Picturesque view from one of my rides. The road, as it leads to the left of the picture, is the scene of my worst accident on the bike and the place where I met one of the angels in my life.This shot is from the top of the hill. Immediately to my left the road turns down sharply. I had new tires on my bike and had decided to try for a new personal speed record. My previous high was just over 50mph.
This particular spot is about 18 miles from my house and I don't
often ride in this direction. As I started down the hill I miss calculated one last turn in the road before it straighten out. I had reached about 45 mph when I realized my mistake. As I tried to make the curve, I quickly ran out of road to my left as the road curved right. At 38mph I hit the gravel on the side of the road and the bike slid out from under me. I missed a hidden culvert by 10 feet.When I picked myself up, I had blood streaming down my arm with razor-like cuts on my back and side and my right hip looked like ground meat. The cut on my left elbow eventually required stitches inside of stitches.
With the adrenaline flowing, and thinking I could and would ride back home, on this deserted road in the middle of nowhere my angel appeared. She was looking for her son and when she saw the mess I was in, immediately stopped and demanded that I get in her car.
Even with her aid, the cut on the elbow became infected and six days after the accident I was in the hospital for surgery. I no longer attempt to set personal speed records. Instead, I enjoy the view and thank God that angels still pass this way.
This photo on top is actually two photos stitched together. Click on the image to see a larger view. The second photo is where the road starts it's descent. The miscalculated turn is out of site around the bend.
18 comments:
Yes, thank God for those angels!
Did she ever find her son?
Sounds alarmingly unpleasant and frightening! Glad you lived to scare us with this tale...the two of us are definitely not taking that route! :-)
Angels that walk amongst us - we are so fortunate when touched by one.
So that's what Tennessee looks like. Kinda hilly and green. My husband tells me it's beautiful. I'll give him that one. ;)
I am truly glad you have overcome your need for speed. I didn't realize cycling was a contact sport.
Isn't it amazing the people that come into our lives at just the right time? Imagine the story she told; "So I was out looking for the boy and out of nowhere I see this guy and he's bleeding all over the place...."
Sherri, yes she found her son, or should I say her son finally came home.
A, the road I was on just doesn't see traffic, so for her to have driven by--and stopped--just two minutes after my crash for very fortunate for me. Good looking woman too. The whole time she is driving me home and I'm bleeding all over her car, I can't take my eyes off her smile. She had great teeth--lol.
Agnes, after I got out of the hospital I tracked this woman down. She had told me approximately where she lived and I drove around until I found her car in the driveway. I bought her some candles and a card. We talked for about an hour and I met her two sons.
Contact sport--lol--this wouldn't be so bad if one had some form of protection. Lycra is the only thing between you and the road and that ain't much of anything. The stuff is so expensive too and when you crash it all goes in the garbage. So crashes are not only dangerous but expensive!
Speaking of cycling stuff, I just ordered a Livestrong cycling jersery from the LAF store--should be here today or tomorrow. I'm just a Ho for cycling jerseys ;-)
Beautiful photos, but a scary experience. I'm glad you lived to tell us.
*HUGS*
Angels don't always show up in person -- mine rides along with me on my shoulder. She's kept me from trouble several times, like the time I was eighty miles into a hundred mile ride. I had a long, steep descent that ended in a curve, a bridge and then a long steep climb that was one of the worst of my cycling life. (Only ten miles, but with a gusting 15-20 mph head wind and temps in the low 90s. Grown macho cycling dudes around me had tears running down their faces, as did I.)
Because at that point in the ride I was tired (ie slightly judgment impaired) and I knew the climb up the hill would be really awful, I let 'er rip on the downhill. It was euphoric!
When I got in that night and looked at my computer, my max speed had topped 70 mph. The speed limit for cars on that stretch is only 45... I also found out that on a previous ride, in that same spot, another guy had done the same boneheaded thing I did, only he ran into gravel and slid into a bridge abutment and didn't live to tell about it. That cured me of my need for speed, and made me eternally grateful for my guardian angel.
