Riding With MoC

I had a very harrowing bike experience this morning and feel extremely fortunate, BH, to even be able to write this.

I went to the 'vasikin' minyan this morning and was on my bike by 6:20. Destination: Point Lookout and back, about 29 flat miles. Since last Sunday was a fast day and I couldn't ride last Friday morning, it had been almost two weeks since I had been on my bike.

I was feeling strong and was barreling down Central Avenue in Cedarhurst (ironically, to avoid the traffic on Broadway). I got to the busy intersection of Central and Rockaway Turnpike, looked both ways, and sped through a red light. Except the road wasn't clear. I don't know how I missed it but I did. At the last second, I saw it. A white car about to hit me. He slammed on his breaks, I slammed on mine and instinctivly veered to my right. In that split second I braced myself for the impact. Boom!!

His passenger-side mirror rammed into my handle bars and flew off his car. But, remarkably, I didn't even fall. I was literally upright in the position I would have been had I simply stopped for the light!

The driver pulled over and came to see if I was alright. Remarkably, it didn't look like I had so much as a scratch (it would turn out later that I had an ugly welt on my side.) I assured him that I was fine. I asked him if HE was ok and he said, yes, just very worried. I told him that it was entirely my fault and apolgized for riding carelessly. He hopped back into his car and drove off.

I then assessed the situation. My butt muscles seemed to have been strained by the impact (and the fact that my shoes are attached to the pedals with clips). My bike was a little mangled but much less than I would have thought. The only thing wrong was that the handlebars were facing left and the wheel was facing straight. I manually adjusted the handlebars so that the allignment was almost normal and, amazingly, my bike was actually usable.

What to do? I could have gone back home, called it a day and counted my blessings. Instead, because I'm a little nuts, I decided to keep riding. I figured that it would actually be better to ride and loosen my muscles rather than go home and get stiff. (That could be totally wrong medically but I'm a lawyer, what do you want?). Because of the lost time, I cut the ride short and rode to Lido Beach and back. In any event, the rest of the ride was uneventful.

I got home and showered and discovered a very nasty 4 inch welt on my side. The tip of my elbow also started to hurt. I took a couple of Advil and went to work. It is very clear by now, four hours after the accident, that I am going to be one sore puppy this weekend. I am starting to feel stiffness from the left side of my neck all the way down to my tusch.

This was by far my closest call on a bike. A few observations: 1. I need to be more carefull passing red lights. 2. Anyone who doesn't wear a WELL-FITTING helmet is a complete idiot. 3. Anyone who let's his or her kids ride a bike without a WELL-FITTING helmet is an even bigger idiot. 4. Finally, I am thankful to Hashem that I survived this morning's accident with no serious damage.