this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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4 years. I saved 4 whole years before the second serious hit partially disabled me 2/26/14. I'm in Southern California and rode everywhere rain or shine and occasionally took the train with bike. I was on career vacation where my pay was garbage but I was having fun and riding a ton. I was super cautious too. A lot of the danger is just the total milage. You will encounter people that are so insanely stupid that no amount of caution will save you from them. The one that is the worst are illegal U-turns. I was disabled by one of those that involved 2 cars. I rode around 100k miles from 09-14. I still ride. Disability is complicated. I'm at around 170k miles since 09 now. I have not had another major hit, but I never ride distance on the road or commute.
That sound awful to go through, I'm sorry you experienced that. I feel like I wouldn't be able to get back on a bike after having major incident like that. Kudos to you for getting back into it. I live in a bike phobic city where people will openly harass you throwing stuff at you like drinks and shout at you if you are riding a bike in the designated bike lane. And there's been I think 3 - 5 deaths in the last month alone here since it's too expensive to own a car so there's more cyclists now. North America needs to work on its car centric problem
I was in race shape when I got hurt, and I'm in a very weird condition where I am very close to being healthy but it is just out of reach. A MIPS helmet could have had a substantial bearing on the crash that almost killed me. I highly recommend doing whatever it takes to get one. The tech came out in Q3 of 2013 and I almost started riding one, but didn't want to spend my own money on one when I would likely be given a demo unit with my job as a Buyer for a chain of bike shops. They aren't super expensive now like they were then. Making sure the helmet fits you well too. My face was shredded by glass too. If it wasn't for my sunglasses taking most of the glass around my eyes I probably would have lost an eye, like I have nerve damage in my chin and a chipped tooth among other issues.
I didn't remember any of it or for 3 hours after. My last memory was a beautiful morning, riding to work then the darkest blackest nothing and waking up in the hospital clueless about how I got there. Not a bad way to go really. Massive head injuries are like that, but I was traveling 30 MPH at impact after braking with GPS showing exactly how fast I was going.