This Post Contains Bike Crash Photos

Bruising and scraping and whatnot

It’s been four days since the crash. Here is an update of where I’m at, along with photos in increase degree of ick. You’re welcome for me not making one of them the feature photo.

First off, no, this isn’t going to stop me from cycling. In many tens of thousands of miles cycled, I’ve only had two crashes, and I don’t consider either of them to be my fault. The first one was in 2015 when some guy who I’m pretty sure was impaired suddenly and with no warning and for no fucking reason steered hard to the left on the bike path (onto the grass—there wasn’t even a path he was turning on to) as I was passing him. I slammed on the brakes and turned sideways and caught the post of his handlebars right in the ass. He was fine. I was not. He jumped on his bike and fucked off as I lay there moaning in pain.

If you want to see the bruised ass photo from that crash, it’s on my Twitter. WARNING. It actually shows my ass and may not be suitable for work. The pic.

By the way, posting that pic on Facebook is what got me my first ever Facebook ban.

This most recent crash was a freak accident as well. All the other underpasses were fine, but this one was black ice and the two guys after me crashed on it as well (even though I managed to yell a warning to the second guy and he ignored me).

I like to ride hard, but I am fucking paranoid. The reason why I’m paranoid is explained by the pain I’m in right now. I really like to avoid that pain. I don’t like being out of commission. Every ride I’m hyper vigilant and my fingers are always on the brakes. I’m always expecting someone to do something stupid. I cycle with an abundance of caution and that caution has helped me avoid numerous accidents.

And yet, shit happens. But it could have been worse.

If you don’t want to scroll through all the pictures, the last one is my elbow, which has a pretty good gash. It bore the brunt of the crash, and while the elbow is sore, the main problem remains the shoulder. It got really wrenched in the process. My range of motion is good but it’s still pretty painful and there is major inhibition when I try to reach for things at certain angles.

My wife (the doctor) says we need to wait a week or so to see what happens because it’s only been four days and it is improving. If it’s not a lot better in a week, then we’re probably going to spring for an MRI. I really hope I don’t need surgery. I don’t think I do, but it hurts right in the area that might spell torn rotator cuff. Gotta wait and see.

Anyway, here are the pics. The first couple aren’t that bad.

The crash all happened on my left side, so I don’t know how my right thumb got hurt. This was through a glove. Perhaps it hit my handlebars. It was quite swollen the first couple of days, and you can see some bruising. It’s still a bit stiff but not too bad.

Next up is left calf. Just some scraping. I was wearing shorts. It was more slide than impact.

Next is upper thigh. This doesn’t look that bad, but it hurts quite a bit. My entire left upper leg is pretty sore, although I did manage to walk 7km on the treadmill yesterday.

And another part that hurts quite a bit is the hip above that:

And finally, here is the smashed-up elbow. This was taken yesterday when my wife was changing the steri-strips. This was through a fairly thick cycling jacket. The jacket got a bit of a tear, but it didn’t rip all the way through. This pic should explain why my shoulder hurts.

Anyway, that’s the update and the end of the photos. I’ll probably not write about this much more except to let you know what ends up happening with my shoulder in another week or so.

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