After ~4 years and over 10k miles of commuting I finally had an accident involving a car. Last Wednesday while riding home from work after dark a driver took a left turn without seeing me in his way and caught my left thigh with his front right fender. I was riding in the correct lane with lights and reflectors, and as the driver said, he simply didn't see me when he turned. We were both traveling pretty slowly so the impact itself wasn't too bad. When I fell, I instinctively steadied myself against the fender of the car with my left hand which I think kept me from hitting my head on either the car or the ground. This action however did tear a muscle in my shoulder which has kept me out of work for the past week and certainly off my bike.

The shoulder tear wasn't detected by the EMTs who responded to the accident (adrenaline is an amazing pain killer) and as my bike wasn't damaged so little injured there was no accident report written up by the sheriff on the scene. The next day my shoulder hurt extremely badly and when I went to my doctor he diagnosed the torn shoulder muscle. Since there is now a documented injury the sheriff is now putting together an accident report so that my medical bills will be covered. Overall I consider myself lucky to have sustained so little overall injury.

If anyone reading this has torn a shoulder muscle, how long did it take to recover? I hate missing work and even more I miss being able to bike every day.