Day 40, Kentucky
August 24, 2010: From Wickliffe to Cadiz. Miles pedaled: 88
I packed up my camp on the banks of the Mississippi River, and carried the bike and gear to a nearby road. It was then that I noticed the rear tire was low. Removing the tube, I found a tiny wire embedded in the tire. It was not showing on the outside, but was extending 1/8 inch in the inside. I had to use my small pliers to remove it. I swapped the damaged tube for a new one - to be patched later - then I was ready to roll.
The day's riding was very beautiful. The land was forested in hardwoods, and all along the way were houses with beautifully landscaped yards. These were big yards covered in neatly mowed grass. The road I took was also hilly. And the sometimes strong headwinds subtracted from the day's mileage, but that's to be expected.
I regret not taking a better photo of this nice woman and her home-made cart. That's her dog laying in the cart. But the wheeled cart was, according to her, "becoming nearly inoperable." She came and sat with me for a while, as I was eating a snack. I asked about her trip. She didn't say where she had started from, but presently she was going to Maryland. She was amazed that I was covering such mileages each day, but said she was "too old to ride a bicycle," so was traveling with the cart instead.
I saw her talking with several people, and I saw several offer her rides. Why she didn't take them up, I have no idea.
I mention this only because she struck a certain note with me, in that she seemed to be enjoying her trip as much as I was enjoying mine - meeting interesting people and talking with them for a while, then moving on to enjoy another setting. I've seen many motorcycle travelers do much the same.
So here's an important lesson distilled from my experiences:
If you want to have a bunch of fun, as in - Next FUN Trip - get away from the internet, get out of the house, leave your car behind, and go on a trip. You can go long-distance hiking, canoeing or kayaking, cycling, motorcycling, or as this woman was doing, even traveling with a cart with which to carry your gear. Doing any of these things, you'll get plenty of sunshine and exercise for good health, you will visit pretty and interesting places, and most of all you will meet friendly people.
Traveling in a car, even a super expensive car designed to impress everyone, will isolate you from the benefits which life has to offer. These benefits are free for the taking. They can't be bought. But you have to travel outside your comfort zone of home and your favorite chair, TV and your impressive, comfortable car. You have to travel outside your zone of certainly. Out there, uncertainly becomes the order of the day. But as time goes on, you will learn to thrive on uncertainly because of how it makes life so interesting.
For the record I pedaled the 121 to Mayfield, the 58 and then the 80 to Hardin then Aurora, then across the Land Between the Lakes to Cadiz. It was a beautiful route all the way, until nearing Cadiz which has a big city ambiance. Once past Cadiz I kept on the 80 to interstate 24 where I found a motel.
Day 41, Kentucky
2010-08-25: From Cadiz to Glasgow. Miles pedaled: 114
I had a pre-dawn start, pedaling along Hwy 68/80, first under Hwy 24, then proceeding to Hopkinsville. I chose the business route through town, which was a bit of a blunder because it took me through an area of suspect. The strangest thing I saw was a black youth trying to pull a grounding wire off an electrical pole, maybe for its value as copper, or maybe just to be destructive. Near the far edge of town there was one last c-store where I could have bought something to eat, but the thought of stopping in this neighborhood lacked appeal, so I kept on going . . .
Out into another strange world of a whole different type - that of the Shakers. The shoulder was very good for cycling, because it was made for the horse and buggy. So I made some mileage, which was good because there were no places to stop for refreshments, at all. I saw the sign near Elkton "Tourist Attraction: Dairy Queen 1.8 miles." But my how times had changed; another sign: "Elkton, wi-fi hot spot."
Anticipating the 28-mile snack gap, I was carrying my own, so at one point I stopped along the highway for a sit-down rest. Two things of note were a brown squirrel that seemed strangely unafraid - I was leery in case it might have had rabies, and a space-age flower that looked like it came from the movie Avatar.
