It's now two weeks since my incident where I smashed into a car and surprisingly I feel pretty good. I'd say I'm about 80% and getting better day by day. As far as the injuries I basically had a lot of bruising, road rash, and soreness. The bruising is almost gone while the rash continues to shrink. My back was really sore a few days after and my chiropractor is helping that to get under control. Overall I'm really just surprised at my ability to recover.
I've already been back on the bike a few times and my range of motion is almost back to normal. I can still get power down seated, standing, you name it. This was a huge concern for me knowing my addiction and I've been very happy with the successful rides that I've done. I'm getting to the point of resuming all normal activities including running and skiing. With the winter break coming up I really want to hit the slopes and the knees are feelign good enough to make me contemplate a trip to Hunter this Wednesday. We'll see but good reports so far.
On the down side of things I have contacted the insurance company for the guy that was responsible for the accident. Of course they are avoiding me like the plague and hopefully more progress will be made this week. I'm staying positive that i will have a new road bike by early 2009. We'll see about that...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
I've had bad days but come on...
This morning I had a nice 2 hour easy spin planned for my training. It's now day 6 of training and I'm trying to get accustomed to the different routines and working with the heartrate monitor. I wanted some company on this ride so I invited my roommate Andy along and he was happy to get out so it was all looking good. I took a tour through Morristown, Mendham, Jockey Hollow, Morristown again and back to Parsippany and I never made it back on the bike...
As we were coming down a slight decline, Andy and I were single file and cruising along at about 20-25mph when we approached the intersection of a local shopping center. It's usually busy so I'm always cautious around this area. So we are just cruising along and I see a car up ahead looking to pull out. I notice him and come closer looking for eye contact to make sure he sees us. No problem. I make eye contact and am positive he is staying where he is. I keep on coming and as I'm about 10 feet from his nose he pulls out into the intersection. This is where my day gets bad...
I proceed to grab my brakes which was only about 1 second before the impending impact. So I instead focus my effort on getting my body higher to make the impact easier. I guess it worked. I remember unclipping - flipping over with my head on the hood - closing my eyes preparing for impact - and then the impact occurred when I landed on the pavement on the other side of the car. As soon as I landed I look back to see my roommate screaming ....SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!! as he also hits the car(he was 10 feet behind me and couldn't avoid it either). I remember seeing him hit - his body tumbling forward over the hood - ATTACHED TO HIS BIKE. He didn't unclip but he then did in mid air as he was flying over the hood and launched his bike another 20 feet further than his body as his Cervelo whizzed through the air over my crumpled body lying on the ground. So there we were lying on the ground writhing in pain with carnage every where.
The first thing I assessed was my knees. They were both numb and they felt like both knees or legs were shattered. I started moving them around and still numb I could feel that they weren't broken but not in good shape. All I saw was two large tears on each knee through my PI Amfib tights and my knickers. Blood was close by underneath... I seemed to be doing ok so I turned to my buddy to see if he was ok. He was in a lot of pain and complaining that his ankle was hurt. I kept asking him over and over and we both agreed we were kinda ok just banged up.
Since the intersection was pretty busy there were PLENTY of witnesses. One lady ran over in tears since she - in her own words - "thought we were dead." They were amazing giving us support and warm blankets and jackets as we were freezing sitting on the nearby guardrail waiting for police and ambulances to come. The help was a little sluggish and unorganized but we got our ride to the hospital and the care we needed.
The results were overall very good. Andy was released with only cuts and bruises after examination and x-rays. I was also released with only cuts and bruises but a few more than Andy. My left knee is completely swollen with a large abrasion and a few below on my shin. My right knee has a few abrasions on it as well as my right shin is beat up and my right ankle is a little sore. Not too bad for two schmoes hitting a car at 25 and both flying over the hood. I REALLY want to see video of that...not that it exists.
The aftermath...
We went to the local PD that covered our accident and had to go pickup our bikes and answer a few more questions for the officer in charge. He wanted to know what the aftermath of the injuries were and we informed him that we were very lucky - he agreed. He gave us the update on the driver as well. The guy was an 84 year old man that said he saw us and then proceeded to pull out anyway. He said that he thought he had the right of way and couldn't believe that we hit him...WTF??? Are you kidding me? The driver was issued a summons for careless driving and will have to retake his driving test to get his license back. The officer also took notice of the driver's car and he said the front end looked like it got hit by a car. There was so much damage he couldn't believe that it was hit by 2 bikes.
The casualties of the day were my Lemond Versailles and Andy's Cervelo Soloist. Mine definitely took the brunt of the force. My front fork was sheared off, my front wheel taco'd, and my back wheel demolished as a few spokes were torn from the spoke bed. The spine of my frame is carbon fiber so I won't trust that as it was probably compromised in the accident as well. My pants and knickers are also gone as the knees were totally ripped open and the medics sliced them any way to treat my wounds. Andy's front fork was ripped from the steerer tube and his front wheel was demolished as well. He also had a carbon seatpost that was torn off the bike with his seat getting mangled as well. This is only upon initial inspection as I'm sure we'll find more as we're starring at the carnage.