I'm glad yours took on a corporal body and didn't mind you bleeding on her car!
Safe riding!
Marilyn
Marilyn, so sorry to hear about the guy who didn't make it.
The most lasting impression I have from my crash is a tangible sense of how precarious life is and how in an instant of boneheadedness we can lose it all.
After my surgery I went back to the scene of the accident. As I walked ten feet up the hill I noticed the culvert, which was hidden under grass and weeds. If my bike had slid out from under me just 10 feet sooner, which at 40mph is the blink of an eye, I wouldn't be here today. The jagged metal of the hidden culvert would have sliced through me like butter. When I saw it, a chill went down my spine and I knew then just how lucky or protected I had been.
Since that day, I've never again felt the need to take needless chances on my bike. I also now wear an ID ankle bracelet. At the time of my crash I had no ID on me at all. If I had been knocked unconscious, no one would have known who I was or who to contact.
What's interesting is I had a premonition of the crash. I was just over an hour into my ride as I approached the hill, which is about the time I would normally eat a Clif bar. As I was about to reach for the bar, the thought of crashing entered my mind (I knew I was going to try for a new speed record on the descent just up the road) and I thought the crash would make me sick to my stomach and therefore eating the bar would just be a waste since it was gonna come right back up. Needless to say, I never ate that bar. Looking back, seemed kind of errie.
70mph on two skinny tires--lol--better you than me ;-)
I knew, you must have looked her up after.
Trust you, even in great pain, you still noticed her teeth, lol.
Its said, angels appear when you need them to. Nice thought!
Re: the premonition - VERY eerie. Strange how it didn't make you turn back!
A, when that thought crossed my mind and I decided to wait on the Clif Bar, I remember thinking how prudent I was to possibly be saving $1.50. Yea, smart enough to save a buck but not smart enough to avoid several thousand dollars of hospital bills. What a frickin genius I am--LOL.
Yep, the lady was a real sweetie. Her husband was a jackass since he was trying to steal her business and was spending all their money in Vegas. That was her second marriage. I wish there was more I could have done for her, but sometimes you just have to receive and allow the receiving to be the gift.
lol, yep, genius!
"but sometimes you just have to receive and allow the receiving to be the gift." My mind is boggling!
Boggling . . .Mmm . . .is that a good thing or a bad thing ;-)
Has to be wholly positive either way, doesn't it(?)...growth and movement culminating in some sort of clarification.
50mph!!! Whoa! That is some going . What energy bars do you eat? ;-)
That's a really scary experience - glad you got back in the saddle again after it. This post has made me think about the way I ride my bike. I'm constantly trying to beat myself at my speeds - although my poor bike can't handle it! (Got a new one on order a Trek 2006 pilot 1.2 - a dream road machine!) The fastest I've achieved is 25.2mph so far. But 50mph?! I'm so impressed.
Keep on riding, your photos are great, too - and inspiring. :-)
Leigh, my top speed have all been attained going downhill. On flat road, which there is not much where I live, and I'm guessing here, but I'm not sure I've gotten much pass 35mph on the flats.
I've got a ton of pictures I've taken from the saddle over the years. I might have to start posting a few. Thanks for the kind words. :-)
proof once again that there is something looking out for us!
aloha, ff
Tree, the title tricked me a bit as
I've always had four hooves not two
wheels below my saddles. ;-)
Although I have been thrown out of the saddle on more than one occasion it was never at 45 mph and always into dirt, mud or grass, not gravel or asphalt. Also never had the good fortune of being rescued by a pretty lady with great teeth. LOL.
Glad you're O.K. and over the road rash.
Rhody, didn't mean to throw ya. Cyclists always refer to "being in the saddle" with regard to riding. Never occured to me that horse lovers would see it differently--lol.
I do know of your passion for biking,
at first glance though I thought you
may enjoy the lazier style of riding also.
In your style of riding the pros go for days ... in my style the pros consider 8 seconds a good days work then it's Coors time. LOL.
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