I think the flower shown a passion fruit flower. If you wait a week or so, and it is the right variety, lovely juicy passion fruits will appear. -William R., Perth
Reaching Russelville I pulled in to the first c-store, and got to talking to a couple who asked about my bike trip. The guy asked if I had been to this town before, and I said yes. (2004 "Hello America" trip.) Then he said he had seen me riding west. (right again.) They drove away, but came back saying it was hot out, and they wanted to buy me a cold drink. So the lady handed me three dollars.
Most c-stores that I have visited have some fresh cooked food, hamburgers and the like. I much prefer this to the horrible food served in the fast food joints, which tends to make me ill. This c-store had what the lady called "pastrami rolls" that she had baked herself. They were delicious.
Yesterday my back tire had picked up something that had caused a slow leak, and as a stop-gap measure I had just been pumping up the tire. So today when I came to an abandoned store with a shaded porch, I decided to fix the flat. I found the standard tire wire imbedded in the tire, and I located the hole in the tube by blowing it up and holding it to my face, and feeling for a tiny jet of air, indicating the leak. I patched the hole and got back on the road.
In the wake of Hopkinsville I was not looking forward to going through Bowling Green, but in fact it was quite a nice town with a beautiful campus. I quite enjoyed it.
Next I got onto the 65 freeway for some real rock and rolling. This was three lanes going each way, heavy with traffic - lots of cars and big trucks. It also had a nice, wide shoulder, positively littered in debris. The terrain was flat and the trucks seemed to suck me along at 20 mph. It was hard work, but I made some miles.
Next came the turnoff onto the Cumberland Parkway. Good-bye nice shoulder, but hello gorgeous scenery. And in another 11 miles I reached Glasgow. Part way through town I came to a motel and a restaurant nearby, so I stopped for the day.
Miles pedaled today: 114
Note: earlier in the day I passed the 3,000 mile point on my journey.
Day 42, Kentucky
August 26, 2010: From Glasgow to Somerset. Miles pedaled: 75
I left Glasgow in the very early morning, and got back on the Cumberland Parkway. And I should note that riding a bicycle on a highway with limited access is not legal in most states. I'm just describing what I did, and not recommending anything.
Mid-morning I passed a patrol car parked at a speed trap. I waved, and the officer did not pursue me.
I had set off without carrying any food (I don't care to eat an early breakfast) so was famished by the time I reached the first off-ramp with a c-store at Columbia. The gal had cooked a selection of items, so I enjoyed a late breakfast of fried eggs and potatoes, sausage and fried chicken - all washed down with a quart of chocolate milk. Then I bought several things for the road, snacks mostly but one sandwich. These high-mileage days require a lot of food to keep the fires burning.
But today did not seem one of them. I was running low on energy, and the hilly terrain and strong headwinds weren't helping matters. About noon I was dragging along, and thinking of taking a nap. So that's what I did, carrying the bike into the forest, out of view, and crawling into my spitfire.
45 minutes later I was back on the road feeling at least somewhat refreshed. It would have been a good day for a zero.
I was about halfway from Russell Springs to Somerset when a patrolman pulled me over.
The officer was most congenial, but worked by the book. No riding a bicycle on the parkway. Never mind that I had not seen any signs forbidding it. And that I had a wide shoulder protected by a rumble strip. "Its too dangerous," the officer said. "Now to figure out how to get you out of here. There's no exits nearby." So he called for a pick-up. Meanwhile he instructed me to pedal on, while he followed close behind (no ticket issued).
Talk about a weird feeling, pedaling with a patrol car in the rear-view mirror, lights flashing. We went like that for a mile until the pick up truck arrived.
The pick-up driver was friendly also, and said he tried to talk the policeman into letting me go - no harm done; but without results. Nonetheless in a short ways we reached the off-ramp, and with that, I was back on my own.
Now I was pedaling road 80 to Nancy and beyond. And this road had a lot more traffic and no shoulder. And because some drivers were impatient to get home, this road seemed a hundred times more unsafe than the parkway. By the time I reached Somerset, the traffic had mentally worn me out. So at 5:00 pm, I called it a day.
