I walked out the door this morning
with the intent to ride 50 miles to Galveston from Market Square with a group
of cyclists I had never met (with the exception of the guy who invited me).
Ten miles away from our
destination, a car went into the shoulder lane of Highway 3 and hit the cyclist
that fell behind in my pace group. I didn’t know his name. I didn’t know if he had a family. I
didn’t know anything about this guy, except that he was training for the MS 150
and that his bottom was also hurting after the first 15 miles.
I learned that about him an hour
before the accident, when he caught up to the group I was in. We rode
side-by-side for a few miles and tried to catch a break from the 10 mph headwind
beating down on us.
When I turned around to see how he
was catching up after an uphill bout we had, it happened in slow motion, as
cliché as it may sound.
I have cycled for almost seven
years now, and you hear all sorts of stories. You hear about crashes at the
beginning of rides, where the cyclists pile up on one another, and there are
broken collarbones and bent wheels from left to right. You hear about cyclists
getting clipped by the side mirrors of cars and open doors. You see the bikes
painted white at the side of the road with “Ride In Peace” signs.
These sad stories linger in the back of your mind, but you don’t think much of it.
Then you see it happen, less than
100 feet away from you. You run past the car with the cracked windshield, blood
and tissue on the headlights, and you see the pools of red. You hold their
hand and keep their head still, and you wait an eternity for the ambulance to
get there. Then you have to call their loved ones to tell them something awful
happened, which is easily one of the hardest things anybody could ever have to
do in their lifetime.
He’s going to be okay. His helmet
saved his life. There is no doubt about that.
I promise, from this day forward,
that I will NEVER ride a bike without a helmet, no matter how short the
distance. I promise to ALWAYS double check for cyclists and pedestrians when I
am driving. This wasn’t a cause for the accident today, but I also promise
NEVER to text while driving.
These are all things I know I'm not supposed to do, but I'll admit that I slip up every now and then. I'll check my phone at a long stoplight. If I'm in a huge rush, I'll half ass looking both ways before making a right turn at a red light. I don't wear my helmet when I ride in Critical Mass at the end of the month because a lot of other people don't. As I said, though, I promise that I will be a much more alert and responsible cyclist and motorist.
I hope you will do the same, and
keep someone from having to deliver the worst news imaginable to a victim’s
parents.
