Theorem - you will eventually get into an accident...

I saved the title of this blog as a possible topic back in May. At that point it had been a long, long, time since I'd last been in a bike accident. I had known other people who'd been in accidents in the past couple years, but I had, perhaps miraculously, remained upright.

However, that changed last fall when I had not one, but two, mishaps on my bike while commuting. The first was largely my fault. While riding up Clark Street in Chicago (mid-October) I encountered a cab who was "stationed" several feet from the curb, completely blocking the bike lane. For some reason which I still don't understand I made the split-second decision to pass him on the right. Unfortunately, just as I was passing, the passenger opened her door. I strained my right AC joint when I went over the handlebars, but was not otherwise hurt. I missed a week of riding and swimming, but got on with my life.

On November 30 I crashed again. This time my chain decided it was mad at my hub and went on strike while I was accelerating out of the saddle after a stop. I hit nothing but the ground. Alas, my keys were in my back pocket and I landed squarely on what had been a round key ring. It is round no more. This took me a bit longer to recover from. I missed riding the entire month of December (partly from the crash, partly from the weather). I am only slowly getting back to the pool as well.