BumbleBeeDave
10-22-2006, 11:29 AM
Well, I guess I can now add getting hit by a car to my illustrious cycling resume. But I was d@mn lucky—all I got was a scape on my @ss and a ruined pair of tights. It could have been much worse . . .
There were four of us out yesterday morning—myself and friends Evan, Sean, and Kelly. We were out early so that Kelly could get back home by 9:30 to make another commitment. cold, crisp, but bright sun and really beautiful foliage as the trees lose their last few leaves. A few minutes after 8am we had just turned east onto River Road from local rt. 146, just after crossing the Mohawk River t Rexford, and were riding into the rising sun, intending to do the popular local “River Loop” ride of just over 30 miles. This is the same road where local cyclist David Ryan was killed two years ago by a drag racing punk, but our incident happened quite far west of where he was mowed down.
I was in front, leading us up a slight rise bewteen 12-14 mph a couple of minutes after 8am, with Evan behind me, then Kelly and Sean bringing up the rear. We were in single file right on the white line on the far right of the pavement. I heard a noise, and just as I realised I’d heard something felt a slight impact on my left leg. At the same moment a car went by me and pieces of rear view mirror went flying in front of my bike. I braked and went right to avoid the debris, then looked up to see the car stopping in the road maybe a hundred feet ahead of us—a silver 2005 honda civic 4-door. The right side mirror was gone—in pieces on the road beside me.
I looked behind me to see Evan stopped, and Kelly back with Sean, who had apparently been hit and was down, his yellow and red Legend on the road beside him. I looked down at my own leg to see a big rip in my tights (only a year old—D@MN!) and no obvious wound, and figured I was OK.
Then I pedalled quickly up to the car, making a note of the license number, got in front so it couldn’t leave, and started yelling at the woman driver that she had hit a cyclist and he was down, pointing back toward where the others were. I was angry at her for about 5 seconds until I realized she was totally freaked. She was a young woman, maybe mid twenties, and still had that MacCaulay Culkin “Home Alone” movie ad “OH!” expression on here face. She was just realizing what exactly she had hit. She climbed out of the car, repeating, “Oh, My god, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you! The sun was in my eyes!” as she started crying.
She was obviously not going anywhere, so I rode back to the other three, where Kelly was helping Sean up and Evan was on his cell on 911 with the local dispatcher. Evan, who is an EMT and does ski patrol, then checked out Sean, who had gotten up and said he was oK, but he was obviously hurting. His clothing wasn’t ripped and his bike looked OK. It seemed like she had clipped him with her rear-view mirror, knocking him down, and my leg had finished the job he had started of knocking the mirror off.
Evan determined that there was no cracked or broken rib and no dislocated shoulder or broken collarbone. It seemed Sean had been taken down so fast he didn’t have time to reflexively throw his hand out and so damage his collarbone. By this time the woman had walked back to us and was standing there crying and apologizing over and over. A passing pedestrian had stopped and picked up the debris out of the road and was standing there with us. We kept having to wave at drivers who also were blinded by the sun who kept driving up to us way too close.
The volunteer firefighters arrived, an ambulance, and then a state trooper. They checked out Sean, put some ice on his shoulder, and one of the firemen gave him and his bike a ride home. They also insisted on putting a gauze pad on the scrape on my butt—it came off somewhere on the bike trail (the gauze pad, not my butt. :rolleyes: ) I’m trying to get in touch with Sean today to see how he is. Kelly rode on with us for a while, but then turned back to get home by 9:30. Evan and I finished the ride, but to add insult to injury, we were going up the hill on the bike trail by the landfill, Evan stood up to go up the hill—and his rear wheel siezed and he toppled over before he could unclip! When he got off the bike and lifted it up to see what was wrong, his rear wheel fell off! Apparently his quick release had gotten knocked loose while we all had our bikes leaned up agains a traffic sign at the accident scene, and he’d been riding the past 20 miles with it loose! Yee-OW!
As the day went on I realized how very lucky we all were. If that woman had been driving only 6 more inches to the right, Sean might have been seriously injured—or worse—and I might have been riding away in that ambulance myself and the Queen Bee left twisted metal. I know the young woman should have been more careful, but I just can’t find it in my heart to be p*ssed at her. She was obviously totally freaked out by the whole thing and was driving as best she could into the morning glare.
