It is hard to be the distant girlfriend when your sweet, lovely man gets hit by a truck! Poor Leify was biking home from work yesterday when he came to a stop light. When the light turned green, he pedaled forward. But the truck next to him decided to make a sharp, 90-degree right turn to a freeway on-ramp (which was actually not the right on-ramp for traffic going in this direction). Leif could hardly believe the truck was trying to make this turn, and slowed down, but not before the front bumper of the truck hit his bike and knocked him off. He doesn’t remember the fall (like he didn’t remember the fall from his first bike accident)…but knows he landed on his right knee and the same (right) arm that took the brunt of his fall in the first accident, a year and a half ago. Apparently, four or five cars stopped to see if he was OK (including the truck). There must have been some discussion among the drivers of how Leif was doing, and phone numbers were exchanged. Thank goodness for nice people: a pick-up truck that had stopped put Leif’s bike in the back, and a co-worker of his who had also happened to stop drove him home.
I didn’t get a call about this for several hours. In that time, I think Leif was icing his swollen and painful knee, and cleaning up his wounds. Luckily, his wounds were not nearly as bad as they were in the first accident, although the pain in his knee is causing some worry. His jacket and pants did not tear during the fall ! And his iPhone, which was in his pocket, was not destroyed (as it was before). Of course, I was glad to hear that, but I was much more concerned about Leif’s physical and emotional state than that of his material belongings.
It’s really hard to be away from the ones you love when terrible things like this happen. After Leif’s first bike accident (which was caused by going over a speed bump in the dark), he was almost literally dripping blood from his arms and hands, and was really in shock ! I was so glad I was there to clean his wounds and get him the things he needed…even though I know he hates being waited on. This time, I feel pretty helpless. I’m in San Diego; and although I could get a flight to Mountain View, I do have stuff I need to do here, and I can’t really gauge how much he needs/wants me to be there right now. Regardless, I am worried about him and wish I could help in some way. My parents and my sister and her fiance, who live nearby, (and several friends of ours) have offered to help, so at least if he really needs someone, I know one of them would be there in a second. It is really wonderful to feel we have a support group, but really crummy to feel so distant from him at a time like this.
I think Leif will see an orthopedist on Monday just to make sure his knee isn’t damaged in some more serious way (torn tendons, etc.). And I don’t think he’ll be biking again for a while. But he will be back on the bike ! He just recently got an old frame re-painted, and even spent today in San Francisco buying bike parts to rebuild this (other) bike. I interpret his activity (walking around, and still thinking about biking) as a really good sign. I hope the doctor’s visit goes well and that this is the end of bike accidents for him !
All you drivers out there—take the extra second to check for bicycles and pedestrians ! Be safe everyone.