Day 43, Kentucky
August 27, 2010: From Somerset to Middleboro. Miles pedaled: 87
I set off at dawn and pedaled through Somerset, navigating by GPS as usual in these sizable towns. Once out of town I took the 192, which led past one house after another through the countryside. It was a narrow road with no shoulder, but the traffic was minimal and the drivers showed respect for a bicyclist.
15 miles out I stopped beside the road for a rest and a snack. For once I was carrying food, even though I had passed a few small stores.
Further on, I stopped at a store, and enjoyed talking with the people running the place. And, no, they didn't know the easiest route ahead; they hadn't even been to the next town of Corbin but once or twice.
The terrain was beautifully forested and the vegetation was starting to look like that on the A.T. including plenty of poison ivy. The jewelweed was blooming with orange flowers, the first such flowers I had seen this year. The vegetation looked much more advanced in the season, and because the morning had started out chilly - for the first time in a long while - all this took me back in time, to when I started hiking the A.T. earlier this year. What a summer of adventure it has been. 5.5 months worth and counting.
I followed the 312 to Corbin, stopped for lunch, then took the 25E. All day I had been grinding up one hill after another, and whisking down the opposite sides. This road had plenty of hills also, but a lot more traffic, some of which was down right rude. Not their fault, they just need better roads. And I needed a better shoulder. But at various times that is what I got.
Here is another unknown plant to me: (Kudzu, see the replies below)
"The picture of the plant in question appears to be Kudzu. It is fairly common and invasive here in Tennessee." -Ben B.
"The pictures of KY vegetation is KUDZU. It's found throughout the South... an 1876 importation from Japan to control erosion and provide cattle feed. Lacking the controls of freezing temperatures and a population familiar with its uses, it has become a major weed. Very sci-fi looking stuff!" -Rick M.
"Re: vines, Kudzu...very nasty invasive vine...was brought in to help with erosion control...sadly will kill a forest in no time...we have it in Missouri now." -Curtis W.
I stopped for the day in Middleboro, just a mile from the Virginia state line. That means I've pedaled across Kentucky in three days.
Day 44, Virginia
August 28, 2010: From Middleboro to Kingsport. Miles pedaled: 83
I left Middleboro at dawn and pedaled the mile up to the Cumberland Gap Tunnel in a chilly fog. An escort saw me approaching, and came and helped me load the bike into his truck. Then he drove me through the tunnel and let me out on the other side. The driver was very friendly, and said he sees bikes here often. "One guy was even walking," he said "pulling a cart loaded with his gear."
Highway 58 led through rolling hills in a pretty valley and had many possibilities for snack stops - gas stations with small c-stores.
But the further I traveled, the bigger the hills, and the more traffic. The day was a Saturday, and the people were out "enjoying" the countryside in their cars. At least that's how things used to work. In this day and age, they were more out trying to outdo each other in their powerful cars and pickup trucks. And unfortunately for me, the road often had no shoulder.
I peddled through Joneville, Duffield, and Weber City, and by then the day was late and I was knackered mentally from the traffic and physically from the heat and steep and long hills. So I took a five-mile detour down into Tennessee, to the city of Kingsport, and found a room.
Miles pedaled today: 83
Day 45, Virginia
2010-08-29: From Kingsport to Groseclose. Miles pedaled: 76
I left Kingsport at dawn, following the 11W. On the way out of town I happened to see a strange sight. There, on a patch of grass, not 30 feet away, in front of a commercial business of some sort, was a small flock of wild snow geese; maybe eight birds in all. They looked at me but didn't fly away as I pedaled past. I have seen these types of birds by the thousands in the Arctic, but wondered what these were doing here in Tennessee. In the summer, acting tame no less.
The day's progress was slow, due to the unrelenting hills and the congested traffic and stoplights in the towns along the way. But the countryside was beautiful with a wide variety of hardwood forests, and rural houses with big and pretty lawns.
Mid-afternoon I was pedaling down the hill into Groseclose, where the A.T. crosses Highway 11, when I saw a familiar car pull to a stop, and Jenny come running out to meet me. Now that was a beautiful sight! She looked terrific, all trim and fit.
