(Day 10-before-31) Oh, the embarrassment!

We all knew it was coming...through all of these heartfelt posts and cute little lists.
Oh, yes, here it is...the post where I am forced to let it all hang out on the interwebs!

::Day 10::

What is your most embarrassing moment?

I have alluded to this one before.
I am a fairly horrifically bad bike rider. Cannot navigate a bike to save my life.

2 pedals + 2 wheels + back-stop brakes + blacktop = Disaster!

Don't get me wrong, I have always wanted to be a "cyclist".  I have a triathlete brother-in-law, and a sister who rides those fancy-schmancy bikes with clip-in shoes! It's practically in my DNA with those credentials.

In fact, my desire to cycle was so strong when we were first married that Matt bought me a beach cruiser as a wedding gift.  See, we lived at the beach - why not cruise it, right??

My nemesis

Not so much.

On our first foray into family beach cruisin' we took off on the street in front of our condo down to the beach. Which was a hill. A massive, massive downward sloping trajectory for which my clumsy body (and my one-speed cruiser) was not prepared!

We soon reached an intersection and had to turn right...in theory.  Well, Matt swiftly and neatly turned right, as I promptly clipped the edge of the sidewalk with my front tire, sending me sprawling flying-squirrel-style straight over my handlebars!

I tumbled out into super busy traffic as cars were speeding downhill, somehow managed not to perish, and knocked every last breath out of my lungs.  Thankfully my prominent chin was available to catch me as I fell.

As I (barely) staggered up, dying to catch a lung-ful of air, I looked down in horror at my scraped up knees, elbows, shirt, pants, and gushing chin.  Just then, I took a split second to look up at my sweet, sweet newly married husband with an expectation of his obviously concerned face...to see him laughing hysterically at me. There may have even been some pointing. Yep. True life. In front of an entire stoplight full of waiting cars I stood bleeding, panting, and sorta-kinda dying, as my spouse laughed so hard he nearly fell over just watching this ridiculous display.

So, needless to say, I am not a sleek, free-wheeling beach cruiser.  Nope, I am the gal who would be hard-pressed to ride any sort of contraption with back-stop brakes. Won't go near the thing.  The only thing more terrifying is a handlebar basket, but that is a different story for a different time, my friends.

On the upside, I will never again have to meet any of the onlookers and I learned that my husband has a sense of...ummm...morbid humor?