The Glade 4.0

Everyone (mainly non-cyclist friends) tells me "it's just a matter of time!", and I'm now getting lots of "I told you so!".

I was out for a quick 25 mile bike ride around Lake Sammamish on Tuesday evening. The ride is pretty much all designated bike lanes, shared lanes, or MUT. There are two or three places where you have to merge into traffic to make a left turn, or navigate a traffic circle. Generally this is considered a safe place to ride and is a very popular cycling area year round.

I was cruising along at about 15mph on a MUT (Multi-User Trail) where it crosses the entrance/exit to Lake Sammamish State Park. As I approached the driveway there was a red prius pulling up to the roadway parallel to the trail. She stopped and I saw her look first to her left, then to her right, and directly at me. I have an "eye contact" rule about riding across the path of a vehicle. Even stopped ones. I had slowed and continued to watch her as I approached to continue up the trail. Just as I was about 5' from her right bumper, she suddenly jumps forward to the point where her car is completely blocking the MUT and part of the lane of traffic adjacent to it. I swerved and braked, but was nit able to avoid contact.

My left knee and the left side of the front fork impacted her right front bumper with enough force to flip me over, off the bike and out into the traffic lane.

I hit the ground hard enough to stun me. I don't remember hitting the ground at all, but do remember rolling onto my back, looking up into a beautiful clear 72 degree clear blue sky and saying to myself..." holy ****, I just got hit by a car!". I think the shock of that reality was stronger than the impact with the ground. I've never been in a traffic accident, or had so much as a close call (with a vehicle) on my bike. There was a lot of "WTF?" going on in the few functioning brain cells I had.

I wasn't too long before there was a crowd of people standing over me asking if I was OK (I didn't answer because I truly didn't know). Someone identified themselves as a trained medical responder and did a little triage until the ambulance and emergency crews took over.

They put me on a backboard and into an ambulance, cut my favorite jersey off of me and asked me "what hurts?". "My right shoulder and my left knee".

Fast forward to the ER, and after a couple of very painful hours of Xrays an CT scans, the doctor finally came in and gave me a quick summary of my injuries.

Lacerated Left Knee - 12 staples to close it up. This was a "bumper grab".. a stretch/tear, not an abrasion or cut.
Both hips - Mild to moderate contusions (they are both black and blue)
Right Shoulder - Broken Clavicle, Broken Scapula (through the Glenoid with a 2cm displacement), and a broken second rib

No head injuries (not a mark on the helmet)
No leg/foot/ankle injuries other than the stretch laceration and soreness from the bumper hitting the left knee.
Arms and hands completely intact, not a scratch

The ER doctor told me he was concerned about internal chest injuries because of the broken 2nd rib. This is a very protected rib, and according to him, its fairly uncommon to see them break. He had a pulmonary specialist examine me to make sure the lung was ok (it was). There is severe bruising on the top of my right shoulder, which apparently absorbed almost all of the energy of the fall.

The fire department guys were nice enough to take the bike back to their station. I had a friend from the local bike shop stop by there and pick it up yesterday. It is actually in pretty good shape. The right front shifter was twisted on the handlebar. There is a red paint scratch in the left side of the fork from her bumper. There is no external indication that the carbon fiber is damaged internally, but I'll definitely be replacing it. Its carbon fiber, and I'm not taking the chance that there is internal structural damage. There is too much stress on it, especially with a tall heavy rider like myself.

The front wheel is also somewhat less round now, but I'll write that off. I was riding a pair of junk pull offs because my good wheels were in the shop getting their 6k miles service done.

This happened on Tuesday evening, and I'm still in a sling with a displaced fracture, waiting for my surgery consult on Monday. The Orthopedic Surgeon will get fresh CT Scans (possibly MRI) and decide on a path forward. At this point Its looking like the rib collar bone are not going to need surgery, but the scapula/glenoid fracture is going to need a couple of screws. There is also significant soft tissue damage, which will probably have to be addressed after the bones are set.

Lessons Learned:
- Don't assume a driver sees you just because they look right at you. Even if you are wearing a high vis orange cycling jersey
- If you see a red Prius (or any color for that matter), just get off and walk... Preferably the opposite direction. It's just not safe.

Prius drivers are the worst...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Wow that sucks!! Hope you make a good recovery. I think biking is just dangerous in general.

I hope you got her insurance info and such so you can get your CF replaced and medical stuff paid for.

Glad you're mostly alright

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Holy shitsnacks!

I haven't received the police report yet, so I don't have the drivers info yet.

So glad you weren't hurt worse, Midgen. I hope you heal quickly without any future complications.

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Ahh ok then. As long as the police were involved and whatnot.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Just got home from shoulder reconstruction sugery.

Add torn Bicep Tendon to damage list...

It was torn away from the fractured Caracoid Process.

BTW, breaking the Caracoid Process might be the most painful thing ever, in the history of ever.

Having a "Hook Plate" holding the broken clavicle in place while it heals is making a good case for runner up.

Both of these things make the pain from fracturing my right acetabulum back in January feel more lioke a tickle party

Jeebus man. Hope it all starts to not hurt soon

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Holy shitsnacks!

May your recovery be swift. That absolutely sucks.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Damn...sorry to hear about that. Speedy recovery!

In addition to the obvious structural damage, the surgeon had to cut through the rotator cuff to repair the glenoid and coracoid. He aslo had to re-attatch the bicep tendon where it was torn away from the coracoid.

Needless to say, I'm still more than a little sore, and I will be enduring a long and painful recovery/rehab...

