Ticking another box

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd managed to tick two boxes in my postie career on the same day.

One of those was dropping the bike, apparently everyone does it at some time. There are, however, different levels of dropping the bike. Today I took it to the next level and dropped it while I was riding it.

Here's the only injury I sustained, other than the injury to my pride.

It really bothers me when I see people riding scooters, or even proper motorcycles wearing short sleeves and skirts, especially when they're male. The grazing on my elbow was where it rubbed on the inside of my shirt-sleeve. Imagine what it would look like at 60 km/h on bitumen, with no protection. I landed on the grass. I have some pictures somewhere of the grazing I got when I stacked my 750 Zephyr a few years ago. I was wearing a proper motorcycle jacket, with armoured elbows, etc, and my elbow looked a lot worse than this, as did my knee.

So, how did I fall off, I hear you ask?

I'd just delivered to a house and looked at where my next delivery was. It was around the corner, meaning I had about four or five houses I could ride straight past to get to it. It's always safer, and faster, to ride on the road than the footpath, so I headed to the next driveway with the intention of getting onto the road. I didn't get to the driveway.

The next thing I know, my front wheel is sliding out from under the bike. I put my foot down to try and save it, but before I knew it I was lying on the grass, surrounded by my water-bottles, my scanner and a few loose items of mail. I rolled onto my back, uttered a naughty word then sat up and killed the ignition on the bike. It's amazing how quickly it all happens. One moment you're riding along without a care in the world, the next you're lying in a heap, wondering how that happened.

Luckily there was no damage to the bike, those things are bullet-proof. I guess it could have been a lot worse too. One of my colleagues collided with a roo a couple of weeks ago, he's now off sick with a cracked rib.

I'm wondering if there would have been any damage if I'd been riding one of these, our new postie bikes. I hope I'm not the first one to find out.