So I finally had my first real wreck on the tribike. It was not fun.
I’ll stage up the scene:
Jen and I had planned to do a 50 mile loop around the Bogue Inlet sound area down at the beach house in Emerald Isle. Having some nice flats to ride i decided to use the race wheels to cut the breeze. I had also planned to simulate my HIM nutrition plan with some changes, as i needed to correct that a lot from the WLHalf. (1 bottle of Perp, 1 bottle of GU Brew, aerobottle of h2o and some assorted solids- cliff bar’s bites and Rocks.)
We started late morning on the jaunt, the sun was out but was breezy and not hot. We pulled out of the drive and onto the secondary roads on our way to 58. bike felt good, the legs felt good, i had energy and was psyched to get out there and pedal. I let Jennifer take point, in case I pulled away from her in my excitement, I wanted to go a pace we both had to push but enjoy. Surprisingly, she set pace a 23-24mph! I was uber proud that shes comfy doing that now!
So we’re effortlessly just going at it and hitting pace fairly easy. Traffic was present but nothing too crazy. I was wheel sucking the life outta her and just falling in pretty tight, keeping a good 4 inches between out (2) tires. We were overtaking other cyclists and looking damn good. That all changed real quick.
About 3miles out is when the incident occurred…I don’t really remember much on how it began, but know every minute during it (Which all lasted about a good 6 seconds). I heard Jennifer freak out with a scream. A car edging out of a gas station had come out of no where and blatantly sat about a half a car into the road to get into the oncoming lane. Well, this car would have been fine if they hadn’t just come out of no where and sit there when we were about 15 feet away with no room to react at 24mph!
So J’s on the the brakes immediately and swerving out to avoid the front quarterpanel. At the point she screamed and hit the brakes, I tried to focus around her and had no time to react. I was on the both brakes (rear locked up) and feathered the best I could with my front brake. I closed in quickly on Jen and actually hit her as my rear wheel began to lift…I outstreched my left arm to try and guide myself around her.I was done, I was lifting off the ground and about to smash her and myself against the car. So i just thought to myself what would immediately stop my bike and cut my front handlebars in a 90 degree manner. instead of projecting into her i went straight to the ground i had my right arm initially outstretched to block the fall but thought immediately that I’d snap my arm, so i just tucked. My shoulder landed first followed the front of my head- i whacked the ground HARD. So hard that my interchangeable lens popped out of my sunglasses and I snapped my chain around my neck.
All i remember at that moment was the ground coming quick and i saw a flash of yellow as my bike followed me. Somehow i disengaged from the pedals. I musta done some tumbling, as Jennifer said she actually saw me in my graceful departure coming to a rest on my back- as the car drove off looking back at me. My bike ended up past me a good 10 feet. I kept my eyes closed and spit the remaining dirt out of my mouth. I heard Jennifer yelling at the driver and other voices all around. Traffic stopped and drivers hopped out, other cyclist came over stat…and luckily there was a emergency crew complete with firetruck about 6 cars back that came on the scene.
I took a deep breath and raised an arm to signal I was alive. I was a mess. My hands were grated from the road, my knees, shoulder and thigh had rash. I managed to my feet, had EIFD clean out my shoulder wound and they asked if I wanted to file a police report…I had no clue who or what that driver drove or looked like…so I said no. I picked up my water bottles that ejected in the flip. one had completely poppe dthe top and drained itself, the other was in some bush off the the side. I picked up my bike and looked at it. it didnt look that bad, amist the sand and dirt all over it. The derailleurs took a whack and the front was wrapped around my the tube. I hand straightened it to function…the rear derailleur was clogged with sand and some grass. The brake surface on my HED was cross ground from me instantly stopping the bike with my handlebar charade.
Some blood, bruises and scrapes later, the bike and I were OK. Jen, I think, was more a wreck than I was…emotionally. I dusted off as best I could..hobbled over to a picnic table and called in the SAG vehicle (sister-inlaw with bikeracks). I was kinda bummed the ride was over and knew I could continue, but didnt trust the bike, NOR my helmet- which had a nice compression in the forehead lobe area..(guess i’ll be buyin a new one now), and then there was Jen who was still trembling and not about to get on the bike any time soon. So we called it a day, went back home and drank the wounds away on the beach.
Holy crap; I’m glad you’re all right.
Honestly, it’s probably better that you didn’t continue your ride. It is entirely possible (actually likely) that the only reason you “knew [you] could continue” was an acute stress reaction. (http://goo.gl/lm9u)
You should keep a pain journal for the next week or two. When you get up in the morning, before and after you exercise, and before you go to bed, jot down the time of day and any unusual pains you are feeling. From events like this, it can be several days before the actual injury triggers a pain response. If you think this is overkill, think of it as a “just in case” policy. Hopefully, nothing will come of it, and it will be a nuisance. On the other hand, if you *do* experience something, this will allow you to identify it early-on and give a complete medical history to a physician who will be able to get you back in shape much faster.
My sister and I went trail running in Utah about 12 years ago. We were coming down the trail when she took a crazy spill. She literally flipped all the way over and landed on her back. I went over to her, and she sat up, got up, brushed herself off, and did a quick check for problems. She insisted she was fine. We ran the rest of the 8 miles down the mountain. Next day, she was fine. Her back had a bruise, and she was a bit sore, but that was it. The day after that (two days after she took the spill) she couldn’t move her back. It took over a month of conditioning before she could run again.
So yeah, take care of yourself.
Regarding the attempted vehicular manslaughterer, fuck him and his lack of responsibility. With any luck, he did this because he was stoned out of his mind, and he will be T-boned when he runs a red light. 7 months in a body cast ought to do it.
Perfect response as usual, Nik. I’m mending quickly…it’s down to a mild pain in certain positions now.
Hope you’re doing well, buddy!
Ouch. That’s intense. Glad to hear you’re ok. Keep the faith, and get back out on that bike!