Three years ago I was riding on a beautiful day, the Tuesday after Labor Day, when I wasn’t paying enough attention and was surrounded by a pack of dogs. As I was trying to keep them from biting my heals, one must have taken out my front wheel because the next thing I knew, I was flat on my butt on the pavement, not feeling so good. An ambulance picked me up and took me to a good trauma hospital where they found that I had no head injury despite of damage to my helmet, but did have a separation pelvic fracture and internal bleeding. I had one operation to put in a plate to reattach the pelvic bones, four units of hole blood and 2 weeks in the hospital, 2 weeks in a rehab hospital across the street, and two months at home cruising around in a wheelchair.
What concerned me most was the perception that my balance was worse than it was before. There was some question as to whether I would walk again much less ride. After the time in the wheelchair, then crutches and a cane, I am walking fine now. I finally got back on a bike in April, 8 mo. after my crash. I was pleasantly surprised that I could ride better than I could walk, but I only rode about 4 or 5 times that entire summer. It was the following year before I really started to ride. I figured that it took about 20 mo. to recover from the crash. If you think it is hard at 45, I am now 63. It doesn’t get any better with age.