Bump in the road

Part of the requirements for participating in my Bike & Build ride this summer is to complete ten hours of sweat equity. This serves two purposes: (1) to spend time with a housing organization and learn more about affordable housing issues, and (2) to prepare us for physical labor, construction and how to safely use power tools. The idea of sweat equity is tied to the Habitat for Humanity model, where families who otherwise could not afford their own home contribute their physical labor as a downpayment. Typically, families contribute 500 hours of construction assistance on their house and other Habitat for Humanity projects before receiving the keys to their own home.

Over the weekend, I was working on my fulfilling my sweat equity requirements at the Habitat for Humanity in Sacramento, and my sweat equity turned into blood equity. I had an unfortunate but minor injury on-site: a piece of metal gashed me in the knee and I had to get four stitches.

According to the doctor, I should still be able to do my ride this summer with Bike & Build, though I have to be off my feet as much as possible. He said I can't bike until my stitches come out, which is after I ship my bike to the east coast. It looks like my training has come to a premature end, so I'll just have to hope that I'm in good enough shape for the summer. Yikes!

Rather than get upset about what happened, I'm trying to focus on the positive. Perspective is key. It's definitely a lame situation, but really only a minor setback. I'm lucky it was only stitches- if it had been anything worse, I probably wouldn't be able to go on my adventure. And hey, maybe this means I got my bad luck and injuries out of the way for the summer/next couple of years!

Oh, and don't worry- I didn't attach any gnarly pictures of my knee! Instead, here's a picture of something that made me smile today. One of the bike racks on campus was covered in some fancy needlework, a.k.a. yarn bombing!