Reprogramming

I crashed on my bike today.  Full over, onto my back, bike on top, feet still clipped into the pedals.

How did this happen?  I was nearly home from a 10.5 mile ride.  I had just turned off of the road to head over the bridge to the path that leads to our street.  Unexpectedly, I saw that two park employees had the bridge completely blocked - they were driving a 4 wheeler pulling a trailer across - they may have been blowing leaves off the trail.

The reactive part of my brain kicked in - can't go across the bridge - STOP - figure out what to do.  Unfortunately, my reaction didn't include successfully unclipping the pedals, and I toppled over.  Fortunately, the only damage was a scrape on my upper shin.

Thinking about the accident, after I got home and was washing out the wound and trying to get the bleeding stopped, I realized that the problem was in my head.  My instinct to stop when caught by surprise was not useful when I was firmly attached to the bike.  What I needed to do was to keep going, which I could easily have done in this situation.  I could have simply ridden on past the entrance to the bridge and come to a controlled stop, or continued on up the road for a ways.  But my instinct to stop in the face of danger was so strong that riding on didn't even occur to me.

I need to reprogram my brain.  When riding the road bike and clipped into the pedals, stopping is not an option.  Stopping only becomes an option after my foot is free.  So riding on must become the default, instinctive response, and I need to always be aware of the best alternative path if the one I want to take is blocked.