Great ride, until...

Had a super stressful afternoon at work which culminated in a harrowing drive through the picket line at the back of the campus. I figured making the right turn onto Waxpool would be easier than the left onto the parkway but I didn't count on picketers jumping into the road ahead of my truck trying to get hit. Jackholes.

To burn off the extra adrenaline and stress, I hopped on my bike and toodled up and down residential streets aiming for the most mileage in the smallest area. I wound up on streets I've never explored and saw lots of pretty little homes and neat lawns. Lots of joggers and gardeners were out and about, taking advantage of the gorgeous evening weather. Everything was going great until I was nearly home.

I was in the neighborhood across the boulevard and coasting (much too) fast down the street. As I approached an intersection and prepared to turn right, a car pulled out from in front of another car against the curb ahead of me on the right. I startled and hit the brakes too hard. The bike mostly stopped but I didn't. I flipped over the handlebars and watched the road fly towards me and thought, "Oh wow. This is going to hurt." I skidded across the pavement on my knee, thigh, and elbows and then rolled onto my side to catch my breath. The car driver jumped out of his car and raced over to see if I was okay. I gasped that the wind was knocked out of me, but I thought I was otherwise okay. He apologized and I did my best to assure him that he hadn't done anything wrong and I startled and over-reacted. I checked my arms and legs to make sure nothing was broken or sprained and got up to pick up Rose. The driver retrieved my cell phone (which was protected by the handle-bar mount case) from the other side of the street. Phone was fine, case was fine. Bike was mostly okay but the rear brake and right shifter aren't happy. The frame and tires seemed okay. The front reflector broke off, but my front LED was fine. I was able to climb back on and carefully ride the two blocks home.

My elbows, left knee, and right thigh are scraped up pretty badly and there's a huge bruise and knot the size of a golf ball above my right knee. My shoulders and chest hurt from the impact, but aside from all that, I'm good. Rose is in the back of the truck and will be going to Spokes, Etc this evening for repairs.