A bizarre bicycle accident sent a Napa woman to the hospital with moderate injuries Saturday morning.

The California Highway Patrol reports that Pamela Contos, 47, was riding a Giant bicycle west on Henry Road, east of Dealy Lane, at about 23 miles per hour.

Contos approached a hot-air balloon that was halfway on the right shoulder of the roadway and half in the west lane shortly after 9 a.m., the CHP said. She attempted to veer left and maneuver past the hot-air balloon but as she passed she felt a rope — which was attached from the hot-air balloon basket to the balloon’s fabric — tangle around her neck the CHP said.

The rope tightened around her neck and yanked her from the bicycle. Contos fell in the west lane of Henry Road and the rope snapped from the balloon the CHP said.

The hot air balloon’s crew immediately helped Contos until emergency workers arrived on the scene. Contos sustained a broken nose, lacerations to her neck and abrasions to her body and was taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center by Piner’s Ambulance Service.