My fight with the pavement

I had a little accident yesterday while biking home from grocery shopping. I was really quite stupid. It was kind of the perfect storm that led to my first biking accident since maybe I was seven.

First of all, I had a lot in my backpack (12-pack of beer, half-gallon of soy milk, etc.), so I was already carrying more momentum than usual. As I crossed the intersection (Washington and Canal), the light turned green. I sped up slightly, then noticed the curb wasn't graduated (i.e. it was a sudden curb, and quite high). I decided hitting the curb straight on wasn't very appealing, but stopping wasn't so appealing either. I hit the front brake of the bike rather suddenly, lost balance as the bike basically flipped over, and faceplanted on the street.

My immediate reaction was to get up and keep going. Then I noticed drops of blood just running down onto the ground. A homeless guy came over and offered some tissues. I wiped off my face, saw the thing get soaked, and realized I was FUCKED.

Luckily, someone stopped by and called and ambulance for me. He was really good at convincing me how serious the injury was. I'm really quite stubborn, and if it weren't for him, I probably would've tried to bike away. He even gave me a bottle of water.

On the way to Northwestern Hospital, the paramedic tried making small talk with me to make sure I hadn't knocked something loose in my head. We talked about my job, and my current b-school education, and he decided I was just the person to help him with his small business. It's actually really quite interesting...maybe a post for another time.

After waiting in the ER forever (I checked in around 3:30 pm and left around 9 pm), I got good news from the docs. No structural damage, no stitches needed. Basically, I'm in for a ton of swelling, and the cuts might scar. I was actually supposed to start full-time at CashNetUSA today, but that's been delayed for a few days. Fingers crossed...