Ryan's right. New = bike flipped over the guard rail on the pali.
I was incredibly stupid, made a series of bad decisions:
Biking at night, too far, too fast, no light, no helmet, no shirt, no water, no phone, people didn't know where I was.
Something hooked my handlebars and flipped me over the guardrail. I only fell a couple feet, onto rock. Lucky no 100' tumble into the ocean. I got off lucky.
I took vacation from forums to spare you from my whining
I continued the vacation because... I get more done, my job duties are changing, and I'm getting interrupted WAY more, bla bla bla.
Be strong to be useful... I've been thinking about that, since the accident. I was strong enough to get up, and push my bike for 2 miles before someone gave me a ride. I did a lot of praying. Thank God for locals with pickup trucks! I hope the blood washed off easy.
I was able to stay calm and focused. [I couldn't see how badly I was injured, which helped.] I even kept my sense of humor in ER, instead of whining and being overly dramatic. [Also thanks to Pascal Hardy for driving me to ER.]
But it could have been avoided so easily. I could have done this, I could have done that... If only... but it's too late for all that.
Now what? I'm not really sure. My wife, Pascal and other friends are encouraging me to go back to surfing. I tried SUP, but didn't really enjoy it. The water sports are pricey, too...
I know I'm going to stay active. I know I will play outside. I like playing games. I still like MN, tho my wife cringes whenever I start throwing rocks around...
Back to "Be strong to be useful"... being injured isn't strong or useful. It's being weak, and lying on my back for a week sure wasn't useful. It's humiliating, and frustrating, and aggravating... I have a lot more compassion for people who have suffered accidents way worse than mine, and tons of respect for any who still have a good attitude...
Being immobile made me a target. People I don't normally talk to because I'm off vaulting rails were able to catch up to me, talk with me, pray for me. They weren't usually my "friends", tho my close friends and family did rally around me right away.
Internet and forum friends are nice. I see I need to spend more time to develop a network of close relationships. "Be strong to be useful" when they're struggling. Not to get a reward, or even thanks... but just because I can help.
A challenge... life is fragile. Some times it only takes 1 mistake to really mess it up. I want to take time to make my life count. I'm going to try to risk more, make more of a positive difference. Jesus is my model. I don't know what all is involved. I know the direction I need to go and I can vaguely see the next steps... It's exciting, scary, and totally worth it...
