I'm calling in sick. Well, not calling and not sick, but that's the idea.
For the first time in four years, I took a fall on my morning bike ride today. My ride is on side streets and it's genuinely very light traffic on weekdays, but a bit busier on Saturdays. A little under three miles away is an intersection that tends to be among the busier, at which I just cross straight without turning. As usual, if there are no cars on my side of the intersection, I take the lane and stand over the bike, waiting for traffic to clear. Two cars coming on the left, three on the right says no big deal. I'd be crossing the street in seconds.
Being a small city, this is a polite area, and it's not uncommon to get into one of those "after you," "no, after you, I insist" exchanges like the old Goofy Gophers Looney Tunes. So a nice woman stopped (there is no stop sign in her crossing direction, just mine) and waved me across. Rather than waste time saying, "no, after you, I insist," and holding up the cars behind her, I gave a wave of thanks and started across. I remember a few images out of the next couple of seconds, of something going wrong and hitting the ground. Almost before I could mentally process what was happening, guys were getting out of their cars to check on me. Then a city police car, then a fire truck. The fire truck had a paramedic and someone had called an ambulance. Once they took my vitals and we had a talk the fire truck called the ambulance dispatchers to cancel that.
It seemed like a good idea to cancel the rest of my 14 mile ride and head back home. When I got here, I found a bunch of scrapes and small nicks. My right eyebrow was bleeding slightly and bruising just below the eyebrow. In the last several hours, the excess blood from my eyebrow migrated downhill on the right side of the eye, so I look like I've been punched. It wasn't until I was home a couple of hours that I noticed I have sore ribs on the right side of my chest, too. Those have gotten a bit more sore as the hours have gone by. Pretty common, after all. Second or third day tends to be the most sore.
Back tomorrow. Most likely.
Oh No SiG? Did you take a fall or get hit? Either way, here is hoping you heal soon.
ReplyDeleteJust fell. I think it comes down to not clipping into the pedal with my left foot and it went skating off the pedal. Rushing too much to get out of the way. Look pedals with the wide, roughly triangular cleats.
DeleteThat is good news. My fear for bike riders is the encountering a vehicle; it never goes well for the bicyclist.
DeleteHope you bounce back quickly. I have to say though that getting older slows down the healing process. I am pushing 70 and had to put down my mountain bike in loose gravel this past summer and it took quite a while to heal. Makes one much more aware. I don't go 35 mph down a hill anymore. EdC
ReplyDeleteYeah, EdC. I'm a year younger (pushing 69), and while I do a few hour long rides a week, I still try to work on balance, do squats and the essentials like that.
DeleteI am reminded of a friend of mine, years ago.
ReplyDeleteShe enjoyed riding on the back of my motorcycle so much that she got one of her own and then took flying lessons and had just gotten her solo license.
She was riding her bicycle in Ann Arbor n front of the hospital and woke up inside.
She had passed out and headed into a crowd of doctors who caught her.
Saw her face as she zoned out as they caught her.
No more flying for her. But it has never happened since.
used to light a couple of candles to Murphy before I went out riding on the roads, then the wife put the kibosh on the whole idea; told me I was too old to get high value life insurance. could have my heart attack on the exercise bike in the gym instead.
ReplyDeletekilljoy!
OUCH! Take it easy for a few days. We'll still be here...
ReplyDeleteI gave up on toe clips years ago, after needing a couple hasty dismounts, and ending up with (in different encounters) a total of 8 broken ribs and 2 broken collarbones. Bastards in cages ran me off the road more times than I can count. 'Oh, this should be a good route! Surface streets, good neighborhood!' (Average home price ~$3 million). 4 way stops! Yeah, no. Stop signs are suggestions. I can't build up a cadence because I must prepare to panic stop at every intersection. lest I be broadsided by a Range Rover.
ReplyDeleteI don't ride for fitness or sport. I ride to get someplace. Like, I dunno, WORK!? Grocery store? Visit my dear MOTHER?!.
