Being Clutzy and People Calling it Battle Wounds

In the process of trying to become a better mountain biker, I decided I needed to get comfortable riding on single track. So after a wonderful Saturday morning run, I packed up my gear and bike and headed to the Orem section of the Bonneville Shoreline trail. Being tired from a long and exhausting Friday night combined with already having gone running and being somewhat out of shape made for an interesting ride. As I headed down the trail I was practicing shifting while on the inclines and came to a particularly steep section. As the following pictures will attest, the incline won.

I lost control of my bike just before I reached the top of the hill and tipped off the trail. Of course it was not on the uphill side, but the downhill side. No worries, it wasn't a steep drop off, just an incline with foxtail grass and rocks. I landed on the left side of my body, which really is fine other than a few scrapes and bruises.

My arm didn't look too bad to me, until I was showering and looked at back of my elbow and saw this:

Sorry the picture quality is lacking, my phone just doesn't take nice pictures. Well, this part of my elbow took the brunt of the lacerations and was filled with dirt. My wonderful roommate, Jessica, who is studying to be a nurse was very nice and offered to clean it and bandage it. She spent about 20 minutes scrubbing it with alcohol swabs in the morning and could not get the dirt out. So we bandaged it for several hours and then that afternoon she spent about another 20 minutes cleaning it with alcohol pads. She is amazing and my arm no longer has dirt in it.

My left leg is covered with bruises and scrapes, the worst portion being the side of my calf. Despite looking fairly bad, it doesn't hurt unless the bruises are pressed against.

The best part of this accident was that it helped cure me of some of my fear of falling. It wasn't as bad as I had been afraid it would be. I still don't want to crash, but facing fear (with adrenaline) is a great to overcome it and I am on that path with my bike.

The funniest thing is that instead of people just thinking I am a klutz because of my obvious wounds, most people are impressed by the battle wounds I have. I guess it all depends on what the attitude people have towards the activity which caused the wounds. Biking=hard=cool when you fall, climbing stairs=easy=dummy when you fall.