I commented yesterday under my last post about having a good first day of work, when not much later, on my ride home, I got hit by a car.  Spoke too soon?

Yes, really, I got hit by a car.

I was biking on a usually empty side street, and a driver heading towards me turned left into his driveway.  The sun was facing him, and he just didn’t see me, until I hit his windshield.  There are lots of ways I was lucky:

  • He wasn’t going very fast, and neither was I
  • I shattered his windshield with my shoulder and not my head…
  • Even though I wasn’t wearing my helmet (never again, I don’t care how small the town is)
  • I got to be tied to a back board, with a neck collar, and taken away in an ambulance. Excitement! And I was conscious for it!
  • After tests and x-rays, I was confirmed to have only bumps and bruises, nothing broken.
  • Scott is up in Maryland for a few days to celebrate his Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday!), but my good friend Kathy came to meet me at the hospital, and kept me at their house for the night.  She and Vance also fed me shrimp tacos, wine and listened to me say, with wonder, every 10 minutes or so, “I got hit by a car!”

Today, I’m a little sore, and I can see where I’m going to be black and blue in a couple of days, but I feel mostly okay, and extremely lucky.  And my students found the story more than a little entertaining.  Describing the importance of attending class, and my attendance policy, I got to say “I got hit by a car yesterday, and I STILL made to an 8am class today.”

On the down side, my bicycle did not make it through the ordeal.  I fear what my neighbors thought when the police came and deposited the pieces in my driveway.

My coffee cup holder, some of you might be interested to know, also did not perform well in the crash test.  The coffee mug flew out and onto the curb.  I’ll have to rework the design when I get my new bike.