It was such a beautiful fall day today that I had to put aside the unpacking and everything else and go out for a bke ride. Today’s ride turned out to be quite a bit shorter than the average 60 miles a day that I did on The Dream Tour. In fact, about 59.9 miles shorter.

I had just left the house. I rounded the corner on the far side of the block that we live on, waved at Rob, our neighbor, who was outside in his front yard. I thought “What a great day to be alive and an even better one to be out riding a bicycle” as I adjusted the rear view mirror attached to my sunglasses. Next thing I recall was a loud and painful jolt and suddenly I was spread out on the road. I saw my bike in the middle of the road and I smelled orange gatorade. I was lying in a widening splash of the contents of my water bottle which had lost its cover in the crash.

As soon as I sat up, I knew exactly what had happened. As I was adjusting my rear view mirror, I failed to notice the manhole cover which was recessed about four inches below the level of the pavement. I must have hit it straight on and caused a spectacular “over-the-handlebars” crash that I almost wish I had been able to see.

People appeared from all directions. It seems like this kind of embarrassing mishap always happens with plenty of people around to witness it. They all asked either “Are you OK?” or “What happpened?” though I’m not sure whether the latter was directed at me. I tried to get up, thinking I didn’t want everybody to making fuss over me. I thought I’d just get up and walk home, take a short rest on the couch, maybe even a nap, before checking to see how the bike fared. Everytime I tried to get up, there was a new sharp burst of pain. So, I would sit down again, the pain would go away, and I’d try again. When I tried getting up with my right arm the second time, I realized there was a strong, steady pain from my right shoulder blade. At that point, I decided it might be better to stay sitting.

More people appeared, all talking and asking questions. I couldn’t seem to concentrate enough to answer any of them, but I did manage to say I thought I better sit for a while and that I only lived about a half a block away so I wouldn’t have to take anybody up the offer of a ride home.

Eventually, Rob, our neighbor, was able to coax out of me our home phone number. He diailed, and handed me the phone. “Hi Pat. I think I need a ride home.” I think I was still hoping to take a nap and feel much better.

As I waited for Pat, someone showed up with a jacket to keep me warm. I wasn’t cold, but it seemed like a good idea to accept as much assistance as was offered.

I was thirsty. I felt like I had a low blood sugar, but my blood sugar was 122 when I tested before leaving the house not 5 minutes earlier.

Pat showed up in the minivan. The good samaritans all helped to get my bicycle in the car and help me to my feet. Once standing, I suddenly felt faint and asked to sit down again. Fortunately, they helped me into the car, so there was some slow, small progress being made.

Pat headed for the University Health Care emergency room. It wasn’t the closest, but when I convinced her I was OK and reasonable comfortable in the front seat, she agreed.

Three hours, two LorTabs, and eleven x-rays later, we were headed home again. They discovered a broken rib high up on my right side, a broken bone in the ring finger of my left hand, and various abrasions. As much as my left forearm hurts right now, there’s apparently nothing broken. It’s probably just a very deep bruise.

So, what a day of ironies. First, that I was adjusting a piece of safety equipment (my rear view mirror) when this happened. Second, that this happened now, just after finishing The Dream Tour. How lucky is that? And, third, that one of the admitting nurses at the Emergency Room had heard me speak about The Dream Tour just three days before this happened. He said he wanted to come over and say hi and congratulations after I spoke, but never made it. Little did he know he’d get another chance so soon.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 28th, 2006 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Bicycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.