tsl

I was hit by a car this afternoon on the way home from a training ride. Darned winds won't stop this spring, so I figured I might as well use them to my advantage.

Anyway, I was going through an intersection (on the correct side, had a green) with no other vehicles in front or behind. Kid in a '99 Grand Prix started to turn left in front of me, stopped, I went to go around him, and he started again and hit me.

Fortunately, he was still at a low speed. Knocked me off Yellow Bike in front of a bus (that was boarding passengers). I remembered to tuck-and-roll, but I came down hard on my upper right arm. My shoulder is messed up inside. A few spots of road rash, scrapes and bumps on the outside everywhere else.

Ambulance said the wait at Emergency was 8-12 hours, so I elected to see my doc instead. I got in less than 2 hours after the collision. Off to x-rays tomorrow, follow-up on Thursday.

Yellow Bike has a tacoed front wheel and the right brifter is bashed up. Not sure what else. My LBS will pick it up tomorrow at lunchtime, take it in and check it out. Helmet has impact marks, but no cracks. Probably should be replaced anyway.

Meanwhile, I'm out of work until at least Friday.

alicestrong

Ack So sorry to hear this.

Does the guy have insurance?

Glad it wasn't worse.

DnvrFox

Wow.

Sure hope your shoulder comes out ok.

What a heck of a way to spend an afternoon. Any tickets issued?

Get well soon.

maddmaxx 

The bike can be fixed. I hope you are not too badly injured.

kjc9640

Man really sorry to hear about your misfortune. Was the driver charged? Witnesses? Police report?
Hope your injuries are minimal. Good luck...

Jim

tsl

Oh yeah. Forgot those details.

The kid was insured, so I lucked-out there. It's always an iffy proposition in the city. Anyway, I got a claim number before I saw the doc, so that part is all taken care of.

Yes, he was ticketed, presumably for failure to yield.

Responding officer is a cyclist, triathlete, and even uses the same LBS as I do. He gave me a ride home and even carried Yellow Bike up the fire escape to my kitchen. He called me "old school" because I don't use quick-releases. Told him I'm of the "keep-my-wheels-when-I-lock-up school".

I'm very glad it wasn't worse too. Believe me.

cranky old dude

I'm glad you're basicly O.K. and there's no doubt the guys at your LBS will take good care of Yellow Bike. They know their stuff there.

8 - 12 hour wait...Un freaking believable!

I hope your injuries are truely minor. After riding all winter (temptation is there to call it winder) you deserve to be out riding in this nicer weather.

Beverly

Hope there's no serious injury to the shoulder. Heal quickly, tsl.

doctor j

Sorry to hear about the crash, tsl, and glad you're in good enough shape to relate the details to us. Hope you and Yellow Bike will be back on the road, shortly.

CB HI

Heal quickly, tsl.

But the title of your thread is of concern "Had my annual crash…"

sojourn

Get well soon!

George

WOW, after all was said and done, I guess you made out pretty good, if that's what you could call it. To bad about your shoulder, I hope you heal fast.

billydonn

Glad ou are okay...

Donegal

Heal quick tsl. Tough break, I had a similar situation 2 months ago. Lady in Mercedes stops at light waiting for us to go through, light turns yellow and she decides not to wait for us. I was 20 feet away when she turned, I locked it down, my friend hit my rear wheel he was slightly out of position. He flipped, separated shoulder and had a bad day. The lady in the car drove off. Cycling can be hard on the body.

rae

Hard to believe you're lucky when you are hit, but still, lucky he was moving slowly etc etc

Take care, don't rush the recovery. Hope nothing is badly injured.

Tom Bombadil

+1 on all the the get better soon wishes.

So the kid looked you right in the eyes before he ran over you? That's scary.

tsl

Well, it means I won't have to worry until next year. Let's see... The first one was when I was knocked off the bike by a Rottweiler. The second was a pedal strike when I was too hot in a corner. The third was a patch of ice--I'd taken a chance and took the studded tires off a day too early, apparently.

I'll tell you. I'm murder on helmets!

Thanks for all the concerns.

What's most disappointing is that I was really pleased with how things were coming together for this season. Never before would I have gone out in sustained winds in the upper 20 with gusts to nearly 40 just for fun.

I'd averaged 17 MPH at 91 RPM cadence and 151 avg HR on the UPWIND leg of this ride. Dropped a kid half my age when he couldn't sustain his break. Nice sprint though. And all on a nice afternoon ride for something to do before going to work tonight.

tsl

Yeah. As former First Cyclist George W. would have said, "He misunderestimated my speed."

Scarier still was that he sat there in the intersection, rolled down the window and asked, "Are you okay?"

"[Expletive deleted] no!" I roared. "You just t-boned me with a [expletive deleted] Pontiac. How the hell could I be okay?"

Twit.

Once that was out of my system, I was fine.

BengeBoy 

Yikes!

Glad you're ok.

Nighteyez

Glad you are okay, and not seriously injured. Can't believe the ER wait was going to be 8-12 hours! I hope you heal soon, and the LBS can fix Yellow Bike so you can get back out on the road again.

Mojo Slim

Is there any consolation in the fact that there won't be any more Pontiacs after 2010? Anyway, glad you will recover, but feel your pain that the crash has interupted a good bike year for you. Heal fastly.

ang1sgt

Bruce,

When I heard about this at the shop, I was very concerned about you. And Dang, Yellow bike was just in the shop too! I'll be working on the Portland for you this morning and hopefully won't run into any snags with that. Of course Yellow Bike will be the next priority and we will make that right too. There is a lot of history there.

Take care my friend and I'll see you around lunch time!

PrairieDog

So sorry to hear this, but glad to know that all the bumps will heal just fine. Hope you can get the bike fixed up, too.

BTW, I've learned that if you go into the ER with a bone sticking out, you jump to the head of the line. Don't suppose you considered that strategy?

tsl

Oh yeah. Chris and his posse are on it.

See? Always choose an LBS with a 50+ Forum member as the Service Manager.

No need to rush either bike, Chris. I won't be riding for a while.

I did mention the responding police officer uses the same LBS, didn't I?

tsl

Considered and rejected, thanks for asking.

I do remember specifically listening for things snapping as I got in touch with terra firma. Heard the helmet crunch…

My nephew recently learned that if you fall on a wood screw sticking out of something and arrive at the ED with a block of wood screwed to your hand, the fascination value alone is enough to move you to the head. Got to hear all the gory details from my sister-in-law as she drove me to the doc.