Bike to Work Week

As Bike to Work Week comes to a close, I have to admit that I did not ride my bike. Not even once. Sure, I looked at it, I thought about it, I wished I could ride my bike but, for me, it would have been a stupid idea.

Last Tuesday I was riding my bike to work down Yukon street by Broadway when my cell phone rang. I know, I know- but I didn't answer it. I looked to see who it was, as I was expecting an important call. Ignoring the unimportant caller I went to put the cell back in my pocket but the breeze that was flapping my jacket around prevented that from happening. The light ahead was changed to yellow so I broke with my cell phone in hand.

Having recently serviced my bike, my breaks were pretty tight. The hand my cell phone was in was the back breaks so I broke hard with the front. As I did this I thought about how I had recently commented in ION magazine's horoscopes about hipsters not wearing helmets getting hit by a car. I began to flip over my handle bars then everything went black.

A few seconds later my face was on the pavement and I was bleeding. Many thoughts raced through my unprotected brain: "crap-I'm late for work," "my face,-I'll never work again as an actor!" and "thank goodness no car hit me." I stumbled up, sore and bleeding. My knees got scraped, even though I was wearing pants, my elbow was scratched and bruised through a jean jacket and a hoodie, the back of my left hand must have skid along the ground because it was a mess. Luckily I only slightly cut my lip and I did not hit my head: my head that did not have a helmet on because I didn't want to wreck my hair.

People swarmed me to see if I was alright luckily no one saw what actually happened. I was stunned. I stumbled around and cried in shock. I called a friend who drove me to the Doctor who cleaned me up and gave me Tylenol with Codeine because "you're going to be sore tomorrow."

I'm not a very religious person but that day I was blessed. Blessed that I didn't hit my head. Blessed that there wasn't a car behind me. I received a wake-up call. I've been riding my bike around this city pretty consistently for the past year and I've become pretty cocky; thinking I can do things like talk on my cell phone and not wear a helmet. Let this be a lesson to you all. Wear a helmet. Don't even check your cell phone on your bike. And don't take your safety for granted. An accident can happen so quickly.

Instead of biking to work I've been healing. With massive handle bar sized bruises on my legs and scabs aplenty, I'm taking time to walk noticing the scenery and the many cars that run red lights. A lesson is learned, I will be much safer in the future. I just wish they made a helmet that didn't make my head sweat and wreck my hair.

photo credit Freddy Peters