Yes, you read that right, I was hit by a car while on my road bike yesterday! I am fine, but I've been feeling a little bit like this lately:
and yeah, that last bullet was the car hitting me yesterday.
In the last seven days I was nearly hit by a car while riding home from work...this is all of a three minute ride, Roxy somehow stepped on a boulder weighing about twenty pounds and rolled it onto three of my open sandal'ed toes, I've fallen completely over twice on a single trail run, smoked a tree with my left wrist/hand on a separate trail run (it still hurts), and just yesterday I literally got hit by a car...while doing 35km/hr on my road bike!!
HOLY CRAP, I'm about to encase myself in bubble wrap, lock myself into my apt, and await my Dad's arrival next Monday night...maybe I should arrange something other than driving to California as well!
I was on my way home from the beaches of Vancouver yesterday afternoon, as we have seen one of our nicest springs on record and it has not rained a single drop in almost a full month! As I was cruising along at about 35km/hr I had just enough time to process this thought:
"F#$K ME, I can't believe I'm about to hit a car right now! Dammit, I've worked too hard for this shit to happen now!!"
A fraction of a second later and traffic had stopped in all directions, there was an 8-9 inch gash taken out of the hood of the vehicle I collided with, a piece of my handlebars was on the ground, and I was in total shock. I honestly can not fully remember if I even fell off of my bike? I think I simply came out of the pedals but effectively stayed upright. Somehow in the split second that I had to react I managed to slide my bike completely sideways, I remember hearing my tires skidding, and in the process I prevented a definitive cartwheel over the front of the car and effectively rammed into the side of the front 1/3 of the vehicle. It all happened so quickly that it was hard to even process what had just occurred.
The husband was in the passenger seat and he quickly jumped out to ensure that I was alright. Neither of us said a word for about ten to fifteen seconds, which is rather shocking to me cause I thought for sure I'd have lost my mind on this person...he just seemed too honest and concerned to start yelling at, and truth be told, even though they were cutting across traffic and did not see me, I probably could have prevented the incident had I been riding a bit more defensively. There was no doubt who was at fault, but I felt as much remorse for what I had done to their car as I did anger for being hit! Eventually we spoke and after confirming that my bike and I were both pretty much unscathed the gentleman climbed back into his car and I continued cycling the opposite way. It was about five minutes later when the adrenaline dissipated and I pulled off onto a sidewalk and called a friend,
"I WAS JUST HIT BY A FREAKNG CAR!!"
Yeah, it can all change that quickly. In fact not a month has passed by this year that I have not heard a story of a friend of a friend getting hit while on their roadie. Some, like me, have been fortunate enough to laugh it off, some however, are lucky to be alive right now and will have metal objects in their bodies for the rest of their lives.
It was a lesson learned. I am a much different rider than I was just 36hr ago.
Eleven days...I just need to survive another eleven days!!
GR
and yeah, that last bullet was the car hitting me yesterday.
In the last seven days I was nearly hit by a car while riding home from work...this is all of a three minute ride, Roxy somehow stepped on a boulder weighing about twenty pounds and rolled it onto three of my open sandal'ed toes, I've fallen completely over twice on a single trail run, smoked a tree with my left wrist/hand on a separate trail run (it still hurts), and just yesterday I literally got hit by a car...while doing 35km/hr on my road bike!!
HOLY CRAP, I'm about to encase myself in bubble wrap, lock myself into my apt, and await my Dad's arrival next Monday night...maybe I should arrange something other than driving to California as well!
I was on my way home from the beaches of Vancouver yesterday afternoon, as we have seen one of our nicest springs on record and it has not rained a single drop in almost a full month! As I was cruising along at about 35km/hr I had just enough time to process this thought:
"F#$K ME, I can't believe I'm about to hit a car right now! Dammit, I've worked too hard for this shit to happen now!!"
A fraction of a second later and traffic had stopped in all directions, there was an 8-9 inch gash taken out of the hood of the vehicle I collided with, a piece of my handlebars was on the ground, and I was in total shock. I honestly can not fully remember if I even fell off of my bike? I think I simply came out of the pedals but effectively stayed upright. Somehow in the split second that I had to react I managed to slide my bike completely sideways, I remember hearing my tires skidding, and in the process I prevented a definitive cartwheel over the front of the car and effectively rammed into the side of the front 1/3 of the vehicle. It all happened so quickly that it was hard to even process what had just occurred.
The husband was in the passenger seat and he quickly jumped out to ensure that I was alright. Neither of us said a word for about ten to fifteen seconds, which is rather shocking to me cause I thought for sure I'd have lost my mind on this person...he just seemed too honest and concerned to start yelling at, and truth be told, even though they were cutting across traffic and did not see me, I probably could have prevented the incident had I been riding a bit more defensively. There was no doubt who was at fault, but I felt as much remorse for what I had done to their car as I did anger for being hit! Eventually we spoke and after confirming that my bike and I were both pretty much unscathed the gentleman climbed back into his car and I continued cycling the opposite way. It was about five minutes later when the adrenaline dissipated and I pulled off onto a sidewalk and called a friend,
"I WAS JUST HIT BY A FREAKNG CAR!!"
Yeah, it can all change that quickly. In fact not a month has passed by this year that I have not heard a story of a friend of a friend getting hit while on their roadie. Some, like me, have been fortunate enough to laugh it off, some however, are lucky to be alive right now and will have metal objects in their bodies for the rest of their lives.
It was a lesson learned. I am a much different rider than I was just 36hr ago.
Eleven days...I just need to survive another eleven days!!
GR