For the 4th day in a row we opened the blinds to a SUNNY Belgian day. We threw some breaky together and were rolling down the main street of Mol fifteen minutes later. With plans to explore Antwerp later in the day we were only planning on riding up the canal through Kasterlee and then home via Turnhout so we would be home early. Antwerp is about a 45min drive away (not including traffic) so we were hoping to be on our way by 12pm. We were enjoying the sunshine and riding through the streets of Kasterlee when rotten luck struck me once again for the 2nd time in less than 6 weeks. Traffic was unusually busy but we were unaffected as we were casually riding up the footpath and heading towards a T intersection. As we were travelling straight ahead we had right of way and were crossing the road when a car pulled into the street and collected me on the way in, sending me sprawling across the road. There were cars everywhere and the driver's vision was obscured so instead of waiting the woman driving has rolled the dice and turned anyway. To give you a better idea of the situation we were riding on the footpath on the left side of the road (there was no footpath on the right in this part of town), so the cars next to us were heading in the opposite direction. The car that collected me has come from behind us, had its vision blocked by the traffic jam in the left hand lane, the next car in queue has left a gap for the car to turn in which it has done even though it hasn't been able to see clearly if anyone was there or not and has completely T boned me as it entered the street.
Luckily Brad and Matt weren't following too closely and were able to avoid me and the car. They both quickly jumped off their bikes and came to my aid as I laid in a ball on the road. Immediately I had a lot of pain in my leg and could feel the sting of gravel rash that most cyclists know all too well. I was quick on my feet and was relived at first that I had landed in a pretty good position and managed to protect my broken collarbone and not hit my head. Even though I was wearing arm and leg warmers (which hadn't ripped) I could see that I was missing some bark underneath. My hip had been grazed but I gave myself a good check all over after sitting down for a few minutes and saw that most of them were just grazes. I had a nasty chuck taken out of my right palm and my left wrist had started to swell. Both the lady who hit me and the nearest car to the accident had stopped and were standing nearby. I took my booties off and one of my Sidi buckles crumbled and fell to pieces. Matty checked my bike over and found there was a crack on the drive-side seat stay. By this stage my wrist had become quite sore and I was getting paranoid that I may have broken one of the small bones in my wrist (Scaphoid breaks are very common) so we decided to call an ambulance.
The two lady's started to argue about whose fault it was (the car that took me out vs. the car that waved her through) but only one of them spoke english so it was difficult to follow. I learnt from my last crash to take photos for insurance reasons so Matt went around snapping photos of license plates, my bike and some of the visible wounds. The witness called the police and we collected everyone's details as the ambulance arrived. I left my bike with Matt and Brad who stayed behind to wait for the police while I left in the ambulance. When I arrived at the hospital in Turnhout I only waited 15min or so before a nurse was rubbing betadine into all my grazes and told me to stand by for an xray. Compared to Royal Perth (i've spent some time there over the last 6 months) this hospital looked like a ghost town. While I was waiting the police came in and got my statement. They both spoke English well but I had to write my own statement as my comments could be altered if they translated it to Dutch. Somehow they'd managed to bring my bike with them and told me Brad and Matt were on their way. After the police I waited another 10min or so before I was taken to get an xray. I didn't bother scanning anywhere other than my wrist which I was beginning to stress over as it had started to seize up...
After my xray Glenn arrived in the car and had the 2 boys with him. We chatted for a while but we suddenly silent when the nurse came in to examine my wrist. He pressed, prodded and twisted my wrist/palm and straight away ruled out a scaphoid fracture as my pain was coming from slightly higher. I was given the thumbs up but he quickly went to go check the xray results anyway. No breaks or fractures could be seen. I was very relived about this and couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. My wrist was wrapped up with some bandages and I was sent on my way shortly after. We were still planning on going to Antwerp so we drove home and got changed (detouring past McDonald's for a McFlurry).
I was quite ginger when I got out of the car but managed to get changed and collect all my insurance papers from Cycling Australia. By this time it was too late to call the office as it was 1pm in Belgium which is at least 9pm in the eastern states. As we were pulling out of the drive way Tim drove past on his Vespa so we filled him in on everything that happened and told him we'd stop by later to hang out and get him to check over my bike. On the way to Antwerp we detoured past Turnhout Police Station and gave them some more of our details including a phone number we could be contacted on and also collected the lady driver's name and insurance details. At this stage I will call Cycling Australia tomorrow and see what has to be organised in regards to the insurance, doctors bills and damages to my bike.
The drive to Antwerp on a Friday afternoon seemed to be a bad idea immediately as we were caught up in a horrible traffic jam. When we finally arrived in the city centre we were already over it and barely stayed an hour before we battled the same traffic on the way out. I fell asleep for a little while in the car and cut out some of the grid lock, waking just as we entered Mol. Food was running low as usual so we did a quick shop at the Colruyt. We were devastated when the free coffee was empty but they made up for it with the other aisles having free sample chocolate waffles, breakfast cereal and wine (I know its absolutely crazy). Naturally we stocked up and spent on extra 10min wandering around eating free food. When we got back to Martijn's we unpacked the car and Brad v. Glenn battle #5795 in chess broke out while Matt and I had something to eat. By about 7pm we drove over to Tim's place to chat and he helped us with some bike mechanics. Our internet has been down at Martijn's so we all checked and returned a few emails as well. Tim was planning on driving to Bart's house to put the final touches on a new Vespa they were working on but we declined the invitation as my leg had really started to stiffen up. The guys ordered a few pizzas from a fast food place next door to Tim's and drove home to eat them at home.
Somehow we got the internet rolling again at Martijn's so we could finally update the blog (sorry faithful fans). We have a big weekend of racing planned with kermesse's in Tisselt tomorrow and Westerlo Sunday. At this stage I am most definitely pinning a number on but it will all depend how I pull up tomorrow morning on the recovery ride. I'm not sure whether to call myself unlucky that I've had two horrible accidents in 6 weeks or I am very lucky that I have managed to walk away from both of them in relatively good condition. Either way I cannot wait to enjoy an accident free couple of months so I can get back to doing what I love. My resolve has well and truly been tested but I can guarantee you it will take a lot more than a few bumps and bruises to keep this bike rider grounded. Thank you all for your kind thoughts and wishes, I will continue to battle on as I always do.
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