Oh man, that sucks. I have no suggestions on how to get the money for repairing the bike, but she definitely should pay. You may have to take her to small claims court, and just pay to fix the bike yourself for now.

Oh, and congrats on the 17 weeks of riding, and the weight loss! That's inspirational.. And I'm very glad to hear that you're ok, it could have been much much worse.

Did the cops ticket her?