So I fell off my bike. No-one helped me do it, I was not a victim of anti-cyclist road rage or a careless driver using their mobile phone. I was just riding down Mt Gravatt one morning six weeks ago after a little bit of rain and the wheels slipped out from under me.
I landed on my right shoulder. Quite hard. I broke my collarbone, bruised a rib and did something or other to my hip which meant I couldn't walk. Six weeks on my hip is getting better although I'm still limping a bit, my rib is still slightly sore and I have a metal plate holding my collarbone together so it is gradually healing.
Still, it's not all bad. At least I get an opportunity to learn stuff. Here's some things I've learned.
1. Don't Fall Off
Actually I already knew this. It's just that now I know it more. Don't ride too fast for the conditions. Concentrate around the bends. Brake appropriately. Etc etc. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
2. Wear a Helmet
My list of injuries does not include a head injury. This is entirely down to my helmet, which having done it's job will now be allowed to retire to a place of honour. If I had not been wearing it, that chunk would have come out of my head. Or something like that.
Wearing helmets is compulsory in Queensland, but it was not always so. In my invincible youth I rode bare-headed, including a ride from Brisbane to Sydney with some friends at age 18. They became compulsory in 1991 but I was already wearing one by then. After spending six years in Maryborough, where there is not much traffic, I found returning to Brisbane roads scary. Plus, I had become a dad. Last month I finally needed it.
There's been a lot of debate in recent years about whether helmets should be compulsory or not. Compulsion is an interesting question, but I will be buying a new one and wearing it when I get back on my bike.
3. Support Public Health
I have always been a supporter of a good public health system. Everyone should have good health care, not only those who are rich. I could probably afford private health insurance, but it's very expensive to take it out in your 50s. So I pay the full medicare levy.
This year I've finally got my money's worth. The ambulance arrived within 10 minutes. I was wheeled straight into Emergency where half a dozen people simultaneously fussed over me. I got operated on just two weeks after the accident. I'm being treated by highly skilled, compassionate staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. The system works. Don't undermine it with funding cuts and privatisation.
4. People Can Be Nice
Of course my wife has been fantastic in caring for me, as she always is (although I don't always need this much care!). My kids have helped out, my siblings. Friends have visited me. My clients have been very understanding and compassionate.
But I'm also thinking about people I don't know very well, or at all. I'm not close to my neighbours, we just nod and wave, but pretty much all the long-term neighbours in the street have seen my sling and asked how I'm going. And complete strangers have been nice too. The first person who helped me after I came off was a fellow cyclist who saw me sitting by the roadside, stopped to check on me and called the ambulance. When I first started walking after the accident I was very slow and walked with a stick. People would see me a long way off at level crossings, stop and wave me across, and wait patiently for me. I did not have a single person try to race through ahead of me, or beep me because I was too slow. Seeing an injured person seems to excite compassion in most people. It gives me hope.
5. Don't Stop Riding
A few people in my age group have suggested to me that maybe it's time to stop riding the bike now. I thought about it. I do it for my health, but I'm definitely not very healthy at the moment. But four things made me decide I will keep riding.
The first is that although in this specific sense I'm not very well at the moment, I'm in good health overall. This is partly the luck of good genetics and growing up in a middle class family, but it is also to do with healthy lifestyle and regular exercise - mostly through a lifetime of cycling. This general good health has made it much easier for me to recover.
The second is that the accident was entirely my own fault. Often cyclists get injured because they get hit by cars, and this tends to make them very shy of going back out to face the beast. In my case the beast is me. In any case, while I've fallen off a bike before, this is the first time I've suffered a serious injury. It's the first fracture of my entire life (unless I broke my rib that other time...), and my first general anaesthetic. This doesn't mean I won't have another, but my chances are no worse than before.
The third is that I know very well we all need to reduce our carbon footprint. Cycling is one small personal way I can contribute to that. If I didn't ride my bike to meetings and events, I would often need to drive. And the momentum of cyclists pushing for safer roads is a key way to reduce transport-related emissions.
And finally, I love cycling. I've done it all my life. When I'm out walking I see cyclists rolling by and think, 'I wish that was me'. It makes no sense to cut out parts of my life that I love as I get older. If we live without risk we live without joy. If I get injured again, so be it. The unhappiness of never being able to ride again would injure me more.