Image - Shoulder Xray - Post Repair


spoilered for size

Goddamn dude.

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Holy shitsnacks!

That just sounds horrifying. Hope you're feeling better faster than expected!

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Yeesh. Hopefully all the healing goes according to plan.

I got my stitches out and some fresh xrays yesterday. The repair seems to be holding up (at least the bone structure).

I go back to the surgeon in 4 weeks for one more follow up.

I get the hook plate removed a month after that.

In the mean time, I've been cleared to start working with a physical therapist to begin restoring range of motion and some additional stretching.

Sorry to hear this, man. Hope the healing goes well.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Good grief... Heal up fast man.

Glad to hear it wasn't life threatening stuff, or damage to your squash.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

I am very sorry sir.

Did you call Saul?


Small joke

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Raell Kromwell

Ok, so, it's just about exactly six months since my misadventure with the red prius of doom...

I've been doing PT for a couple of months now, focusing on restoring range of motion to the shoulder. In that regard, I'm probably at about 70%. Reaching up, or behind me (think back pocket), still not possible. I've gotten to the point where I can touch my left shoulder with my right hand, shave with my right hand, and wash my hair like a normal human. I can also drive with both hands on the wheel (I was using a spin knob and driving with one hand for the first few months).

There is still a lot of stiffness from the rotator cuff incision, and it's likely to not get much better, other than building up more endurance and strength.

The good news is, I was finally able to ride my bike a little bit yesterday. It's cold and wet and dark here (Seattle winter), so my rides are indoor trainer rides only. But hey, at least I'm getting some exercise again. It feels damn good.

I did about 30 minutes yesterday at about 60% effort, and today I did 45 minutes with a 20 minute FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test. I was pretty happy with 208 watts over 20 minutes, considering it's been six months since I've pedaled a bike, and the highest FTP I've ever had is 275. My goal is to build up some strength and endurance so when the sun comes back up this spring, I'll feel comfortable riding outdoors again.

As far as insurance, etc... Well...

The driver of the Prius is a single mother, recent immigrant, leasing the car, renting, no assets to speak of, and only had a very minimal amount of insurance. In fact, her insurance didn't even cover the emergency room and surgery consults. It ran out before I even got around to sending the $150k bill for the six hour surgery itself.

My under insured motorist (Auto Policy) helped cover some of the PT cost my employer health plan wouldn't cover, but ultimately, they (United Health Care) ended up paying most of the medical bills. What they didn't cover was forwarded to my insurance (until my UIM ran out), and then to TriCare (my retired military plan). Washington is an ERISA state. I won't go into the gory details. It just means that United Health Care can go after her and her insurance company if they want to sue for compensation (since it was her fault). I have no idea if that will happen.

I ended up not having any out of pocket expenses.

I consulted a local lawyer named John Duggan, who is the most prominent PI lawyer in town who specializes in cycling stuff. His fee is 33% of whatever he recovers from the defendant, which in this case, will be zero.

After doing a basic background check on the driver, he suggested that despite the fact that she and her insurance admitted fault, there wasn't enough insurance coverage, or personal assets to warrant a lawsuit. I would have had no qualms about suing her insurance company if the coverage was there, but I wasn't really interested in ruining this womans life for a few hundred thousand dollars (that she didn't have anyway).

The end result is I'm at about 70% functional use of my right shoulder, and no out of pocket expenses (due mostly to my own medical coverage), but there will be no other compensation (no being 'made whole' as John Duggan put it).

I did manage to get about $4500 in property coverage out of her insurance to replace my bike, helmet, kit, and sunglasses.

Lessons Learned?
** If you are going to get hit by a car, be sure to get hit by someone with lots of assets, and lots of insurance. Avoid being hit by someone living paycheck to paycheck with little or no insurance.

** Stop and conduct an interview with every vehicle operator whose path you intend to cross. Be sure to ask if they mind if you ride in front of them, and get their response in writing, with a signature. Be sure to record the conversation.

** When considering how much insurance coverage to have, don't bother considering the people you may injure. Just make sure you have enough coverage to cover whatever assets you have. If you don't have anything a lawyer can take away, just get minimum coverage.

I hope TRICARE wasn't to agonizing to deal with.

Glad to hear things are improving. Are you able to play guitar yet?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with the insurance companies much. The lawyers and medical admins mostly dealt with that. Since Tricare is my secondary insurance, they only get billed when UHC declines to pay for something. For example, UHC only allows a certain number of PT visits per plan year. The rest were billed to Tricare by the PT billing office - I never saw those bills. They also seem to be covering most, if not all of the Co-pays required by the UHC plan.

Guitar is still a challenge. I can sit and play for a few minutes, but after that, it starts to get uncomfortable.

Glad to hear that. I got hurt at drill a few years ago and needed a short ER visit. Since it was LOD, TRICARE was responsible for it but they kept zeroing it out and the hospital apparently found it impossible to understand that since it was an Army injury I wasn't responsible for it and kept trying to bill me. It took our S1 a year to get it resolved.

I hope you can get back to being able to play guitar mostly unimpeded.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Yea, my situation is considerably different. My Tricare benefit is based on my status as a retiree. Their repsonsibility is fairly clear, and since they are secondary, they don't get billed much -- just the 'leftovers' that UHC doesn't cover.

I've never had a problem, although i've heard from some of the billing admins that they can be a pain to deal with. Of course I'm pretty sure every insurance company probably fits that description. I think they have generally lower customer satisfaction ratings than Cable TV and Mobile Service providers (that's pretty hard to do)...