A rookie mistake

I did finally get out on my road bike yesterday. It's always a bit weird to go from one bike to the other or be off of it for awhile. It's like my brain is confused as to what it's supposed to do. I met a friend to ride and we set off on a route she knows and has done several times before. We were on some roads I'm familiar with from driving but have never ridden my bike on them. About 12 miles in to the ride, we turn on a back road and she tells me there is a wooden bridge at the bottom of the hill and to stay on the boards that cross the bridge. You know ... the ones that go vertically that a car's wheels would stay on. She yells at me several times to take the bridge straight across.

As I'm riding down the hill, I'm thinking, "Is that right? Shouldn't I ride the bridge like I would cross a railroad track? Well, she's ridden this way before, maybe I should listen to her? Maybe I should get off and walk across?" (all this is running through my brain as I'm riding down and see the bridge in front of me) My friend is in front of me and hits the bridge first. I see her making it and try to follow. (I wish I could really describe this rickety bridge. There were 2x4's that made up the horizontal base of the bridge and some more 2x4's going straight across for cars to drive on. I don't think they're nailed down because there were some gaps and maybe they moved, I can't be sure) So, I'm going across and feel my rear wheel getting stuck in-between some boards more than once. By some miracle I don't get stopped. I am almost all the way over and I see my friend stop. Crap. I have to change directions. It seemed up to this point I was okay as long as I kept my current speed and the current path. Trying to change directions at the last second was what made me fall. I tried to move, got stuck again, slowed down and I went down - on the ground, HARD. I'm always amazed how much it hurts to fall at slow speeds. Anyway, as I'm going down, my handlebars turn, my hand goes out, slips and I land on my elbow, my hip and I think my knee hit my handlebars. Now that I think about it some more, I think I actually closed my eyes because I don't remember seeing the ground. I get up and nothing feels broken ... what about the bike? Gotta check the bike. Damn, my shifters are scratched. The bike looks fine, whew! I'm pretty sure my body and the shifters took the brunt of the fall.

After I survey the damage and don't see any rips in my clothes (thankfully) I dust myself off and make sure my friend is okay too. She managed to get stuck as well and she hit the railing on the side of the bridge. She's okay, just scratched and bruised from hitting the railing. We (I) curse about our stupidity and about how we both know better and I try very hard not to take my frustration out on her. I take most of the blame for the mistake - I knew better and even thought twice about it! Stupid bridge. I told her next time I don't want to ride on that road again. She vows that she'll do it again and next time she'll do it right. I told her if we ride that way again, next time I'm just getting off and walking! A stupid (and embarrassing!) rookie mistake: when there's a gap or a groove - ALWAYS CROSS AT A 90 DEGREE ANGLE!