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My Crash !

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Road Cycling
Published
7 September 2005
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11 September 2005
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bjorn
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  1. [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face mainly,
    and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101 ....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on friday. The
    poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has almost
    dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox (prevents
    blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the Oxycontin I
    was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have the IV
    antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it myself
    through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They say they
    took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's left of my
    bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    Reply

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  2. Hi John :

    Sorry to hear about what happened to you. Get well and healed up. After a
    while, you might wish to consider getting back at it.

    When I ride, I don't like to think that I trust others to not run me down
    (even though I know that I do). I always have my take-a-look mirror so I can
    see what comes up from behind, in case I need to make the choice of
    intentionally going off-road.

    I think there are several in here who have been through similar ordeals.
    Everyone is different, so if you never want to ride again, that fine because
    it's your life. But in time you might feel different.

    Take care.

    bjorn wrote:

    : Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including
    : 11 years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on
    : the road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    : don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?
    :
    : John Wilke
    : Milwaukee

  3. In article <[email hidden]>,
    [email hidden] says...

    Quoted message said:

    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    WOW!! Glad that you're (in general) OK!!

    I had a nasty one about four months ago myself. Broken
    ribs/collarbone/punctured lung/etc.

    As with you, I remembered NOTHING! I actually think that's what helped
    me get back on the bike. I've been biking more in the last month than
    ever before in my life.

    Give it time and hopefully you'll find the desire to get back on the
    bike.

    Get better quick!!!

    -Crash

  4. bjorn said:

    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face
    mainly, and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101 ....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on friday.
    The poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has
    almost dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox
    (prevents blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the
    Oxycontin I was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have
    the IV antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it
    myself through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They say
    they took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's
    left of my bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including
    11 years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on
    the road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    What a terrible, senseless ordeal, John. (Or is it Bjorn?) Doubtless
    almost everyone would feel as you do now; but hopefully as you heal and grow
    stronger the urge to ride will return. (Maybe off-road for a while? Beats
    you up more, but not almost fatally!)

    Best of luck to you and please keep us informed as to your progress (on OR
    OFF the bike). Sure hope they catch the cowardly, hit & run [censored] that
    nearly killed you...

    Bill S.

  5. Dude... I thought I was in bad shape with my brolen pelvis. Today makes the
    end of week two, and mine was only caused by a crash on a BMX track. Sounds
    like you've had it bad, and I feel for you. The bladder thing is bad.

    Doc explained to me how kucky I was... but it is seems you aren't. Heal
    fast, heal well, and do what the docs say. I've got at least another month
    before I can go back to work.

    (Bought my new Trek 3700 on Monday... crashed it on Wednesday. LOL)

  6. The parks commission here in Tennessee are starting Greenway trails for
    walker and bicyclist. It's where I should have been two weeks ago...
    http://www.nashville.gov/greenways/projects.htm

    These are safe, fun, and very good for the ole cardiovascular system. Check
    out your city parks to see if you have anything like this... or just moce to
    Nashville.

    "Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    Hi John :

    Sorry to hear about what happened to you. Get well and healed up. After a
    while, you might wish to consider getting back at it.

    When I ride, I don't like to think that I trust others to not run me down
    (even though I know that I do). I always have my take-a-look mirror so I
    can see what comes up from behind, in case I need to make the choice of
    intentionally going off-road.

    I think there are several in here who have been through similar ordeals.
    Everyone is different, so if you never want to ride again, that fine
    because it's your life. But in time you might feel different.

    Take care.

    bjorn wrote:

    : Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including
    : 11 years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on
    : the road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    : don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?
    :
    : John Wilke
    : Milwaukee

  7. "bjorn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...
    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face mainly,
    and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101 ....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on friday. The
    poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has almost
    dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox (prevents
    blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the Oxycontin I
    was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have the IV
    antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it myself
    through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They say they
    took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's left of my
    bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    John,

    Sorry for you situation and your accident. It sounds like you're doing
    fairly well.

    I had a similar situation. I received a broken hip, pelvis, ankle, a
    compressed vertebrae and some serious lacerations to my left leg at the
    hands of a 17 year old driving and talking on a cell phone. She made an
    unsignaled left turn directly into me as I was descending a hill.