Of course it all been prearranged, and we had been in contact by phone. And some dear friends, Walt and Pat, had picked her up at the nearest airport and driven her to here. It was good to see Walt and Pat also. I had met them on my A.T. hike earlier this year, and they had taken me in for a night, and provided me with a home away from home. And not only that, but they had brought a nice bike from their garage for Jenny to ride.
By the way, this was my fifth time being in this area. Three times on the A.T., and our crossing the trail here during our "Hello America" cycle trip. It was Jenny's third.
So with that, we added my bike onto the tailgate rack, and drove into town for the evening.
Day 46, Virginia
August 30, 2010: From Groseclose to Salem. Miles pedaled: 89
After an early breakfast we returned to Groseclose by car and said good-bye to Walt and Pat. And with that we were on our way.
The morning was quite foggy as we rode up the first hill, with Jenny fairly sprinting ahead, eager to begin the ride.
Jenny writes: I was thrilled to be riding along with Ray finally. I love to ride, and to be in such a beautiful state on a two lane, country road on a cool morning, was just perfect. Having come from Arizona I was struck by the dank odors from the thick vegetation.
Ray writes: We pedaled through the community of Rural Retreat then on to the bigger towns of Wytheville, Dublin and Radford. In between towns the countryside was beautiful, but in the towns, themselves, we had to watch our every move because of the very small percentage of motorists that exhibited aggressive behavior.
In Radford we stopped at a c-store and met the Japanese owner who had created a bountiful vegetable garden out of a small strip of ground in front of his store. I doubt that the casual observer would have recognized the landscaping as anything unusual, but he was growing vegetables a' plenty. We asked him what he harvested, and for example he said he picks some 10 cucumbers a day.
Then late in the day we stopped at the edge of Salem for the night.
Miles pedaled today: 89
Special note: Tomorrow's update is a bit graphic, but please note that we're not interested in comments from stay-at-homes about the dangers of our lifestyle.
- In the United States about 300,000 deaths occur annually due to inactivity and poor dietary habits.
- Less active adults are at greater risk of dying of heart disease and developing chronic ailments such as colon cancer, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
- Motor Vehicle Crashes are the number one killer in the US - on average 93 persons each day.
Day 47, Virginia
August 31, 2010: From Salem to WHAM! then back to Roanoke. Miles pedaled: about 30.
We started out at dawn, and began the ride through Salem. Because the day was not yet light, we rode the sidewalk, to stay off the streets which were very busy with traffic. Then, early morning we took a break at a small doughnut factory.
Salem blends in to the larger city of Roanoke, and of course the traffic increased to nearly rush hour proportions. Also, there were many places where the lack of sidewalk forced us onto the road, and in many places the road had no shoulder to ride on. Nevertheless, we were very careful to stay away from the traffic, and the motorists treated us with, at least, regard.
We were both using rear view mirrors mounted to our helmets. I think these are very effective in increasing the safety awareness of the cyclist, not only because they allow us to see what is coming, but what is coming close to the edge of the road.
At one point at a stoplight, I reminded Jenny that if she sees a vehicle approaching too close to the edge of the road, she should immediately steer off the road. Also I mentioned the time two days ago when I had to do just that.
In all of the cycling I have done on my three long trips, I have had to ditch it maybe five or six times. Nevertheless, as we pedaled through Roanoke, we didn't have to do that. We didn't even have any close calls. Although we did have to haul off the road, occasionally, to let a particularly gnarly knot of traffic get by.
We stopped two more times for refreshments, then followed the 460 out of town.
A while later we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped to take a few photos.
Note: I am no longer following the Tans-Am route, but just headed for the East Coast on my own.
We stopped a little further on for more refreshments, then pedaled past Montvale. In another mile we came to a sharp curve in the road, and I thought we had better be careful, and also get through quickly because it is a blind corner. But we couldn't pedal very fast because the road was somewhat uphill.
WHAM!
I felt something slam into me from behind. On the way to the ground I saw the trailer of a white semi truck whiz by.
