Sunday morning my wife and I were planning on going to the Outlets to get her some cloths for the summer. Before the trip up to Lancaster PA I wanted to get in a ride so I got up early and was out the door by 8:30 or so. I should have stayed in bed.I went down to Fait Ave to get the little steep climb in then headed back to my normal loop. Adding that little bit to the ride appears to have been a bad idea as it put me on a not so cool timeline.
I was shooting down Delvale and started to climb up Sollers Point Road. I was looking right at the yield as a car was pulling up and was making sure they were going to stop. They stopped, so I turned my head back around in time to see a car pull out of the grass on the right hand side of the road. I started to yell but it was too late, I swerved as fast as I could but I was going about 15 mph and he was backing up quickly. There was no way I was going to make it around him.
BAAAAM! I slam into the trunk of the car and go flipping over it. I got some good hang time and remember seeing car, ground, sky.. car, ground, sky. I was yelling out something but I don't recall what I was saying. Thankfully I tucked and rolled and didn't hit my head (and yes I was wearing a helmet, no scratches on it at all so I'm pretty sure I didn't touch head to pavement). I checked my limbs and all seemed to be working, sore, but working. I had a gash on my right leg and road rash on the left leg. My right hand was hurting along with my hips and shoulders.
A car drove by and a lady asked if I wanted her to call 911. I should have said yes.. I don't know why I said no I'm ok. I wasn't ok but figured it wasn't so bad. But I was pretty stunned, I haven't been hit by a car before and flipping over one to land on the ground is a new experience. I was shocked by what was going on. Two black guys got out of the car (the one that pulled out in front of me), they appeared to be in their early 20s and checked their car. I was trying to get up but was having problems as I was sore and with bike cleats on I was slipping. One of the guys helped me up and the other guy picked my bike up trying to fix the chain. I told him not to even bother, the bike was totalled. For a link to all the pictures :http://picasaweb.google.com/sincain/BikeAccident#
The guy gave me a ride to my house which was only about a mile away. Once we pulled up to my house I asked him if he had insurance. He replied " no ". For one it's illegal in Maryland to drive without insurance and two my road bike was now destroyed. "Dude, my bike costs about five grand. And now it's destroyed" to which he replied "Man I'm sorry". I got out of the car and leaned my bike against my porch. Came back and pulled out my phone. I gave him my name and phone number and he said he'd give me a call next week to help me out with some money. I expected him to give me his information but he just got back in his car. I didn't want to get into any confrontation as I was bleeding, sore and standing in my squeezers. So I just snapped a picture of his license plate. I figured that would do it for me. It's a TEMP Tag so I really hope they can find it.
I carried the bike into the Garage as it won't roll (The wheels are so egged they won't fit through the brakes even with the release open). Went inside and leaned the poor shattered Orbea against the wall and hobbled inside. Now for the tough part, steps, I knew this was going to hurt. I slowly climbed up the steps and walked into our bedroom, my wife was still in bed and mostly asleep. She mumbled something at me, not sure what she said but I replied "I just got hit by a car". Guess it took a second for the information to process as she slowly looked at me. Then in a burst of action she shot out of bed and went into a fit of "Oh my god!"s. She decided I should go to the hospital but I wasn't sure. I was still so hazy things weren't making much sense to me. She said we'd go to one of "those" places instead of the Emergency Room. "What?" .. I eventually figured out she meant Patient First but all I remember saying was " I don't even know what you are talking about". My brain wasn't working at peak performance that's for sure.
Angela got me a Vitamin Water and as I sat there drinking it I started to clear up a bit. Then I started to get angry. Why did I not let the lady call 911 for me? Why did I just let the guy leave? What am I going to do about my bike? It is now smoked. Getting angry at the time doesn't really help but I couldn't help it.
We head for Patient First. I got X Rays and a Tetnis Shot whoot! The nurses cleaned the cuts and wrapped me up, the Doctor told me there wasn't anything major wrong. At least that's good news. All those falls in the woods came in handy, I'm good at falling. People don't know this but falling is an art, and I'm a master. I've done it enough I should be good at it by this point. The Doctor gave me some 800mil Advil as I turned down any harder pain meds. I'm not a fan of getting loopy.
Now the fun really begins. I call the police and the insurance company. I officers arrive and take the report. The insurance claim is filed and now I have to wait to find out what's going to happen. Its been about four days so far and most of the medical stuff has been handled and all that but I still haven't heard whats going to go on about my bike. Will it be under the uninsured auto or my home owners and what do I have to do. I'm pretty much in the dark right now when it comes to what's going to happen about me replacing my bike. I'm healing but my bike is not. From all this I've come to realize a few things.
1) I thought bikers/cyclists got no respect while just riding. But it is nothing compared to what happens when you are in an accident. No one takes the cost of a nice bike seriously (even the cops). When you say "my bike" people think of a $50 Wal Mart special and the rest of the conversation then turns to amusement. Why are you making such a big deal over a bike? It's at that point I want to choke a beotch out.
2) 90% of the people out there truly don't know we are suppose to ride on the street. Riding on the sidewalk is illegal, it's for pedestrians. Driver's Ed? Who needs to know the rules of the road? Really.
3) There is nothing in place to recover your bike cost. There is no policy that you can take out to cover your bike in the same fashion as a car. Any vehicle that rides on the road should be treated as an automobile or a policy needs to be available for them.
4) I miss my bike.
Hopefully I get some information on my bike soon. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better. Today was the first day I didn't do the crazy hoppy dance when I got in the shower. Yeah, it still hurt but not so much that I couldn't stand it. I'm moving faster, I've gone from a 80 year old with a bad hip to maybe a late 60's with a peg leg. My goal for this weekend is to be down in the 40's! Maybe still with a peg leg though .. ARRRRGHHHH !
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