I'm still way more embarrassed than physically hurt, hopefully writing it down will help me process and release some of that. Filter out the emotions and pain and try to preserve the valuable lessons that I know are in there...
I'm not sure how fast I was going, not crazy fast but the trails, especially the bridges, were slick from the recent rain, there were wet leaves and mud everywhere, but things were in the process of drying up so maybe this made things more dangerous than usual. Anyway, I'd just crossed one of the many wooden bridges and I was a little distracted by the person I'd just passed. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to pass them because they weren't going that much faster than me.
I remember they had slowed down quite a bit on a hill leading up to the bridge so I used that opportunity to overtake them and had a decent bit of momentum going over the bridge.
At the end of this wooden trail bridge there was a small patch of mud, maybe a foot wide and blended perfectly with the end of the bridge and the start of the trail, I didn't see it at all. So when I started pedaling again my rear wheel spun out from under me, I lost control of my bike and hit the ground pretty hard and skidded for what felt like forever.
This is the embarrassing part that's hard to write about, because obviously the first person to find me was the careful rider who I'd just passed. I just wanted to disappear into the earth while they asked me if I needed any hand sanitizer and warned me gently about how slick the bridges can be when they are wet.
Fortunately I wasn't visibly injured, nothing felt broken, I wasn't leaking, so I thanked them and hopped back on my bike and pedaled off powered purely by white-hot shame and adrenaline. I finished my ride in record time.
What I should have done there was pull my bike to the side, take a breather, really check myself for injuries, check my bike for damage, you know, the basics.
Today I'm feeling each individual place where my the right side of my body impacted with the ground yesterday: calf, thigh, hip, ribs, shoulder, elbow, wrist, each twinge of pain was bringing with it waves of emotion.
Anger at myself mostly, this accident could have been much worse. Fortunately I skidded my bike into nothing but I keep imagining how bad it would have been if there was someone there. An elderly walker, a group of people who couldn't get out of the way, other cyclist, a jogger with a baby.
That's exactly why I can't allow myself to forget it and move on though, I was lucky this time I only hurt myself, so I'll try to remember to be more careful out there.