On The Road Again
/When people learn I’m a cyclist their first question usually is: “Do you feel safe riding in Midland traffic?”
My usual answer is: “Safe enough. I’m careful when choosing my routes. And besides, every crash I’ve had has been my own fault. I can’t blame any of them on traffic.”
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So, Tuesday, September 17th, I had a bike crash while turning north from Valley Quail Road onto Scaled Quail Road, in the new neighborhood north of Midland Classical Academy. Even though I saw a very small bit of standing water in the intersection and slowed down accordingly, my back wheel slid out and I hit the pavement. Straight down, no sliding, no road rash. It was a turn I’ve made hundreds of times, always carefully, because there is often standing water.
After I untangled from my bike and stood up, I noticed immediately I had chipped at least one tooth (it turned out to be two). Since my bike still worked and I felt OK, I decided to ride back home. Until I looked down at my right knee. It had a large and deep gash running crossways across my kneecap. I knew I shouldn’t try to ride home on that. Even though it didn’t hurt, pedaling with it might worsen the situation, and the blood running down my leg would freak out the carpool drivers lined up in front of MCA.
I reached for my cell phone to call Cyndi while pushing my bike to a nearby intersection, at Fairfield and Mayfield, where I thought it would be easier for her to find me. As I made my phone call, a young boy walking home from school was standing in the street staring at my knee. His friends, probably both older sisters, yelled for him to get on home, but he stood staring. Finally he took off running down the street.
Cyndi pulled up and we loaded my bike into the back of her car. As I walked around to get in the passenger seat, I noticed the boy was back, with the two girls. They were all standing in the middle of the street staring open-mouthed at my gashed and bleeding knee.
“Is he going to be alright?”
Cyndi said, “We’re going to take care of him right now.” And of course, she did. On the way to Vital Care clinic, Cyndi phoned our dentist and made an appointment to have my chipped teeth repaired.
At the clinic, several PAs examined my knee. “How fast were you going?”
“I don’t remember. Does it really matter?”
“If you were going faster than 25 mph, it would change the treatment protocol.”
“Only in my dreams. I’m sure I was turning the corner at less than 10.”
“I can stitch that up for you, but since you have an artificial knee, you should go to an emergency clinic. They can do more to prevent infection.”
Cyndi drove me to SignatureCare Emergency Clinic. They took me back to an examining room where a nurse cleaned my leg. “What is your pain level on a scale of one to ten?”
“At most, two.”
Dr. Marks squirted something called numbing agent into the wound. It was intense. It turned out to be the only actual pain I had during the entire event. “Sorry, it usually stings a bit before it starts numbing.”
“No kidding,” I said while gripping the sides of the examining bed and clenching my chipped teeth.
They took a CT Scan of my head to see if I had a concussion. I had several scrapes on my face which worried them more than they worried me. Of course, I couldn’t see the scrapes. Fortunately, the scan didn’t show any damage. Still, it’s always risky having your head examined. Who knows what they might find.
Then they X-rayed my knee to see if anything was broken or out of place, but they didn’t find anything.
Back in the examining room they irrigated the gash and Dr. Marks stitched it up while I watched. She did a great job, and I felt no pain at all.
And now, five days later, I’ve had my teeth repaired (sooner than expected) and I’ve had no swelling or stiffness or pain. The emergency clinic staff expected my face and my knee to be sore and swollen, but they aren’t. Neither one. I can walk on my leg, even around the park across the street. My right knee feels a little stiff, but mostly from the bandage rather than from the stitches.
Cyndi took care of me, of course. She’s been very patient with my recovery and my talk of riding again. I’m lucky to have her on my side. In fact, Cyndi did more than simply rescue me and drive me around town. She helped me make expensive decisions at the emergency clinic and the dentist’s office when I clearly wasn’t at my best. Not only that, but she patiently smiles when I tell my crash story over and over.
My plan is to take my bike into the shop for a check-up to make sure it’s OK, and replace my helmet since I clearly collided with the ground. I won’t ride again until my stitches are removed, but after that I’ll be back training for the RIDE TO END ALZ fundraiser in Wimberly in November with my brother, Carroll. I don’t want to miss that.
If you would like to know more about the RIDE TO END ALZ or make a contribution to either my ride or Carroll’s ride, just follow these links. We’ll be grateful for your participation. We lost our mother to Alzheimer’s, and we’re proud to ride in her honor.
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“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.”
Psalm 119:32
