Fall marks the start of me biking outdoors again and involves converting my Trek 7.2 from a stationary bike back to its normal road-worthy form. I thought I did so properly until I wanted to go right and my wheel kept pointing forward and I ate it on the sidewalk two houses from me. I had failed to sufficiently tighten an extender for my handlebar so the wheel and handlebars were no longer tightly connected. Being 350 lbs and somewhat tall, I can build up a fair amount of kinetic energy even in the process of falling 5 feet or so and was left with large cut areas on my right leg and elbow. As a note, this is my 4th fall on a bicycle as an adult and all have been on my right side.
The neighbors were walking back to their house as I was sprawled on the ground waiting for the pain to pass. “It’s our neighbor” one said. “My name’s Terry, <>.” They asked me if I needed help and I passed on their assistance. I righted my self and returned to the house to clean up. After washing up, I went food shopping and then returned home to study.
Things seemed normal until I tried to sum two three-digit numbers in my head and could not, for the life of me, do so. Further more, multiplying two two-digit numbers also proved outside my realm of mental arithmetic. I can’t say the fall caused it, but it seems to have happened at about the same time. This was worrying at first so I ran through a few other tasks. I could do two digit addition and subtraction and multiply up to a normal 12 x 12 times table. Division was ok if the answer had no non-zero remainder. I could do calculus and symbolic manipulation. This was more strange than menacing. The brain is weird, sometimes things break.
After about three days, my numerical faculties returned and I at least felt they were somehow sharper, at least for the next day or two, and I could multiply arbitrary two digit numbers and add three and four digit numbers again. This acuity returned to its normal level after about two days and I feel like I’m back at where I was pre-crash. I don’t know what ultimately felt weirder, that mental arithmetic had left me, or that it had returned. I wonder if there are any weird cross wirings now like I’ll smell daffodils when I see purple. None yet.
This post is backdated and was posted on November 7th, 2018