UC Berkeley 102 – Berkeley, California – 2002

Ran into a car today.  Well, the story isn’t that simple but you know, that’s basically what happened.  I was biking down Bancroft as usual, trying to get to class.  I must have been going 20mph, but there was a car behind me.  Biking on the sidewalks I think is illegal anyway, but I felt uneasy riding on the streets and didn’t want the car to feel obligated to wait for me.  So I took a little detour on the sidewalk as the car passed by.  There were trees to the right of the sidewalk and parked cars to the left.  But I was running out of room real fast as people were coming up, in anticipation of the Stanford game.  So I had to make a choice.  Either try to avoid the trees and bumpy grass to the right and lose speed, or get back on the empty street once more and head down the hill.  I took the lather choice.  The only problem then was clearing the cars.  I had to choose which 2 cars to squeeze into.  Unfortunately, my bike cleared the car, but my right leg didn’t.  I hit the bumper hard, and stumbled.  I stopped from about 15-20 mph to 0 in 2 feet.  Someone walking up the street comes up to me and says holy shit! we gotta get you an ambulance!  And then I immediately respond saying, no, I should really get to class.  My right leg was bruised in 6 different places, my knee was suffering from shock, my socks were torn to pieces from the impact and I was bleading heavily with a scalp the size of a quarter.  And that’s the best response I could come up with… I did bike to class alright, but damn… it hurt like hell.  It still hurts today (3 Dec 02), although most of the pain’s gone and my foot should heal within a week or so.  I have no recollection of what I did afterwards that day, but I do remember fixing up my bike and going to sleep, studying for psychology and finishing up my English paper.

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