Laid it Down

Had my second bicycling accident of the year tonight.  Neither of them has been too bad and neither involved cars or traffic, thankfully.  The first one happened about two months or so ago.  My brakes were getting looser and looser so I watched a YouTube video and tightened them up so that they had a two finger gap (e.g. pull them tight and there's still a gap of a two finger width).  The next day I pedaled down by the river (Minnesota) on the gravel trail and needed to stop.  So I pulled my brakes as hard as I would have when they were mushy.  Slide and flip, right over the top.  It must have been impressive.  The two other cyclists down there who saw me looked a little shocked and then asked if I was ok.  I had a sock full of blood and some good holes in me and bent handlebars and brakes.  Everything was fixable, just beat up.

Then tonight, I laid it down.  I was down in Blackhawk Park and it's damp out.  So humid nothing is drying out.  So as I crossed the bridge at the lake, when I took a slight left, I realized that the normally dry moss on the wood of the bridge was slick as ice.  Looked just like a motorcycle going down on gravel.  Except on a pedestrian bridge.  Reminded me of when I flipped the bike upside on the ice on the way to work five years ago. I haven't discovered anything missing, although my water bottle went shooting down the bridge. Good bloody scuff on my elbow and I ripped my plastic toe clip loose on the side that hit the bridge.  It popped the two nuts right off the bolts.

All in all - could be way worse, and the bike is still working.  At least I think it is.  I still have to double check for all my spokes when it's brighter out.