Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Crizzity Crash: Why Messenger Bags Rule

So, heh, just got back from the ER for the first time. I've never had the pleasure until this morning. Man, that place sucks. Terrible service. The whole reason I went there was to make sure I didn't have any internal bleeding (yeah, I know... I was raised by a very cautious mother), but sat there hurting for like an hour and a half before anything happened. Maybe because when the EMT asked me if I had to rate the pain I was feeling on a scale from 1-10, I said 6. They probably don't give 6's priority treatment.

What happened? I'm not sure. It all happened really quickly. I was going along pretty fast and I had just gone through the intersection of Canal and Hudson, when suddenly I lost control of my bike. The next thing I knew, I was on my back, on the ground and it felt like someone punched me really hard in the kidney. A little trouble breathing, but other than that I was alright. I don't even know how I went down. My suspicion is that I hit a bumpy patch in the road (which is weird... i've gone through that intersection about a million times without incident...) which caused me to endo. I went up and over the bars, flippy style and landed on my back skidding foward for several feet.

Weirdly, I've been in deep thought about getting a new Under the Weather messenger bag. Now my current one is torn on the flap straight through the cordura AND lining. My fender snapped off and broke and my blinky looks like someone's taken a sledge to it. If I hadn't been wearing my good ol' Timbuk2, my back would seriously be torn up to sh*t right now. Sucks to my Nalgene bottle, however, veritable fist of fury --- the cause of the pain I face right now and into the next week or two :mad: .

We've all heard stories about how messenger bags have been the saving grace, the cushion between rider and pavement, in many an accident story. Put another notch in the belt. My mess bag just prevented me from what I believe would have been serious injury. I also have to give a shout-out to my helmet; that thing rocks too. Thumbs up to the FDNY, EMT guys, and NYPD for questioning me about the accident and asking for information about the car that hit me (there wasn't one... :rolleyes: ). St. Vincent's ER: you guys need to step it up a notch. I'm totally talking out my ass here because I don't know anything about hospitals, but I see room for improvement (though several of your young physicians are very attractive).

It will be interesting to see how much they charge me for the visit. I peed into a cup (no blood!! woohoo!!) and they gave me two extra-strength motrin. That is it. I'm thinking that'll be a cool 2 Gs, right? I'm glad I still have health insurance.

Sam Houston, I'll be making my order post haste.

Everyone else, ride safe. Seems a lot of us are going down on the ground lately. I for one am convinced that EMS Bergelene midweight long sleeve tops are cursed. I've gone down both times I've worn the one i wore today. Beware. Go Capilene.

J

Jason! Damn, glad you're okay. All hail the mess bag.

If I were a suspicious and superstitious person, I'd wonder about today's date...

glad to hear you're okay. My timbuk has prevented some nasty road rash, too. A warning, though: you'll probably be in agony tomorrow, get the good drugs. Funny thing is, this is about the 5th thread in two days mentioning the quality of the U.S. healthcare system...what's amazing that that so many folks don't think there's a problem with it, yet it is a pervasive topic in a forum about a small niche of the biking population.

Whenever I have glass in my bag, I always am paranoid that I will crash and stab myself in the back like 100 times.

Funny thing is, this is about the 5th thread in two days mentioning the quality of the U.S. healthcare system...
I think he said the exact opposite.

St. Vincent's ER:
J

Enough said. A friend of a friend went in there complaining of abdominal pains; the attending male doc told her it was her "time of the month" and that she should just take some motrin.

It turns out she had appendicitus and she needed immediate emergency care.

Not only are you lucky to survive your accident, you're lucky to survive the ER at St. Vincent's.

Get well and heal up.

glad to hear you're pretty much alright. I too hate the ER. I thought I was having appencitis once (ended up being just really terrible pain in my intestines for some reason) and I spent 4 hours in the ER. When I badly dislocated my shoulder they had me sit in the ER for 3 hours with a shoulder hanging out of the socket before they set it, gave me a big motrin, put me in a sling and kicked me out.

I hate the ER, but 3 cheers for mess bags!

i'm glad that you're more or less okay J. also glad to hear about attentive emergency services folks and attractive physicians.

good write-up!

pics?

Whenever I have glass in my bag, I always am paranoid that I will crash and stab myself in the back like 100 times.

I had the same thought the last time I carried a big-azz 22 of Chimay + a laptop in the same bag, only I worried more about the laptop than I did my flesh..

It sounds a little insane but, then, I did break a perfectly good laptop a few months earlier having a grand-mal seizure while flying down a hill on my fixie! (loong story)

I guess if the laptop hadn't been there to break my fall I might have hurt myself worse..

now that we know that you're okay (good luck on the recovery. good thing that the injuries weren't worse! drink a lot!), the real question -- how's the bike?

Glad you're OK J. You're lucky to only have to wait 1.5 hrs. I had to wait 3 hrs for a CAT scan when I endo'd, then another 3 hrs for someone to read it. And all that time I didn't even get a tylenol. I slid for a while too after my crash, but I was wearing a Columbia ski jacket so I didn't get scraped up and my jacket didn't even show any wear or damage.

I spent 8hrs in the e-room after breaking my finger, and most of that was spent waiting for people. I probably got all of 15 minutes of "medical care" in that time (xrays, resetting dislocations, etc.)

Pins come out on Tuesday! Hopefully back on the bike in 10 days!!

Enough said. A friend of a friend went in there complaining of abdominal pains; the attending male doc told her it was her "time of the month" and that she should just take some motrin.

It turns out she had appendicitus and she needed immediate emergency care.

Not only are you lucky to survive your accident, you're lucky to survive the ER at St. Vincent's.

Get well and heal up.

the same thing happened to my ex-girlfriend and she almost died because of it. nyc ermegency rooms are a joke and under the weather bags rule, you'll be way happy. glad you seem ok, you did the right thing by getting checked out.

glad your alright, I'll buy you a drink to help the pain go away later at pinky's party. Is the pista alright? or do you now have a reason to buy that new frame you've been wanting.

I've never had to go to the emergency room for myself(knock on wood) but the times i've been for other people's been absolute hell. The wait was ridiculous, even when no other patients were there.

j, i'm glad that you're ok and hope this doesn't get in the way of having fun over there in the other part of the globe.

also, call your primary physician, tell 'em what happened, and demand drugs. really. worth it.

damn dude! gald you're (mostly) all right. heal fast!

glad yr ok, man.

join the endo-flip club. i may join you in helmetedness...

st vincents was great on monday when i had to get my face sewn back on. i had no wait at all, but i think it had to do with A) the fact that the bone in my chin was showing and B) the fact that in spite of this, i was entertaining everyone in the ER and put them all in a really good mood.

the plastic surgeon made me shut up when she was doing the deep sutures though, cos she kept cracking up.

not peeing blood is a very good thing though. congrats on that at least. feel better.

Canal and Hudson? Maybe you hit the Gooch.

(Unless you've encountered it already, the Gooch is this 4"+ lump of pavement that sits on the left of the street. If you don't know it's there and you hit it, you could be in trouble.)

Glad you are alright! Ride safe.

dang, glad you're okay and no cars were behind you. you'll probably have a week of noticing new aches and pains that you'll have no idea what could have hit you there to make it feel that way.

whatever you do, don't let yourself get a cold. sneezing and coughing while your body is effed up like that is miserable.

**** the pain scale
my pain is triangle

Funny thing is, this is about the 5th thread in two days mentioning the quality of the U.S. healthcare system...

I think he said the exact opposite.

Um, I'm confused here...how is it that he said the opposite of what I said? I made no arguments, therefore there can be no 'opposite'. I think that you're implying that I said "high quality" or "low quality" or somesuch. I was merely mentioning that lots of folks have been talking about the quality (that's with no implied value by me) of the US healthcare system. I feel that the quantity of chatter about the system on such an obscure forum as ours implies that there are issues with it.

For the record, I personally think most of our healthcare system blows (as someone who has experienced many levels of the system in the last year.)

off topic/on topic: enlacalle, what frame are you in the market for? just curious (since you seem like the kind of guy who does his homework).

Canal and Hudson? Maybe you hit the Gooch.
Isn't the Gooch the bully that used to beat up Arnold on Diff'rent Strokes?

Chombo - I'm pretty sure it WAS the gooch. But it's weird b/c I usually take that route to work... why haven't I hit it before? Just lucky I guess.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Yeah, I was told that this is going to hurt WAY more tomorrow. And I'm supposed to go on an insanely long flight to Israel tomorrow night at midnight. I actually may postpone the trip if I feel really hurting, mostly b/c the trip involves about 10 days of hiking, standing and waking up at 6am everyday. Lugging a pack around may prove very painful. We'll see tomorrow morning.

nine - i've been jonesing hard for a Kalavinka, but the one i had my eye on has been snatched. I suspect it will turn up on eBay, or the pictures thread any day now. My current bike is fine. The front wheel is pretty out of true, the rear seems the same.

Adam, I know you were joking, but...

PICS!!

http://tinypic.com/k4fjur.jpg

http://tinypic.com/k4fk0m.jpg

http://tinypic.com/k4fk3q.jpg

http://tinypic.com/k4fk9e.jpg

http://tinypic.com/k4fkf9.jpg

http://tinypic.com/k4flu1.jpg
(not me, it's Msngr, just throwing it up b/c it was in my pictures folder and hilarious)

holy crap ELC - glad you're ok. i can echo most other sentiments about NYC emergency rooms. they're more like, 'sorta urgent' rooms, i guess - i think i was in for 6 hours at bellevue.

man, that **** is scary, glad you are okay. be REALLY glad you have insurance...one year ago, i was quite drunk, driverless parked car jumped out of it's space and hit me (yeah, it hit ME) :rolleyes: broke the hell out of my nose...i was in the ER for maybe only an hour (it was 3AM)=$1000 . just got done paying it off. so yeah, insurance is a blessed thing to have when getting radical on the steed.

p.s. you guys all know biker fox would have landed on his ****ing feet in this instance, right?

damn jason man glad you're ok.

st vincents was great on monday when i had to get my face sewn back on. i had no wait at all, but i think it had to do with A) the fact that the bone in my chin was showing and B) the fact that in spite of this, i was entertaining everyone in the ER and put them all in a really good mood.


and holy crap II - your face, dude? number 1: are you ok? it seems you are. and number 2: pics??? sounds gnarlesborough.

heal up, all you ****s.

that bicycle light, bag, fender and pants all had one day left 'til retirement!!!!! :mad:

ah. that was a fender. i was wondering

and i was just just thinking, if i wiped out like that on my commute i'd be down about $3500 worth of powerbook. yikes

seriously man, glad you're ok. that's a ***** of a way to go down

once again why Im glad I live in Canada. But yeah, crashes suck....hope you feel better soon ELC

Maybe your fender came loose and jammed up your front wheel.
Happened to a friend of a frend once.

Enjoy

holy crap ELC - glad you're ok. i can echo most other sentiments about NYC emergency rooms. they're more like, 'sorta urgent' rooms, i guess - i think i was in for 6 hours at bellevue.
I dunno about you, but when I was at Bellevue, they had a whole load of pretty, young, female docs there.

where exactly is the "gooch" so i can avoid it.
glad to hear you were not further injured, remind me of the time
i was drunk and blacked out going down a hill. i face planted into a brick
wall and had glass in my bag as well. i lost a few teeth and had a concussion
but i never paid the hospital bill and now 8 years later my credit is perfect again.
iam sadly still without insurance but i have some friends who are dr.s in er's
that help me out from time to time.
the ironic part is just today i got a ems bergaline shirt on sale for 18$
dammit!!!

try freight bags. awesome!

i remember hearing about a guy who broke his back because he came down on a can of tomato soup in his bag....

Whenever I have glass in my bag, I always am paranoid that I will crash and stab myself in the back like 100 times.

Me too, but then I keep drinking the contents of said container until I forget about it.
I'm more afraid that the big loop of shoulder strap on my bag is going to snatch a mirror. I've never caught it on anything while riding, but I have been twirled around once or twice just walking around with it on.

Sucks about the crash. Looks like that rash would have been killer. Welcome to the "ate sh1t over the bars for no apparent reason" club.

i remember hearing about a guy who broke his back because he came down on a can of tomato soup in his bag....

This is scary.

Glad you're mostly OK. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a car hitting you too quickly.

I was hit from behind by a side view mirror this past summer and I didn't have any kind of warning whatsoever. I was just climbing up the hill to go home when, WHAM!, I was on the ground. The side view mirror of a too closely passing SUV smacked me right in the lower kidney/glute area. Luckily for me she stopped but in your case the perp may not have stopped.

i remember hearing about a guy who broke his back because he came down on a can of tomato soup in his bag....

haha in valiant defense of the safety record of food--I think it saved my life last summer. I came home from the ER with a mild short-term-memory erasing concussion to discover a shredded backpack full of destroyed groceries. I keep thinking about how those pulverised fruits could have been my kidneys instead.

ELC, glad you aren't too badly hurt. My messenger bag saved my back once too. If you still want to get that drink it's on me.

once I was really sick, and my throat swelled up to the point where it was hard to breathe, and It hurt more than anything to swallow my saliva.(or anything else, for that matter) ...bastards made me sit in the ER for 11 ****ing hours! ...I finally get called back, and all they do is give me a perciset, and a perscription for them... and a popsicle...GRRRRR. glad your ok. good luck with the pain.

mmm...wilco. by the by, anyone have that acoustic version he does in that one video. oh, and sorry and stuff, hope you are ok. seriously though, the acoustic version? thanks

glad to see your ok. i guess the whole advertisement in bart in sf makes sense now.

"er care in 30 minutes or less"

i just sort of laughed when that was there attempt to get there. their service might suck, but hey, 30 minutes or less! sounds like a pizza deal almost. 30 minutes or it's free.

glad to hear you're ok for the most part!

the good old ER...
i save my trips there for after midnight, it's generally much quicker then...
usually i go that late because i'm drunkest after midnight, hence more accident prone,
but the few times i've been sober and gone to the ER i've waited until it's late so i don't have to sit in various waiting rooms for hours on end...

good luck recovering duder... cheers...

glad yer ok man! ****, don't think about it--go ahead and treat yerself to a new bag! :) :) :)

and holy crap II - your face, dude? number 1: are you ok? it seems you are. and number 2: pics??? sounds gnarlesborough.

heal up, all you ****s.


haha. i just pulled out the stitches in the restroom, so it looks worse than it has, but here ya go:

http://www.visitordesign.com/chin.jpg

that whole chunk was completely flapping around. the doctor actually did a pretty incredible job all things considered.

nice, save that one for next year's christmass card.

It's the lab work that kills you. The basic one time blood panel that they do on most of the people in the ED at my hospital retails at $1795. That said, we do give out a hell of a lot of free and discounted care (and the requirements aren't that steep).