4000 Days: Sunday - The Real TOMRV Story

Well, it was a memorable TOMRV.

Rule #1 of Cycling came upon me in a flash at the 52-mile mark around noon, just as I was hitting the stretch on the Sabula causeway before crossing the Mississippi River. I was trucking along on my lonesome, in the rain, watching my spot a few feet in front of me to avoid cracks in the road. I glance up, and just a few feet ahead, in the road, is a rider stopped, dinking around with whatever. I have no shot to stop. I BANG into him, go over my handlebars...and face meets pavement...big time.

My TOMRV was over, of course. But the story is not the worst, just a humbling reminder that accidents happen. I keep replaying the incident, and there are several woulda, coulda, should-of's, but bottom-line is that the moon and stars lined up for what I got. So here are the details in a numbered-point basis:

1. Our group generally yo-yo's a bit, and I usually am the slowest. The others know I don't want them holding back for me, and that I will always catch-up at the sag-stops. In this case, my pals Cal and Lee were just a mile or two ahead of me. No biggie.
2. I am ALWAYS the slowest guy in the entire ride. I pass NOBODY all day. It is never in my mental data-bank that I have to worry about a rider in front of me.
3. The stretch of road that I was on is dead-flat. There were very few riders on the road around me...hadn't been for several minutes. Decent pavement, but with the rain coming down, I was very concerned with the slick surface.
4. As a causeway, which basically means that it is a road built up from the water and wet-lands on either side, there is no shoulder to the road. The guard rails are mounted right next to the white-line on either side of the road.
5. A rider has NO business stopping on this kind of a road.
6. I was down in a heap, quite a bit of blood coming from my mouth. I'm sure I was in a bit of shock. But as reality began setting in, I didn't think anything was majorly broken. In the end, that was proven to be a correct assessment.
7. Several riders stopped. Really, virtually everyone who went by, slowed to inquire to make sure the situation was in hand. A rider from Eldridge ( just North of Davenport) and a gal from Panora, Iowa who was with him, proved to be the problem-solvers, contacting emergency services, getting me up off the pavement, and just being the Good Samaritans whom you read about in these types of emergencies.
8. The ambulance from Sabula got there within a few minutes. It was a local, volunteer service, and they really didn't administer much medical care. But they staunched the bleeding, took my vitals, and generally provided a triage service that determined that I was no overly-seriously injured.
9. I made the decision that I could get back to the Quad Cities and called 2 while I was in the ambulance. She was due to pick us up in Galena anyway, so getting her to come to Sabula wasn't a big change.
10. I wanted the others to finish the ride, have the cocktails, etc. in Galena. And they did just that. I didn't want them to rush back to check on me since there just wasn't going to be a lot that they could do.
11. 2 was a star. She picked me up, got me home to clean up some, and then to the ER. She's stood by me all the way.
12. My pal Cal had called in the the ER (from the road ahead of me!) to give the doc's the word that I was on my way in.
13. The ER experience was a longer than preferred, but the staff was all very caring and professional. The worst of it was the pain-killer shots that the doc had to give me before putting in the stitches.
14. The x-ray tech was a classmate of 1's from Lincoln Fundamental.
15. 10 stitches in the lip. See pic below. Bandages on the hand's. Pinkee fingernail on the left hand is gone. A couple fingernails on the right hand are severely blackened. See pic below.
16. We finally got back to Maplecrest around 5 or so, picking up some Biaggi's take-out for din-din.
17. Lots of texting with the crew in the bar in Galena. They had a good time. See photos below.
18. Those guys got back around 7:30 or so. The plan for the day basically worked for them!

So my TOMRV experience for 2015 will be memorable, but mostly in the same sense as the Turkey Trot from a couple years back. Visit to the ER and all.

I can't complete the story without expressing my opinion that the world is full of people like my rescuers on the Sabula causeway. People whose first thought is to help someone in need. The news is full of more sensational stories about negative things. But goodness lives. Pay it forward, friends.