Look Where You're Going or You'll Go Where You're Looking

"...not with a bang, but a whimper." It was about four years ago I had my stroke. I have been recovering ever since, Most of the time I feel pretty "normal", except for limited stamina and still suspect balance. Today, though, I paid for my diminished skills with a crash that sent me to the emergency room. On a short ride that included a trip to the bank, I crashed on a left turn into the bank parking lot. I was rolling down to the turn in the left-turn lane, but had to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. When the traffic had cleared I turned, only to realize I had overshot the turn. In my pre-stroke days, I easily had the skills to correct and ride through, but today I started wobbling through the turn. I probably could still have made it, but I compounded my lack of skill with a first class bush league error: I looked right at the curb I wanted to avoid. I went chest-first into the butt end of the guardrail. In my previous life teaching young equestrians, one of the greatest truths I tried to impart to them was, "Look where you're going or you'll go where you're looking!" Well, today I have numerous contusions and abrasions, a hematoma, a muscle pull, and a couple of lacerations, including one on my left index finger that nearly took out the extensor tendon and required seven stitches, because I failed to follow my own advice! My bicycling is going to be curtailed for the next few weeks, and this effectively, and disappointingly, ends our quest for the BikeMaine 2017 ride. ~ Tony