Well THIS Year Started Off With A Bang

Not the good kind.

There I was, at about 8:45am on Thursday Jan 3, commuting in to work.  I had just come up the rise on NW  Evergreen from NW Cornell, heading west.  Three more miles to work.  I was in the bike lane.

Then I heard the screeching of brakes, and saw a red car turn left DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME!  My immediate thought was "this is not going to turn out well"... BANG!

I whacked the pavement hard on my left side, two lanes over.  Fortunately there wasn't any westbound traffic, or I'd have been squashed.

The driver did stop and came over.  After expressing relief that I was not dead, the next words: "I didn't see you.  The sun was in my eyes."  I couldn't get up because my left foot was still clipped in, and my left knee was really hurting.  He picked up the bike, I got up, and hobbled over to the side and sat on a stone wall.

He went to put his car in a parking space and came back.  I had called Fitz, hoping he'd be at work, which was only a couple minutes away.  He came back and we exchanged phone numbers and insurance info, and Fitz showed up.

It is possible to put a bike in the back of a Mini.  I thought I'd go into work, which I did, and even caught the last half of my morning meeting.  As everyone was wondering why I was not at the doctor (hey, it was just a hard hit.  I was pretty sure nothing was broken), I finally called Fitz, and off we went.

My doctor was out, so I went to our practice's Urgent Care.  Many x-rays and an EKG later...  Nothing broken.  But the doctor didn't like the EKG.  Off to the ER for further tests.

At which point I entered the Seventh Circle of Hell.  Suffice to say that I arrived about 2pm, and didn't leave until 7:30pm.  I sent Fitz off.  My parents showed up. We sent my dad away (he does not do hospitals well), and we knitted.  It is slightly more difficult to knit with a pulse oximeter on one's finger, but it is possible.

The upshot was that I was fine.  I had snapped a pic of my EKG and sent it off to my brother (cardio-thoracic anesthesiologist).  He emailed back that it was just fine - what he'd expect an athlete's EKG to look like.  If I had known he wasn't working that day, I'd have had him come by and spring me. :-)

So, chest wall contusions and a banged up knee.  But at least I'd get better.

Poor Bleriot - the front fork is done.  The top and down tubes are stressed/deformed near the head tube.  The front wheel rim is compromised.  Don't know if I should trust the handlebars.  LBS declared it totaled.





I've pulled all the parts off, but for the headset and bottom bracket.  I've priced out what needs replacing, and will ship that off to insurance.  Sigh.

New helmet will be here tomorrow.

In the meantime, once I feel like riding again (probably Wednesday), I have gotten the Gitane back from dear daughter, and converted it to a commute bike.  A rando friend loaned me a 700c generator wheel (there is no way ever I will go back to a battery headlight), and after a couple evenings tweaking it for lighting, a computer, proper pedals...  It is ready.