sarals 

Jim, welll....kids, ya know? You took it worse than I did, wow. And you went to an 'event' that evening! Fantastic!!

John, I'm glad YOU'RE okay!

XX chromosomes and all, I'm fine! I rode 12 miles today, and not as gingerly as I intended. I did a few sprints, pushed it up some little hills (not really climbs), and ran some errands. I discovered that the bike was a little worse off than I had thought. The back tire was flat when I went out to ride it and I had to change the tube. I discovered a minor cut in the rear tire, too, that didn't go through the belt, but I'm going to have to replace the tire. The rear derailer was out of whack, and the rear wheel is out of true. I'll take it to my favorite LBS and get all that sorted out. Oh - my GPS won't turn on, either, so it goes back to Garmin. My glasses, oh my glasses, are going be repaired under warranty. That was really sweet of my optician!

I consider myself myself very lucky.

It's great to have the community of cyclists in 3D and here, too. That has meant more than I can tell you.

My sincere thanks to you all!

JanMM

Glad to hear you're able to ride already.
Your health insurance co. will likely be asking at some point if your injuries were the result of an accident and, if so, what was the nature of the accident?
They will looking to find out if, perhaps, someone else may be responsible for your healthcare expenses.

alanknm

sarals

Ouch ! Not a lot of fun. Glad to hear you're able to get back on the bike again and I hope that everything will turn out for you. I didn't need medical attention so I consider myself lucky. Write down everything you can recall about the incident. Anytime there are liability issues it's critical to record the events as soon as possible and as accurately as possible.

I did something similar a couple of months ago when I hit a patch of sand on the pavement. The bike landed on the grass, I landed on the pavement on my side. The bike was fine and wound up covered in mud with a huge case of road rash on my left knee and arm. The good thing was that I had running tights on over my bike shorts so I wound up with bruises, abrasions but my jacket got shredded.

By the time I got home both the bike and I were filthy. I looked like I'd been in a cyclocross race in the muck. I peeled off my running tights and hosed the clothes and the bike down. When I walked into the house one of my boys looked at me and said "Hey, you're bleeding."

My wife took one look at me and said "Aren't you overdoing it ?"
"I've done worse"
"That was 40 years ago"
"So ?"

I looked like something from a horror film for a couple of weeks.

A plug for clipless pedals:

I know that if I was on the hybrid, the bike would have wound up on top of me and depending on the side I crashed on I would have wound up with a variety of cuts. The CF road bike literally flew out from underneath me and did a soft landing on the grass. I have clipless on both bikes and I know that I can always rely on them to release my feet like a ski binding. If I were using toe clips I know for sure that it could have been much worse.

oldride

sarals sorry to hear about your crash, heal fast. Just curious didn't anyone in your group call out the obstacle?

ModeratedUser150120149

Sorry to hear about the accident. It is great that you are not more seriously injured. From experience of an accident a few years ago that left me looking a lot like you I know there will be some discomfort for awhile. But, with your attitude I know you will not only overcome, you will thrive.

sarals 

HawkOwl, that was sweet! Thank you!

Oldride, we were distracted by one of the lead riders in the line almost crashing. No, no one called the cable - that I heard, or remember, anyway.

I did a short ride down to coffee today and met with my cycling friends. That was the first time since my crash that I've seen everyone together. They had anecdotes about my crash that I sure didn't remember, including some of my responses to questions from the first responders. I think I got my bell rung a little more than I thought! No surprise, I took quite a hit.

I'm healing well. Right now my arm and hip are the worst, my face is coming along nicely (still, nothing will improve THAT..). My left arm has an uncomfortable burn on it, and my hip is just plain swollen. I can walk (and run, I did that yesterday) with no problems, the only discomfort comes late in the day. I tire pretty easily, and I am all sorts of hungry (that's disconcerting) - my body trying to heal. All in all, though - I'm lucky, blessed in many ways, and I'm fine!

Oh - I replaced both tires on the Look today, and made some adjustments to things that were knocked out of whack. My poor bike took quite a hit, too!

sarals 

My body is telling me "I surrender" this morning. I ache pretty much everywhere! I think I'll lay low today.

I guess I really am almost 60....

BluesDawg

Listen to your body. In exchange for you giving it the rest it wants today, it will reward you with a "let's go!" later.

bgross

Glad you're able to answer the bell.

"Pain is nature's way of saying 'You ain't dead yet'."

The activity you had for a couple days after the crash might have kept things from tightening up, but the inflammatory process is going to have to run it's course. Sorry for the pain -- you really cheated the reaper!

az_cyclist

Sorry you had the accident, and great attitude! You will be back before you know it, and, you will regain any lost fitness quickly

Jim from Boston

Again, not to one-up injuries, but for your interest, when I described my hit to a neurologist acquaintance, she said, "Yep, you had a concussion my friend." My recollection from the accident was realizing that I was going down on a tar seam, and trying to unclip my right foot, with a distinct visual memory of seeing my foot and the pavement. The next thing I remember was being helped to sit up, apparently by paramedics, so I must have been out of it for a few minutes. I assumed they were paramedics because they asked me cogent questions, like "Who is the president?" I couldn't remember, though I did recall thinking it's not Bill Clinton; the answer came to me seemingly within a minute. I did know immediately that it was Saturday in response to another question and said "See, I'm OK." Meanwhile I was recalling to myself that I was in Chelsea Michigan and had been riding north on Main Street.

