Someone From My Cycling Club Hit (but ok)

[Nanci]

(In his own words)

I took a HUGE lick on the shoulder from a compact car's side view mirror. Our group was on its way back to Archer from the Bronson Speedway, just past the Alachua County landfill. I was pulling when I hit a bump which knocked my seat up into an unrideable postion. So I stopped and adjusted it. Fortunately , Katey (the med student on a Scatante with areobars) came back to check on me. I was done so we started back toward the group. I was behind - maybe 20 yards or so - and I was barely going 12 mph - when WHOMP! some driver played tag-you're-it with me with her mirror. I took a breath and ... I'm ALIVE! And it didn't even hurt too much either. I landed in a nice patch of sand. There was no damamge to my bike. There wasn't even a scratch on my jersey. So laid on my good side and did the patient thing. I rode the ambulance to NFR - I take all my injuries there! The X-rays indicate no broken bones but my left shoulder is VERY SORE. I reckon I'll be taking it easy for a few days.

I want to thank Katey for being there - she took care of my bike and she and Don (???) came to check on me at the ER. Fred and Roger called me at the ER too. Thanks!!

Well, it was a shocking episode. We all know that stretch of SR 26 is bad. There were trucks going both directions and apparently there was a truck tail-gating the little blue Madza that hit me. The driver was an older woman - a Walmart shopper type - not a soccer mom.... We all know this sort of thing happens. We've all felt cars swoosh past us.
Well, this is as close as it can get without being knocked in the air.
And this is a reminder of what happened to Gus Anttinoni and his son-in-law.
I think I'm never going to ride Archer Road ever again...

***************

The two riders he speaks of were killed very close to my house a couple years ago by a guy so high on whatever drugs he was using he didn't even know he hit them. They were in a bike lane. This is why, for so long, I only rode paved trails. But if you want to ride every day, that just isn't practical. Why can't people just be careful. Why don't they realize that it probably isn't in their best interest, either, to hit a cyclist.

Nanci

[Selkie]

Nanci - Wow. Sorry to hear about your pal.
I'm not brave enough to do any real riding on roads. Too many distracted drivers who go too fast while "multi-tasking."
By the way, what's a "wal-mart shopper?" I love it! Is that a Florida thing?

[Hell-uv-a-job]

WOW Nancy!! I am so glad he/she's ok!!!

That is the reason why I drive one hour to get to a bike trail, I just don't trust riding in the road. Since I wish to ride more often I just got a trainer.
I wish they had laws here like in The Netherlands where bike riders are at the top of the food chain when it comes to traffic. EVERYONE, including pedestrians must give the right of way to a bicycle.

[Nanci]

I'm not really sure what a "Walmart shopper" is...I'm not one! :-) I'd be a Target shopper. The Walmarts here just make my skin crawl.

Hell-uv, I was in your exact position last summer, but I needed to be on my bike more often than just the weekends, so I had to bite the bullet and get used to roads. Luckily, although my road doesn't have a bike lane, I start out against the homeward-bound flow of traffic in the evening, and get to a road with a bike lane as fast as possible, and then I can get to _really_ rural/low-traffic roads from there. I'm out in the country, so mostly the drivers are careful, and I know the couple roads where they are not. I've finally built up enough of a base that I can actually ride to the bike trail rather than driving, too! (It's about 20 or 30 miles).

I do a lot of exploring on routes that the bike club publishes, that I can get to from my house. The roads are usually pretty low traffic.

Nanci

[Lise]

Nanci, sorry to hear about your friend's accident, and glad to hear it wasn't worse. I ride mostly on busy city streets, and am always aware of that type of danger. So far I've been ok, but I won't ride with ice as an added degree of difficulty! Did the Walmart shopper lady notice that she'd hit him and stop?

Best wishes, Lise

[bikerchick68]

man, how scary... people really do try to intimidate us sometimes for kicks... sickos... and other times they're just oblivious. Either way, just one more reminder to be as careful as we can be... and hope it's enough! Glad he's gonna be OK...

[RoadRaven]

Hi Nanci... glad to hear he was ok... my partner had that happen last year - a wing mirror just brushed him... he didn't go off the road, but he was fuming when he got back - and he was riding with a pack on a training ride, so not like he was on his own and difficult to see or anything...

Perhaps bike-safety awareness should be part of getting a driving license, and people sitting there test should have to practice/show how they pass bikes... and maybe get stats or pix of the results of careless driving...

GRRRR...

[Nanci]

If you read that Safety Brochure for Law Enforcement that I posted, it states that the rider should be two feet from the edge of the roadway, and a passing vehicle needs to be three feet horizontally away from the bike, so for a car to pass a bike safely without crossing into the oncoming lane, the lane must be at least 14 feet wide. I _know_ people pass me all the time closer than three feet. And I definitely ride closer than two feet from the edge of the roadway, a lot of the time it's like 6", if I'm trying to stay out of the way...

Oh, and I found out it's ok to pass a bike in a no passing zone, if there is no oncoming traffic. In Florida. I didn't know that.

It should somehow be made public knowledge about how much room a bike needs- because I'm sure Walmart Shopper had no idea she needed to give the bike a three foot space, and if she _had_ thought about that, she wouldn't have dinged him with her mirror.

Nanci

[RoadRaven]

Yeah... I did read that - very interesting

Here in NZ cars are supposed to pass 1.5 metres out from the cyclist - thats 4-5 feet I think...

And guess how many actually do? Not THAT many :(

[susiej]

In Philadelphia, the bike lanes are only about 2 1/2 feet wide.

Or, as the drivers seem to think of them, the "double parking lane." Grrr.

S.

[Barb]

I live in an area that has no bike lanes. "Heck lady, this is the motor city, what do we need bike lanes for"?!!!! Needless to say, I am VERY cautious when i ride.

[Nanci]

The rider from my club who got "dinged" by a mirror and broke his collar bone in the resulting crash had a nagging hip pain. Well, it turns out he discovered yesterday he fractured his pelvis in the crash...I'm surprised the ER he went to didn't do a pelvis film- that's standard in any trauma situation. (C-spine, chest and pelvis are the three standard films, then see if any extremities hurt.) Weird. Amazing it could go that long undiscovered.

Nanci

[cusepack]

Drivers just amaze me. Everyone has to be somewhere, but fast. Here in Miami, I don't know how many near misses I've had. The thing of it is, even using hand signals does not deter the drivers from passing, honking, etc. I told a friend the other day I'd like to get a jersey that says "Share the Road," much like the license plates they offer here in Florida.

Hey Nanci, we should look into jerseys for Florida:)

[Nanci]

I think they have fluorescent lime vests that say that. (But I can't find it on line!) Hey, but I did see that Florida redesigned the Share The Road plate, and it's way cooler, though not as cool as the Texas plate...

Nanci

[yellow]

Here in Miami, I don't know how many near misses I've had.
Ah, memories. I've only been to Miami once, but the crazy drivers will live on in my memory. Getting around there was SCARY! :eek:

Nanci-I hope they can fix up your friend OK. Sometimes it doesn't go so smoothly when it's "discovered" (duh!) after the healing process is well underway.