2016-12-08 - Rider Down, Stamford Street SE1 9NH 20:14, Velocio

You came in as an alert on my phone last night. I don't have any details and we have no CCTV there sadly. We have time as 21:17 and you slowed traffic for a while... #bloodycyclists

Good work :)

Must have been 20:17 though... even the first post on this thread is 21:15 and I was in A&E at that point.

Got the email, it's a great help.

Not just the CCTV locations in the area, but also the notice for it that has the contact details. Thanks for that, it is very appreciated.

So basically the police response to this is this case is too difficult for us to solve, so when you're done being the victim, you should get down to the detective work?

If you'd been left with the same physical injuries from a beating on the street, presumably their response would be different. Never mind that the driver's conduct verges on attempted murder.

heal up soon VB and justice needs to be done here.

Rapha are sorting out a new outfit to replace the clothes that were lost. I was cheeky (and felt guilty about being cheeky) and just asked, given that I do host and run the RCC forum for them and do so for free. I'm kinda overwhelmed they agreed, but they did see it as an opportunity to finally have me out of Assos bibs.

Can't wait to heal up. I want to make sure I don't start being afraid of the road and traffic. I don't want this scare, in which I've been very lucky, to keep me from cycling.

The things I'm definitely going to do in future:

1. Make sure all of my bikes have camera mounts for the Go Pro Session. I didn't have cameras on me because my Robin Mather bike has the mounts fitted there.
   
2. Upgrade my helmet to a MIPS one. I've been meaning to for a while, and whilst there was no head impact I still want to do this very soon.
   
3. More lights! My favourite rear light, the Moon Pulsar is cheap, I run 2 already on the seat post. Will run 4. Either on my bag and helmet (for visibility higher up) or on me... on ankle, shoe or pedal so there is movement (always incredibly visible from a little farther back).
   
   

Also:

1. Consider some kind of "CCTV" or "Camera" patch sewn somewhere extremely visible on my messenger bag.
   
   

Which all sounds ridiculous, but I'm never going to not ride with cameras again, and I'm going to make sure that SMIDSY is not going to work, and that people know that if they hit me that there is footage and it won't be consequence free.

Sorry to hear your news and glad you are ok.

On the plus side, if your laid up and off work for a bit then you could get stuck into your bucket list of site enhancements. Every cloud and all that.

Seriously, glad you're ok.

Its quite sad that we have to ride in such a paranoid way .. but I guess better be protected than righteous. I use a cycliq fly12 and its a lovely little thing with great battery life for longer rides. They also do a rear facing fly6. In addition to the 'cctv' patch you can get some reflective vinyl cut and put on seatpost too, would be cheap and handy when you don't carry your bag. If you want a fuck off bright rear light Moon shield is the one.

Did you sleep ok last night? If you find yourself having nightmares it could be a symptom of both concussion and trauma so it's fairly normal to have increased anxiety as a result-it's your body's fight or flight system taking over and can be quite unsettling to deal with as you can consciously tell yourself everything's fine but you still feel like shit.

Re: concussion-when I got totalled a few years ago I got stretchered to hospital, saw consultants etc for fractures but nobody checked if I was concussed because they were so focused on my pelvis and leg. Went to a clinic two weeks later because I felt terrible and didn't know why, the first thing the doctor did was shine a light into my eyes and tell me I had a massive concussion and shouldn't have been discharged from hospital without an MRI. I didn't even remember hitting my head but when I checked my helmet sure enough it was split in the middle. Apparently they can take 48 hours to show so do take it easy and if you start feeling sick or anything make sure and have someone near by to watch over you.

Just popped into the Nando's and Coin Street centre. Neither have cctv of the road @Velocio think you will already know this, they both mentioned someone's already asked. Just so we don't keep asking.

The White Hart does have cctv looking into the road but wasn't able to speak to the staff because it was rammed.

If they saw you and went for you deliberately perhaps making yourself less conspicuous might help?
You might recall the reflective thread I had going for a while. I am just about to revive it, as I just scored two massive rolls of yellow and green reflective from a firm that stick it on ambulances. Do you want some when I get it?

Did you sleep ok last night?

Yes.

Well, I woke from pain and discomfort at points, but I didn't have nightmares, slept soundly enough.

I ate a hearty meal before bed even though it was almost 2am by then. I'm a believer in eating oneself healthy. The body cannot do much if I'm not giving it everything it needs.

I definitely do not have concussion or a head trauma. I didn't hit my head, and have total recall of every moment.

The way I fell, to describe it is that the bike was pushed out from under me by the car, my legs and the bike pushed sideways but my upper half still had forward momentum. So I went down on my right, the bike being laid on the road, the car didn't then drive over me or anything as it was in front.

