Crash,T-boned a car on Saturday. Anybody have these thoughts?

So I am with my group ride on Sat in the West Covina area climbing
Grand Ave going south for those of you that know the area. The decent
is fast and at the bottom there is a shopping center. I don't push it
in this area because you never know whats going to happen. Near the
end of the shopping center a guy does a left turn in front of me and
stops. Later he said he did not see me. His positon when he stops puts
the front of his car father than the sidewalk line would be. No time
to swerve and not enough room. I impact at 21 - 24 mph at his fender
above the wheel. I as always trained not to do a head on if you can
avoid it. I have just enough time to lock the rear brake, brodie the
back tire to the left slide and I remember unclicking my left foot
from the pedal. I impact puting a huge dent in the fender of his 74
Ford (like an El Camino). I land on his hood, and fall off the car
forward to the ground in front of the car.

Seconds latter, it was like the wind was knocked out of me and I am in
shock. ME in an accident, impossible! I sort of check myself out on
the ground and every thing is intack, nothing broken-so far ok. By
this time the driver is out of the car having a panic attack. I get
up look at my 3 month old Bianchi XL Carbon 15 1/2 lb bike on the
ground by the fender where I left it. Upon inspection the front and
rear wheel is trash and the frame may be cracked. The driver is
insured. (good thing)

All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

"Bman" wrote in message
om...
So I am with my group ride on Sat in the West Covina area climbing
Grand Ave going south for those of you that know the area. The decent
is fast and at the bottom there is a shopping center. I don't push it
in this area because you never know whats going to happen. Near the
end of the shopping center a guy does a left turn in front of me and
stops. Later he said he did not see me. His positon when he stops puts
the front of his car father than the sidewalk line would be. No time
to swerve and not enough room. I impact at 21 - 24 mph at his fender
above the wheel. I as always trained not to do a head on if you can
avoid it. I have just enough time to lock the rear brake, brodie the
back tire to the left slide and I remember unclicking my left foot
from the pedal. I impact puting a huge dent in the fender of his 74
Ford (like an El Camino). I land on his hood, and fall off the car
forward to the ground in front of the car.

Seconds latter, it was like the wind was knocked out of me and I am in
shock. ME in an accident, impossible! I sort of check myself out on
the ground and every thing is intack, nothing broken-so far ok. By
this time the driver is out of the car having a panic attack. I get
up look at my 3 month old Bianchi XL Carbon 15 1/2 lb bike on the
ground by the fender where I left it. Upon inspection the front and
rear wheel is trash and the frame may be cracked. The driver is
insured. (good thing)

All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

Sorry about your bike. Glad you seem to be OK.

I was having deja vu as I read your account. In my case, a teenage girl
talking on a cell phone made a left turn in front of me. I was probably
going in excess of 25 mph at the time. A car passed me on the left and the
teenager, driving in the oncoming direction, turned left immediately behind
the vehicle that passed me. She never looked. It wouldn't have mattered if
I was driving a tractor trailer -- except that she'd have spent the next
week and a half in the hospital instead of me. Broke my hip, pelvis, ankle,
plus I had a compression fracture of the spine. I went off her front fender
and into her windshield which launched me straight up in the air. I landed
squarely on my head.

I thought about never riding again. For a while, I didn't figure I'd have a
choice. But as it became clear that I'd be able to walk again ... and ride
.... I couldn't wait to get back out there.

I'm more careful about the roads I select and the times of day I ride. I
also embrace the philosophy where I assume I'm invisible and ride
accordingly.

Give it a few days. You'll be itching to get back out there.

Again, glad you're OK. (I hope you've made sure you're OK.)

Bob C.

"Bman" wrote in message
om...

All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

If you mean give up crashing, yes. But if you mean give up riding, hell no.
Would you give up eating just because you had a crappy meal?

Cheto

On 1 Nov 2004 08:35:24 -0800, (Bman) wrote:


All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

Yeah, it took me about a week to ten days to 2 weeks on the outside to get
back my nerve from a low speed crash where I dinged my ribs pretty good
U-turning in the rain on an incline.

Ride somewhere low risk, perhaps, but get back on the bike right away if
you're not injured. I had to not ride for about 4 days while my rib healed,
I thought, in case I fell again, I didn't want to be less than 100%. Had
trouble sleeping on it for a week. Then suddenly about 8 days out, iirc, I
had the nerve and drive to ride again and the incident faded.

