Berhati-hati di jalan raya

I took a dive over my handlebars on the way to the bus stop. What happened was that I'd installed a pair of mudguards some time ago, but since my bike is an old model they don't fit on properly. The front one goes on the bolt that also holds the front brakes on, but there was barely enough room to screw the nut on behind it.

Somehow today the front mudguard fell off, TAKING THE NUT WITH IT, and I didn't notice this. I did notice the brakes were wobbling sideways and rubbing against the tyre a bit but decided it could wait till i got to the bus stop. As I was coming up to the main road and slowing down, the front half of the bike stopped.

Based on the bits that hurt now, I hit the road with my left thigh and right elbow, and my face must have barely scraped the ground. My legs were bent backwards, caught in the frame. You know how when you fall hard, there's a moment of dead shock when you can't move and your breath is gone? And if you fall really hard, you don't want to move because you're afraid of hearing the crunch of broken bone.

I raised my head and spat blood, like Harrison Ford in Blade Runner after he gets beaten up by that replicant, thinking oh God, please not my teeth... I tongued my front incisors. Nothing wobbled. Okay, good. After a few more seconds of assessment nothing else hurt badly either, although I wasn't sure if that was because nothing was hurt badly, or because of endorphins. But I still couldn't get up because the bike was on top of me.

There were cars passing by and I kept thinking, stop lah bastards, I could be dead for all you know. Finally a middle-aged lady stopped and helped me up.

Body check: Specs intact. Eyeballs are behind specs, brain is behind eyeballs, therefore brain intact (although it's been proven to not be functioning very well anyway). Nothing making crunchy noises. No bleeding from anywhere else. So I went to work, people on the bus gave me funny looks, J and S made appropriate horrified noises and made me put ice on it.

I'm still baffled as to how a 0.5m piece of plastic could have fallen off without my noticing unless it happened last night in the dark. Possibly when we were on the bus (Madison buses have bike racks in front).

I'm pretty pissed at myself for what might have been a potential suicide by stupidity, and also because there's now a hole in the front of my new black coat. Going to the bike shop to get a new brake cable after work - this isn't really relevant to my front brake (which just needs to be bolted back on properly), it's the back one that needs a cable, but the crash has been a reminder to stop being a bum malas, at least with regard to the ability to stop in traffic.

And it's going to be super pai seh to walk into the bike shop because they'll look at my bruised mouth...and see that i'm buying a cable...and be laughing behind their hands.

Although until it heals, it might be fun to make up stories to scare people. Like "my roommate's rabbit caught rabies from a squirrel and bit me when I was sleeping so we all have to go for shots" or "I got into a fight with an SUV owner who had road rage and wouldn't acknowledge that bikes have vehicular rights" or "my boyfriend beat
me" (hey, at least the last one's true!)

Moral of the story: Anything crucial to your personal health should be tightened with a SPANNER, not your fingers =P

Damn bloody hell.