So here I am—been riding for over twenty years, and this is the first season I’ve ever had things thrown at me, been actively harassed by a motorist, or been hit while riding. Guess the law of averages had caught up with me. I just hope it doesn’t catch up any further!
BBD
There were four of us out yesterday morning—myself and friends Evan, Sean, and Kelly. We were out early so that Kelly could get back home by 9:30 to make another commitment. cold, crisp, but bright sun and really beautiful foliage as the trees lose their last few leaves. A few minutes after 8am we had just turned east onto River Road from local rt. 146, just after crossing the Mohawk River t Rexford, and were riding into the rising sun, intending to do the popular local “River Loop” ride of just over 30 miles. This is the same road where local cyclist David Ryan was killed two years ago by a drag racing punk, but our incident happened quite far west of where he was mowed down.
I was in front, leading us up a slight rise bewteen 12-14 mph a couple of minutes after 8am, with Evan behind me, then Kelly and Sean bringing up the rear. We were in single file right on the white line on the far right of the pavement. I heard a noise, and just as I realised I’d heard something felt a slight impact on my left leg. At the same moment a car went by me and pieces of rear view mirror went flying in front of my bike. I braked and went right to avoid the debris, then looked up to see the car stopping in the road maybe a hundred feet ahead of us—a silver 2005 honda civic 4-door. The right side mirror was gone—in pieces on the road beside me.
I looked behind me to see Evan stopped, and Kelly back with Sean, who had apparently been hit and was down, his yellow and red Legend on the road beside him. I looked down at my own leg to see a big rip in my tights (only a year old—D@MN!) and no obvious wound, and figured I was OK.
Then I pedalled quickly up to the car, making a note of the license number, got in front so it couldn’t leave, and started yelling at the woman driver that she had hit a cyclist and he was down, pointing back toward where the others were. I was angry at her for about 5 seconds until I realized she was totally freaked. She was a young woman, maybe mid twenties, and still had that MacCaulay Culkin “Home Alone” movie ad “OH!” expression on here face. She was just realizing what exactly she had hit. She climbed out of the car, repeating, “Oh, My god, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you! The sun was in my eyes!” as she started crying.
She was obviously not going anywhere, so I rode back to the other three, where Kelly was helping Sean up and Evan was on his cell on 911 with the local dispatcher. Evan, who is an EMT and does ski patrol, then checked out Sean, who had gotten up and said he was oK, but he was obviously hurting. His clothing wasn’t ripped and his bike looked OK. It seemed like she had clipped him with her rear-view mirror, knocking him down, and my leg had finished the job he had started of knocking the mirror off.
Evan determined that there was no cracked or broken rib and no dislocated shoulder or broken collarbone. It seemed Sean had been taken down so fast he didn’t have time to reflexively throw his hand out and so damage his collarbone. By this time the woman had walked back to us and was standing there crying and apologizing over and over. A passing pedestrian had stopped and picked up the debris out of the road and was standing there with us. We kept having to wave at drivers who also were blinded by the sun who kept driving up to us way too close.
The volunteer firefighters arrived, an ambulance, and then a state trooper. They checked out Sean, put some ice on his shoulder, and one of the firemen gave him and his bike a ride home. They also insisted on putting a gauze pad on the scrape on my butt—it came off somewhere on the bike trail (the gauze pad, not my butt. :rolleyes: ) I’m trying to get in touch with Sean today to see how he is. Kelly rode on with us for a while, but then turned back to get home by 9:30. Evan and I finished the ride, but to add insult to injury, we were going up the hill on the bike trail by the landfill, Evan stood up to go up the hill—and his rear wheel siezed and he toppled over before he could unclip! When he got off the bike and lifted it up to see what was wrong, his rear wheel fell off! Apparently his quick release had gotten knocked loose while we all had our bikes leaned up agains a traffic sign at the accident scene, and he’d been riding the past 20 miles with it loose! Yee-OW!
As the day went on I realized how very lucky we all were. If that woman had been driving only 6 more inches to the right, Sean might have been seriously injured—or worse—and I might have been riding away in that ambulance myself and the Queen Bee left twisted metal. I know the young woman should have been more careful, but I just can’t find it in my heart to be p*ssed at her. She was obviously totally freaked out by the whole thing and was driving as best she could into the morning glare.
So here I am—been riding for over twenty years, and this is the first season I’ve ever had things thrown at me, been actively harassed by a motorist, or been hit while riding. Guess the law of averages had caught up with me. I just hope it doesn’t catch up any further!
BBD