Back on the bike!

Four weeks ago yesterday, I flew over the handlebar and took a pretty bad fall from my mountain bike. Of course, more than the physical pain I felt, I was especially concerned for my wife who would worry too much, as she always does when something bad happens to me.

She took the event as well as she could, but felt for my pain and was worried about my addiction to biking and other fast activities. My son's reaction was a bit starker and he responded to the news as any mature son and father of my grand-son would: “You gotta be careful, Dad, you're too old for falling like that!”

I also shared my mishap with a good friend of mine in Switzerland, who recently became paraplegic following a ski accident; I told him I wasn't quite sure I should even think of riding my bike again. He's the most positive person I know and he didn't hesitate; he said, “get back on it, don't make such a fuss!”

So with that powerful admonition in mind, I straddled my bike yesterday, first climbing the hill, testing my injured right hand for functionality (it's now back to 65-70% of normality) and while I was very tentative in the downhill sections of my usual course, the ride went without a hitch.

My only difficulty being about downshifting with a still weak thumb, but after a while, I figured a better way to hit the lever. When I returned home, that shadow of apprehension and fear that had followed me for almost a month was gone. I felt liberated!