Monday, August 01, 2005
Postmortem on an Almost-Mortem
On Shabbos I saw a man who witnessed my accident. He was in the car directly behind the car that hit me. He said that he was astonished that I survived (no less walked away virtually without a scrath).
He said that the driver must have seen me at the last second, rammed his breaks and veered to the left. I veered slightly to the right. So, instead of the front of the car hitting me, I was hit by the side of the car, the mirror to be precise. The impact was enought to shear the mirror right off his car. The witness told me that I bounced off the car and landed upright. He said it was the darndest thing he ever saw (and that I should be very grateful to Hashem).
I have been thinking a lot about the accident since Friday morning. Two main things go through my head. First, I keep thinking about the split second before I was about to get hit and the two things that were going through my head at the same time. One, 'I can't believe how careless I just was' and two, 'brace yourself, you about to get hit hard'. I can't get that image out of my head.
The other thing that I have been thinking about is just how amazingly careless(reckless!) I was. For those of you following this diary, I hope it has been clear that I am not a reckless or even careless rider. On the contrary. Aggressive, yes. Careless, no. I am usually extremely careful. I do not go too fast downhill. I never so much as ride around the block without my helmet securely fastened. Indeed, I don't do off-road riding because I think it is too dangerous for an untrained 50-year-old.
This was uncharacteristic and could easily have cost me my life or a VERY serious injury. I can't let this happen again.
In the meantime, there is a lot of other training news. I will write about it next time.
He said that the driver must have seen me at the last second, rammed his breaks and veered to the left. I veered slightly to the right. So, instead of the front of the car hitting me, I was hit by the side of the car, the mirror to be precise. The impact was enought to shear the mirror right off his car. The witness told me that I bounced off the car and landed upright. He said it was the darndest thing he ever saw (and that I should be very grateful to Hashem).
I have been thinking a lot about the accident since Friday morning. Two main things go through my head. First, I keep thinking about the split second before I was about to get hit and the two things that were going through my head at the same time. One, 'I can't believe how careless I just was' and two, 'brace yourself, you about to get hit hard'. I can't get that image out of my head.
The other thing that I have been thinking about is just how amazingly careless(reckless!) I was. For those of you following this diary, I hope it has been clear that I am not a reckless or even careless rider. On the contrary. Aggressive, yes. Careless, no. I am usually extremely careful. I do not go too fast downhill. I never so much as ride around the block without my helmet securely fastened. Indeed, I don't do off-road riding because I think it is too dangerous for an untrained 50-year-old.
This was uncharacteristic and could easily have cost me my life or a VERY serious injury. I can't let this happen again.
In the meantime, there is a lot of other training news. I will write about it next time.