Houston is proud of its bayou-side paths, which will kill a cyclist, and don't go anywhere anyway. Cluttered with dog walkers with 40 foot leashes, joggers and walkers with the Bluetooth earplugs, folks dedicated to their cell phones, none of them able to hear my robust, professionally trained voice calling 'On Your Left'. Being daily drivers, the instinct on hearing a strange sound is to stop, and to look through the driver's window, pivoting to the left, and blocking my path.
And all the guys on the Group W Bench were there with me saying 'Kill Kill Kill'.
Been seeing trauma patients for 45 years. You are of the age where if you hit your head you ARE AT RISK for intracranial bleeding. Which is often asympotmatic...till you die. I strongly recommend a precautionary Head CT. The odds of you having a bleed are at most 5%. The odds of you dying from one are in the 50% range if you do.
ReplyDeleteDamned Glad you are "OK" (I know, it sounds stupid) Do take it easy and take more time if needed.
ReplyDeletePhotos or it never happened!
ReplyDeleteSome very nice trikes available now. Many are electric. "Cargo bikes" have become very popular. Taller trikes can be tippy in a turn though three wheels will still be more stable than two. Very glad you are OK.
ReplyDeleteVery glad to hear that you're okay. For what it's worth, I never let somebody violate their own right of way and "nicely" wave me through. I've seen too many accidents caused by people doing just that, as the other traffic rear-ends them or veers and T-bones ME. I stand my ground and force them to go.
ReplyDeleteAnd if it's not clear enough, I will get off the bike and stand next to it.
At the risk of realizing the irony, there are too many old drivers in Florida. Worst is when crossing a four-lane road, where the person in the near lane stops for you, but the traffic in the far lane does not.
Any landing you can walk away from...
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a speedy recovery.
SiG, Empathy all around. Been riding since I can remember. Just like you pushing 69 awfully hard. Love biking. Did a little ride called 6Gap just before Covid. A number of similar events. I have a serious disdain for people that won't just go by traffic ruleswether while driving riding; always seems to lead to trouble. Get well soon.
ReplyDeleteSpeedy recovery, SiG.
ReplyDeleteLeigh
Whitehall, NY
Get well soon. At 78 am giving up on 2 wheels.
ReplyDeleteI gave up clips also. Too many stops and starts to make them worth it.
ReplyDeleteI also changed to what my daughter calls my "old man bike", a Zizzo Forte. Its a folder, so the low top bar looks sorta normal. It makes things a lot easier getting on and off, and stopping at intersections are much simpler.
Since I ride to get places, not for fun or to work out, it has worked out well.
Still doing 20-30 miles a week in good weather, but a man's gotta know his limits!
Best wishes for a speedy , uneventful, and complete recovery. Be careful out there.
ReplyDeleteI'll "break it to you gently", SiG.......... ...... .... ... . you're old.
ReplyDeleteWe don't bounce back so well or rapidly any more, and don't ignore cuts and bruises any more. I'm laid up now due to a leg infection that I ignored when I skinned my big and second toe and didn't take care of it! Now I'm not able to fix my wife's Jeep engine for a freakin' WEEK!
Had to sell the MC because of balance and reflex problems two years ago, didn't need it for commuting any more (retired). 70 is a few months away, dangit!
Take it a tad slower. Get lotsa rest, keep the fluids up, and find a good vitamin source while we all Wait For The Balloon To Go Up!
73 to ya!
With you there- Cellulitis in my leg for the last 4 weeks...
Delete57 and counting...JSW III
I use standard rat trap pedals on my bike - no toe clips or the new clip on shoes. My mantra for city riding is that I want to be able to get my feet off the pedals and onto the ground with nothing in the way.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for still riding. I haven't been on my bike for over a year - joint pain, ya know. Never tried clippy pedals. I switched to the Race Face Chesters a while back, and they're very good. But I stayed off the streets as much as possible. Good bike paths around my QTH, but also getting overpopulated with other traffic, and homeless. Keep right, pass left? Whuzzat?
ReplyDeleteSpeedy recovery, SiG, and keep going!