Me duele en la rodilla

It's times like these when I would do well to remember my Mountain Biking Mantra.

So I went mountain biking with Jarrett yesterday. Like normal, I took Bruno and we went to Emma Long park. There's a motocycle trail there that's is quite nice for mountain biking. Apparently, it's one of the most technical trails in Texas. Anyway, we've been biking there before many times, and it's a lot of fun.

This trip was not quite as fun... Don't get me wrong, I still had a blast, but it wasn't as much fun as it could have been. Namely, because Bruno threw me on a pretty steep downhill slope, and I went ass-over-teakettle and banging my kneed pretty badly on some rocks.

The worst part about the fall, was not actually hitting the rocks, but the millisecond before, just after I realized "oh shit, I'm going way too fast, and there's no way I'm going to be able to keep from flipping" and the point where I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. I remember floating through the air, feeling Bruno's back tire raise ominously up behind me like a bucking bronco, and being absolutely helpless to stop it. It was all I could do to brace myself for impact.

**The following paragraph may be a bit graphic... If you are squeamish, don't read it**

After somersaulting through the air in some fashion I don't really remember, I landed about 6 feet downhill from Bruno, and immediately, I knew I wasn't going to be able to shake this one off. I looked down at my knee, and saw the damage. The lower layers of my skin on my knee were looking back aghast at me, as pale and shocked as I'm sure I probably looked. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the color returned. It wasn't bleeding too bad, but it was obvious I wasn't going to make it around the entire trail.

Luckily, Jarrett was still within earshot at the time, so he heard the crash and my ensuing fit of cussing. He came back and walked with me back up the trail until we could get to the road. I had to use Bruno as a sort of mobile crutch until we got to the road, and then I was able to coast down the hill to Jarrett's Jeep.

Anyway, Jarrett dropped me off at home, and I cleaned myself up as well as I could. Because I'm somewhat of a worry-wort, I got kinda worried about one of the gashes. It seemed pretty deep and had a little white speck peeking out. I thought it might be cartillege, but it turned out just to be a fat globule. That, and it wouldn't stop bleeding.

So, I had Mike drop me off at the emergency room. After 20 minutes of waiting, they admitted me into triage, and luckily, I got put on the fast track. They stuck me in a room, gave me a tetnus shot, and cleaned and dressed my wounds. I was out in under an hour. All in all, I probably didn't need to go to the emergency room, but I guess it was good I got a tetnus shot. I hope my cheap-ass student insurance will pay for most of this.

This morning, my knee was pretty much stiff as a board. The good thing is, I can move it, albeit slowly. I think it'll be a few weeks before I'm mountain biking again. But I will be back.

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, I WAS wearing my helmet. It's got a few small dents in it to show, but it didn't take the brunt of the blow.

I should have a pretty cool scar though...