Well the weather has been so nice in Toronto this year that I could have ridden my bike through the whole winter. Everyone is breaking out their bicycles and I... am not. It has been over 8 months since the accident (involving little old me on my bike being hit by someone swinging open their car door without looking), and I am still in pain. I have just been told that I now have frozen shoulder and have to have a catheter stuck into my shoulder joint and inflated with air. It's a new procedure, but is proving very effective, and I'm willing to try anything at this point that will alleviate the discomfort.
But the main reason that I will not get back on my bike is that I no longer feel safe. This city is not designed for riding and it could too easily happen again. So many people I have met have stories exactly like mine, or worse. I was actually lucky that I only broke one arm.
James rode his bike to work today and I got really emotional about it. I can't get the sound or the image of the accident out of my head, and it's driving me nuts. I am begging everyone out there to wear your helmets. It's what saved my life. And please take side routes where there are less cars.
1 comment:
Hey there,
I also live in Toronto (and I'm a vegan :) and got into a biking accident last year in the summer. And the whole point of a story is that I was IN THE BIKING LANE and this lady assumed that noone uses the biking lane and just drove into me. Thank God I was wearing a helmet and I fell onto the grass of the sidewalk.
Somehow I got rid of my fear and pain in about a few weeks and now ride again, but every time I feel so fragile and feel as it may be my last time on the road, but I don't have a choice. Hoping to move to another more bike-friendly city one day.
Great to hear from fellow biking vegans from Toronto!
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