    I had moments where I thought I'd never get out there on a bike again, but
    they were over in about 2 days. By the time I was out of the hospital (8
    days), I was chompin' at the bit to get better so I could ride. I was on
    rollers in six weeks and outside on the road in 3 months. I think something
    the ER doc said to me got my attention ... that I wouldn't have survived my
    wreck were it not for the fabulous condition I was in thanks to all my
    riding.

    If you don't ride again, nobody would fault you for it. But surely you
    loved it and surely you'd find yourself out there with a new set of eyes in
    the back of your head. I'm betting you'll be feeling like a caged animal in
    no time and you'll be chewin' on the bars to get back out on the road. I
    hope so.

    God bless you in your ordeal.

    --
    Bob C.

    "Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
    T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

  8. Bjorn/John, I'm really sorry to hear about your unfortunate
    accident. Good luck!

    ~Rob

    "bjorn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...
    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country
    road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a
    hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told
    that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in
    an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My
    helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side
    (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face
    mainly,
    and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and
    was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101
    .....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go
    back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a
    staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm
    home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still
    on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but
    I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still
    peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on
    friday. The
    poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has
    almost
    dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox
    (prevents
    blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the
    Oxycontin I
    was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have the IV
    antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it
    myself
    through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to
    using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the
    witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the
    license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They
    say they
    took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's left
    of my
    bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid,
    including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on
    the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road.
    I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    Reply

    End of messages

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  9. bjorn said:

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    <snip>

    Your story reminds us all that we never get on our bikes expecting
    anything traumatic to happen during that ride. But sometimes it does.

    I'm thrilled to hear that you're recovering, and hope that the
    recovery is rapid and complete. I also hope that you'll find the
    resolve to get back on a bike eventually, but would never think less
    of you if you didn't.

    I do hope that you'll update us all when the miscreant who ran you
    down is captured.

    Mark Hickey
    Habanero Cycles
    http://www.habcycles.com
    Home of the $795 ti frame

  10. "bjorn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

    Thanks for writing. Good luck on your rehab.

    <<Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?>>

    I don't know. I do understand about this type of fear a bit. The night I
    moved to Chicago, I got in a 4 car wreck on the Kennedy Expressway. I was
    barely able to drive for weeks (luckily I took the train in to work), and it
    was quite some time before I felt comfortable on the expressway. I lost that
    trust in my fellow man's reasonableness that is required to drive without
    continual fear. Your situation is certainly more serious.

    Whether you ride again or not is not an important question at the moment.
    The important thing is to concentrate on your rehab and then do what you
    feel comfortable doing.when you and willing and able to do it.

  11. I scattered my elbow in a crash 2 1/2 years ago.
    http://nanandmont.com/bike/crash/xray-1.jpg
    While in the hospital (and in much pain) I never wanted to see a bicycle
    again. That soon changed and I couldn't wait to get back on my bike again.
    This year I have over 9,000 miles logged.
    Please, be patient and give cycling another chance, you will not regret it!

    Monty

    "bjorn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...
    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face mainly,
    and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101 ....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on friday. The
    poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has almost
    dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox (prevents
    blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the Oxycontin I
    was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have the IV
    antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it myself
    through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They say they
    took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's left of my
    bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    Reply

    End of messages

    No newer topics PDA programs for skiing? - Older »

    Topic: My Crash ! - go to top

    Google Home - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy - Jobs, Press, & Help

    ©2005 Google

  12. On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 12:16:54 GMT, "Monty" <[email hidden]>

    Quoted message said:


    "bjorn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...
    [email hidden] | My Groups | Help | Sign out

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.


    Much snipped.

    Quoted message said:


    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    Hi John, I'm posting under the other guy's post, because I had deleted
    your original post. Oops!

    Where specifically did this happen? I'm from Milwaukee too.

    I sure hope everything works out for you, and that the driver's
    conscience, gets the best of him.

