I knew it was bound to happen again sometime soon, though I was hoping it would be similar to the last time where there was no falling or injury what so ever involved. Unfortunately this time was very much different from then beginning with the fact that this one was entirely the drivers fault. I was out on a bar crawl with some of the polo/dcfixed.com crew and was seperated from the main group and then from the couple of guys I was with when one got a flat.
The bar we were on the way to was Hayde's on Mt. Pleasant St. so not knowing exactly where the bar was I headed over on Park and had just crossed 16th Street when the guy hit me. He was pulling out of a parrallel parking spot as I was riding by and I had no time to react before he hit me and I was on the ground. I was very lucky in that I didn't break anything or get seriously hurt from it but my bike was across the street and I was on the ground in front of the car with road rash all over my right arm.
I also hit my head and was a bit foggy the rest of the night but a number of people witnessed the accident and were there to look out for me. One guy was helping me and getting pretty confrontational with the driver that hit me before I calmed him down and pulled him aside to help me figure out if I was hurt seriously or not. I could feel I'd hit my head but didn't know if it was bleeding or anything and was definitely in shock but visually the guy said I looked fine.
The driver made it pretty clear early on that he had no insurance information to give me and I think had been drinking as well. Once I got my bike back I told him to be more careful and took off to try and catch up with the group from the crawl. On hindsight I wish I'd at least had the where with all to ask for some information or get something from the guy. Turns out now I'll be replacing my chain ring and likely my cranks on my fixed since they are bent to hell after that.
Later I tried riding my bike home after meeting the group for a couple of drinks at Hayde's and crashed. The chain had come off the bent ring and gotten caught and sent me over it looks like but I didn't check into it as all I wanted to do after that was get my ass home. I threw the bike over my shoulder and sulked back to my place to sprawl out on my bed and fet some rest.
The next morning I was stuck to the sheets from the road rash on my arm/elbow and I was pretty sore overall but didn't feel nearly as bad as I was afraid I would. I managed to get some ibuprofen in me and then play some ultimate frisbee with some friends at 11 before an early evening bocce ball party on some friends' roof deck (which I walked to). I kept myself pretty loaded up on the pain killers the whole day though so today when I woke up I felt worse then yesterday and spent the majority of the day staying put and trying not to cough since it feels like I did a thousand sit ups yesterday or something.
So, there it is, my second time being hit in the city. Significantly worse then the first bounce off the truck involved in the first but still I was extremely lucky. Hopefully I'll get a break before I get another one of these things as I'm not really interested in this sticky road rash crap right now.
As for riding, I rode to the frisbee game on Saturday and while it wasn't too uncomfortable I was definitely a bit nervous and maybe even a bit shakey on the bike, though that may have to do with how long it's been since I've ridden the Specialized with gears. I was supposed to get out for a ride today and in hindsight I wish I had but the body just was not interested and I didn't want to keep loading up on the pain killers since I've been taking them pretty regularly lately because of all the running as well.
Tomorrow morning I'll probably ride to work and might even try and get out for an easy spin during lunch but we'll see how I feel. For now I'm just glad I wasn't sidelined with anything worse.
On a side note, it appears that one of my favorite blog writers will be officially taking a break. I've heard this from others lately that came right back to posting within days so I was sceptical at first but it's been a bit and there is nothing new. This is truely a sad moment for Freewheeling (and Fixed) Spirits everywhere.
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