I lay on the gravel alongside the road, next to the guardrail, listening for the truck to stop. But it just kept going. My whole body hurt like hell.
Jenny writes: "I saw the 18-wheeler whiz by only inches from me, and hit Ray with a sickening thud. I had been pedaling just a few inches from the edge of the pavement, so I steered for the gravel. Then I saw the truck keep veering to the right, ahead of us. The outside tires left the pavement and drove onto the gravel.
"I don't remember falling down. The first thing I remember was walking toward Ray to see if he was still alive. I could hardly believe he was still in one piece after that kind of an impact, and that he was not too bloody - although his shorts were torn, and he couldn't get up.
"He told me that he was OK, so I quickly moved our bikes, sprawled across the road. I couldn't remove them too far because of the guardrail, so I just leaned them against it. There was no other traffic for about a minute, which had been fortunate while our bikes were still lying on the road."
Ray writes: I was lying there, conscious but dazed, and I'm thinking: I should get up, but really I was afraid to even try to move my body, in case something was broken. My left forearm felt broken for sure, and I could feel something wrong with my left hip and leg, and about everywhere in between.
I raised my hands and forearms, keeping the elbows on the ground, and shifted my legs, raising one knee. I didn't realize it, but the impact had shredded my pants, knocked my right shoe off, and torn my left glove half off.
Jenny writes: "In a couple of minutes I saw two guys running back to us. I told this to Ray. One guy kept going down the road, past us, to alert the oncoming traffic. The other one stopped and asked, "What happened?"
"He was hit by a semi," I replied.
Then he asked, "Has anyone called 911?"
I must have been still dazed myself, and didn't think of that.
Ray writes: I told the guy, "I think I can ride laying down in the back seat of a car," although I was not convinced of this myself.
"I'm an EMT," he replied, "and you have got to lay still. Don't move!" Then he called 911.
Within what seemed like just a couple of minutes, people began arriving and started working on me. I didn't know it, but there was now an ambulance parked on the highway next to me, along with two fire trucks and their emergency personnel, and several sheriff's deputies setting down flares and trying to avert the traffic and slow it down. Again, I didn't find this out until later.
Soon the paramedics slid a backboard under me and began strapping and taping me to it, which only increased my discomfort because it felt so hard against my injured hip and leg. So I asked for some padding, and that helped a little.
The ambulance ride seemed to take a long while, because as someone said we were headed back to Roanoke. I had asked about Jenny and was told she was riding in the front seat. The paramedic, riding with me in the back, asked if I needed pain medication, but I said I didn't think so right now. She asked how bad I hurt, on a scale from one to ten. I replied that my arm was a 9 and my hip and thigh were a 7.5 but I said I could just hang on. In another five minutes she administered the pain medication anyway, and that soon made a world of difference.
Once at the hospital I was wheeled into the emergency room and a group of a dozen specialists began checking me over, with x-rays and then a ct scan. Then I was moved into an emergency care room, and that's when Jenny was allowed in. I saw that she had a nasty contusion on her left hand, as if something had hit her very hard. I asked whether she wanted treatment, and she said she did not.
In the end they could not find anything broken in me, so the nurse rolled me onto my side and got to work debriding the abrasions. I had a bad case of road-rash - my lower back and butt - on the left side - looked like raw hamburger (I was told) as did some of my leg.
After the nurse finished, I asked to be allowed to get out of bed. My body wanted to get moving again, and I knew that it would "set-up" if I remained in bed much longer. So while waiting for the doctor's OK I started doing exercises, mini sit-ups, leg lifts, and that sort of thing.
When the doctor arrived I made it clear that I wanted to be released. So after two more hours of observation, they took all the wires and tubes off of me. Thanks to the pain medication, I felt fine - sort of - as I walked out.
As a retired critical care nurse, I am sorry to say I enjoyed your report about your accident. You gave an excellent account. I'm sorry you had an accident, but your experience illustrates the great value in an active lifestyle.
