I started commuting to work by bicycle since Bike To Work Day 2007. I live in the Redwood Shores area and followed the SF2G route to get to Google and back. My least favorite part of that route was what is known as 'The Bridge to Nowhere' and in the evening the strong cross winds by the bay. Somewhere towards the end of 08 I discovered that taking Middlefield from San Carlos (it is known as Industrial/Winslow up here) all the way down was much nicer, no dismounts needed and it is mostly protected from the brutal winds. I've taken that route 2 to 3 days a week during the summer for the past year. I've thought it mostly safe except for around 'little mexico' in redwood city.
On this fateful day, I was almost home, the last hurdle was crossing the Holly street overpass to get into the Shores. The overpass has 3 lanes with lane 2 being designated as a bike/car lane (there is a picture of a bike on the lane) and lane 3 being a on/off ramp for getting on the interstate. I was on the right edge of lane 2 when I remember feeling a slight push... that was it. I was unconscious for minutes, no idea exactly how long. The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and trying to catch my breath, I had the wind knocked out of me and it was sunny. I remember people running around me saying, 'Did you see that?! It was a green Ford F150, did you get the number? He just took off' and another guy was on his iPhone calling 911. I recall raising my left hand up and someone grabbed it and gently helped me up. I had only one shoe on, my left shoe. The person helped me over to the side and I sat on the sidewalk. There were 3 strangers who had stopped to help, one guy was on the other side of the street. I always carry a phone, my driver's license and a credit card. I remember seeing my driver's license in the middle of the road, I told the person who helped me to grab that. He returned with that and my Droid, which look like it had been run over a bunch of times. Suddenly I remember being surrounded by Police cars and recall hearing one cop talking to an eye witness who told him the perpetrator had gotten back on the interstate. I remember a fire engine showing up next. The medics put me on a board and put my head in a neck brace. At that point I felt like my brain was going through a reboot sequence. I was trying to remember what day it was, I couldn't, what time it was, I knew it was evening and I was headed home. Then my wife's phone number flashed in my head, I kept repeating it and a police man took it down and asked if it was my wife's and asked me if I remembered her name, I did. The medic in the ambulance was very comforting and had a nice gentle voice. Just hearing her fuss over me was reassuring. By now I knew I would live, I just didn't know the extent of my injuries.
This was my first visit to an ER. It is nothing like Gray's Anatomy. The people were very nice and it was kind of amazing how for a minute or two I was surrounded by people all around, each doing something or the other and then they all disappeared and I was just with my nurse who kept an eye on my vitals and would not give me any water to drink until I had my neck CT scanned. Initially time flew by but after a while, it started to crawl. As I was waiting to be scanned it seemed to take forever. Once I was scanned, time slowed down even more as I waited for a doctor to review my scans. I wasn't given anything to eat or drink until my scans were cleared. It felt like eternity.
3 hours later, my wife finally made it to the ER with our 2 girls (ages 1 and 3), I felt really really bad for her. Thankfully, that was about the time my CT scans were cleared and I was able to drink 3 little boxes of Apple juice. That stuff never tasted that good before. I was declared fit with just road rash and cuts all over the place. We were sent home.
At 1:20AM, the phone rang. A second review of my CT scans had shown a fractured scapula that was missed the first time around. They asked if I could come to the ER right away, I couldn't. They asked if I experienced any chest pains, thankfully, I had none. They told me to come first thing in the morning. At 2:40AM, the phone rang again, it was pretty much the same message, just a different person calling. I googled scapula fractures on my phone. Turns out that the scapula (shoulder blade) is a very difficult bone to break and that it requires a lot of trauma to break it. There is a high correlation between fractured scapula's and internal organ damage, hence the fuss.
We finally made it to the ER the next morning. The waiting room was empty but that didn't imply a short visit. More chest x-rays were taken. The fact that I'd lived so long without any chest pain gave me hope that everything was OK. Thankfully, the x-rays didn't show anything out of the ordinary and my breathing and bowels sounded normal. The ER doctor was an avid biker and we spent a lot of time taking about his brand new Pegoretti and my future cycling plans.
The human body is amazing. My musclature was extremely sore at the beginning but with time most of the pain has ceased. My road rash and cuts are healing. My body tends to get stiff quite easily but after moving around a bit things move a lot smoother. I am in a cloth sling for now and have my first orthopedic consult tomorrow.
I picked up my bike from the Police Dept. a couple of days after the accident. The rear triangle is broken in 3 places and the rear wheel completely destroyed. The helmet is the most amazing bit of equipment, from the outside it looks a bit damaged but inside it is completely broken into 3 or 4 separate sections. The police officer on my case who spoke to the eyewitnesses didn't give me a lot of information about the accident other than the fact that they didn't catch the guy. I got the phone number of an eye witness who filled me in with more details.
He was on the other side of the street traveling in the opposite direction. He first saw me as I was flying in midair. I landed on my head/back towards towards the left edge of lane 2. The Ford truck, slowed down, went around me and then accelerated back on the on ramp and took off. I was unconscious for minutes, 2 other people stopped, one person got my bike to the side of the road while the other directed traffic around me. This person was also a roadie and encouraged me to take my time to heal but to get back on a bike.
The silver lining: Nice people rock! You never know when you'll need help or when you will be in a state of helplessness but thankfully there will be a Samaritan who will stop.
For now, I've decided to stop commuting to work due it being peak traffic hours and will instead focus on weekend rides. I suspect it will be a while before I start bike shopping again but I have my eyes on a Pinarello... Biking is an addiction :)
I am sharing this story because crashes I think are inevitable as a cyclist and I have learned so much from the experiences of others that giving back seems natural. I am very very glad to be on my second life, things could have gone quite differently...
