I’ve been watching a lot of superhero movies and TV shows lately. It seems that no matter how hard a superhero gets bashed up, he or she gets up and fights again. What’s up with that? Then I thought about my run of luck this year.
At the end of March, I managed to get hit by an SUV. Somehow, instead of getting run over, I bounced off the damned thing. My momentum carried me in front of the car. It stopped but I was going down until I somehow consciously threw my weight over the left side of the handlebars and righted myself. Who the hell gets clobbered by a 3 ton machine and walks, make that rides, away from it without a scratch?
On my ride to work one morning, my brain went on vacation. I turned left into the Intersection of Doom. The cross traffic had a green light. The cross traffic often seems to seek out pedestrians and cyclists and mow them down. So when I put myself directly in their path, nobody honked, nobody yelled nobody mowed me down. How could it be?
During my bike tour, I was riding from West Palm Beach toward the east coast of Florida. My bike lane suddenly stopped. Normally, I’d have just merged into the car lane and rolled on. This time I stopped. A dump truck missed my left shoulder by about a foot.
A couple of weeks later on the tour I was returning to my motel from a trip to the grocery store. I had a full pannier on the left rear of The Mule and a grocery bag slung over the right brake hood. You could say the load was not balanced very well. I stepped up onto the porch in front of my room and started to put my key in the lock. Leaning forward upset the delicate balance of things, the weight shifted and The Mule and I fell backward off the porch. I saved The Mule by catching it across my torso. On the way down my right rib was speared by a landscape light. I had two days to go to reach my train. Did my mess up rib stop me? Nope. I healed in about ten days.
On Friday, I decided to change an electrical socket. Things didn’t go well. In order to brace myself as I leaned over the counter top to work on the socket, I apparently hyperextended my left knee somehow. Afterward, my leg wouldn’t bear my body weight. So I took some vitamin I and elevated my leg. The next day my knee was better but still not ready for jump shots. What are you going to do? I went for a 34 mile bike ride. When I got home I took some vitamin I and elevated my leg. I woke up this morning and my leg would bear my weight. The weather was perfect for hiking but I didn’t want to push my luck so I went on a gentle 33 mile bike ride. My leg feels like it’s almost back to normal.
I’m either Superhero Bicycleman or one very lucky duck.
Let’s hope my luck doesn’t run out.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
Ask no questions just ride on and smile. I somehow pinched a nerve in my right leg while sitting on a diner stool while getting breakfast a few weeks back and when I got up my leg would barely support me. I limped slowly to the car and hobbled around the apartment for the rest of the day and the next day I was fine. I guess I should have gone on a long ride instead 😉