I recently started riding with some of my co-workers. I'm a Physical Therapist Asst at the local hospital. We have a great greenway system here that runs for about 50miles connecting to our hospital and ride ~4X/week. I have a 2007 Trek 7300 and a 1995 Trek 850. Was on the 7300 with 700x25 tires.

Yesterday 2 of us riding side by-side (in our lane)after work, a guy comes hauling-a$$ around a blind corner on our side. My buddy was inside and swerved towards me. I swerved to avoid him and went off the pavement(concrete) It was extremely rough and I was on very lumpy ground and about to be thrown off at ~10MPH. Tried to get back on the paved path, wheel caught the edge and I went over the bars.

Landed on the left under-side of my chin on the concrete at ~8 MPH, helmet on. L knee skinned, deep gouge under my chin and 10/10 pain at my L jaw hinge. I was OK to ride back but was concerned b/c my neck extended violently when I hit the pavement and I was worried about a C-spine injury(can paralyze)

Told my buddy to ride back to the hospital(~3miles) to get my truck to take me in rather than waiting on a meatwagon knowing how rough EMTs can be. They put a C-collar on me immediately at the ER, mashing into my chin lac and mashing my jaw into the L hinge joint causing me excruciating pain in my ear and L jaw hinge.

So, CT, chin stitches, 2 shots of dilaudid, and 4hrs later, both sides of my jaw are fractured, R side hairline, L side with 1/4" of separation between the bone fragments in the hinge joint. I see the ortho on Monday to see if I need surgery. Sipping on liquid oxycodone and getting ready for my liquid breakfast now.

While I want to blame the a-hole on the wrong side of the path, I ultimately know this was my fault for not trying to stop in the grass rather than trying to re-merge on the path and for riding side-by-side. Fast poop happens fast yo'. As I was sitting on the path evaluating my injuries with blood streaming from my chin, I saw the guy circle back and then haul a$$ the other direction when he saw me down.

The only upside is that I just put a trekking handlebar on my bike. I was on the back part of the bar and that saved my hands from hitting the pavement. Probably saved me from some broken fingers too. I love riding but am wondering how gunshy I'm gonna be when I decide to get back on the bike.

To those of you who've had a bad crash, how soon do you get back on and face this?