Shouldering the blame (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Shouldering the blame

4:12pm Tuesday 9th December 2008

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Only now is the pain subsiding enough to be able to tap away at the keyboard and recount how I came acropper on the bike in the recent cold snap.

Some have expressed alarm, nay even incredulity, that we should venture out when the temperatures were so far below zero on a night.

But, once out on the moors, it was great fun slithering through a few inches of snow and then out on to the hard packed stuff, securely clothed against the chill temperature of a crystal clear night.

Alas, after the cheery atmosphere around the roaring fire of the pub, things turned a trifle sour when we encountered sheet black ice on the route home.

How the others escaped, gingerly making their way across the frozen viaduct, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I dropped like a stone to the deck when my wheels were whisked from under me.

My shoulder took the brunt of the damage, but things could have been a lot worse without the helmet I always wear for even the shortest of journeys.

I got up a bit dazed, as you can probably imagine, after giving the ground a severe head-butting, but the pain in the shoulder was the worst of it.

Having spent most of the last week learning to do move the left arm delicately and dress slowly etc, things are on the mend.. except perhaps the pride bit, which should take a battering next time the biker boys gather!