Specifically, your lifestyle, careful attention to proper diet (for you), level of fitness and muscular development protected you. It kept you from breaking several bones and being incapacitated, at least temporarily, hospitalized or worse.
I've seen more than one case of severe road rash/ road hamburger, and done the necessary care. The only ones that do well are the ones with excellent muscular development before the trauma. Their muscles literally hold their bodies together, and prevent horrific injury where possible. - Rick M., Washington, DC area
Wayne, one of the volunteer firemen, had been on the scene, and had taken care of our bikes. He met us at the hospital and kindly drove us, with our bikes, to a nearby motel.
Once alone in our room, we got to look our bikes over. Jenny's was fine, but mine had been damaged. The left-hand shifter from my old bike - which I had mounted on the new bike - had been demolished. The right pedal had been crushed. And the orange cover on the rear gear bag, still mounted firmly on the back rack, had black truck tire marks on it, as though it had been run over.
It is a mystery to me why the tire marks on the gear bag are on the right side, both top and bottom - when the truck hit me from the left. The impact must have made my bike dance around in the air for a short while. Judging by the marks, I think the truck might have run over the gear bag, (while still attached to the bike). That would have been quite a sight.
I think the truck had side-swiped my left forearm, and smashed the gear shifter. The impact had swung me around, and possibly slammed my backside into a truck tire.
As for Jenny's hand injury, something had hit her hand very hard. Her left hand, same as my left lower forearm. The back corner of the truck trailer might have slammed into her hand and knocked her down. Jenny had found both bikes laying on the road in much the same position and distance from the edge of the road. Or maybe she had hit her hand falling down. We don't know. She remembers steering for the gravel, but does not remember if the truck actually hit her. But neither could she explain the injury to her hand.
Now, as to what had gone wrong:
I tend to watch my rear view mirror like a hawk, but I never saw the truck coming until it hit me. It could be that the sharp curve in the road put Jenny squarely in my view, and for the moment I couldn't see behind her. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention at that particular moment. Doubtless, no human could pay close attention to a rear view mirror, or anything else, for hours on end, and weeks on end. The mind starts to wander. In any case . . .
The deputy said that because there were no other witnesses to the hit and run, he couldn't identify the truck driver.
We think we were more than visible in our bright-colors, and once again Jenny saw that, after striking me, the truck continued drifting off the road. In retrospect, the physics of the curve would seem to push an absent minded driver away from us, but this driver might have been over-steering. And indeed, we visited the site a few days later, and saw many drivers doing just that - drifting onto the shoulder of the right side.
Proposed alternative explanation for your truck incident: the driver had target fixation followed by sheer animal panic. On the target fixation: remember in your hang-gliding days how someone would manage to land in the only tree in a 40-acre landing zone? The highway maintenance trucks here in CA have big fold-down hex-cell crash attenuators because people crash into the brightly-colored trucks. Then once your truck driver saw what had happened, limbic animal panic took over. Both things argue that the driver was NOT highly experienced, and probably stressed & distracted. - Bryan A., Pasadena, CA
Yes, I think that is what might have happened.
And as for what had gone right:
Its no wonder the emergency personnel were so concerned about me, having been struck by an 18-wheel semi truck traveling an estimated 50 mph. As I walked out of the hospital I thought: I'm the luckiest man alive.
I thank God for saving me, but - in jest - wished he had steered the truck maybe an inch further away from the edge of the road. :) That would have saved a whole lot of trouble on everyone's part. (Conversely, had I been riding an inch further away from the edge of the road, I would not be writing this.)
The hospital staff gave me a set of paper scrubs to wear, because I no longer had any clothes. My shorts had been shredded, maybe by the truck tire, and the paramedics had to cut off my shirt. So that evening we visited a shopping mall and bought a shirt and pants for me. Talk about starting over from scratch!
So many people helped us that day, and to them we are extremely grateful. Our sincere thanks to Jeff, Wayne, and the rest of the crew of the Montvale Volunteer Fire Department. Thank you for the incredibly fast response. It was such a comfort having you there helping us. We really appreciate it.
