I was riding my most-common route (31 miles through beautiful NE scenery). I was feeling fine, riding fine. I started at 9:30 AM, it was sunny and dry.

I was riding on River Road and BOOM! I'm sitting on my ass on the pavement. I am surrounded by people, cars are stopped. "Do you want help to stand up?" "Why don't you sit in my car?" Some EMT type is feeling my head and neck (maybe he arrived in the Police SUV?)

Where's my bike? What happened? I am even more clueless than normal. Obviously I must have had an accident, but that's based 100% on deduction.

I stood (with help) to sit in someone's car. I noticed I'd left a tiny blood mark on the upholstery: Oh, I have a raspberry on my right forearm. EMT's arrive. Lots of official checking out my body and head. "What date is it? Who's President?" They fit a neck brace and load me into the ambulance. "No, we can't take you bike, the Police will take it."

What happened? Policeman: "An observer says your front wheel snapped sideways and you went over the handlebars."

At Emerson Hospital about 11:30. CAT scan, X-Rays, then an IV, etc. They finally let me try to stand - it hurts too much to stand on my right leg. I fractured the right "horn" on my pelvic girdle. Nothing to be done, just heal. So I left using a walker. VERY hard, pain explodes when I move occasionally but I haven't figured out what motion I need to avoid.

Obviously the fork cracked, or the handlebars collapsed, or the wheel failed. Kathy and I just got the bike from the Carlisle Police. Nope, the tire is still holding pressure. Everything appears normal. Now that I have the Garmin GPS computer, I can see that I went from 15 mph to zero in front of 241 River Road. And the GPS shows my bike (with the GPS attached) flew left, across the street. My helmet is trashed from the top right towards the back. My right arm and right side my left calf got scraped. Big bruises on the back of my right scapula and my right hip.

Lessons:

1. I'm not as competent as I thought. I've ridden about 20 K miles in the last 6 years (when I started). Except when I got distracted while leading 70 riders on one ride (hit curb, broke hip), I have not had any accidents. Even though I am somewhat more adventuresome in how I ride! I can only remember about 3 close-calls, and they were mainly in my first year.
2. I need to examine the road in front of 241 River Road (100 yards beyond Skelton Road) to see if I can find a hole in the pavement. But regardless, I study the road ahead when I ride - I almost never hit a bump or hole I didn't see.
3. My concussion wiped out the previous 30-60 seconds (?) of memory and slowed my thinking immediately after I became conscious. FWIW, I had the same sort of concussion about 40 years ago, riding a motorcycle, and doing an endo on dirt in a highway construction zone.
4. I am hoping that recovery is swift! Although I have not recovered much after 24 hours.
5. Adjusting to being an invalid is horrible. Last night it took me 33 minutes to get out of bed, pee, and get back in. I cannot predict when a forward, backward, bending, or twisting movement is going to hurt significantly. Ibuprofen and Percocet help (I think).

PS - I know this is drivel for most. Maybe it will be useful to someone. FYI, I'm 70, I ride 4K miles per year, my speed has dropped with age. So I'm lucky I was only going 15 mph, but I'm unlucky that I heal more slowly! So that's my tale of woe. Take pleasure that you are reading this, not experiencing it.
I look forward to getting back riding again. I will be curious to see if it changes how I ride.