Not to sound macho, but it’s not a fear thing. It’s more a Spock thing. I now view the risk/reward equation differently and at age 59, I no longer think the risk is worth the reward.

Thanks for your reply.

Not to sound macho, but it’s not a fear thing. It’s more a Spock thing. I now view the risk/reward equation differently and at age 59, I no longer think the risk is worth the reward.

Thanks for your reply.

To IT,
No, I would not suggest others not ride outside. I loved it. That’s why I was out there 1.5 hours before sunrise. Like many on ST, I was, and still am, addicted to exercise.
I just don’t think I care to continue to roll the dice.

Dev,



First off, I am a long time Dev fan and I have enjoyed reading your posts over the years. I have learned a lot from you and you are always a gentleman.



I recall several years ago you had a very bad cycling accident while racing somewhere in Europe (I believe Switzerland). I read with interest about your very long journey back. While I hope I am wrong, I suspect you never fully recovered from your injuries. Despite this, you still bike. In fact, you recently posted you hope to cycle 10,000 kilometers in 2019. My question is why? Knowing that if you continue to bike, you will crash again, why do you continue?


Sorry I was busy at work yesterday and did not get on ST (yes its possible LOL).

First of all sorry about your crash. I believe when we sign up for riding this is the "risk/reward" we sign up. I've been riding since 1980 reasonably seriously. I have had a number of crashes in the category of "falls"....nothing major, just sore body and road rash for several days. I would say when I was younger and more risk taking there were more often. I would say after my son was born (1996), my goal was to never let my body touch the pavement and ride 10,000km per year.

In 39 years of riding I had three "bad crashes"

1. 2005, I van pulled out on a turn to pass a slower moving car did not see me and pushed the accelerator hard, It was very surprising and I had no where to go but "up". In other words, wherether I swerved left or right it was going to be head on metal on body. Luckily I had my military show vaulting skills from my college years and jumped with my bike as high as I could just to try to clear the van. In any case, my upper body actually cleared the roof, my knees with bike attached hit the hood, I rolled over the top of the van and "planted" a landing on my feet. Gymnastics coach would have been really proud that all those vaulting and jumping and landing skills were used in real life in an emergency. My knees and quads were all bruised and cut but that was "it'. Bike was snapped in half
2. 2011, IM Switzerland bad, crash, head first into a brick house on the size of the road at 37 kph...no time to react...head injuries, neck, broken bone in face, pelvis, psoas, knee, ankle injuries ranging from broken bones to bad soft tissue stuff (the latter ended up being the worst beyond the TBI). This was my only crash ever in 31 Ironmans and probably 200 other tris.
3. 2018. After 2011, largely recovered for swim and bike but running was impaired around 10% in speed across all distances, but you work with what you have. Due to complications from 2011 in my pelvis and spine, ended up in 2015 with complications in the spine and disc rupture that affected and continues to affect my ability to walk, jog and bike. However in 2018 in the spring I was able to start riding again which was freedom from my indoor training routine of weights, swim, rowing machine. I hit the worst bad luck of my riding life in June and hit a piece of disintegrating sidewalk concrete, bounced into the curb, off the curb into traffic (cyclists worst nightmare) and had my entire right arm and foot run over by a school bus. This was only 1.5 km from home. I know this road well. I have probably ridden this strip 1000 times. I would say this "crash" was my only real "pilot error" crash, but who the heck expect to come over a hill and have a piece of concrete 3 inches high, and 1 foot by 6 inches wide right in the bike shoulder/lane. Looking back, I would not have a lot of space to react to my left without going into traffic and to the right, it MAY have been possible, but I likely was not "enough on the right" to swerve to avoid this.

In any case, you can look at the above and say, "why even bother riding". I looked like this last June 22nd





By Sep, when I went for my RMC 30th reunion, I was able to get out for my first real rides on the open road with an old classmate.




I was nervous on the road, but riding with an old buddy. Back in my air force days we used to talk about getting the pilot back into the cockpit as fast as possible after they ejected and came down with a parachute. The theory was in the old male macho days was that the longer we waited, we would let self doubt creep into to his/her mindset. Now we know this approach can backfire. I think there is a right time for "everything", I had done a few tests close to home, but nothing like riding 60K ending up really far from the starting point...back home I was doing short 2K loops testing my brain and becoming comfortable with the pavement and traffic. But by the end of the fall, riding was feeling "normal again". I even did some bike commutes to the pool, moving the bike up to a utilitarian transport mode.

When I look back over 40ish years, I've ridden over 300,000km....only three accidents, and the funny thing is that when I was much more risk taking in my youth NOTHING HAPPENED.

