Hit by a suburban!! (I'm OK)

[Running Mommy]

First of all I AM FINE, but it was a rather scary encounter. The worst thing was that it was my NEIGHBOR! And she is the nicest person you would ever meet, so I feel really bad.
It was a slow speed affair, but my bike did sustain a bit of damage.
Here is how it happened...
The weather was FABULOUS today, so I decided to take a ride this evening. I haven't been on my bike for a week, so I had an itch. I was about 2 miles into my ride when I approached a busy 4 way stop. As I was coming to the stop I heard a car so I turned and acknowledged that it was my neighbor. We waved to one another and she hit the stop a few seconds ahead of me. I unclipped and cruised up to the stop right anlongside her. She had given no indication that she was going to be making a right turn. I clipped my left foot back in ready to take off alongside her when it was our turn. All of the sudden she started to go making a right turn right into me. She nicked my front wheel and her mirror clipped my shoulder. I screamed and hit the side of her truck with my hand to get her attention. She immediately stopped and jumped out. Well in the midst of this I lost my balance and fell over on my right side. She thought she had really hit me and became hysterical. Her kids ( all SEVEN of them) started screaming MOMMY HIT MRS. AMOS!!! And then I heard her oldest son say "She's not dead. I see her moving" to which I had to laugh.
She was shaking and I felt really bad. She helped me up and we started inspecting the bike. A guy on a Kuota came up a couple of minutes later and helped me to inspect it as well. My right armrest on my aerobar snapped in half, and my bar tape is chewed up, but everything else seems to be in order. My wheel seems fine, tho we did have to straighten out my front brake. I ended up riding for an hour and she seems none the worse for wear. But I think I'm going to take her in tomorrow and have them put the front wheel on a trueing stand just in case. Body wise I'm fine. My shoulder feels like a bruise is brewing, and I know I'll have one on my right hip. Luckily my tuckus took the brunt of the fall, and god knows I have a lot of "soft tissue" down there to cushion the fall.
Even though I'm ok, I won't say that it didn't rattle me. She told me that she looked over to see if I was next to her and didn't see me so she thought I had stopped behind her?? I guess being only five foot has it's disadvantages. Those vehicles are so large that I guess how I could see that she didn;t see me. I'm thinking maybe her side mirror obscured her view? I dunno. But the next time I come to a stop like that I will do things a bit differently that's for sure!!

ANyhoo, I added some pics of the damage to my photobucket site:

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...sc%20pics/

Everyone stay safe out there!
Denise

Oh- one other odd thing.. It was like someone was trying to tell me something. First I decided to wear my new helmet tonight for the first time. I've had it since Christmas, but I finally decided that I needed to wear it since the other one is pretty old. And second, when I left my son came up and gave me a big hug goodbye. He NEVER does that when I go out to train.... Hmmmm...

[KnottedYet]

I'm sorry you had a collision. But I keep thinking about those 7 children in that Suburban...

[crazycanuck]

Oh dear! RM..Glad to see you're ok.

((((((((hugs)))))

7 children!

C

[margo49]

Yeah, you will be a bit shaken for a day or two. But no serious or lasting damage.
Remember that "She's not dead. I see her moving" line. It's a corker!

[LBTC]

RM I am so glad you're alright! And you sure can tell a story! It's not often I get to laugh out loud to a cyclist hit by a suburban story! "she's not dead" hahahaha

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[momof4greatkids]

Running Mommy, I am feeling sympathy pains for you! My goodness, and to have it be your friend and neighbor.

Yes I have no doubt Someone is looking out for you. Thank God you are safe and not seriously hurt.

I looked at a cyclist safety page just this morning and they advised that we ride as if we were invisible. Good advice since to many motorists we are, or even worse, they see us as targets.

[Bikingmomof3]

Running Mommy,
I am glad you are safe and not seriously injured! It must have been quite frightening. *hugs*

[7rider]

Glad you're okay.

[Jo-n-NY]

I am glad to hear everything turned out ok for except for a bit of bike damage and some bruising.

What a scary situation for both you and your neighbor and I am sure something the kids will never forget.

~ JoAnn

[Veronica]

I'm sorry Denise your post made me laugh. I just had a vision of all 7 kids (she needs a mini van not a suburban!) yelling that you were "kilt".

I'm glad you're okay.

V.

[Tri Girl]

ooooooo- glad you're OK!!! Scary stuff for sure!!! Get your baby checked out and see that she's OK, too!! "she's not dead. she's moving"- sorry that's just too funny!!!

That same sorta thing happened to me yesterday, too (was it in the air?). Actually, I was at a stop sign waiting to turn right and a car pulled up beside me and turned right- right in front of me. Cut me off as I was about to pull out. Made me cranky- and I did the first thing that came to mind (flipped him off- not very mature or wise, tho). Then I realized it was my neighbor. I almost rode to his house to say something, but didn't. What a jerk!

[Susan126]

First . . . I'm glad you are ok Denise!

And second, yes I think it is in the air! Someone turning right almost hit me on Sunday while I was riding in the Peninsula Metric. Sad thing is I was in a large group of cyclists, about 15 of us, spaced at different distances but you could see there were many of us. We were on a quiet back road when all of a sudden a caravan of "corvettes" started going by. I said to my daughter behind me that it must be a club out for a cruise on this beautiful day. Well they passed us fine. Then the last three corvettes approaced and they were going fast to catch up with the pack. These three got held up because of on coming traffic and could not pass us cyclists (no shoulders on the back roads here). Well we were coming to a T in the road. We were on the main road and the corvette caravan was turning right. Our route for the ride was straight so we had the right of way. Finally the last corvette passed and then without hesitating turned right! I hit my brakes, my daughter screamed and all the other cyclists yelled. He and his girl friend just laughed and zoomed on to catch up with the other cars.

So be very aware because many motorists are not! I'm just happy no one was hurt.

Sue

[GLC1968]

Wow, RM - I'm glad you are ok!

I have to ditto LBTC - it's not often that I get to laugh out loud (at work nonetheless) to a story about a suburban hitting a cyclist. Well told!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Cars have a very hard time seeing us when we pull alongside them. You're better off taking the middle of a lane at an intersection and waiting behind the car, not pulling up beside it. Glad you are OK!

[cosc]

RM, I'm so glad you prefaced your accident story with I'm o'k so I could laugh when I heard about the 7 kids.The kids will probably never let Mom forget that she ran over Mrs. RM. I hope you and your bike recover quickly from this scary accident.