Turbo Man's Fitness Blog: SMIDSY

NO LOVE HANDLES ALLOWED!

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.' Theodore Roosevelt 23 April 1910

Friday, 18 February 2011

SMIDSY - A Close Escape!

I set off to Leeds early this morning and had a very pleasant journey; the usual traffic but no real hold ups. I had just sat down to my breakfast when I received a phone call from home. 'That's strange', I thought, 'no-one should be at home'. It was Mrs TM; she had been knocked off her bike on her way to work this morning. She reassured me she wasn't that badly hurt and that the bike was ok, but she was a bit shaken up so when she was offered a lift home by one of the witnesses (who happened to be driving a van so could also take the bike home) she took it.

When I got home the injuries had had 12 hours to stiffen up. Thumb, ribs arm and leg are all sore and she has a couple of grazes. It seems she was following another cyclist onto a mini roundabout when a truck (yes, a big truck!) pulled out and gave her back wheel a glancing blow. Not that hard but sufficiently hard to knock her off; it seems the injuries are all as a result of hitting the ground. The driver said he had seen the first cyclist but hadn't realised there was a second one behind. Classic SMIDSY. No excuse, though. It seems there are several witnesses and the driver admitted responsibility in front of them all; names and telephone numbers have also been exchanged. I will check the bike over in the dayight tomorrow.

Be careful out there folks.

4 comments:

Mark "Frank" Whittle said...: Sorry to hear that mate. Hopefully Mrs T-Man won't be too sore in the morning. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.; 18 February 2011 at 21:33
in2triathlon said...: Ouch. Hope your wife is ok. You should both probably go to the docs to get her injuries checked out tomorrow as adrenaline is great at masking broken wrists and ribs etc. Get better soon.; 18 February 2011 at 22:22
Cavegirl said...: Good advice in2, especially as she is entitled to a personal injury claim against the driver's insurance. Best to have the injuries noted by a medic.

Kev Hastie was knocked off his bike last year on the way to Kinloss, he did break his elbow (and hopefully Mrs T hasn't broken bones) but he got something like £8,000 in damages.

I think it's important to pursue, not for the finanical side, but to ensure that driver's really understand the dangers they cause cyclists.; 19 February 2011 at 07:43
Daz Sharpe said...: Wish Mrs Tman all the best for a speedy recovery.; 20 February 2011 at 16:28