In my 35 years of cycling, I have been hit or bumped by six cars. These all occurred in my youthful (read dumb(er)) years. I was usually going too fast in traffic, not paying attention or otherwise at least marginally contributor to my own fate. Not always, mind you. The guy who drove up to a light where I was standing, waiting for green, and hit me from behind was an exception. I was smacked in the back of the head (in 1985, before helmetted days) by the mirror of a passing motorhome in Goldstream Park on the Malahat. All of these mishaps resulted in no more than one missing tooth. I never broke a bone until two years ago, when my then 8 year old step daughter rode through my front wheel on a family ride and I broke my pinky finger. She was fine and frequently reminds me of her devastating potential ;) Then, this July, I was riding along the highway at Koksilah Rd when there was a rear end accident just ahead in the passing lane. The driver of the pickup that had rear ended a car, jumped out and ran between the stopped cars in the slow lane and directly into my path. I was doing a bit over 30kph when I hit him. He went tumbling and was scraped up. I was slammed to the pavement and broke two ribs and suffereed a deflated lung. Then, this Tuesday, while on a ride in Victoria, I was hit again. This time by a golf ball. Yes, I was riding through Uplands and was struck in the arm by the ball. This was so strange that I wasnt sure, immediately, of what had just happened. The ball bounced into the grass by the sidewalk. I decided to turn around to retrieve the ball as a souvenier of the moment. A very elderly lady was walking along the sidewalk as I approached the ball. She stooped down and picked it up. I said to her, I was just hit by that ball. I was hoping to take it as a souvenier. Could I have it, please? She replied, No. I said, Do you need it? She replied, Damn right I do. I said, Well, I was really hoping to keep it to show my partner what hit me. She replied, with some venom, Too bad, get your own! So, compared to being hit by cars and motorhomes, it seems that little girls and pedestrians are more damaging to the body and golf balls and little old ladies more damaging to the mentality or, at least, the peace.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 18:11:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015