Hello everyone,
I joined here some time ago but haven't introduced myself. I'm 56 (!) years old and I've been road riding on and off since forever. My current bike is a Giant OCRc2 and goes like the wind. I retired the old Cannondale about a year ago. It felt like it weighed more than I do, but the old girl served me well for years. I'll probably sell it.
I've been grounded for a month now because of a nasty accident. Anyone who lives around Los Angeles knows the beach bike path that goes from south of Malibu down to Redondo Beach. It is 25 miles. About midway is a cutoff that runs along Ballona Creek into Culver City and beyond. I access the Ballona path in Culver City, about five miles from the beach. It goes under several underpasses. Well, I got on the path around 7:30am and was zipping along (no tourists during the week, I won't ride it on weekends.) My hubby accuses me of riding like a teenager, my reply to which is "so this is a bad thing?" I was on the downhill side of the Sawtelle underpass and passed a young fool who was plugged into his ipod and riding without a helmet. I was going around 20mph (like a teenager?) and as I cut back onto my side of the road I hit something, went over the handlebars and was out cold. Thank gawd for helmets! Without it I'd be dead. I am an obsessive road watcher and I actively search for potholes and road junk but I didn't see this one at all. The good fellow whom I passed called the paramedics and they hauled me off to the emergency room. The medics were astounded that I didn't break any bones. Maybe the 25 years worth of calcium supplements paid off. Anyway, I ended up with a nasty concussion and bashed the entire left side of my body. My face looked like hamburger. I'm recovering, although the accident awakened some old back injuries and created what will probably become a chronic shoulder problem (am getting cortisone injections, yuck, doing physical therapy, etc). My real problem however is my poor brain. I would really appreciate some input from anyone who unfortunately has any experience with brain bang-ups. The scan didn't indicate any serious damage to the brain, but the poor dear seems to have checked out for a very long vacation. The short term memory is gone, did I already tell you that? ;-} I can't get back up on the bike until the dizziness and headaches stop and some of the body pain subsides. The good doctors are infuriatingly reluctant to give me any sort of time horizon on this brain garbage, so here I sit getting more and more antsy and feeling my muscle strength whither.
Input welcome, good ladies. Ya gotta have a sense of humor, ya know.
Gwen
