I know how you feel about the self-inflicted crash. I was riding across a bridge I go over damned near every day, but this was when I had just started commuting. The bridge deck is very busy, and there's a sidewalk behind a jersey barrier that nobody every walks over, so I take that. I have to pay pretty close attention on that sidewalk because there's the jersey on the one side and another concrete barrier with a high fence on the other. Anyway, I had just left the bridge span and was on the sidewalk adjacent to the exit ramp where it widens considerably. It was dark, and I looked down between my legs at my rear wheel to see if my spoke light, which sometimes switches off for no reason (hate that) was still on. When I looked down, I drifted right, brushed up against the fence, overcorrected left and hit the jersey barrier and went down. Somehow both feet unclipped from the SPDs, but I don't know if that was before or after the crash.

Scraped/bruised my knees and right shoulder pretty good, but here's the funny thing--no tear or even sign of damage in my pants or jacket (my gear's tougher'n me!). Broke a spoke on the front wheel, but managed to ride home okay. Underplayed the whole thing to my wife so she wouldn't tell me to stop riding at night (she did anyway, and I didn't anyway). Felt like a moron: When is a safety feature not a safety feature? When you check it while moving through a cattle chute, thus making yourself unsafe!

Glad you're okay. How's the bike, by the way?

PS--Love my bar end mirror. Have on on each bike. I believe it makes a very big difference in my rides. I don't rely on it exclusively, but it helps a lot.

PPS--I see you did comment on the bike--broke some mounts and scraped your tape. That was the big casualty of my crash: I loved the tape that came with the bike. Found something good enough, but not perfect. Next time I'm going to hold out for something more like the original. Hopefully, that'll be because the tape wears out, not because I tore it up.