I totally ate dirt.

So my friend Tiffany and her boyfriend Mike are hardcore cyclists. Like pro cyclists. Tiffany, kind soul that she is, invited Jason and I along for a ride last night out to the jumps behind their house. No, I wasn't going to jump, just ride. So we go. Now, mind you, I haven't been on a bike in YEARS. I don't even own my own bike or even my own helmet. She outfits me with a helmet and a bike (her boyfriend Mike's). I ride out the driveway and back in to just check that it fits me. It does. So, we head down the street to the trail which takes us to the jumps. As we are riding, they (Tiff and Jason) are giving me advice. The only piece of advice that really mattered was about 'missile lock'. It's where you see an obstacle and fixate on it so you end up riding direct into it. So their advice was to avoid the obstacle by looking at the path beyond. Right. About 50 ft to the left of the street, the trail narrows to a 2ft wide pathway. A gate is on my left, a concrete embankment is on my right. A very steep, long, concrete embankment. As we approach this area, we go down a small hill and I pick up some speed. I am repeating my mantra to myself, "Avoid the obstacle, avoid the obstacle, avoid the obstacle." I start to lose a little bit of control of the bike because of the speed and the fact that I am coming up on a very narrow little tiny bit of dirt trail. I see the concrete embankment and I ... fixate on it. Next thing I know, I am at the bottom of the embankment. Yep, rode the bike right down the very very steep Concrete embankment. I now have road rash and a knot on my right jawline, scrapes on my hands, road rash on my right shoulder (the formerly injured one) and a daaaark purple bruise on my right knee. :)) I do want to say, I was wearing one of my knit sweaters. Not a hole in sight. I got the shoulder road rash THROUGH the sweater. It's like iron!!!