Monday, May 15, 2006

Mountain Biking and Bruise Chronicles

September 2003

The guys listen to me narrate my tale of the weekend mountain bike race as we sit in the Chinese restaurant down the street from the bike shop. I had been a spectator, and seen my mechainc crash hard in one of his races. As I come to that part of the tale, he listens in silence, drops his head to the table with a sigh, then suddenly sits bolt upright.

"How come you have to tell about me crashing?"

"Because it's part of the story, " I say.

"Well, do you write about your own crashes?" he asks.

"Ummm, no. It hadn't really occurred to me," I mutter. But I crash a lot and they're some pretty spectacular crashes. I just began mountain biking some 3 months ago, and in that time have managed to lodge my bike in a sapling, fly (I kid you not) into a tree and simultaneously bruise my eyebrow, shoulder and hip, and crash hard enough on one trail ride to necessitate a trip to the ER. I was questioned about domestic abuse.

"Oh, I see how it is. Write about other people's crashes, but not your own," he smiles. "That's not really fair..."

"So, what... I should be writing about my own crashes?"

Suddenly the third guy in our party pipes in, "Yeah, the Bruise Chronicles. Tonight on Fox."

They both errupt with laughter.

And thus began the Bruise Chronicles.

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