My Flip-Flop Fixie Fiasco - 2 days later

I'm such an idiot for riding a fixed-gear bike in flip-flops. Never again. I was in pain immediately after it happened on Saturday, so I knew it was going to get ugly. Two days later, it did. I was curious why I wasn't bruising yet. Well, I woke up this morning and this is what my left hip and thigh looked like:

And here's what it looked like on the same day when I got home:

I learned a little bit about bruises today:

* A bruise is an injury that is forceful enough to break blood vessels, but doesn't puncture the skin. The blood, since it has no place to go, pools beneath the skin.

* A bruise goes through predictable color changes over time - on day 1, it's a just a little red. On day 2, the hemoglobin in the blood changes and you get this really cool blue-black-purplish color. After about 5 to 10 days, it will turn brownish-yellow. After about two weeks it fades, but stays brownish-yellow.

* Bruises on your lower body take longer to heal, because gravity forces blood into the damaged tissue. So if possible, prop the damaged body part above your heart a couple of times a day.