Well for those that enjoy this sort of reading.....

Last Friday 9/19 I was the unfortunate victim of a nasty accident involving me, my bike, 40 feet of pavement and the rear axle of a pick up truck.

I was riding west on Jenkins, just starting a Hagg Lake out and back ride. It was approx. 4:15 and vehicle traffic westbound on Jenkins was bumper to bumper and completely stopped from Murray to 158th. The stretch past the Nike campus is a slight 1% downgrade and "traffic" in the bike lane was wide open. As I approached Jay St. I checked my computer and was doing 28 mph. The light on Jenkins was green and since west traffic was fully stopped the driver of the truck began to make a left turn onto Jay St. When I saw this I was probably less than 100 ft. from the intersection. I remember applying brakes and the rear wheel fishing out to the right. I let up slightly on the brakes and got back upright but now knew for sure I was going to hit the truck so I hit the brakes again. This time the rear wheel fished out to the left and I went down hard. Of course the time between first seeing the nose of the truck and hitting the pavement took all of 1.5 seconds.

I slid on my right side for 40 ft. (marked off by police) and realized I was going under the truck. It ran over my left hip and right shin. I remember thinking "This is going to hurt! What's it gonna be: broken back? Crushed pelvis?" I was taken to Emmanuel trauma where they proceeded to cut off my PV kit!!

No head damage (thank you Giro!), road rash the likes of which I have never had nor seen before. Skin grafts are still a potential option. My entire right side; ankle to shoulder was shaved down to muscle in places. Trauma surgeons said it may take a year to fully heal. Huge bruise on left hip and rump but nothing broken..amazing! Hairline fracture of Tibia, sprained right ankle, crushed right hand and wrist that will require surgery to repair. In a cast for 6 weeks, for now to see how much can heal on its own. Anything that fuses incorrectly will be re-broken during surgery. Various other bumps, scrapes & bruises not worthy of specifics.

Driver was cited at the scene and threw a fit about it. Wash. County Sheriff's and Beaverton Police visited me in the hospital and said be prepared to go to court because the driver is going to fight it. Dude, you ran me over with your car?? I know it was not intentional but come on!! We have already contacted Mike at Bike Attorney.

Bike is destroyed, PV kit is shredded but I am alive and walking! See you all next year!

Wow.  That's all I can think to type: Wow.  As everyone said earlier, glad it didn't turn out worse and that you're recovering and your spirits are still high.  If and when there comes a day when you need to head to court let us know.  Maybe some cyclist representation in the gallery will help.

crap man.. I'm glad you alive to tell the tale.  Heal up, get the best medical care the drivers pocket can provide :p

Chris, good thing you weren't hurt more badly.

As for the guy who hit you, it may be good if he gets to court. No doubt he didn't see you, but he also needs to look for cyclists. One suggestion, if you do get to court, it may be worth doing a video of that interesction on a similar day. Or, perhaps, having someone do that for you - you may not be on the bike then yet. I have a helmet cam floating around here somewhere.

Chris, I am so sorry to hear about this.  It sounds like you live out in the Beaverton area.  I live and work right around the Nike campus.  If there is anything you need; a bag of groceries, a lawn mowed; please dont hesitate to contact me. 

971-227-5679
pat.gibson@verizon.net

Holy cow, Chris! What a write-up! This really sucks, but like others have said, I'm glad it wasn't any worse than it was. Incidents like this scare the s**t out of me, because let's face it, we can do everything right and be as safe as possible, but we're still at the mercy of those driving the two tons of steel. Reminds me to be particularly cautious when auto traffic is backed up, as the other drivers forget there are more than cars on the road. Hope to see you back on the bike soon. If there's a bright side to any of this, at least it happened as we're heading into the winter months.

 Ugh, that sounds terrible!  I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Incredible.. so glad you're upright, and hope the healing process goes smoothly.  

Chris, I sent you an email on Friday when I found out about your injuries. I hope you are healing quickly! Take care and keep us posted on your progress as well as any court hearings about the crash.

Oh my!  Hope you heal up fast, and without too much "discomfort" in the process.  Don't stint on the painkillers...

Chris, I hope your recovery goes well. It looks like your spirits are good. I ride on Jenkins quite a bit and have seen some of the idiotic things people do there. That is a horrible intersection as the road goes from two lanes to one in about 200 feet.   

Howdy PV'ers!!

Some of you I have seen in person since my accident and I have been able to thank you face to face for the tremendous outpouring of amazing support and encouragement. I made it out to the club meeting at Madison's and thanks to the great suggestion by Couz, got out of the house for CC #8 last weekend.

To everyone (and there has been a lot of you!!) who have sent me personal email messages as well as replying to this post, I am overwhelmed. I have told Matt C., Linda & Ty on several occasions over the last 2 months that Portland Velo is without a doubt the most amazingly kind group of people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. My wife even mentioned to me the other day how lucky I am to have this huge network of wonderful people to help me recover from what is turning out to be a very trying and lengthy event for me and my family.

I have a second surgery for my hand reconstruction on Dec. 1st. This Monday was my first day returning to work and after completing 7.5 hours of my shift I was laid off!! It must be some sort of test for my coping skills. Contrary to what I was told, we are certain that my untimely and unfortunate absence was without a doubt the cause for me being released. Cold but that's life I guess.

Anyways sorry this is such a long post, I enjoy confiding to my new found friends! I am still optomistic and plan on riding Jack Frost and Banana Belt after physical therapy. The new email to reach me is cjtj4700@comcast.net

See you all soon!

Chris

Chris, laid off? That just adds insult to injury.

What a miserable thing to do! I guess that shows what your employer is really made of. (soft, brown material and I don't mean brownies) 

If you are interested, email me regarding a sales job I think you would do really well at and I know the company hiring right now.

Chris, that really sucks to hear.  What a terrible employer, I can't even imagine doing that to someone.  What line of work are you in?