sorry to hear and I hope you get better.

bolting around three lanes of stopped traffic in the parking spaces, what a jackass!

I'd get a lawyer asap.

Got the police report - the driver got cited for "Failure to Yield ROW". I had to go to the doc on Friday, because my ribs still hurt (still taking Valium to sleep @ night).

Dropped the Kona off at the bike shop to get an estimate on repairs, but I also want to find out if there's any issue with the frame warranty post-crash.

His insurance company called me on Thursday, but an attorney advised me not to speak with them for the present.

My ribs hurt a lot - I got additional X-rays on Friday, so we'll see what they say when they're available next week....

No report on the bike yet, but I have to go get a CT scan - my side still hurts too much to sleep well....

I got a call from his insurance company. I didn't discuss my medical condition, but now this guy is claiming that he was trying to parallel park.

....according to the police report, he said he was traveling at 25 MPH. How do you parallel part at 25MPH? Who the heck is this guy, Joie Chitwood?

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EXTREME PARKING! (my running synonym for auto-x, but it applies here too) :lol:

I would much prefer to slide off the side. I remember thinking "I hope this lady doesn't jam on
the brakes" when she did just that. Going off the front of the hood is much less fun. I was
lucky my road shoes had zero traction so I kind of skated instead of being run over. When the
lady jumped out of the car and stared yelling at me I about lost it!

Oh, get well soon.

I wouldn't even talk to his insurance company. Tell them you're hiring an attorney and they can deal with him.

I got hit on Saturday. They taco'd my front tire. That is the second time I have been hit by a car. He was all kinds of apologetic until I mentioned my damaged front wheel. At that point, he was very quick to point out that he had damage to his SUV as well. At that point I told him that I am glad that I am not dead.

I have a new wheel on order and have been a little bummed about being trapped in the car indefinitely. I am a little bruised up.

I've been driving all week (still no report on the bike from the shop yet). I had to call the doc to change my meds so that I can take something for the muscle spasms during the day (It's not good to be taking valium and driving), so my choices were to stay home, or to ask for something that wouldn't make me loopy.

Sleep is about 4 hours a night. I have an appt. with my ortho surgeon on Monday to go over my baseline (prior to this accident) x-rays to make sure that things still look the same. I've been having more pain underneath my ribs, and pain/decreased mobility in my left hip/leg.

So, again, we'll see where this goes, but once I have my reports from the ortho doc, ER, and all X-rays, I may be talking with a lawyer or two just to see what my options are.

I DO have med pay coverage with my auto insurance carrier, so they can pick up medical bills without hurting my potential action against the driver.

Sorry to hear about your accident! :eek: I can only imagine the pain you are enduring, but hopefully the worst is over. Best wishes on a.) a full recovery, b.) getting that idiot to pay for your hospital and bike repair/replacement bills, and c.) being compensated for pain and suffering.

Just got word from the shop - Kona won't warranty the frame (I don't blame them - it got hit by a car) so they're going to total the bike. I also need to test all the other components - bell/horn/lights/computer to see what works, and what can be moved over to a new bike, as well as itemize my 'missing' parts (bunch of small stuff got knocked off by the impact).

I stopped by a LBS on the way from work (to pick up a copy of Spokes mag, which sometimes has ads for cycling injury lawyers)....and they happened to have a Fuji Cross Pro in my size - Ultegra setup with a Dura-Ace rear DR.....it's a really good price too, so I have to decide if I want to buy a bike now and wait for the bike settlement, or hold out until it's been resolved.

Your shop may be very flexible if you decide to just buy the bike now. Then, when you get the settlement, you return the bike, then re-purchase it. There are a couple of ways to work this out, especially if the insurance company doesn't just write you a check, but wants to see receipts for an exact replacement bike.

Depending on how much they like you, one of these purchase reciepts may show full MSRP.

kokomo, do you not want to buy another similar Kona bike or do you want to try something new? Or was your model discontinued?

Since you said you can afford it, I'd say get the bike you want now and then let the lawsuit and settlement occur lately. Yes, it would stink having to shell out for something that there's no guarantee would be reimbursed. But since you like riding so much, why should you have to suffer?

BTW, how is the pain, now that it's been over a week since the accident?

I like the Kona - if I can find a model with a 2006 or 2007 frame, I'd be very interested. The Hi-viz orange and/or green help with visibility (although evidently not in this case). They've changed the color for the 2008 model to a powder blue, that I don't like nearly as well. If they can't find that frame, I'd be willing to consider other models - the Tricross is combat green, and fails the visibility test. The Cannondale seemed a bit gimmicky, and I've had a chance to ride the Redline conquest.

Don't want a touring bike for the commute. I only need a double, and want something that will take abuse.

