Our new guest poster, Don Blount, is getting over a nasty crash. Not only did he crack a helmet — and a wrist — but he had to deal with an unexpected side effect.
But let me back up a bit. Four days earlier, on the first day of fall, I had taken a tumble from my bike halfway through a 46-mile ride.
What I didn’t see was that there was a gap between the nice asphalt road and the cement walking path. My front wheel caught in it, and I went down.
Best I remember, I fell on my head and left side, fracturing my left wrist and getting some road rash on my left shoulder, hip and knee.
As I have said previously, I wouldn’t ride without a helmet. My injuries would’ve been more severe had I not been wearing one.
The helmet did exactly what it was supposed to do. It absorbed the blow, cracking in about a half dozen places so my head would not. I still received a sizable bump on my head that would take a few weeks to fully heal.
My bike was fine aside from some torn bar tape and a scrape on a brake lever. I was able to gather myself and ride the 23 miles home, wrist and all.
I was less successful hiding the injuries from my wife.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Uh, nothing,” I replied. She followed me as I limped through the house.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded this time.
“Well,” I said, “If you must do something, help me take my jersey off because I can’t lift my arm.”
I managed to get in the shower and muffle my moans as I cleaned my road rash.
I went to sleep that night thinking the worst was behind me and that I’d have to figure out how to make do with a cast for a few weeks.
I didn’t know how wrong I was.
What else could afflict Don? Join us again tomorrow as Bike Noob brings another installment of “Blount on Biking.”
Sounds like post concussion syndrome. I remember getting concussions growing up and the doctors would send me home and just make sure I didn’t go to sleep for 24 hours. Now days it seems to be a bigger deal with pro football/hockey players retiring after 3 or 4 concussions.