My stupidest accident

[newfsmith]

Friday night I was riding home about 8:30 pm. Because we have had a record breaking warm winter so far here, I was still on my road bike. As I headed down a dark residential street I heard a car behind me so I moved right to about 3 feet from the curb, checked my rear view mirror to spot the car. When I looked forward again I saw a car parked on the street about 15 feet in front of me. I couldn't swerve either side, overtaking car on one side, 8 inch granite curb on the other. The best I could do was slow as much as possible. I'm guessing here completely, but given that I had been doing about 16 before all this, I probably managed to get down to 10 or 12 mph by the time I hit the car. Of course I went over the handlebars, face planting on the trunk. I knew I had broken at least one tooth, as I spit the chunk out. The car that was behind me pulled over. The 2 women came up, offered me baby wipes to clean up. Fortunately, I hadn't damaged the car, just bloodied it, so I wiped it off & forgot about it. My lips were pretty chewed up, 2 teeth broken, a lacerated chin, and the way my nose was swelling I suspected I had broken it. Called my husband to get the ice pack ready. Checked my bike over, thanked the women for stopping, and rode the rest of the way home. ER was busy, so it took 3 hours, but after x-rays to confirm the broken nose and a couple sutures we headed home. Fortunately, my dentist works Saturdays and could squeeze me in, so I have caps on my incisors already and will go to the ENT when the swelling comes down.

Today I gave Honeybee a bath to get the blood off her, went down to Providence Bike to get a new helmet (another Metro) and new helmet light for a further reach of light.

Looking back on it, I let my self get too distracted with the car I heard approaching behind me and wasn't checking the way in front of me often enough for the limited visibility of night riding. I was lucky to get off as light as I did.

[DeniseGoldberg]

Jean -
Ouch! I'm sending lots of healing thoughts your way.

--- Denise

[mimitabby]

well, your sense of humor and dignity survived your accident.
Thanks for reminding us all to keep a look out front and back!

[SadieKate]

Yee-ow! You have more exciting weekends than I would like. Heal fast.

[DebW]

Jean, so sorry to hear about your accident. Ouch! Heal quickly. And thanks for the safety reminder .

[bcipam]

Hope you heal all up soon.

We all have stories of stupid accidents, so don't feel bad. The day before Thanksgiving a friend and I were riding the local bike trail and watched this woman ride right off the trail into the creek, hitting her face on the big rocks. She was badly injured and we had to call the paramedics and ambulance. When asked why she rode off the trail she had to admit that she was about to lose her cup of Starbuck's coffee out of the water bottle cage and she had reached down to catch it before it fell and lost control of the bike. Moral of that story - yeah Starbucks is expensive but way cheaper than than the ER!!!!

[runningteach]

Ouch! I hope you heal quickly. Good that you got a better light.

[queeninjun]

I lost a battle with a guardrail and broke my collarbone. Actually, I shattered it and it needed to be surgically repaired.

It's always better to take the entire lane when you are in a situation like that--much safer. Wishing you a speedy recovery and just letting you know that you are entitled to the entire lane, which should help you avoid a compromising situation like that in the future.