Wiped out yesterday! (LONG)

sojourn

Hi All,
First time posting but wanted to share about a crash I had yesterday morning.
I ride every Sunday in the San Elijo hills area in San Marcos CA.
I was trying to worm my way around a gate, did not clip out of my right foot peddle, and was pushing with my left foot to maneuver around. I ALWAYS clip out completely, push the bike around the gate, get on, and go. Not this time……
Somehow (everything happened so fast) I start falling to the right. The embankment is about 10-15 feet at a grade of 45 degrees (all rock). I just start flipping with such force I spun over at least twice.

Now I know that I'm injured but I don't seem to be so injured that I can't just dust off and get going again. WRONG! I look down after a moment and see that my Lycra shorts are hung up on my front brake handle and pull my leg off the handle. I then look around, somewhat dazed, and look at the area of my inner thigh, right leg, and its getting pretty wet. Now I start to realize that I punched a hole in my thigh and as I look to see the wound, blood spurts out BIG time.

I thought that I had lacerated the artery.

I stick my finger in the wound, try to call 911 on my cell (no luck, I guess I was more panicked than I realized) and luckily redialed the last number I called to get some help. Now mind you, I'm in the middle of nowhere really and I thought "Not like this God, not today". I thought I was going to die.

It's a strange feeling, thinking you're going to die.

As luck (grace) would have it, a lady was walking her dog and rushed to my aid. The kid I talked to got the 911 call into the rescue folks and I could hear the siren in the distance. Everything got fuzzy and I was finding it difficult to see and breathe. I called my wife to let her know what happened and how much I loved her, how my life had meaning every sense our first meeting.........I thought I would never see her again.
Well thanks to the lovely Debbie (who was walking her dog) and young Gabe (the kid I had dialed earlier that morning at LA Fitness), I get to share my story with you wonderful folks.
What was so amazing to me, and still is, is the FORCE it took to drive my brake handle 2 and a half inches into my thigh! Just as amazing, how did I miss the artery and just clip a vein (grace some more)?
I'm 54 years old, ride around 90 miles a week, and love to cycle. I know I'll jump back on the bike (the ER Doc said two weeks, I think probably...one ;-)... but I'll be more cautious and try not to throw a scare like that at anyone again.......I'm glad to be alive today, for a moment I thought I was all out of tomorrows......


Now that was one hell of a ride!
Thanks for letting me rant...........
Bruce

drmcmasters

Quite a story, Bruce. Thank you for sharing it. Life is fragile, isn't it?

__________________
Sincerely,

Doug McMasters

"Get a bicycle. You won't regret it, if you live."

-Mark Twain

Scotty_Dog

Wow, I'm glad you're still around to tell the story! How lucky of you to have two people happen upon the scene so quickly after your crash. That's one of the reasons I always try to mountain bike with a friend, so I'm not alone in the event of a crash. Hope you heal quickly.

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005