Getting hit by a car or hitting a car?

I feel fortunate to be able to write this post after my crash yesterday. Pictures tell a million words but this one still doesn't tell the whole story, except that I got my behind kicked!

Saturday in the fall is football day and I was looking forward to watching the Huskies compete against Nebraska (that's another story). I went for a quick bike ride and was coming down a local hill (Juanita Hill) going about 30 mph. I pride myself riding with a keen sense of my surroundings, always looking for my bail out and expecting other people, especially automobile drivers, not to see me or understand the speed involved. Most likely it is misguided or just arrogant, because it sure did not help me yesterday.

As I am cruising down the hill, close to the right shoulder, I see a car in the opposite lane slowing down near the next intersection, but without signaling. I am staying right to give myself plenty of room, assuming the car might turn in front of me misjudging my speed. And it happens. The car slowly turns right into my lane. I am on a collision course unable to break in time on the wet roads. Therefore I head to the center of the road hoping to be able to go around the back of the car once it moves forward. But the one thing you can't plan for happens - the reaction of the driver. The lady finally sees me, freezes and stops the car in the middle of the lane. Bam! Nowhere to go I t-bone the car straight on.

I have heard and read stories about how people see their lives flash in front of them in a split second when encountering a possible life threatening situation. I did think that this was it or at least not turn out well, but maybe my senses are not developed enough to experience such enlightenment since all I could think was "I'm screwed". I remember hitting the car with my front wheel and rolling into the car. An impact on my side, spinning, my knee and shin hitting something and then the crash on the pavement. The air went out of my lungs and I might have said "stupid" but am not sure if it was directed at the driver of at myself for knowing better.

While catching my breath and trying to figure out how badly I was hurt the lady ask me if I was ok. Not at the top of my game or wit at the time I could only come up with a No. No cursing or sarcasm or at least a - what do you think? I just crashed into a car going 30 mph, broke a windshield and flipped over the car then hit the asphalt, which tore into my rear.

I managed to slowly get up and get myself to the side of the road since cars were squeezing though the gaps between the car and me and my bike. I guess all the folks were in a hurry to watch football or get to Starbucks!

Within 2 or 3 min a police officer, fire department and an A-car where there. They took good care of me and left after I assured them that I did not want to go to Evergreen Hospital and that I had a ride home. While waiting on my ride the police officer and I had to console the lady who hit me. She was really shook up and apologetic. Not the way you want to start the weekend!

Needless to say I did not make it to the Husky game, but spend quality time at Overlake Hospital getting my shoulder checked out and a few stitches in my shoulder and behind, where some of the glass decided to stick around.

I watched the game at home on the couch in agony - and not from the throbbing in my separated shoulder!

All in all I am very fortunate and I know God was watching over me, but I do not recommend flying to Indonesia the same day you get hit by a car. Good thing there are painkillers!

Bye bye summer?

Our weather is changing and are we skipping the fall and going right into our raining season? I am not ready for that, but it does mean more time is spent inside sitting on our behinds. It certainly helps getting back to writing another blog!


The summer in the Northwest was wonderful as always, but on many fronts too short. Seattle on a warm day has got to be the most beautiful city in the world, but of course we complain that we did not get enough of those. We didn’t make it on a family vacation this year, but my wife and I played more golf than ever and our handicaps have gone down. Unfortunately now I have to give people strokes. :(

It was definitely time to get our youngest back to school for his senior year (scary where the time has gone). Almost 3 months of summer break is way too much I believe. How does a family keep the kids busy if both parents work? I remember getting 6 weeks when I was growing up in Germany.

Random thoughts on sports activities this summer:

World Cup fever.
Wow. I love the competition and the spirit of it - the national pride, the singing and dancing and all the colors of the flags and outfits. But I could have done without the vuvuzelas. The traditional atmosphere of soccer was destroyed with these noisemakers. The singing, chanting and general positive fan behavior of international soccer competition couldn't be seen or heard in this world cup. Please no more in future competitions!

One of the reasons soccer is not as huge in the US as everywhere else in the world is the constant flopping and acting of the players. I agree that sometimes you have to sell a call in order to get it and it happens in most sports, but I must say in soccer it has gone overboard. What are we trying to market to our society and our kids - faking and cheating will get you ahead (don’t the guys know that TV shows it all in slow motion)? Not sure how and if it carries over to everyday life, but if you see this kind of behavior succeed over and over again by superstars why not try it elsewhere?

Shouldn't there be consequences for acting like that? If you roll around like you have been shot you should not be allowed to run full speed 30 seconds later like nothing happened. Off to the sidelines for 5 min to get treatments from the trainer. Let's see how many times a coach wants to play a man short. Another thing that amazes me is that soccer players can't play every other day. Are you telling me that it is more demanding than the NBA and the play-offs or the Olympics, where the teams play 3 days in a row? How about the US Open tennis tournament? Players do back to back 5 hour matches! One sport where I believe players need a week between games is American football because they take a physical beating and need time to recuperate.

Getting pampered is nice but getting spoiled is a disservice to the game. There are lots of issues in all sports and the NBA has many, but soccer has taken it a little further as far as training, pampering and entitlement. Time to man up and play the game like it is supposed to be played.

NBA news:
LeBron signing with Miami – apparently a big issue to many fans, NBA legends and the media, but a surprise? Loyalties in pro sports went out the window a long time ago on both sides. Owners will trade a player in a heartbeat if they think they can improve their team and it does not matter if the player has done everything perfect on and off the court for that franchise. It is a billion dollar business and the bottom line matters! On the other end the player will take the deal, he thinks will be the best for him long term. Of course there are always exceptions such as Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, etc. who most likely will finish their careers playing for one team. It just does not happen very often anymore.

And just because Miami has a couple superstars they might still not be the top team – other guys need to defend, shoot and rebound too! It should be an interesting year coming up with collective bargaining and a possible lock-out looming next summer! I will have to spend some time looking at rosters soon, because after all the movement I don’t even know where guys are anymore – which is another issue with the league. It is hard for the fans to identify themselves with their team, since most teams have more turn-over than the local Starbucks.

The other disturbing news this summer were the frequent stories about ex-NBA players, who had made huge amounts of money ($100+) and are now bankrupt – Antoine Walker, Vin Baker, Scottie Pippen – just a few names out of a large group – statistics say that 65% of all NFL/NBA players are bankrupt within 3 years after their playing days. It is a shame, but a tough thing to correct. Peer pressure, culture, life style and education seem to be enormous issues to overcome.

Tiger news:
One thought to finish up with – Maybe a reason Tiger is struggling is that golf used to be the escape for him – hours on the course without interference away from managing family and a large database of women. Now that is the sole focus of his existence and when he does step out to date/meet somebody the whole world will know. :)