Glad to see you are okay. That was some report. Perhaps the picture did not do justice to what happened, but it looked similar to my run in with a car. I was t-boned against a car (I think a suburu, or something like that), and next thing I knew, I was on the street, on my back, looking up, and hearing everybody not to move. This is definitely why we wear a helmet. But like Endox says, I'm very impressed you finished the brevet ... maybe not the brightest thing to do, but I think it's the stubborn-headedness in all of us.
When it comes to health, life and limb, who cares how dorky the helmet looks. As long as it does the job, that's all that counts.