Unless I have a serious head injury. So I'll still be wearing that helmet. And also, going a bit more carefully around those corners!
Also, I'd like to pop up and have a look at this view again.
I landed on my right shoulder. Quite hard. I broke my collarbone, bruised a rib and did something or other to my hip which meant I couldn't walk. Six weeks on my hip is getting better although I'm still limping a bit, my rib is still slightly sore and I have a metal plate holding my collarbone together so it is gradually healing.
Still, it's not all bad. At least I get an opportunity to learn stuff. Here's some things I've learned.
1. Don't Fall Off
Actually I already knew this. It's just that now I know it more. Don't ride too fast for the conditions. Concentrate around the bends. Brake appropriately. Etc etc. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
2. Wear a Helmet
My list of injuries does not include a head injury. This is entirely down to my helmet, which having done it's job will now be allowed to retire to a place of honour. If I had not been wearing it, that chunk would have come out of my head. Or something like that.
Wearing helmets is compulsory in Queensland, but it was not always so. In my invincible youth I rode bare-headed, including a ride from Brisbane to Sydney with some friends at age 18. They became compulsory in 1991 but I was already wearing one by then. After spending six years in Maryborough, where there is not much traffic, I found returning to Brisbane roads scary. Plus, I had become a dad. Last month I finally needed it.
There's been a lot of debate in recent years about whether helmets should be compulsory or not. Compulsion is an interesting question, but I will be buying a new one and wearing it when I get back on my bike.
3. Support Public Health
I have always been a supporter of a good public health system. Everyone should have good health care, not only those who are rich. I could probably afford private health insurance, but it's very expensive to take it out in your 50s. So I pay the full medicare levy.
This year I've finally got my money's worth. The ambulance arrived within 10 minutes. I was wheeled straight into Emergency where half a dozen people simultaneously fussed over me. I got operated on just two weeks after the accident. I'm being treated by highly skilled, compassionate staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. The system works. Don't undermine it with funding cuts and privatisation.
4. People Can Be Nice
Of course my wife has been fantastic in caring for me, as she always is (although I don't always need this much care!). My kids have helped out, my siblings. Friends have visited me. My clients have been very understanding and compassionate.
But I'm also thinking about people I don't know very well, or at all. I'm not close to my neighbours, we just nod and wave, but pretty much all the long-term neighbours in the street have seen my sling and asked how I'm going. And complete strangers have been nice too. The first person who helped me after I came off was a fellow cyclist who saw me sitting by the roadside, stopped to check on me and called the ambulance. When I first started walking after the accident I was very slow and walked with a stick. People would see me a long way off at level crossings, stop and wave me across, and wait patiently for me. I did not have a single person try to race through ahead of me, or beep me because I was too slow. Seeing an injured person seems to excite compassion in most people. It gives me hope.
5. Don't Stop Riding
A few people in my age group have suggested to me that maybe it's time to stop riding the bike now. I thought about it. I do it for my health, but I'm definitely not very healthy at the moment. But four things made me decide I will keep riding.
The first is that although in this specific sense I'm not very well at the moment, I'm in good health overall. This is partly the luck of good genetics and growing up in a middle class family, but it is also to do with healthy lifestyle and regular exercise - mostly through a lifetime of cycling. This general good health has made it much easier for me to recover.
The second is that the accident was entirely my own fault. Often cyclists get injured because they get hit by cars, and this tends to make them very shy of going back out to face the beast. In my case the beast is me. In any case, while I've fallen off a bike before, this is the first time I've suffered a serious injury. It's the first fracture of my entire life (unless I broke my rib that other time...), and my first general anaesthetic. This doesn't mean I won't have another, but my chances are no worse than before.
The third is that I know very well we all need to reduce our carbon footprint. Cycling is one small personal way I can contribute to that. If I didn't ride my bike to meetings and events, I would often need to drive. And the momentum of cyclists pushing for safer roads is a key way to reduce transport-related emissions.
And finally, I love cycling. I've done it all my life. When I'm out walking I see cyclists rolling by and think, 'I wish that was me'. It makes no sense to cut out parts of my life that I love as I get older. If we live without risk we live without joy. If I get injured again, so be it. The unhappiness of never being able to ride again would injure me more.
Unless I have a serious head injury. So I'll still be wearing that helmet. And also, going a bit more carefully around those corners!
Also, I'd like to pop up and have a look at this view again.
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