Oct 1 - Philippines

I've been sitting on this blog that was written shortly after my "incident".  It's time to post. 

An adventure that didn't end very well ... or ended very well, depending on your definition.  At least I'm here to tell the tale.  There's more detail that I've been able to figure out afterwards, guessing at things from pictures of the car.  I'll know even more after a round of Dr appts.  I'm getting around with crutches but have to be very careful with the left knee.  

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Riding in traffic, in an instant I felt my face crunch into what must have been a car. Everything happens so fast. I don't really remember the bike hitting the car, just the facial crunch, open my eyes lying on my back on the road, "are you ok?".

The ride had been going well. It was hot, had some rain, temperature building. Mark and Hamid were ahead, which is typical. Just before I arrived at the 1st control, I saw Mark heading back on the short out and back. Probably 1km ahead of me, perhaps more. At the control, Hamid was still there. I checked in, had some coke and then rolled out with Hamid. We rolled together for a long while but were then passed by three riders; Hamid jumped into their draft and gradually pulled away.   At the next control I checked Hamid's arrival. He was 10 minutes ahead. 

Getting hotter, I found one of the never too far away grocery c-stores and ate two Mellon popsicles to cool myself down. A little later, another with a cold drink.  Later, what I was actually wanting, a big soft serve ice cream cone at a 7-11.  Heaven. 

We had started at 4am. By this time it was after noon. Shortly after the 7-11, I saw Hamid and stopped. He was at a little restaurant where he had just stopped for lunch.  I declined because a) I wanted to keep moving; b) because I'd just taken in a bunch of cool calories with my ice cream. I rolled on. 

It wasn't long after that the crunch happened. 

"Am I ok?"  "I'm not sure". 

My quick take stock told me that I was alert and alive. I could move.  That's all I knew. I believe that I realized in that quick check that I was shoeless, but who knows. 

Within an instant of that query, there was a crowd. Seemingly within a moment an ambulance happened on us; there's no way that they were called, it was happenstance.  They loaded me onto a stretcher and aboard. I saw a cyclist that had been at the 7-11 and said "someone take care of my bike please". He said ok. You really can't do this much cycling without caring about your bike!

It wasn't a long ride to the hospital. Perhaps a dozen kms. They did a quick inspection and sent me for X-rays. Was anything broken?   My left leg didn't look very good. A long scratch. Blood on my face from the glasses crunch (I knew that my nose wasn't broken; they weren't so sure). 

Piecing this together from the evidence later, the car came out to pass and hit me head on. I hit wheel-first, broke the wheel, both fork legs, headlight, shifters, launched myself out of my cycling shoes (never found those), somehow rolled and landed on my back on the ground. I connected with the car halfway between my knees and hips. There was no helmet damage.  There's a bit of this movie missing that I'd love to see.   At the time, however, I knew nothing about the bike condition. 

The X-ray confirmed no leg break but when I tried to stand up, I had shooting pains in my lower back. Worried that I might have broken lumbar vertebrae, I requested more scans but was told that the department was closed for the day. It was about 4:30 on a Saturday. 

In the meantime, I had informed Sandy, who had just arrived in Porto Galera, Hamid and Mark, and Carmela, the ride organizer. 

Before the shooting pain, I'd made plans to simply head up to Porto Galera. Nice place, I was done anyway. With the pains, I knew that further checkout was necessary. We had arranged for a car to come south from her resort to pick me up, a four hour trip each way. By the time we sorted everything out, the car was almost to me, we aborted that plan. 

The next viable alternative was back to a hospital in Calapan where the ride started, a 3+ hour trip. While I could have used the resort car, an ambulance made more sense.   Someone, don't know who, made that happen. 

There were other complications. My bike couldn't be released and neither could the driver, in case I wanted to press charges.  The bike was evidence.  I had the driver's wife and son with me as well as a policeman who had been on the scene. I got some  offline advice from everyone but especially Richard, the Canadian owner at the dive resort where Sandy was. 

The local police wanted me to have the Calapan evaluation done, then come back and sort things out, sign papers. That really didn't make sense. 

1) any insurance would be minimal 

2) this could take years for little reward

3) whatever my condition, chasing this guy wasn't going to change it 

4) far better to move on

5) no point in ruining his life, for what?

6) no point in having him spend what could be days at the police station. 

My decision was to a) ask the driver to admit full fault (he already had); b) for that and some token monetary consideration, I would agree not to press charges now or ever. 

Time to move on. Vengeance, for nothing.  Pursuing anything legally would make me even more of a victim, looking backwards instead of forwards. 

To make this happen, the ambulance took me to the police station where my verbal offer was recorded on video, written and signed by both of us. The police lieutenant was amazed that I was handling it this way. The driver could only say "I owe you".  He gave me the money in his possession, 5k Pisos, about $85 USD. 

I headed north in the ambulance. A volunteer (forget her name), loaded the bike and also drove to Calapan, leaving the bike in our hotel room that I had kept for the duration.   I asked for some things off the bike but another volunteer had taken the bags.  I went days without my electric toothbrush. I asked her to bring some clothes from my room, which she did. I forgot to ask for glasses, shoes. 

We got to the hospital around 11:30 pm, I met with the doctor, and after a little time, had full X-rays, toe to head. Nothing obvious, the next step was MRI. 

Sandy called Hamid's wife Shab. I knew that at some point Shab would wonder why my Spot tracker wasn't moving. It would be better if she heard directly from us. 

I also had full blood work up, EKG, urinalysis, loads of painkillers, steroids etc all delivered by IV.  I declined the echocardiogram and abdominal ultrasound. 

The orthopedic guy was very worried about what appears to be prior minor fractures lumbar 2&3. I think it's just wear producing my scoliosis, but will definitely get it checked out.   I've discussed the scoliosis before with a surgeon in Orlando. 

I was feeling much better. No more shooting pains. I could somewhat walk. I wanted to leave. The doctor wanted to taper the steroids. I agreed to stay another day. I could make my way to the bathroom, slowly. I was going to feel crappy wherever I was!

I had convinced Sandy that she couldn't do anything for me.  We had reached a point where it didn't make sense for me to travel to her, she would leave a day early.  Her car picked me up on the way to our Calapan hotel, the Filipiniana. 

In the meantime, painkillers had worn off. Reality was setting in. There was no hiding the fact that I was banged up.  My left leg isn't good. Ankle swollen but not really sore. Knee swollen and sore. Butt really sore, hard to put weight on that side.   Any flexing of the knee is an issue. 

We started riding on Oct 1. I was in the Calapan hospital two nights, back at the Filipiniana for the night of the 3rd and 4th, heading to Manila now to stay overnight by the airport. Not being able to climb stairs, I stayed in the van for the ferry trip. 

My flights to Perth, Jakarta, back to Manila, all cancelled. Hotels cancelled. Ascott hotel room night in BGC abandoned. Flight back to Toronto rescheduled to sync with Sandy. 

Any walking isn't practical. Stairs are impossible. I'm comfortable sitting & standing, but not moving that left leg.   I should recover but it will take a while.  I probably, in addition to the bruising, have stretched tendons in a variety of places. 

The hospital staff were wonderful, caring, conscientious. The doctors were thorough and provided explanations for everything they were doing.   

Mark finished before Hamid. I joined him for a beer. A while later, Hamid came in. Another beer. 

Damn.