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My Buddy got T-Boned by a car on last nights ride

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
24,357
15,106
directly above the center of the earth
he sent me this email this morning. At least he kept his sense of humor :eek:

"To make a long story short... I was hit by a car yesterday on my bike.

Riding from Saratoga to Los Gatos on hwy 9, a car turned left in front
of me.
Estimated closure speed not more than 30mph. Probably about 25.
He said he didn't see me. Something original might have been nice.
How about something like:
"Did you see that UFO?"
-OR-
"WOW! Sorry I hit you Dude, but did you see the woman in that Jag?"

Police took a report, I went to Good Samaritan in an ambulance.
EMT/Fire/Police/Medical all couldn't believe I just had a sore rib and a
bit of road rash on my elbow when they
found out what happened.

Have been warned that tomorrow morning things will hurt that I didn't
even know I had.

Guess I'll be working at home for a few more days this week.

Shorts weren't even torn. Shirt is fine (I'm still in it).
Another rider that came up on the scene looked over the bike and gave it
a test spin.
Trek seems OK. Then again, hard to tell with Carbon Fiber. Unreal -
30mph hit and I'm whining about a sore rib.

Glad I was wearing my RoadID.
I had to give name, rank and serial number info 9 or 10 different times.

After the 3rd round, I just handed my RoadID to the person asking the
questions. They all thought it was cool.
Get a RoadID.

On to the rescue. I liked this part.
Female (cute) firefighter - first on the scene asked me how I felt. I
said fine, how do I look?
She asked, do you workout alot? I said yes, why? She said, you're in
really good shape.
Glad she didn't add... "for a man of your age". I really hate that.
And no, I didn't hit my head, but thank you for asking.


Guy in the ambulance made sure he pointed out the cute nurse working
that night.
CHP guys had to go back to the fire station to check out my bike and get
statements.
Once they knew it was (or seemed to be) an all female (cute) crew
working that evening, they seemed to need to leave in a hurry.
They didn't even want to hear about my rib. How rude.
Needless to say, I kept my sense of humor.

Got a cab ride home from the hospital.
Drove to pick up my bike from the fire station (at this point, I think
we all know why).
Woman at Walgreens Pharmacy: How are you tonight?
Steve: Well, about 5 hours ago I was hit by a car.
The look on her face when I said that. I realize now, I might as well
have told her, I'm one of the undead and now walk among the living.

I guess it's not everyday you get to say "Hi, I just got hit by a car
and got launched off the hood... and how have you been?"
What are the odds of hitting just right to drastically minimize the
damage (to me).
Didn't even mention my legs since they were barely even scratched.
No comments from the firefighters on my legs. Crap.
And no, I'm not gay. They were all cute women. You're not paying
attention. Keep up.

Was told the driver will get a point on his record. Ouch.
CHP says the report is big deal since it's an injury accident. Hmmm.
I asked CHP if they'd write up two reports. First being the real one.
Second being an ego-boosting nearly unbelievable "guys-only" version.
You know... the one where I walked the 10 miles to the hospital
(carrying my bike the entire way so it doesn't get hurt) having lost 4
gallons of blood while taking heavy machine gun fire.

Uh oh... I think I waited too long to take my first Motrin.
Rib and back are sore... no surprise there.

The sound (and feeling) of my #10 rib when it moves around is... uh...
icky.
Hey, I drove myself to get my bike after getting home from the hospital
on no pain meds. I get one free "make a wimpy statement card".
Needless to say, I kept my sense of humor.

Oh... one more thing... while I was laying on the ground before the
fire fighters arrived...
one of the people who stopped said to me "You must have hit that guy's
car pretty hard... you snapped off
his passenger side mirror." And I was wondering why my rib hurts so
@#$@!#@#% much.

Hearing that, I asked "How's his windshield?"
To which the response was "not a scratch". Crap for a 30mph direct hit,
I wanted a perfect outline of me in his windshield.
Police said his car wasn't even dented. I'm so polite. Thoughtful
enough not to dent his car on my way to being launched.
How nice.

At Good Sam... ER Doc said "OK, so you can go to work and workout, but
no bar fights for a while".
Crap! This stinks! The ER doc is writing better material!
And what's with the "it's OK to go back to work attitude?" Oh, right...
he did ask me where I worked *BEFORE* doing much of
anything. Stockholder!

Doc did say, go ahead and workout... you're only limited by your own
pain threshold!
Really?
Bring it!

Well off to sleep.
Or maybe I think I'll just stay up waiting to learn the meaning of the
phrase "he's going to feel that in the morning".
Needless to say, I kept my sense of humor.

What a day.
Feeling extremely fortunate to be able to send this e-mail."
-S
 

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
HA - that guy is pretty funny. Dman - 30mph and just a sore rib...that is amazing. Glad he's ok.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,161
1,261
NC
eric strt6 said:
The sound (and feeling) of my #10 rib when it moves around is... uh...
icky.
Something about that statement makes me feel uncomfortable.. I actually shifted a little bit and pushed at my ribcage.

Glad to hear he's alright!
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
67,775
14,142
In a van.... down by the river
eric strt6 said:
he sent me this email this morning. At least he kept his sense of humor :eek:

"To make a long story short... I was hit by a car yesterday on my bike.

Riding from Saratoga to Los Gatos on hwy 9, a car turned left in front
of me.
Estimated closure speed not more than 30mph. Probably about 25.
<snip>
Another rider that came up on the scene looked over the bike and gave it
a test spin.
Trek seems OK. Then again, hard to tell with Carbon Fiber. Unreal -
30mph hit and I'm whining about a sore rib.
25 mph and it didn't even torque the front wheel out of true??? I gotta get me one of those Treks........... :D

Glad your buddy is OK.

-S.S.-
 

DLo

Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
688
0
South Bay Area, CA
Wow, he's lucky. The highway9 climb is something I would drive too. That's cool to hear he's in good spirits.

Sucks though, from a driver's point of you, sometimes you just DON'T see stuff. Wrong place at wrong time. Who knows?
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
41,152
10,093
That happened earlier this year to my younger brother. He was doing about 25mph when a pickup pulled out from a side street. When the dust settled, he was able to upgrade to a Colnago. One of their Ti/Carbon creations.
 

blue

boob hater
Jan 24, 2004
10,160
2
california
Man, I've been in situations like that on my road bike before, they always seem to pull out on a left turn and think they can beat the slow bike. Of course, if I could escape with minor injuries, a new roadie to replace the 7 speed vintage Trek would be nice ;)

I almost nailed a civic with a teenage girl on a cell driving today on my MTB while going to the shop. She actually turned around and apologized though, I was amazed. Ah, what happens when you leave Salt Lake...
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
24,357
15,106
directly above the center of the earth
Well Steve took his Carbon fiber Trek into the shop for inspection....
most of the harware was fine, wheels were truable shifters ok.....

freakin frame is toast...major cracks at BB and head tube total write off.
Shop wrote him up a nice insurance claim letter for the drivers insurance co.

looks like he is going to be riding one of my spare carbon fiber bikes until the check comes...
 

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
eric strt6 said:
I spoke with Steve tonight, he is still fairly sore.

his exact words were "thank god for Vicodin and beer"

here is a pic from a race we did last year
left to right Steve, Gordy [in back], and me
Tell him to lay off the beer for a bit. Vicodin and beer together don't do good things to your liver.