Well I guess it was bound to happen... Heading to work today at about 6:45AM- just stopped raining and starting the last 3 1/2 mile leg of my daily intermodal commute. I am about 3 blocks from the ferry and headed down a very wide sidewalk area bordering Battery Park in Manhattan - just near the point where I access the streets. I realize that I did not have my rear blinker on and reached back to hit the switch - I hit an irregular patch of sidewalk cruising at about 15mph and I guess the combination of wet streets, my reaching back and 16" high pressure tires (on my folder) and the bike just slipped out from under me... I go down to my left - HARD and land on both palms, left forearm and left knee. The last time I put down a bike - I believe I was 16 years old and 140 lbs- at 50, weighing nearly 220lbs and with a 25 lb pack it definately was a bigger impact.
I got right up - fortunately no broken bones - got back on the bike and made it too work - figured I better "ride it off". Assessed the damage when I arrived - sustained a pretty good friction burn/scrape on the forearm - that was the only sign of blood - left knee and both palms pretty sore but no major cuts/scrapes. As for my bike - the end of the left pedal was literally covered in concrete dust from scraping the sidewalk - my poor Brooks B67 sustained it's first scrape as well - not too bad though- about a 1/2 inch abrasion on the rear left. I popped 600 mg of Advil to ward off any inflamation but sure I will be feeling it tomorrow AM.
Lesson learned - respect the road, pay attention - especially in bad weather - guess I am lucky it could have been far worse if it had happened on a busy street and I planted in front of a car! Be careful my fellow bike commuters!