... who is on the right, followed by Robert, Eric, me, Nick, and Rachel (the friend who took the picture that is now my profile pic).
It was a great ride until......
While we were pedaling along at probably 22 mph, a woman in a white car raced ahead of the cyclists in an attempt to get ahead of them before making her right turn. Though Nick braked and skidded for 38 feet, he still hit the back corner of her car. It was one of the scariest things to see one of your truly nearest and dearest laying on the pavement and being whisked away in an ambulance. Luckily, he is recovering and did not break any bones.
Eric rode over Nick's bike and has a bent frame, but he is okay, too.
My husband came to pick up those who couldn't continue. We started as seven, and then there were three. Very scary.
Laura's birthday is in August, so we had one final party for the August birthdays at IronGreg's house. Here we are on the pontoon with our host, Greg. Thank you Greg! It was a beautiful night!
Greg, Laura and Tim.
Tim, Sue, Andy, Karen, Robert and Dave enjoying birthday snacks while cruising around Lake Minnetonka and the channels in between.
Sue and Andy. Mother and son. I love these people. Andy and his father Dave did Ironman Zurich together this summer and last week Andy got a tattoo matching his dad's. How cool.
Nick, Rachel, Andy, Helen, me, Sue, Laura
... and the evening ended with a full moon overlooking the deck at Greg's.
18 comments:
I wish I could have been there to meet you! Glad to hear Nick's OK - Pharmie told me all about it.
What? That's all? Did white car beyotch stop? Was she properly shamefaced at having caused such an injury through her stupidity? Was she ticketed? Is she standing responsible for the expenses?
I mean, I'm all for turn the other cheek and everything, but the only way drivers get educated is if the full weight of the law falls on them like an old building. Around here that doesn't happen unless you pressure the cops to write a ticket and then hound the person and their insurance company until they do the right thing.
I read about Nick's accident on Trifuel but I had no idea you were in the group - scary stuff!
I'm glad everyone is okay and I hope you all extract payment from the dumb lady in the car. Why do people do stuff like that?
Glad no permanent damage - scary!
Funny you guys mention the ticketing thing. The keystone cops who showed up (and let me first say that my brother and one of my best friends are cops and are actually very smart but THESE cops) said they wouldn't ticket her because Nick hit the BACK corner of her car. If he's hit the middle or front of the car then she would have been ticketed. They said they could ticket Nick for inattentive bike riding.
When we pointed to the 38 foot long skid mark and said "inattentive? he did his best for 38 feet to avoid her", the cop said, "that's not his skidmark. That's someone elses' OLD skidmark."
What??? So we showed him that it was matching the size of Nick's tire, and showed the sheered-naked mark on Nick's tire which was exactly as wide on the tire as it was on the pavement, and the position of Nick's body laying on the pavement, and the location of Nick's bike, and where the car had stopped and where the scrapes on the car were... and the cop just stroked his chin and said nothing. We were flabergasted and took a million pictures of the scene, but the lady got no ticket. Her son who showed up said, "this is why bikes shouldn't be on the road." Her daughter said, "why didn't he stop? She had her turn indicator on. He shoulda been paying attention".
They were acting like Nick is the asshole for hitting HER.
I take it that Nick was released from the hospital right away?
In my experience the law does strongly take into account where the hit occured. So, even though I disagree, I can handle the cop not ticketing. Again, I disagree, but I've learned to just accept it that way.
That doesn't mean that there isn't a civil case with all the pics you took and eyewitnesses to what happened.
What would have made my blood boil is the stupid comments by the son and daughter.
Regardless of right and wrong (and we know who was wrong) all of this could have been avoided if the lady had just been patient enough to wait her turn at the intersection instead of passing where she shouldn't have.
Ack! Glad Nick is okay. That nearly happened to me last weekend. Car speeds up to get past me, swerves in front of me and hits the brakes to turn. I guess it's fortunate sometimes that I'm not very fast!!
Did you get the cop's badge number? It sounds like it's worth a letter to the chief of police and the state transportation agency (or whatever there is in your state).
It was so good to be able to hang out with you guys. Hopefully next time we'll have better circumstances, and next time I'll drag Steve along! Glad Nick's OK. It definitely ranks up there in scariest rides of my life.
You talked about some good times with no mention of your recent injury. I am taking that to mean that you are once again well. That is truly a good thing.
Scary!
And the ticket situation (or lack thereof) with the cop is messed up!
Glad everyone is OK...did the lady even stop? Apologize? Were words exchanged? (I would have had a few for her....)
Great fun-time pictures (except for the ambulance shot...damn!)
And where in blazes was she going that she was in such a hurry? Church? Or to the Circle K to get cigarettes and beer? Eaughhh....I just read how it was "all Nick's fault"- with all the eyewitnesses and everything. Did the police (and I say PO-lice) think it was some kind of conspiracy or something? Scary-
Fe-lady - actually she got out of her car, took a look at Nick moaning on the pavement, and tried to leave, saying that she left a candle burning at her house and wanted to go blow it out and promised to come right back.
I think this was a "hate crime"... she and her kids were all over 300 pounds - in light of the comments her kids made, maybe they just had it out for fit people.
That was a cool meet up with Pharmie.
Unfortunately, that driver was an IDIOT! What is with people?????
Her family is really pissing me off, too.
Check out this blog, her friend just got sent to the ER due to a hit and run.
http://laurajwimmer.blogspot.com/
I am so glad that your friend is alright!!!! That is some scary stuff.
;)
Jenny,
Glad to hear Nick is doing well. I bet that was scary for all.
Also, thank you for the photos. It's nice to put a face with the name of bloggers.
See you in Madison in less than a week.
Stay tuned...
Jenny,
I have been out of the net for so long! i am trying to catch up with everyone. It's hard when you miss a month or so in The Land of Blog. Wow, glad you are okay, glad your friend Nick will be okay and Eric too!! Goodness Gracious!! Hopefully I won't be away so long again. Glad to hear you are all still here and alive!
he hit a car? Holy Carp!
OK. I just read all the comments. I am stunned.
You know, I think one of the big issues here (aside from the high stupid people factor) is that people do not understand that BICYCLES CAN GO FAST. If y'all were doing speeds in the 20's (as you should be), that kind of stuff happens - but nobody expects that. They expect you to be grandma-ing around town on your cruisers. They don't know, they have no idea.
I'm horrified - at the cop, at the lady in the car, at her son, at the whole situation. You handled it gracefully.
Were it me, I might have strangled someone.
Post a Comment