Also, we wish to thank the Trauma Unit doctors, nurses, and staff at Roanoke Memorial Hospital for the excellent care. Everyone involved was a top notch professional, efficient and caring. No wonder this Trauma Unit is considered the best in all of southern Virginia. Our thanks to you all.
Miles pedaled today: about 30. I no longer have an odometer: it was lost in transport to the hospital.
Day 48, Virginia
September 1, 2010-09 Roanoke.
We walked to a nearby store, while I was still wearing the hospital scrubs because that was all the clothes I had, and bought me some clothes.
Then feeling more presentable, we walked to a restaurant for dinner.
I was eager to resume my trip, soon as I was able. Jenny wanted to continue riding also; but I was no longer comfortable with her cycling these Virginia roads. So instead she opted for plan B: renting car and driving sag.
My bike is in a shop getting new shifters, and should be ready to roll tomorrow.
I was taking about six showers a day with antiseptic soap to help fight infection. Even so, my wounds were weeping pretty bad, so at the drugstore I bought a box of adult diapers.
* * *
. . . Ray, you are a classic example of a self-sufficient mindset. When a person experiences what you did in that accident, your natural inclination is to get up and take care of it yourself. God knows! So EMT's were sent to keep you from doing the stupid, classic thing. (said with a smile) CONGRATULATIONS! In a time of adversity, you both managed to remain inspirational! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! - Rick M., Washington, DC area, retired critical care nurse
I wanted to comment on this second part of Rick's excellent post. Spot on, Rick and thank you very much!
The two EMT's "happened" to be driving by, just minutes after I was hit. I don't even pretend to know how such timing took place. If it was divine, why did the truck even hit me in the first place? (For those who think they have an answer, please keep it to yourself. :) (I'm only joking)
Nevertheless, "The stupid, classic thing" Rick was referring to, is to get right up, only to die of shock a few minutes later. It happens to people all the time. But I like to think that I'm more connected to my body, due to all the time I've spent outdoors in challenging situations. And not only that, I was trained as an EMT myself, way back when.
Jenny tells me that I lay beside the road for 20 minutes while the crew worked on me. I had no desire to get up, because of the shock from getting smacked like that, although I did try to raise my head a few times for a look around, but the EMTs wouldn't have it. (But before they arrived I was moving my legs and arms.) Jenny also says the ambulance ride took 15 minutes, then I was in the ER for 20 min. Only in the recovery room, 30 minutes after that, did I start getting the urge - the strong urge - to get up.
So it took my body about 1.5 hours for the shock to wear off, and my body to want to start moving again.
I don't know what I would have done in the next few minutes after the accident, had someone else come along and offered a ride in their back seat. But I do know - in retrospect - that pulling to a stop in this area of the road would have been suicidal. The police blocking off the lane was the only way that the ambulance could get to me.
If it had happened somewhere else in a more safe location to park, and someone had offered a ride to the hospital, I think I would have lain there for another several minutes before asking to be drug off the highway.
However, when the EMTs and Paramedics first started to move me, in order to place the backboard under me, I experienced sharp pains shooting up my spine. So I could not have physically gotten into someone's car had I wanted to.
So the bottom line is, the EMTs and Paramedics saved the day. And regardless of the timing, I think that they were heaven sent.
Day 49, Virginia
September 2, 2010: Roanoke. Miles pedaled: 0.5
The bike shop finished installing the new shifters, so I got to try riding the bike. "T_R_Y" There's nothing like getting hit by a semi to make a person feel old.
So the first question was whether I could get my leg over the crossbar. I couldn't lift my right leg too high, but I managed the first test.
The second question was whether I could sit on the bicycle's seat, with my whole backside, on the left side, covered in road rash (and truck tire rash).
As good luck would have it, my body's bike-sitting area was fine, and I managed several laps around the parking lot. In fact I had a lot of fun - feeling like a kid on a new bike.
Never mind that I must of looked somewhat odd, with adult diapers under my shorts to catch the fluid weeping from the rash.
Miles pedaled today: 0.5
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