The Accident
Yes, you read the title correctly. Lots has happened, yet again. This time the injury occurred because of another cyclist.
Riding home in early November (sorry, it's been awhile since I last added to this blog) I was humming along quite nicely when I needed to slow to go through a road underpass, which I knew always had runners/kids/dogs coming through from the other side. This underpass also has a steel, 3 tiered railing on the outside to stop any unwanted forays into the creek below.
Hitting the "U-shaped" underpass, there's a convex (?) mirror showing who/what's coming through underneath. I saw a woman running, so stayed to the far left to ensure we avoided each other. Just then I saw a fellow cyclist ripping through the other side, who hadn't seen the woman. he then veered straight into my side of the path before seeing me - too late. His shoulder hit my jaw, and I got flung into the steep railing, over the bars and backwards, before coming to a halt on the concrete, screaming in pain. Nurse and her husband were following along a few minutes back (a good thing) and they called paramedics etc. Washup: a dislocated jaw, fractured hip, fractured L3 vertebrae, and a LOT of morphine. So yeah, it wasn't pretty.
The intervening weeks have been pretty shit really. Even sitting on the lounge at home hurt like hell. Bored senseless, unable to do much of anything, I still went to work! Still not sure how I managed that as every step had me wincing in pain. The giant bruise on my hip/back finally disappeared after 3 weeks so I didn't look I'd come out of a war zone any more. But I have put on unwanted weight - a natural occurrence when you're bored stupid I guess. And then I changed jobs and moved to Melbourne...
Melbourne
The company I was working for was going through some hard times and I could see the writing on the wall, so decided to bail and take up an offer down in Melbourne. Which served the multiple purposes of allowing me to see the Hell's 500 crew and go riding up all those stupidly big mountains, hopefully complete an Everest this year (finally) and stay gainfully employed. Knowing nothing about Melbourne except that I needed to be close to the university (La Trobe), I got a unit at Bundoora, only 4 tram stops away. Bargain. Another advantage being that it's also close to Kinglake etc, and not that far (on a bike with lots of gears) to the Dandenongs, close to all amenities and I can catch a direct tram straight to the city should I want.
I haven't got a car down here (yet) because I hadn't been allowed by the surgeons to drive, run or ride (basically do anything remotely fun) for fear of exacerbating my injuries. So it's been tram/bus/train to anywhere. Which hasn't been so bad as the public transport down here is awesome.
But your weather down here sucks! After the first two weeks I was sure I was going mad as the sun never came out. Was driving me around the twist. And now, funnily enough, the sun has been out and it stays out till after 9pm. Screws with me Queenslander head! but somehow I actually like it...
The #lanewaylife is fabulous, and the coffee shops.. what more needs to be said right?
Fixie time
On Monday I bought my first "hipster mobile", a fixie from 99 Bikes in Fitzroy. Very cheap but amazingly fun. Takes you back to the basics of why we ride. Pure pleasure. I'm missing my Lapierre though. but it'll be awhile before I can get it transported down, and I needed a bike to ride (is that an addiction???) and I needed to do some exploring. walking everywhere just doesn't cut it... But the surgeons told me - you can ride, just don't fall off whatever you do. Those words scared the crap out of me. So flat pedals and flat bars here I come for awhile...
So for the next couple weeks while I'm still getting better, I'll be playing "hipster" on my fixie.
But my baby is waiting at home, ready to ride the big climbs...
Till next time...