I leant left (up) as I fell right (down) and didn't have any jarring head shake or anything. It was my right leg that pretty much took the entire impact with both the car hitting me, and then the road itself. The few other bruises and marks decrease in severity as they go up the body... the hip was the next worse hit, but by the time you reach my elbow there's barely a graze and just some area without skin.

As crashes go it was a good fall, no silly arm out broken-clavicle or anything, just held on to the bar and let myself lay down on the road whilst keep my head away from the floor.

I was doing around 20mph, he was doing around 25mph (in a 20mph zone). It could have been so much worse.

If they saw you and went for you deliberately perhaps making yourself less conspicuous might help?

If someone decides they're going to hit a cyclist then I guess they're going to do it.

Being less conspicuous is only going to give the SMIDSY argument a chance when the police finally catch up to them.

Also (sorry)
4 consider CT

No harm and may help. My ongoing offer is still ongoing

Seems my really cynical post upthread was well-justified. :(
Recover well!

Woke feeling good.

The bruises are all down to levels of discomfort that can be ignored, the "hurts when prodded" kind which means I don't feel them if I'm mindful to not lean on the right side or do certain things. The bruises are also calming in colour, straight to dark purples that are fading.

That all means I can see how bad the grazes and road rash are... and I'm good pretty good all over, this will take barely a week to clean up. (Also annoying, as it meant that I lost some of my cycle wear for essentially superficial injuries that just looked bad at the time.)

Only exception to all of this is the lower right leg; the road rash there will take longer as the dots join up into larger patches (does skin grow directly over areas without skin? or does it grow inwards from the edges?). The bruising is no longer pronounced on the lower right leg but is still going through yellows and the purple end game hasn't yet started.

The right knee is the only thing that's going to take time. It's bled through the A&E applied dressing and was very open when they applied that. It's a mix of small lacerations and a big area (the whole knee) that lost a deep amount of skin. I was told to leave this dressing on for 2-3 days, but I'm already considering changing it because it's pretty gank. I'll stick with it though, I suspect they want one dressing for longer so that there is the basis for scabbing to help give healing a place to start.

As for movement, I'm good there too. I haven't tried anything silly, but walking and general movement is back to largely pain-free full mobility.

I'm on the mend... that knee will take time, but my wife will be giggling silly because I have a pair of Kuhl walking trousers with articulated knees that are so comfy, and she takes the piss because of the articulated knee, but you know damn well I'll be wearing those the next week.

Best wishes for your recovery.

Don't let it keep you bitter, the worst part of an incident for me wasn't the six months of useless left arm, but the years of bitterness at a lack of action, resolution, closure.

Unfortunately even with the driver's details, sometimes nothing comes of it. Put emotional wellbeing high on the agenda.

Get photos of injuries. Just in case they ever find the driver.

And for forum members morbid curiously

I've got a few photos, will take a few more when I change the dressings.

And for forum members morbid curiously

Considered it.

Part of me is "I'd want to see someone else's gore" and part of me is "Rider Down forum shouldn't be some gore porn thing".

That second argument currently has a clear lead. Besides, if there's a dialogue in my own mind, I want it to be the one visualising the healed and strong me, not going weaker at the knees seeing how bad it was a day ago.

I need to tone down the whole "this is interesting" thing. That freaked the ambulance and A&E people out. "No drugs please, this new experience is interesting and want to feel all of it".

But similarly now, healing is a truly incredible thing. I looked at myself in the mirror this morning and my face is glowing with health. I figure my body is in overtime repair mode and the bits of me that were unaffected are benefiting as a side effect. Still have aches, that knee is a constant noise of pain, but I feel strong too. I've never stopped being a child fascinated by everything.

Also... how to shower.

The dressing on the knee isn't waterproof but needs to stay on.

I'm thinking of making a skirt out of cling film to fix on the right leg over the knee with surgical tape.

That should work I reckon.

Sounds like you've got a child like ability to heal too! I've got road rash on my right hip that is 8 days old and it's still sore and taking it's time to heal. And it's minor compared to your injuries.

Wrap as much as you can in cling film, try and keep it out of the water spray.

What have you been eating to help you recover?

I've no idea of healing rates, but I do think silly things like my body being a manufactory and it needing resources to work with, and the right conditions to work.

So I've eaten a hell of a lot in the past 36 hours, and all insanely healthy stuff, had no alcohol or caffeine, and refused to stay seated for more than an hour and spending a lot of time moving.

That knee though. Ugh, that will take a long while.