It's being some interesting time off for the holidays
This ought to be worth a few days in the blogosphere, but I'll start with the most personally scary. Let me start by saying I'm OK. All the limbs and body parts are still in their rightful place and functioning as they have before, if not always the way they're supposed to.
I've been doing a lot of bike riding since Christmas Eve...like every day, until this past Monday. Then we road tripped to Georgia to see some of the wife's family, and Tuesday, the youngster and I road tripped to Orlando to visit with my sister and her family who were spending a few days in Mouseland. Wednesday (New Year's Eve) though, I was feeling guilty and went out for what was supposed to be about 30 miles of pedaling, but it got stopped short about 5 miles in, when I got hit by a pick up truck. I was in the bike lane on a main road and he approached at an intersection from the right. It was a construction vehicle from one of the developments being built in a sparsely inhabited area (which is why I like biking there...less traffic). He had a stop sign, and slowed down..almost to a stop....almost. I thought he was stopping, but that never happened. I was crossing right in front of him and he never stopped. He clipped my back tire as I turned away from him and tried to speed up when I realized he really wasn't going to stop. I went out into the road, front wheel turned in the direction I was skidding and back wheel just kind of skipping across the pavement, and somehow, I stayed upright. When I finally came to a stop, I was still upright, but my back wheel wouldn't move.
I looked back, and the truck was on the side of the road. Well, I thought, at least he didn't run. A Mexican guy, probably mid-thirties, came running from the truck, and tried to ask if I was OK, but he couldn't speak a lick of English. He got his point across though, and said a friend would be around soon who could speak English. A few minutes later a guy who happened to be going the other way, came back to see if I was OK as well. he said, "I saw the whole thing. Great save man! I don't know how you stayed on that bike." Frankly, neither do I. It happened pretty fast. I was still shaking though.
Finally the interpreter showed up and, while his English wasn't great, it got the job done. I explained that the wheel was shot. I didn't think there was any frame damage. The paint wasn't even scratched. He explained that his buddy was very sorry. He didn't see me because he was on the phone. Somewhere in here, in hindsight, I should have been very pissed off, especially since driving while talking on the phone is one of my pet peeves. I wasn't though. I think I was just happy to be standing there in one piece. The shaking hadn't stopped. They offered to take me to the bike shop, so I took them up on that.
About two minutes later, me and my bike are in the back of a panel truck with two Mexicans who are doing a lot of talking, none of it in English. They stop and talk to another guy, again not in English, and about then I'm thinking...dude, what did you get yourself into? You're in a truck with no windows, and these guys are speaking a language you don't understand, and now there's three of them and one of you. Fortunately, that was all that was...a little more of a scare in my head. They, in reality, were trying to gather some money. Finally they guy said he had $200. If I wanted to take that, he'd give me his personal information if it was more.
We went to the bike shop, but it was closed for New Years Eve. They took me home and left me with the $200. The bike shop was closed yesterday as well, but I finally got it there today. The prognosis, the back wheel is shot. They're checking the frame. Total cost, a bit more than $200, but I'm not even going to call the guy. I'll just eat it and keep on truckin. I'd be surprised if that was any less than a day's pay (or two) for him, and even though I'm the victim in all this, I'm also grateful to be in one piece...so call it my offering to the karma gods.
Happy New Year y'all!
I've been doing a lot of bike riding since Christmas Eve...like every day, until this past Monday. Then we road tripped to Georgia to see some of the wife's family, and Tuesday, the youngster and I road tripped to Orlando to visit with my sister and her family who were spending a few days in Mouseland. Wednesday (New Year's Eve) though, I was feeling guilty and went out for what was supposed to be about 30 miles of pedaling, but it got stopped short about 5 miles in, when I got hit by a pick up truck. I was in the bike lane on a main road and he approached at an intersection from the right. It was a construction vehicle from one of the developments being built in a sparsely inhabited area (which is why I like biking there...less traffic). He had a stop sign, and slowed down..almost to a stop....almost. I thought he was stopping, but that never happened. I was crossing right in front of him and he never stopped. He clipped my back tire as I turned away from him and tried to speed up when I realized he really wasn't going to stop. I went out into the road, front wheel turned in the direction I was skidding and back wheel just kind of skipping across the pavement, and somehow, I stayed upright. When I finally came to a stop, I was still upright, but my back wheel wouldn't move.
I looked back, and the truck was on the side of the road. Well, I thought, at least he didn't run. A Mexican guy, probably mid-thirties, came running from the truck, and tried to ask if I was OK, but he couldn't speak a lick of English. He got his point across though, and said a friend would be around soon who could speak English. A few minutes later a guy who happened to be going the other way, came back to see if I was OK as well. he said, "I saw the whole thing. Great save man! I don't know how you stayed on that bike." Frankly, neither do I. It happened pretty fast. I was still shaking though.
Finally the interpreter showed up and, while his English wasn't great, it got the job done. I explained that the wheel was shot. I didn't think there was any frame damage. The paint wasn't even scratched. He explained that his buddy was very sorry. He didn't see me because he was on the phone. Somewhere in here, in hindsight, I should have been very pissed off, especially since driving while talking on the phone is one of my pet peeves. I wasn't though. I think I was just happy to be standing there in one piece. The shaking hadn't stopped. They offered to take me to the bike shop, so I took them up on that.
About two minutes later, me and my bike are in the back of a panel truck with two Mexicans who are doing a lot of talking, none of it in English. They stop and talk to another guy, again not in English, and about then I'm thinking...dude, what did you get yourself into? You're in a truck with no windows, and these guys are speaking a language you don't understand, and now there's three of them and one of you. Fortunately, that was all that was...a little more of a scare in my head. They, in reality, were trying to gather some money. Finally they guy said he had $200. If I wanted to take that, he'd give me his personal information if it was more.
We went to the bike shop, but it was closed for New Years Eve. They took me home and left me with the $200. The bike shop was closed yesterday as well, but I finally got it there today. The prognosis, the back wheel is shot. They're checking the frame. Total cost, a bit more than $200, but I'm not even going to call the guy. I'll just eat it and keep on truckin. I'd be surprised if that was any less than a day's pay (or two) for him, and even though I'm the victim in all this, I'm also grateful to be in one piece...so call it my offering to the karma gods.
Happy New Year y'all!
Labels: It's all about me
John put this out here at 2:15 PM
3 Comments:
Jesus, John. Thank god you're okay, and thank god they were decent fellows. It could have been much worse. People ARE good.
Thank Heavens you are ok!!!
Holy Moly! I'm glad you're okay! And I'm so happy they gathered up the cash to pay for it. When you think about it, had it been some jackass American on his way to Starbucks, you'd be taking him to court. Am I right??!
So happy you're safe. Happy New Year!
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