Same Song, 2nd Verse

Tonight I just happened to have a lot of quarters on me as the woman I work for gave me all her loose change quarters since she knows I always need them for laundry.

So there I was, less than two miles from home, at the south side of the San Vicente/Orlando intersection, and of course I was heading north. It was starting to rain a bit - those big, pelting drops that soak you very quickly, and I got to the little triangle area where I always push the button to trigger the crosswalk. Triggering the crosswalk allows more time to cross the intersection as it is actually quite wide. There was a man standing there in the rain, no coat on. He wasn't a homeless fellow, but he asked if I had change for $1 because he needed meter money. Well, of course I did have change, and it was in my pannier, which to access meant I had to dismount the bike. As soon as I started to dismount, I lost my footing and the bike and I went over, this time on my left side. Whomp! I muttered some "s-word" expletive as I went down. I seem to mutter that a lot when I nearly get doored or winged or any other near miss. My left hand braced my fall, and I now even more strongly suspect that I have a cracked bone in my wrist from the crash 4 weeks ago, because I just added insult to that injury which still was hurting before this latest fall.

The man helped me up, and I dusted myself off. No damage or anything. He gave me his $1 and I gave him four quarters, and he went his separate way after I assured him that I really was quite fine. In fact, I was apologizing to him for my lack of balance!

Honestly, I feel like my biking mojo is totally screwed up. Two falls in less than 4 weeks. What the heck is wrong with me?

Thankfully, the peanut M&Ms, fig newtons and Ritz cracker sandwiches that were crammed into the pannier survived unscathed - as did the 5 Wee Forest Folk that were in their boxes and tied to the handlebars in a grocery bag (see pic above).