"Duh-d-d-d-d-duh, duh-d-d-d-d-d-duh"

(If you could hear the title of this post, it would sound like the Wizard of Oz tune when the witch is on her bike in the beginning of the movie...hear it?  Think about the biking part of that scene. Forget about the witch part, it has nothing to do with it.)

This little setup here below (with the handsome red-head and two adorable babies with unknown hair color) has spawned a desire for a bike.  Yes, I have wanted a road bike for about 5 years.  Doug has not loved the idea because he knows how to repair mountain bikes, not road bikes.  I have still persisted in my desire for a road bike.  I have wanted to be able to pull these cute kids in this trailer and not be walking up all the hills.

Plus, they love their bike rides.  They are silent the ENTIRE time even if we bike for a full hour.  This means:
a)  Mom gets a workout
b) Mom gets out of the house
c) Mom doesn't have to listen to crying babies for the biking time
d) E&S enjoy it as well!

You can't beat that.

Just yesterday, Doug and I embarked on an afternoon trip to Salt Lake to 'try out' some street bikes (a road bike with mountain bike handlebars and components--a great compromise!). We arrived at a bike shop:

I knew what brand I wanted to ride and the young sales man (boy) said I should ride a 15" bike.  Doug questioned him and said, "Are you sure?  She is 5'8"."  He said that I was probably between a 15" and 17" bike and so I should try both.  Conveniently, there was only the 15" bike to try on display and the sales boy insisted that I start with that one.  I hopped on and he said he needed to move the seat up just a little higher.  I joked, "What if I fall or something?  You're just going to let me take this $500 bike out the shop for a ride?  What if I get lost?  I don't know this area."  I think Doug was a little embarassed by my questions and told me to just go ride.  Here is where it get's interesting.  I started up a hill and was amazed how easily I made it.  This bike is amazing.  I was grinning from ear to ear as I approached a stop sign.  Just as a started to slow down, I hit the pavement.  Stunned.  I stood up so confused. What just happend to me.  I literally thought I lost a tire or someone hit me with their car.  When I stood up, I saw the bike seat on the pavement - yes, not attached to the bike.  My hands were bloody and stinging.  I picked up the bike seat and started back to the bike shop with the bike.  I was not about to try to get the bike seat back on - I wasn't really sure how it fell off in the first place!  I noticed my shoulder really hurt and so did my knee.  I am completely amazed I didn't hit my head because I fell to the side and forward. 

I got back to the bike shop and saw Doug and started to cry - embarassing.  I pulled myself together and asked the sales boy (who just took the bike seat from me and examined it, as if looking for a defect of some kind) if there was a sink so I could wash the gravel out of my hands. 
He pointed to a pile of tires on the ground and said, "under those tires". 
(HELLO!?)  "Where?"
"Under those tires, downstairs." 
(There are stairs?  Where?)  "Are there stairs over here?"
"Yes. Go down those stairs and it's under the tires."  (still looking at the bike seat, never made eye contact with me.)

While washing up in their storage room thing, I discovered the worst of my injuries - a banged up knee and shoulder.  The pedal had hit the back of my knee and I hit the pavement with my hands, right shoulder, and right knee.  After going back upstairs, the sales boy sort of appologized and we opted to save my test ride of the 17" bike for another day.  We needed some bandaids and left.  In hindsight, it appears that he had raised the bike seat so high and that it was barely on and so it spontaneously fell off.  The handlebars were pretty far away because of the smaller bike, so almost all of my weight was on that seat. 

This photo is the back of my calf.  The scrapes are behind my knee and the whole knee is swollen.  I think the bike frame itself hit the inside of my knee, the pavement the front, and the pedal the back.

Last night I think I said, "stupid boy" about 10 times when I found I couldn't do dishes, burp E or S, hold them, pick them up, and felt all the pain and nausea from a pretty nasty fall.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to pick a bike so I can pull these really cute kids in a bike trailer, but this knee isn't going to be doing that anytime soon.  At least I have some pretty cool looking wounds, right?

On a Brighter Note:
Doug has been so helpful since I am pretty much handicapped.  We invited Doug's sister, Michelle, over for her birthday tonight and put Syd in this adorable dress Michelle brought back from Haiti earlier this summer.  Isn't it the cutest thing?  It says Haiti on the front in pink stitches.  Syd makes it look great.

Happy Birthday Michelle.  Thanks for spending time with us.  We loved your company.