Today's the Big Hill Climb race day. I've decided, however, against doing it. After being hit by a car last Thursday I'm decidedly reserved - and rightfully so - about getting back out on the road. It's actually been a very handy excuse not to do an especially strenuous event like today's Big Hill Climb. For the record, though, I wouldn't recommend it for regular use; getting hit by a car can be somewhat tricky.

Despite the general stupidity required to be hit by a car in broad daylight (as I did), I learned that I apparently have eyes in the back of my head. It seems I carefully chose this car - my very first - because it was a subcompact convertible. I suppose I felt it was a good idea (if that can be said about being run over) to start small and work up to bigger cars from there. While I'm not sure I'll ever want to be hit by a car again, I think I'll try my hand at more such smaller cars, just for the practice. They're perfect for purposes of "A Good Excuse That Doesn't Involve Death; Not Even That Much Pain, Either."

Since I'm categorizing here, I suppose a few other useful categories could be "Short Term Agony That Maxes Out Your Medical Deductible," and "Long or Short Term Crippling Injury With or Without Pain." Be forewarned; there's a very fine line between the two, so this one should be left to cyclists with more experience at being run over.

The final major category, of course, is "Certain Death, Hopefully Quick and Painless As Possible." Anybody, I think, can do this one, though keep in mind that if you choose this category you will never get to build up experience from the ground up as I am doing. Nobody will think less of you, it's just that you (probably) won't be around to hear everyone's sympathy by your passing.

Please note: For the sake of brevity, I didn't precede the above categories with the term "A Good Excuse;" that's a given when being hit by any car, even if you happen to be in another car with your bike mounted on your roof rack. 

For now, my elbows are still bruised and a few small cuts on my hands still healing. My head doesn't even hurt anymore, though my helmet is ruined. I don't recall much from the event, hence my irreverent tone here. See? It's not always a bad thing to be memory impaired. I'm already well on my way to being my old, forgetful self once again.