In The Blink Of An Eye

I could have titled this “Humpty Dumpty went on a ride. Humpty Dumpty had a big slide!”

A month ago I had a pretty serious accident on my bicycle. I was by myself in the 63rd mile of a bike ride when the front wheel of my bike gets caught in a railroad track and in the blink of an eye I switch from vertical to horizontal at 18 miles per hour. Now I learned long ago as a little kid that riding a bike vertically is a much better way to go down the street than riding it horizontally. Keep the handlebar up and the tires down.

What was I doing riding along a railroad track? Well, it’s an old remnant of a track that I’m guessing was laid down in the late 1800’s and is mostly buried in the asphalt. I was in a heavy industrial area and I had a choice to make. Take my chance with a semi truck that was backing out of a driveway or slip into the lane with the partially buried railroad track.

I’m not quite sure how far I skidded but I counted 12 spots (there’s that analytical OCD thing again!) where I no longer had skin! The amazing thing was that I had no broken bones. Seriously, for someone my age to hit the pavement at that speed wearing little more than underwear (you know what us bikers wear!), it's a miracle that I didn't get a much bigger hurt. Several of my friends have ended up with broken collar bones, arms, wrists, etc. The trick is that you’re supposed to go down with the bike and not put your hands or feet out to try and break the fall. That’s when you end up with broken bones.

Now understand I’m not saying I meant to go down with the bike. It just happened so fast that I don’t think I had a choice. As I hit the pavement I had one of those slow motion moments of crisis clarity where I literally felt the hand of God cradle me the moment I hit the ground. There was this peaceful soft voice in my head saying “This is going to hurt, but you’ll be okay. I’m here with you.” The Holy Ghost Rider was with me again. (See yesterday’s blog). In that instant I relearn that HIS grace is sufficient for me!

Its as if sometimes God has to slam me into the pavement at 18 mph to get my attention. So I understand that he wants me to trust him. So I remember that he loves me. So I experience firsthand the power that he put into my being. So I remember again that he has always been faithful. So I relearn that His grace is sufficient for me. To realize what Francis Chan says . . .  

"When you pray, your prayers are heard by the same God who answered Moses' prayers for water in the desert, the same God who gave Abraham and his barren wife a son, and the same God who made the slave Joseph second in power only to Pharaoh" (Who are we to think that God can no longer perform these miracles in our own life? He IS still that BIG and that GREAT!)

In an instant I pick myself up off the asphalt along with the pieces of my bike that have gone flying and this 'good Samaritan' nearby takes me in to a metal shop and helps me get cleaned up. He finds some first aid cream for the big wounds and makes sure I’m okay. Shakily I get on the bike (gotta get back on and ride, right?), and I go along for nearly a mile before having to shift gears. That’s when I realize the bike isn’t going to get me home. This ride is over. Going from 18 miles per hour vertically to 0 miles per hour horizontally is pretty tough on a bike, too.

I put in a call to my chauffeur-concierge doctor-wife, Reina, and I tell her “I’m done. Can you come pick me up at the Nature Center?” Now this is very unusual for me. I ride over 3000 miles a year and very rarely do I ever call Reina to come pick me up. It was 95 degrees that day and she figures after five hours of riding I’m half-baked. (Well, maybe I am half-baked, but that’s another blog!)  She arrives about 20 minutes later and sees the blood pouring down my leg and the tears on my face.

So why had I cried while I was sitting at the bus stop waiting for her to come pick me up? Probably lots of reasons. The emotional and physical trauma. My bike that I’ve ridden over 16,000 miles is thrashed. My body hurts. I’m not able to finish what I started out to do . . . all that. But mostly, because I realize that I am blessed beyond measure.

Then I do one of those ‘guy things’. Reina is holding me, comforting me, and I tell her, “This is going to sound crazy to you, but we have to drive straight to the bike store to see if they can fix my bike!”