In any case is a very personal question and I have no good answer other than, "you know that feeling you first got when your dad let you take off the training wheels and you just took off down the street". Before I raced triathlon, I used my bike to explore the world with my tent and sleeping bag across 15 countries. It was only in 2006, when we got a second car, other than that I bike commuted all year all the time in Canadian winter too. Its an extension of who I am, why I exist, and what adds joy to my life.

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE ANYWAY.....HOW DO I WANT TO LIVE ALONG THE WAY

During the last 2 years I discovered that I really enjoy swimming all 4 strokes. I'm racing masters swimming for the first time in my life. I am loving the process of becoming "a real swimmer". I am focused on the events most lifetime swimmers no longer want to race in their 50's....200 fly and 400IM. I intend to do that till I die. I am bad at it relative to real swimmers, but now when I go to a pool, people just think I am a "real swimmer" so I am getting 'good' relative to the general population. So I am set doing this new sport. I don't need to do biking because I love to race tris. I am not sure what took my so long to discover real swimming. Now it's like oxygen...I need it to live, just like biking used to be...and before that running.

I am ready to never really run again. My running legs have taken more than 10 lifetimes of other people all over the world exploring cool stuff on foot during my travels. They owe me nothing.

In terms of biking, the bike owes me nothing...bike toured all around the world, a zillion IM's, racing Kona, but most importantly I bagged all the mountains I would want to do in a lifetime (for me): Ventoux, Stelvio, Gavia, Alpe d'Huez, Galibier (the list is long....). But even though the bike owes me nothing, I feel I owe the bike something. It's like a friend who gave you so much, he does not deserve to be ignored.

So when I came out from under that bus and I was lying in pain in bed, from time to time, I'd see my bike "ignored" with no one to ride them and take them to cool places and I said, "just be patient, let's go back to the summit of Galibier or Stelvio...I can do it".







OK, I missed my 30 min shuffle attempt for 100/100 trying to type it, but you have my psychology in this post. I guess its about living life with "WHAT CAN I DO"...vs "WHAT CAN'T BE DONE". It's cheesy, but Messick's slogan, "anything is possible" comes to mind.

There is a parallel story in my professional life that goes with the bus running over me. I stated (www.bluwave-ai.com) in 2017 and I was just in the middle of our first bigger fundraise....no customers signed up, no product shipped yet, no revenue it.....just a bunch of smart guys with a proto trying to raise capital and sign up customers. So I did and closed that pre seed round fundraise, while hobbling around in pain, closed a bunch of customers, got first product in their hands and turned on revenues. We're just in the term sheet phase of our second fundraise now that should close by May, and I am hoping I can take 10 days off this summer and get back to France to ride Galibier and along the way, get back to bike commuting to work.

I ask because recently I had a bad crash and I am all but certain I am done cycling outdoors. I am just not willing to take the chance of crashing again.



I am 59 and have been lifting, running, cycling, and swimming my whole life. Until my accident, I was in excellent shape. While not fast by ST standards, I completed a full IM each year from 2007 through 2017 (11 starts, 11 finishes).



Then eight weeks ago things changed in a hurry.



On January 13th (as bad luck would have it), I was riding alone on a closed path an hour before sunrise (I had two big lights). Less than 1.5 miles into my ride I hit a deer while I was going 21 mph (thank Garmin for the data). The deer must have jumped out of the brush. When I first saw it, the deer’s head was about two feet from mine. I literally could have touched the deer’s eye. I can still see it clearly. I had no time to do anything. I went down hard and couldn’t get up no matter how hard I tried. So I just laid there waiting for help. I did not have my cellphone. One of the many dumb things I did that morning.



After 30 to 40 minutes, a runner found me. It was still pitch black. Unfortunately, he too didn’t have a phone, so he had to run back to his car to call an ambulance.



Fast forward, to the hospital. I broke 11 bones – three fractured vertebrae (one a compression fracture), six ribs (three displaced), scapula and glenoid (glenoid is the socket of the ball-and-socket shoulder joint, not sure if it’s part of the scapula). The glenoid had to be put back together with three plates and screws. I was in the hospital eight days.



Eight weeks later I am still in a lot of pain and I can barely move the arm connected to my injured shoulder. Between my shoulder and my compression fracture, there is very little I can do.

I can’t swim, lift, run, or even ride a stationary bike. The good news is, I am getting better every day and can do the elliptical trainer (which I hate) and use a kickboard with fins in the pool.



I would be interested to hearing from you (Dev) and others who had bad crashes. Knowing the risks, why do you continue to ride outdoors.



While I did some dumb things that morning, no matter how careful you are, you can crash. I guess that’s why they call them accidents.



Please don’t ask about the deer. I have no idea what happened to it.