The blog post I hoped I would not have to write. (Crash)

Well darnit, things were going along perfectly well until my peak training phase and guess what? That's when I got cocky and took a turn too hard on the path.

I was heading into a 90 degree turn on the Three Creeks bike path. Going maybe 15mph. Maybe faster.
It was a dumb mistake.

One minute I was going into the corner. The next I could hear the sound of my bike scraping against the asphalt, and the feeling of my upper arm sliding along. My helmet/head never touched the ground.

My knee must have bounced off the pavement or something, because I don't have a ton of abrasion on my knee/leg, but my knee really hurts and I'm limping when I walk.

So it was a real ego check. I have gotten really confident on that path. Too confident.
It had rained over night, and the pavement was wet in spots.
I took the far outside line on the turn. (Another rider took the inside.)
The back wheel just didn't have enough traction. I may have been leaning too far, instead of leaning the bike and keeping my body more upright. Mostly it was a combination of turning and wet pavement and a little gravel at the edge. I was NOT braking and turning at the same time. I know better than that.

The bike is miraculously unscathed. The horrible, horrible scraping sound I heard was just the outside of the pedal. (As far as I have been able to see so far.) Somehow my legs are skinny enough to fit in the space between the pedal and the frame when everything is on the ground. I have only very light abrasions on my calf and thigh. My arm/shoulder has a lot of "road rash," (code for scraped and bloodied) but it's OK.

I jumped right up, but then reality started to set in, as well as adrenaline and all those other chemicals that start flying around your body when you get hurt. I was lucky enough to have an M.D. along on the ride. But I had another 7-8 miles of riding to get back to the one person's house and get cleaned up and bandaged. I think I looked pretty tough, riding along with blood running down my leg, and blood on my arm and shoulder.

I am concerned about how many key, key ironman workouts I may lose during this peak training phase due to my knee. But I'm also feeling lucky it wasn't worse.

Doc says there's fluid on my knee which I can either let dissipate or he can drain it off for me. I know how that procedure is done, and I get weak and lightheaded just thinking about it. However, it might be a good option. I don't want to have to miss my big training day tomorrow and my bike 120-mile ride Sunday.

From my kids:

Nora: "Mom, why didn't you follow the rule about slowing down before you turn?"

Me: "Well, usually I can turn while I'm going that fast. But the bike path was a little wet from the rain."

Michael: "That's too bad, Mom. You should have waited for the rain to dry up first."

(Sigh.)