Lucky August
Got lucky at 07:20am on 5th August, as I wasn't killed! I was side swiped by a driver who 'didn't see me' when he made a left hand turn (past a give way sign) while I was on my commute to work. I have a fractured scapula and rotator cuff (muscle/tendon) damage in my left shoulder and a broken rib on my upper left chest. I had abrasions on my left hand & leg which are pretty much healed.
I think I passed out briefly. I remember seeing the car right as it swiped me but the next thing i recall was angrily kicking my bike off me (it was on top of me) & making my way to the gutter. I was riding on the left side of the left lane on Hyde St Foostcray but my finshing point was the middle of the right lane. This is where I was lucky. Being peak hour, there was every chance that I could have ended up in the path of another car (disturbing thought).
For the first week I couldn't stop muttering under my breath things like 'so negligent', 'where's his duty of care?', 'how could he be so careless?' I was strugglig to accept this could happen in this way (such utter negligence, no other factor involved). I've mostly accepted it now.
I'm probably gonna cancel my entry in the Melb half marathon. My mindset up to the accident was that I was gonna 'nail' the hm (well my definition of nail anyway). As I wont be able to do it in the way that I saw in my mind, i'm not gonna do it at all!
I tried a 5 min jog a few days ago & it was non-sustainable. Touch wood it should pick up a lot over the next 3 weeks. I'll try another jog in a week or two. In the meantime I might head to the You Yangs soon for some psychologically theraputic bushwalking.
One of the various things that piss me off about this is the tacit vindication that the non-exercising naysayers derive from this. 'You're right, it shouldn't happen but it did, proving that cycling is too dangerous to do'.
I think I passed out briefly. I remember seeing the car right as it swiped me but the next thing i recall was angrily kicking my bike off me (it was on top of me) & making my way to the gutter. I was riding on the left side of the left lane on Hyde St Foostcray but my finshing point was the middle of the right lane. This is where I was lucky. Being peak hour, there was every chance that I could have ended up in the path of another car (disturbing thought).
For the first week I couldn't stop muttering under my breath things like 'so negligent', 'where's his duty of care?', 'how could he be so careless?' I was strugglig to accept this could happen in this way (such utter negligence, no other factor involved). I've mostly accepted it now.
I'm probably gonna cancel my entry in the Melb half marathon. My mindset up to the accident was that I was gonna 'nail' the hm (well my definition of nail anyway). As I wont be able to do it in the way that I saw in my mind, i'm not gonna do it at all!
I tried a 5 min jog a few days ago & it was non-sustainable. Touch wood it should pick up a lot over the next 3 weeks. I'll try another jog in a week or two. In the meantime I might head to the You Yangs soon for some psychologically theraputic bushwalking.
One of the various things that piss me off about this is the tacit vindication that the non-exercising naysayers derive from this. 'You're right, it shouldn't happen but it did, proving that cycling is too dangerous to do'.
posted by Also Ran at
3:17 PM
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