Later in the Emergency Room, the ER doc discussed with me why she did not think a CAT scan was necessary, and I agreed, because I felt my faculties returned pretty quickly. Five days later when I had my stitches removed, the ER doc in Boston, whom I know well, did say that had it happened at his hospital, I would have had a CAT scan. I think, and he basically agreed, that is probably a reflection of regional differences in medical practice. BTW that Boston ER doc himself suffered a bicycling-related head injury that had him hospitalized a few years ago, and fortunately he is functioning well.

Kurt Erlenbach

Jan is completely correct about this. Your health insurer is going to be looking for subrogation whether you want to or not. You will be hearing from them to ask whether a third party is involved and might be liable. As someone else pointed out, these kinds of things are the reason that businesses carry insurance. Please go see a lawyer.

sarals 

I have talked to one. There was one on the ride with me. I hope I don't need his services!

sarals 

Everyone here has been great, and the responses and wishes I've gotten (as well as the inspiration) have gone a long way towards helping me feel better. I can't thank every one of you enough.

Today has been a tough day. For the first time I've felt real pain from this, and it was almost a week ago that it happened. Some of the discomfort is related to the fact that I've had two hard nights in a row at work, and the result is that haven't gotten a lot of rest. Some of it is related to my fear of loosing fitness and not being ready for the events I've entered in the coming months. I've tried to continue with my training as if nothing happened. I'm realizing I have been just a little reckless! The ER doc did tell me when he sent me home to get "rest". I said "okay, I'll rest tomorrow" and he said "no, give yourself a week". I really should learn to listen.

Lessons:

Wear your Road ID.
Carry your insurance card, not just your ID and credit card.
Have ICE (In Case of Emergency) programmed into your cell phone - the first responders look for it.
LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR!
And to your body.
And - you ain't thirty any more!

NOS88

[QUOTE=sarals;12981410]Lessons:

Wear your Road ID.
Carry your insurance card, not just your ID and credit card.
Have ICE (In Case of Emergency) programmed into your cell phone - the first responders look for it.
LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR!
And to your body.
And - you ain't thirty any more![QUOTE]

Thank, God!

But, yeah, you should rest a bit more. You run the risk of making your recovery even longer.

sarals 

[QUOTE=NOS88;12981751][QUOTE=sarals;12981410]Lessons:


And - you ain't thirty any more!Exactly. My body is screaming that at me right now. And I'm listening!

AzTallRider

[QUOTE=sarals;12982229][QUOTE=NOS88;12981751]Sounds like you are in that "feels worse before it gets better" phase. Hopefully it won't last too long!

El Gigante

So sorry to hear about your accident, and glad the damage wasn't worse. Hang in there - time is a great healer.

JanMM

Losing fitness? The bad news: You lose it faster than you gained it. The good news: You will gain it back.

Good lessons learned that we should all consider.
Not having an insurance card won't stand in the way of receiving care: The first responders and ED providers will treat you without regard for that. But, might avoid some inconvenience later by having all that info with you.

Ridinmurray

It's 2 steps forward & 1 step back for the recovery process. Glad to hear you're doing better.

sarals 

[QUOTE=AzTallRider;12984175][QUOTE=sarals;12982229]I hope so, AzT!

The road rash has been particularly bothersome over the last couple of days. I hope the discomfort from that is peaking!

My left hip and thigh look HORRIBLE, but they actually don't hurt at all. Maybe it's getting ready to fall off?

As for loosing fitness, I'm going to try to ride tomorrow - soft pedaling. Which, I did NOT do last week. I can't run yet, nor can I swim. That'll be a few days, yet. I did bow out of a long ride I was going to take with a group this weekend. It wasn't easy, but I'd be really pushing it to try to ride the distance we had planned.

Thankfully, I was able to rest at work last night, that did wonders.

Yes, time is a great healer, but in cases like mine - it sure seems to move slowly!

Thank you, everyone!

gear

Sorry about your fall.

Did you have time to try and bunny hop the cable?

sarals 

Thanks!

No - I didn't see it, and it was parallel to my direction of travel. It took my front wheel before I knew it! I was riding along, and then I felt this huge impact on the side of my head - and my day changed!

AzTallRider

Well, at least you avoided the "Ah, crap, this is going to hurt" instant.

sarals 

I know! I never even knew was going over. Thinking it over (oh, I've had plenty of time for that) I was more like body slammed then a fall - I was thrown to the pavement. I remember, clearly, the sound of my bike hitting the pavement. That hurt as much as I did in that moment!