The Fuji is brightly colored, and has a really sweet drive train (Ultegra shifters/FD with a Dura-Ace RD). So, once the doc clears me to ride, I want to try that one, as well as continue to explore a Kona replacement if I can get the right frame.

I'll go ahead and replace the bike out of pocket for now, but will likely wait until I have a better idea of how the insurance is going to work.

How do I feel? Sore, still. I've been sleeping about 2-3 hours at a stretch, and have to use a body pillow to keep from resting my arm on my ribs. Muscle spasms in lower back,and I feel like I'm trying hard to stand up straight. Doc changed my muscle relaxant to something less drowsy, since I need to work during the day (office job, nothing strenuous) I've got an appt. with my Ortho surgeon on Monday to compare my current x-rays with my 2004 x-rays to check for differences. I'm feeling pain that I haven't felt for a long time, so we need to make sure that there's no compression going on.

I got my copy of "Cycling and the Law" today - from reading it, I'm doing most things right. I have talked to their insurance company, but it was just to read the police report to them, which they now have a copy.

My car insurance company has 10K of med pay coverage, so that is in the works, and it doesn't take fault into account, and doesn't raise my rates. So, I shouldn't have too much out of pocket.

Anyway - I'll keep posting as I get more info.

I work at the LBS. Every component besides the front wheel works perfectly fine. Unfortunately, it sounds like your bicycle was much more fortunate than you. I've been hit twice, and thank my lucky stars that neither time yielded any serious injury to me or my ride.
the frame measurements came up perfect as well. if you're still antsy about the integrity, put it or craigslist or sell it to a friendly bike mechanic....:p
More importantly, get well fast. We need more commuters on the streets, especially in NOVA (the unmitigated driving capital of the world.)




EDIT-What size frame are you? i know where you can get that neon-green 07 frame...

Sorry to hear you're still in pain. :( Good luck with the recovery, legal issues, and new bike research. I assume you've scoured Craigslist and EBay for that specific Kona bike.

Sorry to hear about this.

I ride through that intersection myself fairly frequently, but I approach it differently from most folks. I arrive on Church St from the Tysons direction, and then turn right or left depending on which way I want to go.

Get well soon..

Just picked up the report from the bike shop - holding on to that for insurance purposes. Saw my orthopedic surgeon - again, no broken bones showing up, but he prescribed 4 weeks of physical therapy - then an MRI if the pain doesn't get more tolerable. I hate taking meds, but it does help me sleep.

I wonder if there should be barriers in the parking lanes. Even yellow plastic pipes that they sometimes glue to the pavement. I suppose it would make street sweeping harder if they were to do this..

You should be able to settle the bike claim now and still wait however much time you need (I recommend letting it go to the limit, 3 yrs out here) for the medical. If you want.

That's what I heard, too - it's 2 years in Virginia. I want to make absolutely sure that there's nothing that happens further on down the road that affects my long-term ability to get around. Even if the property damage part drags out, I've already put aside enough to replace the bike if I have to do it out of pocket first. My likely path is to get through PT, assemble all my docs then talk with a couple PI attorneys to see if it makes sense to move forward, and deal with the property loss then, unless his insurance company wants to get the PD part out of the way sooner. I still have to get medical clearance to get back on the bike anyway. I have med pay coverage through my auto insurance carrier, so I shouldn't be too much out of pocket during this period.

In any case, I'm keeping thorough documentation of everything - I'm going to get pictures of the street view leading up to the crosswalk this weekend, which should offer plenty of opportunities to get pictures of both cars and bikes crossing (hopefully) safely. The street has big hi-vis ped and bike crossing signs at every crosswalk on the street, so this guy just ignored the signs and stopped traffic. The only question is what constitutes a 'fair' P&S amount, which I won't know for at least a few months, if not going the whole 2 years.

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Interesting pic - from my last stop, it shows my going to about 8 MPH, then when I got hit, the speed goes up to 42MPH, and my elevation goes up almost 200+ feet....I don't think I flew that far, but it's interesting to see what the GPS says when it gets a sudden 'change' in input.....


/Off to my PT appointment....

Sorry to hear you got hit Kokomo but glad there doesn't seem to be dibilitating damage

42mph? Speeding on the trail, eh! Tsk, tsk. :D
But good for boosting your average.:thumb:


So, how you feeling now?

That's a pretty neat graph! Hope the recovery is proceeding well.

Keep work timesheets w/ sick time for all those PT and other med trips.

I'm not a lawyer and a lawyer might not agree but it might be worth settling the property claim yourself so a contingency fee doesn't cut out how much you net to replace the bike.

My accident was w/ a USAA client also, they wound up (over time) being easy to work with myself, no lawyer. Like I said, I waited until the very end. I think you have reason to use a lawyer for your med etc... side though.