All in all what a day. Day 6 of my 2009 training. Both ok, safe, battered, and bruised. I'm hoping I'm getting the bad luck over with early...
As we were coming down a slight decline, Andy and I were single file and cruising along at about 20-25mph when we approached the intersection of a local shopping center. It's usually busy so I'm always cautious around this area. So we are just cruising along and I see a car up ahead looking to pull out. I notice him and come closer looking for eye contact to make sure he sees us. No problem. I make eye contact and am positive he is staying where he is. I keep on coming and as I'm about 10 feet from his nose he pulls out into the intersection. This is where my day gets bad...
I proceed to grab my brakes which was only about 1 second before the impending impact. So I instead focus my effort on getting my body higher to make the impact easier. I guess it worked. I remember unclipping - flipping over with my head on the hood - closing my eyes preparing for impact - and then the impact occurred when I landed on the pavement on the other side of the car. As soon as I landed I look back to see my roommate screaming ....SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!! as he also hits the car(he was 10 feet behind me and couldn't avoid it either). I remember seeing him hit - his body tumbling forward over the hood - ATTACHED TO HIS BIKE. He didn't unclip but he then did in mid air as he was flying over the hood and launched his bike another 20 feet further than his body as his Cervelo whizzed through the air over my crumpled body lying on the ground. So there we were lying on the ground writhing in pain with carnage every where.
The first thing I assessed was my knees. They were both numb and they felt like both knees or legs were shattered. I started moving them around and still numb I could feel that they weren't broken but not in good shape. All I saw was two large tears on each knee through my PI Amfib tights and my knickers. Blood was close by underneath... I seemed to be doing ok so I turned to my buddy to see if he was ok. He was in a lot of pain and complaining that his ankle was hurt. I kept asking him over and over and we both agreed we were kinda ok just banged up.
Since the intersection was pretty busy there were PLENTY of witnesses. One lady ran over in tears since she - in her own words - "thought we were dead." They were amazing giving us support and warm blankets and jackets as we were freezing sitting on the nearby guardrail waiting for police and ambulances to come. The help was a little sluggish and unorganized but we got our ride to the hospital and the care we needed.
The results were overall very good. Andy was released with only cuts and bruises after examination and x-rays. I was also released with only cuts and bruises but a few more than Andy. My left knee is completely swollen with a large abrasion and a few below on my shin. My right knee has a few abrasions on it as well as my right shin is beat up and my right ankle is a little sore. Not too bad for two schmoes hitting a car at 25 and both flying over the hood. I REALLY want to see video of that...not that it exists.The aftermath...
We went to the local PD that covered our accident and had to go pickup our bikes and answer a few more questions for the officer in charge. He wanted to know what the aftermath of the injuries were and we informed him that we were very lucky - he agreed. He gave us the update on the driver as well. The guy was an 84 year old man that said he saw us and then proceeded to pull out anyway. He said that he thought he had the right of way and couldn't believe that we hit him...WTF??? Are you kidding me? The driver was issued a summons for careless driving and will have to retake his driving test to get his license back. The officer also took notice of the driver's car and he said the front end looked like it got hit by a car. There was so much damage he couldn't believe that it was hit by 2 bikes.
The casualties of the day were my Lemond Versailles and Andy's Cervelo Soloist. Mine definitely took the brunt of the force. My front fork was sheared off, my front wheel taco'd, and my back wheel demolished as a few spokes were torn from the spoke bed. The spine of my frame is carbon fiber so I won't trust that as it was probably compromised in the accident as well. My pants and knickers are also gone as the knees were totally ripped open and the medics sliced them any way to treat my wounds. Andy's front fork was ripped from the steerer tube and his front wheel was demolished as well. He also had a carbon seatpost that was torn off the bike with his seat getting mangled as well. This is only upon initial inspection as I'm sure we'll find more as we're starring at the carnage.
All in all what a day. Day 6 of my 2009 training. Both ok, safe, battered, and bruised. I'm hoping I'm getting the bad luck over with early...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Another Bright Idea...
Well I got the inspiration a few weeks ago to try and spice up the holidays...errr my fixie. I've wanted to put some lights on my bike and I wasn't sure how to do it. Not for me to see, for others to see. I wanted to put christmas lights on the bike and draw a little attention. Boy does it work!!!
I ordered 4 strands of battery operated lights. One strand of white for each wheel and two strands of blue lights for the frame. They look awesome. I mounted the battery pack for the wheels next to the hub and strung the lights next to the spoke nipples oriented up so they wouldn't interfere with the brakes or frame.
I took it for a test ride around my neighborhood just to see what kind of reaction they would get. I had tons of smiles, thumbs ups, and cars slowing to see the spectacle that is me. It was great - well except for the person that decided to drive by and whip a bottle of water(?) or something at me (hitting me in the arse) and then proceeding to speed off. They are lucky I was on the fixie or they may have a broken window... Outside of that it was great to see the reaction of people and it was well worth the time and effort to string em up. Towards the end of the ride I went past some stores and I see the people in the pizzeria all starring and pointing...it was priceless...
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