    Take care,
    Jeff

  13. "Monty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    I scattered my elbow in a crash 2 1/2 years ago.
    http://nanandmont.com/bike/crash/xray-1.jpg

    Wholly [censored]!

    I've looked at a lot of elbow radiographs, but that one takes the cake.

    Does your arm point North all the time now?

  14. Quoted message said:

    How one's life can change in a moment.

    On sunday Aug. 7th, about 6pm I was riding my bike on a country road
    here in SE Wisconsin ... it was sunny and the road was flat and
    straight and had more cows in the fields than cars on the road.

    Next thing I remember was opening my eyes while laying in a hospital
    bed and pushing the button for more pain medicine. I was told that
    according to witnesses, I was run over from behind by someone in an
    S.U.V. going about 50mph. I remembered nothing of the accident.

    I spent 5 days in the hospital, but was lucky to be alive. My helmet
    was smashed throughout and has blood and tire marks on the side (bike
    or car?). I came away with two fractures in my pelvis and a cut
    bladder, no surgery required.

    To top it off, I must have rolled numerous times in the country
    field/swamp after getting hit because I had cuts everywhere and
    developed poison ivy head to toe .... ugh ! Road rash? My face mainly,
    and left hip.

    Home I went (to live with my brother for a while actually) and was
    doing okay ... until I started running fevers. 99 ... 100 ... 101 ....
    when at 3am one morning it hit 103.8F ... call 911 ... time to go back
    in ! I had some bad infections ... urinary tract, bladder, and a staph
    infection in my blood.

    7 more days in the hospital and some serious antibiotics and I'm home
    again (brother's house). I beat the staph infection but am still on IV
    antibiotics for 2 more weeks.

    My pelvis hasn't quite healed so I'm still using a walker, but I'm
    getting stronger. My bladder hasn't healed either and am still peeing
    through a tube (foley catheter) ... but that gets tested on friday. The
    poison ivy is healed, and the awful swelling in my legs has almost
    dissapeared. I'm off the Prednesone (steroid), the Lovenox (prevents
    blood clots during inactivity), and have stopped taking the Oxycontin I
    was on (made me feel lousy after a while). I only have the IV
    antibiotics left (I'm a registered nurse, so they let me do it myself
    through my PICC line).

    So that's been my August ... from doing 50 mile bike rides, to using a
    walker (and my legs have gotten skinny ! ).

    The bike? Well, turns out that the driver didn't stop, the witnesses
    were too concerned about me being alive to worry about the license
    plate of the guy, and the cops have the bike as evidence. They say they
    took lots of pictures .... hopefully one day I'll get what's left of my
    bike back ($2,000 Moser).

    Fortunately my job is waiting for me when I'm better.

    Next ride? I'm 45 years old, have been riding since a kid, including 11
    years of USCF racing and felt quite confident on my abilities on the
    road ... but right now I have no desire to get back on the road. I
    don't think I can trust anyone out there. Could you?

    John Wilke
    Milwaukee

    John,

    I'm so sorry about your accident. I wasn't hit by a car, but had a
    serious cycling crash in mid-April (double-dog induced) and broke my
    pelvis in three places. Had to have surgery to install a stainless
    steel plate with screws and four pins to hold me together. I was lucky
    in one way that I hit the bone just right to break it, but didn't slide
    on the road so only had a couple small abrasions on my elbow and thumb,
    and I had no internal organ damage. Thank goodness. My lovely Aegis
    Swift was also barely damaged - very lucky.

    I too doubted whether I would ever ride again at first, especially in
    the rural south where I live, and where unrestrained dogs are all too
    frequent. But over time, I got the desire back. I started riding the
    trainer indoors, slowly and gently at first, just as soon as I was
    allowed to bear weight on the right side (~8 weeks after my accident).
    Eventually I worked up my courage to ride my mountain bike (think fat
    cushy tires for pain protection) on a couple of short rides around the
    'hood, and finally I worked my way up to a couple of "beginner" (slow)
    bike club rides on one of my road bikes. My first ride (end of July) I
    averaged 12.5 mph (used to average around 5 mph higher than that), and I
    was nervous as could be at the start, but I did it. I felt some pain,
    but it was tolerable. I just felt so good that I had faced my fears
    done it, even though it was only around 15 miles.

