On Wednesday afternoon, I was on my way to meet JenniNZ when an SUV collided with me on my bike.
Actually, that makes it sound like it was the driver's fault. It wasn't, or not entirely. If there was a fault, it was on both our parts, but honestly, I think it was down to road design more than anything. The street I was turning onto is extremely narrow— one lane—shared by vehicles going both ways and parked as well as bikes and pedestrians, and has low visibility due to a hill, lots of vegetation, and curves.
I won't show the photo I took immediately after the accident lest I traumatize anyone, but I am not exaggerating when I say there were tire tracks (his) all the way up my arm and on my face. It was that close. Or, rather, I guess I should say -- I got hit -- but luckily neither of us was going fast on such a quiet residential street and he had braked and so had I, so the force of impact was as low as it could be, considering he was driving a massive vehicle.
I fell hard on one arm and have some nerve damage in my right hand. On my left side, where his car hit me, I have a punctured lung but it is healing. I have some ugly bruises. And I bit hard on my mouth so I had to have stitches there. I have a fat lip and some light scrapes that will not scar.
No broken bones, no concussion (I didn't hit my head), no internal injuries (beyond the lung), and -- believe it or not! -- my bike is actually ok! Not only that -- so are my clothes! My shoes got two very tiny marks that I washed off. My shorts didn't even get dirty when I fell. (How?? White shorts!!) My top probably had some marks on it, but they didn't really show on the navy and they washed right out.
The driver stayed at the scene and made sure I was okay. He even came to my home to check on me the next day. The doctors at the hospital could not have been kinder or more thorough.
I was sad to miss Jenni but I am very grateful to be alive. I even managed a walk this evening.
