There I was on a beautiful Sunday afternoon bike ride. I was traveling about 30mph going slightly downhill when this Mexican dude in his car pulls out of the driveway of an apartment complex without stopping to look for traffic to make a right turn in the direction of traffic that I was heading. He pulls out and slams right into the side of my bike. I go flying though the air and performed a 30mph asphalt face plant and three or four “Carly Patterson’s” along the road.
It gets better. The guy completes his turn and accelerates down the road where I am now still rolling to a stop and hits me again. My shoulder gets caught on his front bumper and he pushes me down the road. With my head now under the bumper, I can hear the engine RPM’s increasing as the guy is still accelerating. Finally, I somehow get thrown clear of the car and he steers hard right to avoid me and destroys a double layer brick wall about 15 feet from the side of the wall. As I was lying there, I looked up and saw him take out the wall and it looked to me like he never hit the brakes and actually accelerated into the wall.
I could have sworn my arm was broken because I could not tell were it was until I felt it with my other hand. I thought my contact had popped out of my eye because I could feel something flapping on my face. It turned to be a piece of skin just barely attached as I grabbed at it on my face. The ambulance arrived and the paramedics quickly put a neck brace on me to prevent any spinal injuries. A trip to the ER, a bunch of X-rays and about 30 stitches in my face later, they let me go home with some serious pain meds.
It has now been about 2 weeks since the accident and the wounds are healing quite well. I still have significant nerve damage in my left arm as it feels like I hit my funny bone in my elbow with a constant tingling feeling, but the orthopedic specialist thinks that I will have a full recovery. It will take some time before I am back to 100% but it is getting better. It is a good thing I was wearing my Giro helmet because I didn’t sustain any head traumas, but the helmet was cracked up a good amount. It was a miracle that I didn’t break any bones.
Here are some pictures of the aftermath:
My face after the 30 stiches.
My bike with the left side chain and seat stays torn off.
The brick wall the guy hit after he hit me twice.
It gets better. The guy completes his turn and accelerates down the road where I am now still rolling to a stop and hits me again. My shoulder gets caught on his front bumper and he pushes me down the road. With my head now under the bumper, I can hear the engine RPM’s increasing as the guy is still accelerating. Finally, I somehow get thrown clear of the car and he steers hard right to avoid me and destroys a double layer brick wall about 15 feet from the side of the wall. As I was lying there, I looked up and saw him take out the wall and it looked to me like he never hit the brakes and actually accelerated into the wall.
I could have sworn my arm was broken because I could not tell were it was until I felt it with my other hand. I thought my contact had popped out of my eye because I could feel something flapping on my face. It turned to be a piece of skin just barely attached as I grabbed at it on my face. The ambulance arrived and the paramedics quickly put a neck brace on me to prevent any spinal injuries. A trip to the ER, a bunch of X-rays and about 30 stitches in my face later, they let me go home with some serious pain meds.
It has now been about 2 weeks since the accident and the wounds are healing quite well. I still have significant nerve damage in my left arm as it feels like I hit my funny bone in my elbow with a constant tingling feeling, but the orthopedic specialist thinks that I will have a full recovery. It will take some time before I am back to 100% but it is getting better. It is a good thing I was wearing my Giro helmet because I didn’t sustain any head traumas, but the helmet was cracked up a good amount. It was a miracle that I didn’t break any bones.
Here are some pictures of the aftermath:
My face after the 30 stiches.
My bike with the left side chain and seat stays torn off.
The brick wall the guy hit after he hit me twice.
