so it happened sooner...than later

So as you might have gleaned, i'm riding my bike to work, whoo-hoo. Last week was my first full week, awesome. Everything was beautiful, until Friday morning:

Now you know these parking arm thingies like the one above, right? well, there is one at the top of the driveway into work. There is also a bike entrance, but on Friday morning a big 'ol truck was blocking bike access. The only way in was under The Arm.

So i was on the right flank of a vehicle, thinking i'd just pop in with the maroon honda. WRONG. Instead The Arm came down, like swift justice. i glimpsed it just before it dropped upon me, glancing off my left jaw, neck and collar bone. Amazingly, i kept my balance on my bike and was able to fling The Arm over my head. i did a sweep of the grounds and although there were plenty of people around, i worked with none of them, whew.

Also lucky was that the press-wood arm was cushioned a bit, by one of those water noodle toys kids play with in the pool. It seemed that a water noodle had been sliced down the middle and half used to hug the bottom portion of The Arm. Thank goodness for water noodles.

So i park my bike, laughing at my stupidity (isn't it usually our own stupidity that get us into trouble? YA.) and go to start my day. Now at this point i was unsure if i wanted to reveal to the masses about my attack with The Arm, but then something made it necessary to share: as the very edge of The Arm had scraped me, it now looked like i had a hickey at the base of my neck (i wish).

So i told the story umpteen times at work, taking on a romantic air as if The Arm was my futile enemy that attempted to unseat me from my creamsicle bicycle, ha! as if. It seemed better to make fun of myself to all than to welcome speculation if my 'scar' was the result of wrestling a vacum cleaner....

So there you have it, my first bike riding incident. Not too bad. Hopefully the only one for a long time to come, as this hickey does not seem to be going away anytime soon. Thanks.