Last week was probably the worst week I've had at work. Friday came and all I was looking forward to was getting the hell out of there and getting home. I ride my bike to and from work everyday. I usually ride my bike on the sidewalk because in Newark, NJ there is no room to ride on the street. Cars are usually parked on the streets and sometimes double parked so it makes it hard for moving cars to get by when there is a bicyclist sharing an already narrow road. As I'm heading home and come upon another new block, I notice a guy on a ladder wearing a walkman washing his storefront sign with a hose. He's selling potted plants on one side and he's got the hose all over the sidewalk. So I slow down because I see potential for an accident.

Here's what happens... the guy doesn't notice me passing over the hose and decides exactly that moment to yank it at full force. So the second my bike tire was passing over the hose it loses traction and the hose gets caught around my pedals. I, of course, lose total control and in a panic hit my front wheel brakes causing the bike to make an abrupt stop and flip me forward. I crash into the potted plant display and it stops me from coming down hard onto the sidewalk. While this is all going on, in my head, this feels like a dream and it isn't really happening until it ends. I get up and realize no one saw me crash. The guy is still on the ladder with his headphones washing the sign, and at that moment there are no cars passing by or people on this sidewalk or across the street. I get up and assess the damage - two scraped knees, ripped my favorite pair of jeans, and a sharp pain in my right knee. It seems as though my bike made it out in one piece. I get on my bike and start to pedal away. I stop to look back and the only reason you would've known an accident occurred there would be from the all the dirt and potted plants scattered all over the sidewalk.