I was commuting to work on the Hockhocking Adena Bike Trail on my Giant Sedona on April 13 when I was distracted by possible illicit activity on the parallel township road. My head was turned right for a little too long and my bike followed, right off the pavement. I was apparently going too fast to regain control and the bike flew out from under me and dropped me hard on my left hip. I rolled off the injury, realized I wasn't getting up any time soon, took a deep breath and hollered "help" toward a walker I had just passed. He came back and summoned help. Two hospitals later I was sent home to "bear weight as tolerable" on a pelvis with three fractures. I was very lucky not to need surgery and to have absolutely no road rash. If you're a biker and ride almost every day, you know you can't be idle for long. My massage therapist made his first visit 4 days after the accident, and 19 days later I crutched to the pool and started gimpy workouts. We had ridden Bike Florida in late March, so my grand total of 1.5 miles in May broke no records. By June 1, I realized I had been off the bike for 7 weeks and had a mere 7 weeks left to get ready for XOBA. My first "ride" was a tentative 5 miles on the bike trail in the rain the first of June, but I kept at it and thanks to my tandem captain, Rick Kordenbrock, I did my first 500-mile week between Ashtabula and Pomeroy on XOBA 2006. Missing my friends and our riding adventures was the strongest motivation to get me moving again.

Note: I work for Wayne National Forest and the sign is courtesy of the Honda Corporation as a safety message to our ATV riders. I thought it would work for bicyclists as well.