With my fingers numb from the cold, I gripped my large Coke in one hand and the aluminum handlebars with the other. My pink nose and rosy cheeks are as good a thermometer as any - and they read, "much too cold for shorts and a t-shirt." With my legs approaching a jell-o-esque state, you can imagine my relief in arriving back on campus after a 20-mile ride.
As I cruised by the library, I smiled at fellow students and left a trail of french fry aroma behind me. In the last 100 feet before the door to my warm, cozy dormitory, a challenger presented herself. Riding a beast of a beach-cruiser, she was obviously unsure of herself on the bicycle. Her front wheel twitched side to side nervously in a battle to maintain balance and steer the behemoth. At 50 feet out, I steered to the right of the sidewalk and maintained a steady, decisive coast. At 25 feet, I yelled out of courtesy, "I'm coming on your left. YOUR left."
This is where everything went wrong.
As if the wires were crossed, the steel cruiser veered left - right into my path. She mashed the pedals in attempt to accelerate out of the death trap, but it was too late. Life slowed and I saw visions of a disastrous collision flash before me. As a last ditch effort to minimize casualties, I dove diagonally over my handlebars into the grass.
Still standing over her bike, the girl on the other side of the collision seemed near tears, and I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She apologized over and over, asking if I was alright and if she could somehow make it up to me. A bystander ran up to me to make sure everything was ok - which was nice - but the real concern was the condition of my bike.
Like a car crash between a Kia and a Hummer, her bike looked completely fine, while mine sustained damages from front to back. My front wheel was out of true, the handlebars had somehow rotated 45 degrees sideways and my saddle was tilted at an odd angle.
As I lied to the girl and told her everything was as good as new, the same bystander that came to my aid began clapping. At first I found this embarrassing, until he proclaimed, "Everything is fine, man. Check out your drink!" Almost as if by magic - right between the skid-marks from my bike and hers - my Coke sat upright. Upon closer inspection, not even one drop had been compromised.
Despite the incident, I still enjoy cycling. Fellow riders have told me that this is the first of many crashes - at least I got a good story out of it.
In addition to my new hobby, I am always working on growing my photography business. My company, ecphoto, has had a great start, seen loads of support and will continue to be fueled by my passion for photography and the joy I find in helping to tell the stories of others through pictures.
I have just completed version 2.0 of ecphoto.com, and am beginning to explore different types of social networking such as blogging, Twitter and Facebook.
As far as school goes, I'm still at Santa Clara University, but I am changing my major from Mechanical Engineering to Economics.
It has been a great year, and I hope to hear your stories, too.
If you're interested in keeping up with me throughout the year, here are your options:
Become a fan of ecphoto on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter!
Check out my blog!
Visit my studio website!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment