Last night I had an accident. This is by far the worst accident I have had, ever.

We had a wind storm the other night that knocked down trees and branches so there was a lot of sticks and crap all over the place. I usually ride around crap in the road, so I really don't know how that little stick got caught in my spokes. I never saw it coming.

From the pics you can imagine that I went over the bars and slammed in to the pavement. It happened so quickly that I didn't have time to put my arms up to protect my head, so I went helmet first in to the pavement.

There was another cyclist coming towards me at the time and he stopped to lend a hand. I can't remember much of our conversation, but I'd like to thank you again for stopping if you are reading this. He mentioned that he thought I got hit by a car, but I don't remember any cars around at all. I wonder if a car passing me could have blown the stick in to my spokes. I would really like to know how it happened. It would help with my confidence when I start riding again.

After getting off the road, I called for ride to Mount St. Joseph's hospital in Vancouver. I was admitted in to emergency very quickly and after some x-rays the doctor decided I had a slight shoulder seperation and a concussion. I was actually really impressed with the speed of the hospital. One of the doctors went out of his way to get me in to the x-ray while another patient was being prepared. Definitely a good Canadian hospital emergency experience.

The bottom line is it could have been a lot worse.

One final note about my helmet. I truely believe it saved my life or at least stopped me from having a very serious head injury. The helmet I was wearing was probably 6 months old. I bought it at MEC and the salesperson actually helped to fit it to my head. She made a point of explaining how it should cover as much of my temples as possible. The majority of the impact was on this area. My old helmet did not provide the same coverage. So a special thanks to the MEC girl who helped me buy the right helmet.

1983 Motobecane Grand Touring
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Helmet
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Helmet strap that would get imprinted on my head.
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The force of the impact caused the design of the strap to get imprinted on the styrfoam of the helmet and my head.
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My cool triangle helmet tatoo
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