    Each subsequent ride I felt stronger and less fearful, and today I
    completed a 35 mile club ride at 15.7 mph and felt really, really good,
    without pain and almost no fear. Even had to deal with a couple of dogs
    but did okay.

    I realize that our situations aren't identical, but what I did discover
    during my ordeal is that if cycling is a very important part of your
    life as it was mine (and it sounds like it is), leaving it behind and
    never riding again is just not an option. I don't just like to ride, I
    *need* to ride, I simply *must* ride. Even with all the risks, I am so
    glad I am back.

    I hope you will be back someday too.

    If you'd like to read more about my accident and recovery, in hopes that
    it might help you along, or at least give you something to compare to,
    I've kept a blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/emily_c_smith/.
    I've pretty much stopped writing in it now, but I wrote a lot during my
    recovery.

    Best wishes and healing thoughts to you,

    Emily

  15. Emily wrote:
    {John's tale snipped}

    Quoted message said:

    John,

    I'm so sorry about your accident. I wasn't hit by a car, but had a
    serious cycling crash in mid-April (double-dog induced) and broke my
    pelvis in three places. Had to have surgery to install a stainless
    steel plate with screws and four pins to hold me together. I was
    lucky in one way that I hit the bone just right to break it, but
    didn't slide on the road so only had a couple small abrasions on my
    elbow and thumb, and I had no internal organ damage. Thank goodness.
    My lovely Aegis Swift was also barely damaged - very lucky.

    I too doubted whether I would ever ride again at first, especially in
    the rural south where I live, and where unrestrained dogs are all too
    frequent. But over time, I got the desire back. I started riding the
    trainer indoors, slowly and gently at first, just as soon as I was
    allowed to bear weight on the right side (~8 weeks after my accident).
    Eventually I worked up my courage to ride my mountain bike (think fat
    cushy tires for pain protection) on a couple of short rides around the
    'hood, and finally I worked my way up to a couple of "beginner" (slow)
    bike club rides on one of my road bikes. My first ride (end of July)
    I averaged 12.5 mph (used to average around 5 mph higher than that),
    and I was nervous as could be at the start, but I did it. I felt
    some pain, but it was tolerable. I just felt so good that I had
    faced my fears done it, even though it was only around 15 miles.

    Each subsequent ride I felt stronger and less fearful, and today I
    completed a 35 mile club ride at 15.7 mph and felt really, really
    good, without pain and almost no fear. Even had to deal with a
    couple of dogs but did okay.

    I realize that our situations aren't identical, but what I did
    discover during my ordeal is that if cycling is a very important part
    of your life as it was mine (and it sounds like it is), leaving it
    behind and never riding again is just not an option. I don't just
    like to ride, I *need* to ride, I simply *must* ride. Even with all
    the risks, I am so glad I am back.

    I hope you will be back someday too.

    If you'd like to read more about my accident and recovery, in hopes
    that it might help you along, or at least give you something to
    compare to, I've kept a blog at:
    http://www.livejournal.com/users/emily_c_smith/. I've pretty much
    stopped writing in it now, but I wrote a lot during my recovery.

    Best wishes and healing thoughts to you,

    Emily

    What a wonderful and encouraging note, Emily! I haven't read many entries
    yet but I scrolled thru your blog and the transformation from "pained and
    injured" to "back out there" was truly something. (Love the pink helmet,
    too 🙂 )

    I'm sure John will draw inspiration from your story, as will many others.
    (As jj said, so much for miscellaneous aches and pains!)

    Thank you for sharing your recovery.

    Bill S.

  16. Emily said:

    If you'd like to read more about my accident and recovery, in hopes that
    it might help you along, or at least give you something to compare to,
    I've kept a blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/emily_c_smith/.
    I've pretty much stopped writing in it now, but I wrote a lot during my
    recovery.

    Best wishes and healing thoughts to you,

    Emily

    E., went and read your blog. Very inspiring. Great job on your comeback;
    very heroic. Good to read things like that allowing one to put small aches
    and pains in perspective. Thanks for sharing.

    jj

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