Gate Bridge

According to the list I made myself yesterday said that I would write about California. Since I don't think you want to read a long travel guide to San Francisco, let me write about the funniest story of the trip.

So we rented bikes one day to ride around the city and over the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge, of course. Now, I haven't ridden a bike in about 15 years, but told my friend it had only been a few years (she loves riding). I figured there's a reason for the cliche "it's like riding a bike". After reacquainting myself to pedaling and braking, I was pretty good. Toughest part was always getting started.

So we rode along the piers and across the city, getting ever closer to the bridge. We stopped when we were close to take pictures. As my cousin said, it looks like we're posing in front of a postcard!
The bridge has a special sidewalk just for bikes, so we rode over the bridge. One thing I didn't expect was that the bridge is kinda like a hill. The first half goes uphill, the second goes down. You can't really see much of a change, but you sure can FEEL it in your legs! We rode all the way over then turned around to find a place to eat. We were about three-quarters of the way back, going downhill, when things went....not as planned.

As best as I can figure, since it happened so quickly, when I reached up to push my helmet back, I started veering to the left (where there was a railing and traffic), so I tried to correct myself. Apparently, I overcompensated and was heading straight for a big beam. I managed to turn enough so I didn't hit straight on, but I put my hand up and took the whole force of the impact with my hand and knee, followed quickly by my forearm and shin. To give you an idea of how hard I hit, some of the paint from the bridge rubbed off onto my jeans...and is still stained there! The bruising and pain was intense and immediate! I lost my shoe in the process and my best friend....kept going! I was in pain and could only manage to yell out the first part of her name, but STILL she kept going! Some strangers stopped to see if I was okay, by which time my friend caught up, and I was pretty sure nothing was broken, but I certainly was shaken up!

The aftermath was a very bruised knee, hand, and forearm, bruises to both shins, and the insides of my knees, and pain when I moved my wrist or fingers. I was pretty convinced that I didn't break anything, just severely bruised it, so I just bought an ace wrap. In the words of my best friend "I don't want to go to the doctor on my vacation. But if you're really hurt, I guess I'll take you." True friendship, right there!

Thank God, nothing serious was injured, although I am still sore, and it provides for a fabulous story! I mean, how many other people can say they slammed into the Golden Gate Bridge? Or that they got an ace wrap as a souvenir?!

{Minor follow up here}

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