Car Meets Bike

I like the little dent up top.. that's where my head hit (I was wearing a helmet and was therefore totally conscious afterward.. no pain at all.. ALWAYS wear a HELMET!!)

So before I get down with the reading that I suppose I have to do tonight, I'm looking to update the blog with the current goings on.. Two weeks ago on the way to some errand or another on my bike, I most un-cautiously moved into an intersection without seeing a Yaris on the other side that was going to run late yellow/ early red (there were other cars in the intersection blocking the view.. and to be fair, I thought the oncoming traffic was one lane, not two). The Yaris and I met up in the middle of the intersection. Apparently the blame was 60% his fault, 40% mine.. I'm not sure if this means I get some sort of compensation.. we'll see.

If you've never been hit by a car, it feels something like a giant flyswatter.. the experience itself is not that painful.. more the next few days afterward. It's been two weeks and my leg still isn't perfectly right (I can walk/ teach yoga, but my knee hurts when I tweak it in a certain direction), but apparently I'm extremely lucky as I jumped up and into the car's windshield, keeping my bike from breaking my leg (at least, I think I jumped up into the windshield.. I can't remember too much of that part at this point). To make a long story short, I'm thankful for my yoga + aikido training. The aikido because I reacted to that car the same way I'd react to Josh Gold trying to strike me, and the yoga because it kept me flexible enough to walk away without too severe ligament damage in my knee/ left leg.

Nice Side-view.. to be honest the car wasn't going all that fast.. only like 25-30 mph, and the gentleman who hit me stopped pretty much on a dime. He was actually more disoriented by the experience than I was.

The paramedics were quite insistent about getting me to the hospital to be checked out, but I ended up refusing, as I could walk normally and had full flexion in my limbs. Looking back, the hospital might have been good as a means of getting some pain medication, but I ended up going through the weekend without it. Just a lot of ice, hot bathing, and reading.

At any rate, his Yaris was too smashed to be driven home.. they had to tow it.
I ended up walking back home.
Travis: 1, Car: 0.

The whole experience was harrowing, and the worst news: My bike, my wonderful 50 dollar bike, is destroyed. Let the trumpets play their sad songs into the London dusk.

To be honest, looking at that bike, it was probably time for it to go. At some point soon I will have to get another bike.. for now though, I'm perfectly happy to walk, and to look both ways before crossing the street.

Yours truly, walking around in the snow a week later.. Hoorah.

To all the people who looked after me and kept showing their concern, my sincere thanks. Although it wasn't much of an injury, the experience was shocking, and having so many people express their concern really meant a lot to me. I think I'll be a lot slower on my next bike, if another bike I do indeed purchase.