The whole insurance, hidden injuries, bike replacement is another thing.

Since your bike looks to be unrideable, hope you have a back up.

Good bike handling though. If you're up at the level of 'group riding' at
decent speed you're in too good a condition to not keep it up.

Good luck.

-B

Anybody else have these thoughts?

I'm glad you're okay, Bman.

I own and occasionally drive an SUV. I've rolled it and been rear-ended
three times, once by a semi-truck (that one hurt). I don't drive
often, but when I do I always encounter idiots on the road. It's never
even occured to me to give up driving because somebody dies every two
weeks in my county in a car accident. In the next county over, they
average two traffic deaths per year, and they have much traffic as
ever.

I hit a car with my bike once (my fault), and I've been hit twice,
including the
left-cross-over-the-hood-faceplantwindshield-fly-up-hit-the-ground-wham.
I've had a number of near-hits, including last week when the driver
completely blew through a stop sign without looking for cross traffic.
It's never crossed my mind to quit riding.

Bob C writes that he rides as if he's invisible. If he's talking about
riding defensively and always watching the other traffic, I agree
absolutely. I ride to make myself as visible as possible. That means
moving away from the curb, if necessary, to where people expect to see
other traffic.

RFM

Bman wrote:
Seconds latter, it was like the wind was knocked out of me and I am in
shock. ME in an accident, impossible! I sort of check myself out on
the ground and every thing is intack, nothing broken-so far ok. By
this time the driver is out of the car having a panic attack. I get
up look at my 3 month old Bianchi XL Carbon 15 1/2 lb bike on the
ground by the fender where I left it. Upon inspection the front and
rear wheel is trash and the frame may be cracked. The driver is
insured. (good thing)

All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

No, I think back to my first auto accident (15 years old with a
learner's permit), when I T-boned a car pulling the same sort of stunt
in reverse. Dad drove me the rest of the way to Grandmother's, but he
made me drive home. He said something like, "You've got to get back in
the driver's seat before you get too scared of it."

He's insured, so you'll soon be riding another nice new bike. Get out
on that new bike as soon as you can.

Some of the standard advice goes without saying, so I'll say it too.
Get yourself checked out thoroughly -- you don't want to find out six
months down the road that there's something seriously wrong, and you
have to pay for it. Take care of your injuries, including the road
rash. Insist on full compensation from the insurance adjuster -- call
in a lawyer if necessary.


But get back out there riding as soon as you can. It's still fun!

Pat

Final word on the "ride as if you were invisible"...you have to watch out
for the 4-wheelers...'cause you cannot count on them watching out for YOU...

Brian.

Work to eat
Eat to live
Live to ride
Ride to work...

1 Nov 2004 08:35:24 -0800,
,
(Bman) wrote:


All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Why? It sounds like you survived more or less intact and now you're
smarter.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

Yes. They will pass.
--
zk

"Badger_South" wrote in message
...
On 1 Nov 2004 08:35:24 -0800, (Bman) wrote:


All week end long I was wondering if I should give this up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

Yeah, it took me about a week to ten days to 2 weeks on the outside to get
back my nerve from a low speed crash where I dinged my ribs pretty good
U-turning in the rain on an incline.

I still get a minor "freak out" feeling when I ride through the intersection
where I had the hit-and-run earlier this year, so I know where you're both
coming from.

Glad to hear you survived Bman. Next, light a candle at your local church,
synagogue, shinto shrine, or whatever is your preference and give a little
thanks. Think of it as a warning not to quit riding but as a warning to
continue keep your eyes open and your brain clear.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Bman wrote:

All week end long I was wondering if I should give this
up.

Anybody else have these thoughts?

Sure. The worst time I had them, though, was when I was
driving.
I was involved in a 4 car wreck on the Kennedy Expressway
and it was many weeks before I felt secure enough to get
back to driving on the expressway again.

My point is this: these are natural feelings after an
accident, no matter what the vehicle.
Don't rush it. Ease back in as you feel comfortable.

--
Mike Kruger
A new Florida poll shows President Bush winning the state by
twenty
thousand lawyers. - Andy Borowitz