My Bike Accident

Kodama · Post by **Kodama** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:56 pm

I could've done without the bike accident I had last night. Really, I don't mind a nice boring (safe) ride home.

It was on the way home, about 3 blocks from my house, the bike's front wheel fell into a deep groove in the sidewalk (going downhill fast). My bike spun out into the street, I fell backward's, hitting my helmet and sliding along on my back.

I suffered a severely cracked helmet, tore through my jacket's back, scrapped up both hands, have deep bruise-type pain in my upper back and right hip. I was dazed as i lay there on the sidewalk. As soon as I gathered a few of my wits, I pulled my bike out of the street. I stood up and checked out the damage to my bike. All I could see was a severely bent front wheel. Then I called my wife. Among other questions, she asked where I was. I couldn't answer! I could not for the life of me remember the street names that I have lived by for 20 years. I knew the WAY home and that I was close, but not the street names.

I started walking my bike home and my wife ran down to help. I still felt rather dazed, but getting better. Later on, my wife mentioned that I told her on the phone about a driver who pulled over near where I was lying and asked if I needed help. Weird thing is, I had no recollection of this event! Scary! About an hour later, it came back to me, hazily.

According to what we looked up on the internet, I did not have enough symptoms to warrant an emergency room visit. Short term memory loss is rather common.

Looking at the EIGHT big cracks through my helmet, it's frightening to think about what would've happened had I not worn it. When I was growing up, no one had helmets. No big deal... right? Well, I'm a believer now!

The offending sidewalk hazard is one I've successfully avoided 50 times or more now. It just took over-confidence and a momentary loss of concentration... From now on, I will slow down a lot to maneuver around this hazard. I'm also glad I had front and rear superbright lights flashing on my bike. I'm sure it helped the driver notice me go down. And had I been really unlucky and fell INTO the street, the lights would've surely helped to avert a deadly collision.

I got a new helmet today, and the bike shop fixed up my bike, so I'm ready to go again tomorrow. Gotta get right back on that horse, ya know...

I'm thinking I might add a helmet mounted light as well. I hear the nice thing about helmet lights is that the light is directed right where I'm looking. I'm going to do some research on that. I don't mind being lit up like it's christmas. Modern LED lights are bright and energy efficient. I'd rather look like a rolling holiday show than become road kill.

To my fellow bikers: be prepared, wear the helmet, use lights at night, learn your routes and it's hazards in the daytime, and slow down for known hazards, especially at night!

Arrive alive!

NoelFigart · Post by **NoelFigart** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:04 pm

I am so glad that you weren't hurt worse than a few bruises and being shaken up.

Helmets good.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:33 pm

Sounds very scary and painful. But it also sounds as if there's no long-term damage, and you're assimilating the experience well and learning whatever you can from it.

Best wishes for a quick recovery.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:58 pm

Wow!!! So sorry for your accident!!! Very glad you survived it!!!
I hope you heal up very quickly and completely!!!

Debs

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:17 am

Oh, that sounds like you had a concussion, a shock to the brain caused by an impact - - this could have been really severe if you hadn't had a helmet on at the time !!

As a regular cyclist myself I have had a few close calls over the past few months but nothing this extreme, just minor incidents, no injuries. I am usually rather careful in the bike path especially since I am cycling faster than most people there.

Hopefully you recover from your accident without any problems, but you should be really careful from now on to avoid other incidents like that. Especially since it's not good to have many concussions in a row, it can lead to a whole lot of more annoying and dangerous problems.

Marc ;-(

frugaltexan · Post by **frugaltexan** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:54 am

I've heard several stories recently of people who were in a bike accident where they fell and hit their head so hard that their helmet cracked.

I never wore a helmet when I rode bikes when I was young, nor did I wear one even five years ago. But today, at the same time as I was buying a new bike (to replace the one which was rusted and rotted out from sitting exposed on a balcony for 3 1/2 years) the other item I made sure to purchase was a helmet.

I hope you heal up quickly!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:33 pm

Good to hear that you're doing okay!