falling out of position

tuesday afternoon i went up to ride around the preston pond loop.

you know, because i needed a bike ride and also it was sunny out and i thought it would be a really good opportunity to take some autumn in my neighborhood pictures for peg.

and i was having a good time up on the loop and riding pretty well and taking a few nice pictures and then for no apparent reason i took a little digger and went right over my handlebars.

the trail was narrow, but flat and sooth and i can;t for the life of me figure why i went over.

just a little slow roller over the bars. and it would have been nothing if i'd landed on the rock, because a slow roller onto a huge rock that sticks up a couple of feet off the ground often means you just push back with your hand.

of course i fell just ahead of the rock, where the ground was a couple of feet below the trail, so once i got done going over the bars that represented some serious loss of altitude in a face down position.

it wouldn't have worried me a bit except for the part about the handlebars of my bike having come to rest immediately below me, and pointing up into my gut.

so it would have been bad to fall all the way down onto THAT with my full body weight and i don't remember how exactly i managed it, but i found myself in a position rather like downward dog, only suspended over a bicycle with my hands a foot or two lower than my feet.

you know, like a nightmare yoga class.

and i thought of it in terms of yoga because once i caught myself in the fall i had a few very uncomfortable minutes trying to figure out how to return to my preferred upright position without an impalement, and i was running out of time in which i can reasonably support my weight uspside down.

and then i thought: this is very like downward dog.

so i thought about how i might change my position if i attempted to move in the direction of forward bend or maybe warrior, and somewhere in there muscle memory took over and i was able to shift my weight to something more comfortable.

the only thing i noticed that really hurt was my left had, which hit the brake lever hard enough to break the skin even through full gloves, but it was still a nice afternoon and a nice ride despite a few bumps.

the bruise on my belly where the handlebar hit didn't even show up until this morning, but it's no surprise given the tenderness of the underlying area.

anyway, here are some pretty pictures, and if you like, here they are pinned to a map.

and yes, i carry my camera in a hard case, so it's fine.