TO ALL BICYCLE-RIDERS (Story w/ pics)

***[Length Warning -- but please read this anyway if you have time!]***

My helmet may well have saved my life yesterday.

Sorry for the annoying all-caps subject line and the frickin long post, but this is really important. I'm sure for most people (especially serious cyclists) that this is preaching to the choir, and I'm equally sure that there are some of you out there who know better but won't listen anyway, but if this post gets even one person to think twice, then it was worth writing.

Here's the story:

Yesterday, I put together an awesomely delicious chicken curry from scratch, then ran upstairs to poke MFP until it told me the damage (735 calories a serving, not counting the rice I was going to serve it over. Gahhhhh... yikes!). Knowing I didn't have enough budgeted to absorb such a scrumptious calorie bomb, I decided to hustle out and go for a quick bike ride before my guests arrived. Innocent enough.

Now, I'm a confident rider, and a fairly safety-conscious one. I don't do anything too crazy. I stay where I'm supposed to on the road, use the sidewalk or bike trail if they're available, obey the traffic signals/signs, and stay aware of my surroundings. (Hell, I even have one of those little mirrors mounted on my handlebars!) I've ridden around this area for years.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a ride and I spent half an hour or so chugging up hills, coasting down them, making sharp turns, stopping for traffic, dodging idiot drivers, veering for pedestrians, going over grates, dropping down from curbs, and even going off the shoulder once or twice. I was almost home. I was in my own neighborhood. All that, and what nearly killed me was THIS:



Yep. That skinny little not-a-curb in the middle there.

I was going along the road and starting to ease sideways to get up to the sidewalk ahead when... well, I don't remember exactly what happened. I think my tires must have hit that little concrete edge at exactly the same time, causing my bike to tip to the right. After that, all I have is some choppy, dreamlike memories of strangers standing over me, being sickeningly dizzy, seeing blood dripping onto my hand, and hearing someone say they were calling an ambulance.

(If you can believe it, in the midst of all that, while I was sitting on the curb bleeding, I had the thought to pause my HRM since I was just sitting there.)

I don't remember the ambulance arriving. I don't remember getting into it. The next thing I can remember clearly, I was coming to my senses inside the ambulance with three EMTs standing over me. I had no idea where I was, what I had been doing, that I was expecting guests over, or even whether it was morning or afternoon. I wasn't wearing any ID, so I'm glad I was able to put myself together enough to tell them who I was and who to call.

At the hospital, they checked me out, did an x-ray of my swollen right hand and some CT scans of my head. Turns out I'm a very lucky girl. I didn't break my hand or wrist, (re)dislocate my shoulder, shatter a kneecap, break my jaw or cheekbone, or have any brain damage. All the same, I think I shouldn't have caught myself with my face. :-P

Here's me after getting cleaned up (looks worse today as the bruises are starting to surface):



...and here's my helmet:


That could have been my skull. So here's the moral of the story:

Please please please ALWAYS wear your helmet! (And if you don't have one, get one!)

Even if you don't feel like it.
Even if you think it makes you look dumb.
Even if it messes up your hair.
Even if it's hot outside.
Even if your helmet is wet, dusty, or full of spiders (but clean it out first!).
Even if you're only taking a short trip.
Even if it's uncomfortable (and if it is, make sure it's adjusted properly).
And especially if you don't think you need it just because you've never crashed before.

I admit it: I didn't always wear mine before. Sometimes, especially for a quick trip to the convenience store, I wouldn't throw it on. I was wearing it yesterday, though, and I can't stop thanking God that I was.

Thanks for listening (reading), everyone. Take care!