Winter Cycling makes Brusies

Merrily frolicking on the open road (in the freezing cold) last Thursday, I found myself needing to turn right at a junction. As I didn’t particularly want to un-clip just to stop for one truck, I thought I’d risk it and take the corner whilst accelerating quite promptly. This wasn’t one of my most clever choices.

Before taking the turning, I hadn’t noticed that a tree had sheltered the tarmac I was about to turn on to. The shade meant that the rain from the previous day hadn’t evaporated. As it generally goes, reasonably slick tyres and icy roads don’t get along too well. As I turned the corner and began to pedal (pretty hard to avoid an unhappy trucker who appeared to be speeding up), splat. The bike shoots out from beneath my feet. As I’m clipped into the pedals, I find myself in the same position on the bike when I realise I’m getting cosy with the curb. Happily, there was an inviting looking bench that I hobbled over to and sat on for a while (meanwhile a nice motorist had asked how I was, which is surprising knowing the general hatred for cyclists). After yanking my brake callipers back to where they should be, I got back on the bike and headed back home. As it was so cold, I didn’t notice the Christmas Pudding that had appeared on the side of my leg, until I was unlocking the door. Anyway, it was pretty bad but that’s what you expect when you enjoy cycling.

After a couple of days, I noticed that the swelling hadn’t really gone down, and there was quite a large bruise developing. Not to mention that I couldn’t really do anything that involved moving the leg (as Matt will vouch for, I’ve been complaining :). Anyway, I thought I’d show you the damage.

A close up for you. You can quite clearly see the swelling in this one!