For the record

This was the last day I ever put all my weight on the bike pedal to get going fast. It crashed through the unengaged gears and tipped me, hand first, onto the pavement. It hurt, a lot, but I had 15 people turning up at work for a briefing so I cycled there, locked the bike, found the first aid kit, wrapped a bandage tightly around my hand and moved the chairs and tables ready for the briefing. It hurt, but I put the kettle on, welcomed the visitors, ran the session and answered their questions, glad that it wasn't the first time I was doing this particular briefing and relieved that I had notes. 

I got to look at my hand nearly three hours after I'd bashed it and it was swollen and turning purple. 

This is a backblip 15 months later and I have learnt that soft tissue injuries take a long time to heal. Ten months later my hand still felt wrong from the inside - both tender and stiff. The memory of the injury remains in two of my fingers.

I'm recording this because after years and years of accident-free cycling, my bike has been the agent of injury four times in the last three years and I have decided to monitor rate of accidents against age.