I'm going to ride to meet up with a friend of mine later this morning. While we were figuring out scheduling and all that, he sent me video he made. I don't want to call it the dark side of biking, as usually that is reserved (at least to me) for dealing with other people, but crashes are a thing that happens. The video is just over 11 minutes long, but it documents this friend's recovery after a gnarly crash that left him paralyzed for a few months. It's a pretty amazing story. I've only seen him once since the accident, so this will be the second time. Of course I chose to meet somewhere along the bike trail, because I'm like that. He's now apparently riding a recumbent trike.
Thanks for the video, very timely for me. I didn't break anything or bruise a spinal cord but I did get into my first bike accident that left me on the ground. I was going down a road which is supposedly a popular route for cyclists getting to the trail I wanted to ride and there were train tracks that intersect it at probably 45-30 degrees. A car happened to have been coming the other way so I wasn't able to position myself on the left side of the road to run across the tracks at the preferable 90 degrees.
I'll admit, first person video of an accident is sort of boring when it comes to falling down, but I made a short video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPnOIjCe34If you skip to the end I'll have picked my bike up and you'll see more clearly how the railroad tracks are laid. I came out of it with a hurt wrist and shoulder on my right side, and a scraped up palm (I had taken my gloves off after a couple miles because it was too warm for the gloves I had, sort of wish I wouldn't have now). I can attest that a helmet very much saved my life. I distinctly recall the broad side of my head smacking against the pavement and thinking, "that didn't hurt much at all, felt like a tap."
I continued to ride another 10 miles onto the trail before getting a flat, which was a pain to replace with the injuries I had, and my CO2 cartridge failed me, so I tore the stem off the bad tube (I had used a new one when repairing knowing I only really had one chance) and stuffed that into the tire with the good tube to increase the volume in the tire and began my slow trek back. Fortunately, despite it being a drizzly day outside, I came across another cyclist who had a better CO2 tip than I did (I have also since purchased a new one) and got me on my way home at full speed rather than a cumbersome 5-9mph.
Somewhere on the route back my camera fell off my bike without me noticing. After getting home and resting for a bit my wife and I set out to try and find the camera. I remember it going low battery about the time I turned around, but don't remember if I saw it when the other cyclist stopped to help, so I found that spot and we drove towards it, taking the route I took back (which avoided that slippery patch of train tracks). Luckily around the 11mi from home point we saw it on the side of the highway and turned around and picked it up. A minor scratch on the plastic outer lense protector, no other damage.
Sadly today I drove to work as my arm and shoulder are still sore, I can't pick up heavy items, or hold their weight, with my right arm yet. My team captain, who happens to be a doctor, says my arm is probably my deltoid and rotator cuff. Looks like this week I'll be on the gym recumbent while my shoulder and wrist heals. Supposed to be great weather this weekend and I hope to be back out in it.
I know my story sort of pales in comparison, but your friends video is a great inspiration. It's hard to keep myself from just getting right back on the bike and riding more, but I know it'll be better to give myself a little time to heal. Thanks for sharing.