i crashed.

[JIBTEXHNKA]

i got caught in the rain in downtown tacoma; i knew i had to go down some epic hills to get home and i tried my best to avoid them but didn't think it was really going to be a problem. so i'm going super slow down a hill with a red light at the bottom, braking just barely hard enough to stop before hitting the car in front of me when my back wheel locks up and the next thing i know i'm at a 45 degree angle facing the cars on my left. in a panic i jerked hard to the right trying to straighten out... i don't know if it was even possible at that point but somehow i ended up facing the OTHER direction while sliding practically sideways. how i stayed upright is a mystery. i regained some kind of control and ended up on the sidewalk (there was an extremely conveniently-placed ramp right there so i didn't hit the curb), still sliding, and slid right into a similiarly conveniently-placed pile of dirt. i lifted the bike off my leg and jumped up to survey the damage - there was none, to me or the bike. quite a bit to my ego, but that's easily repaired. i picked the bike up, wiped the bark/dirt/mud off of the important parts, fixed my right mirror, and rode off into the sunset (after i stopped shaking uncontrollably, that is).

if that wasn't a miracle, i don't know what is.



on the way home, an old black guy pulled up next to me at a red light in his cadillac and looked over and said "heeeey, how'd you get all that dirt up on your bike? that's just the oddest thing!" i said i didn't want to talk about it.