On 2nd October, I was riding my bike from Sammamish to Carnation to get a Friday afternoon coffee & a donut (if I was lucky!) & was hit by a car in the main Carnation town area.
I was riding in the shoulder of the road going into Carnation, moving with the traffic at about 25mph/40kph. It is about 4:30pm, the roads are fairly busy. The driver is pulling out from a block of shops and intends to turn into Eugene St but with a busy road needs to accelerate quickly into the traffic.
As I’m riding along, I see him pull out and expect him to stop in the middle of three lanes briefly to then merge into my lane of traffic, or maybe if he gets lucky could merge immediately into my lane of traffic.
As soon as the driver reaches the middle lane, I realise that the vehicle isn’t slowing to stop, a split second later I notice that the wheels aren’t turning to merge into my lane of traffic and it becomes clear the driver intends to cut across three lanes of traffic and exit immediately into Eugene St.
An crash is inevitable at this point, it is just a matter of how bad it is going to be.
Emergency braking. I lean back, slam on my front and rear brakes at the same time. I’m braking so hard I can feel my back wheel getting light, the back of the bike starts to get crossed up slightly.
A split second later and I slam into the side of the vehicle at nearly 25mph/40kph. I come to an abrupt stop, I’m thrown off my bike, nearly flipping head over feet and land on my left hip, ribs, shoulder, elbow, back and hit my head hard enough to dint my helmet.
The driver doesn’t stop to check if I’m okay and flees the scene of the accident, hit & run.
After the impact, I’m expecting to be in pretty bad shape. I collect myself from the shock of the event and while I’m still on the ground, check I can move major limbs without too much pain then begin getting up. I dust myself off and to my utter dismay, I haven’t broken any bones.
Adrenaline is pumping, so while I can move right at that instant, it won’t be long before the impact begins to kick in. I can feel my neck getting stiff, my upper back and shoulders are aching, my left arm/elbow is absolutely throbbing, my left glute isn’t working and I can’t lift my left knee more than a couple inches.
A bunch of wonderful people come to my aid, relentlessly check if I’m okay, tell me I need to call the police, then proceed to call the police on my behalf which was a huge help at that moment, offer to drive me wherever, wait with me while the Sheriff arrives, provide their witness statements & details, wait while Claire arrives to ferry me home. Class & compassion.
I’ve taken my bike down to Trek to have it stripped & rebuilt for a service, at the same time I’ve asked them to check the carbon frame and electronic gears for signs of damage. If I get lucky, it’ll survive to live another day or I’ll be up for a replacement bike (ouch). I’ll need to replace my helmet regardless since it has taken a major impact.
I’m truly grateful that it wasn’t worse, back at it once I’ve mended.