I'm the one with all the scrapes on my knees--from XT!!!

Oh, the continuing bike saga. Of course, I remain determined to master this biking with the clipon shoes despite my fear. So, today, I considered riding my bike to my office to work. But, I didn't have a backpack/couldn't find a backpack so decided to just ride up here to see if it was doable on a Sunday without too much traffic. And, it was--a little over 4 miles and I did well, even stopping a couple of times and not falling. So, I guess I was getting a little cocky/overconfident but I was thanking God all along the way for helping me manage to stay upright, stop without falling, etc. And then I decided I wanted to make this a LONGER bike ride and to ride up a little ways on Rice Road and through some subdivisions now that I have conquered stopping without falling--NOT! I used my new method of unclipping only my right foot when I got to a red light at St. Augustine (God did not make it change to green on time for me not to have to stop) and somehow I managed to fall over to the right. Scraped up right knee and elbow as I had decided I did NOT need the elbow and knee pads today--WRONG. I managed to get up and act like I was fine and no one even stopped to see if I was okay. I rested a minute or two and drank some Propel and decided to push forward/south on Rice although I could have turned down St. Augustine and been home soon--I should have! Went a long way and it was a little scary when the road narrowed down to two lanes and got curvy. But, I made it and turned around and came back and turned into the school road before I got to Madison Avenue but I still had to get back on Madison Avenue. Again, as I stopped, unclipped with one foot, I fell over, this time to the left side. Scraped up the left knee and bruised my upper right arm. Had to reach in and unvelcro the shoe that was still hooked to the bike so I could extract my foot. This time, someone coming out of St. Ives subdivision did stop and make sure I was okay as it took me a minute or two to extract myself and get upright and nonchalant again. With two bloody knees and one bloody elbow. So, I managed to get going again and get back home, praising God for letting me only have scrapes and bruises and thinking of how nice and safe running seems to be compared to this!!!! Now, I can ride a bike as long as I have regular pedals and shoes without falling even though I am old. Why did I think I wanted to learn to do this????? Oh, yeah, I thought I might one day want to do a triathlon. I may just have to look like Grandma Moses again and use a bike with upright handlebars and old-timey pedals! But, I did manage to ride 14 miles so I am proud. And then I cleaned up and am now at work (via my CAR) for a few hours. The computer system is being worked on tomorrow so I needed to get a little work done today so I don't lose a whole day's pay tomorrow.

My brother has Parkinson's disease that has progressed very rapidly recently, and he struggles to walk and dress himself and put his own seatbelt on in the car and cannot even drive himself right now, so, being able to run and walk and bike, even with all of our aches and pains and sweating, is truly a blessing we should not forget.