By Rich Palzewic
Sports editor
It’s funny how one bad decision can affect your life in a negative way.
I must preface this story with the fact that I’ve ridden tens of thousands of miles on my bicycle dating back to when I was younger. I’ve cycled across the country, done dozens of races and tours and routinely ride 180 days a year on the road.
As I sit here and type, I am doing so with a broken left arm. It’s not the type of broken bone where I can’t function or that will affect my long-term health, but it still hurts and has me down in the dumps.
I haven’t been able to do much physically since Wednesday, Aug. 22, the day I crashed on my bicycle and went down hard.
I was riding over a narrow bridge overpass with traffic coming behind me, so I jumped on the sidewalk adjacent to the road and started heading downhill, probably going about 20 mph.
Instead of staying on the sidewalk until I could safely get back on the road like I should have, I decided to head across a small patch of grass to get back to the road – dumb decision!
Since it was early in the morning and the grass was still wet, I immediately lost control and my front tire squirted out from underneath me. In less than a second, I went from getting some quality exercise, to being in excruciating pain lying in the middle of the road. Luckily, no cars were coming from behind, but any cyclist who crashes will tell you that sometimes the embarrassment of falling is far worse than the actual pain.
I pulled myself off the tarmac and walked myself back across the same wet grass where I had just wiped out. My left arm immediately went numb and I noticed road rash all over my back and arms.
After the initial shock wore off and I knew nothing was broken – or so I thought – I rode back home, upset with myself in why I made such a silly mistake.
For the next week, I iced, rested and took anti-inflammatory medication to help ease the pain. After those seven days ended and I still felt pain flushing the toilet and lifting my cat, I went to get an x-ray – that confirmed a fracture in the radial head of my left arm. The doctor told me it wasn’t the worst he’s seen, but he made me feel better when he said, “It was a painful fracture.” I wasn’t being a wimp after all.
It will heal fine with more rest, ice and medication, but I wish I had trusted my instincts in this case.
I see an awful lot of cyclists riding on the sidewalk and I completely understand their reasoning – they probably feel safer in certain situations, but sidewalks are for pedestrians, not for people on two wheels. Sidewalks are uneven and can throw you off your bicycle in an instant.
I will argue it might even be more dangerous to ride on a sidewalk, and I’ve seen it first-hand.
One time I came to an intersection and didn’t see a cyclist to my left. The reason I didn’t see her was because she was riding on the sidewalk. When I looked, I honestly didn’t notice her – she wasn’t where she was supposed to be riding a bike – on the road. It might sound strange to people reading, but it’s the truth.
I pulled out to the intersection and then I saw her. I stopped in time and she rode around me, but she let me know her feelings by extending her middle finger in the air at me.
Even though I didn’t feel it was my fault or her gesture was warranted, I didn’t want to make a bad decision on my part escalate the situation further, so I just waved at her to apologize.
On another note, I was wearing my helmet during my crash. I did feel my head bounce off the pavement when I hit, so the helmet likely saved me from further injury.
My point is, a bad decision you make today or tomorrow could come back to haunt you in the future.
This is especially true for young people. In this day and age of social media, if you’re caught doing something you shouldn’t, be rest assured that somebody probably got it on video.
If you Tweet or say something on Facebook, even if you delete what you said in a few seconds, most likely someone saw, took a screenshot of it or shared it. Once you put it out there, you can’t take it back.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader recently had an ugly incident surface where he made some racial comments on Twitter when he was a teenager. After his all-star appearance in July, those comments surfaced. Hader is just one of many it has happened to.
If I learned anything from my crash, it’s to trust your instincts and do what is right. Be careful what you say and do.
I wish I had listened to myself. If I had, I wouldn’t be typing with one arm.