Riding a bike can be healing.

 For years, possibly decades, when others would dismount to negotiate a slippery section of trail, I'd point out that the rubber compound of a decent mountain bike tire provides far better grip than what is used on the typical shoe. Understood, tumbling off a bike may be more daunting than slipping feet, but I generally preferred my odds staying on my wheels and their superior rubber.

As if to prove myself right, recently I've taken to slipping and falling while running in the wet, which is somewhat particularly unfortunate as running has become my preferred rainy day outdoor activity. The runner's drivetrain is tremendously simple, suffers mud well, and requires absolutely no chain lube!

But boom, my first *significant* slip to the ground came at the end of October, maybe a half mile shy of half way through the Mount Tom trail race. I misjudged the rocks and leaves in placing a footfall, with the result of a hip-fall onto another rock. I believe I qualify as having a bony arse, which made for little fleshy padding between my somewhat hard hip joint and the even harder rock. It hurt, but happily, not so badly that I didn't then run another nine-ish miles to the finish, and it wasn't until after ten minutes of eating and stiffening at the finish that I then stood again to find I was limping.

Oops, but happily, after a bit more eating, chatting, and helping with event cleanup, I mounted my bike for the ride home and found turning familiar circles immediately felt fine. An hour an a half later, on the dismount to push my singlespeed up the steep of Harris Street, yay, I wasn't limping at all! Bikes heal me.

But running in the wet, that still seems my problem. This Saturday, I joined a friend for an early, and still heavily foggy, run of the Holyoke Range. Most of our way back, and maybe fifty feet past were I'd passed the same friend during the Seven Sisters race last year, in the air, but most definitely in the dry air, I once again misjudged the grip I'd find under my foot. Slip, boom, but this time to maintain a sort of balance, I landed on a rock instead with my right leg this time. And oh, to be even more well rounded, I included an impact on my elbow.  Unfortunately, the rock my leg found was not well rounded at all, and I instead dropped my thigh across the edge of a ninety degree angle.

More oops, and ouch, that one really hurt. No break, but even before the first step, I knew the trip out would not include running, per say. Mostly ginger walking and after a few minutes, a very gentle half shuffling jog. Back at the notch, our start and my bike, I wished my friend well as he began his second loop, this time to the east. Sit, eat, maybe stiffen, but also, I realized I could probably still complete the market errand I'd planned, so yes, my ride home was twenty miles instead of five, and I'm inclined to think that at the very worst, that did no harm.

Yesterday I was stiff, as in slow to pull on shoes and my walk to get some movement was well less than an hour. Rest is a good use for a rainy day, which it was. The walk, while not smooth, wasn't a complete hobble, so I was confident time would heal this wound.

But even better, riding today, yes, maybe twenty-five miles tops and definitely in gentle gears, kicked that clock forward a little faster. The simple motion of spinning circles does wonders, and while I'm not fully healed, I'm hardly hobbled compared to my motion of this morning. Yes, I still like running, even the one that left me bruised, but yes, most definitely, I won't be giving up the bike. It heals me.