Voodoo Chile

Waxing Crescent Moon

Whoever is sticking pins in their Palomino doll needs to cut it out. Now.

The question of whether this trip is jinxed or not has been settled and the answer is a definitive yes. Today I fell over sideways on my fully loaded touring bike with my left foot still clipped into my pedal, scraping a few layers of skin from my left knee and breaking or separating a rib on my left side. It only hurts when I breathe.

I had just finished the four-mile 6% uphill grade to Conway Summit, so I was pretty gassed and simultaneously pretty excited. I was stopped, right foot unclipped, and eager to get off the bike, take a photo/eat a snack/chug some agua. In other words, I was not fully engaged in the moment. That's when the damn blue voodoo meanie struck in the form of mild vertigo. Blam. Over I went.

And because I wasn't fully engaged, I did not relax through the fall like I have trained myself to do. I resisted the ground and I could feel something pull apart at the point of impact. This is not supposed to happen.

Well, that snapped me into focus pretty fast. Winded from the climb, the first order of business was to stand up, squirt my water bottle on my grit-covered wound, and struggle to catch my breathe. Sips of air. Tiny little sips.

The scenery was still nice, anyway. I tried to compartmentalize the pain and act normal. Soon I stopped at the touristy Mono Lake highway overlook/turnout and asked a lady to take my picture just in case this was my final bicycle trip ever.

Then I had ten miles to go to Lee Vining, my destination, the first four of which were, yep, the reciprocal 6% downhill grade with a scary hairpin turn. Of course, massive truck traffic appeared out of nowhere. Jinxed!  I must append the "only hurts when" clause to include the application of bicycle brakes when bent over in a tuck in notorious Mono basin crosswinds alongside hellbent semis. Enough with the stickpins already.

Suffice to say I made it to town and now this trip is done. I'll see a doctor when I get home, but most likely I won't be doing anything fun for quite some time. Stir crazy, here I come.

Peace, Love, and Upper Body Compression Tees,
Jim