baldy's helicopter ride

Andy

baldy had a very serious truck vs. bicycle accident, looks like he's going to be okay...

for those of you that are new, baldy is the site owner, and co-founder of smugmug.

his son ben wrote this in baldy's other forum, advrider, and i'm just going to cut and paste his first-hand report:

ben wrote:

So at around noon this morning, I got a call from Baldy's cell phone. He seemed a little out of it, and informed me that a nurse was holding a phone to his ear. He told me he had been hit by a pickup truck while bicycling right near Alice's, and had to be life flighted to Stanford Hospital. I told him I would be right there, and hung up the phone.

I arrived at the hospital, and the nurse stopped me on my way to the room to ask me if I had a problem with blood. After assuring her I would be okay, she led me into the trauma unit to see him. He had a collar on his neck (which scared me, as spine injuries are very common in these accidents), and was pretty bloody. I know Don got some pictures that hopefully he will post in this thread a little later.

He quickly assured me that the spine CT scan came out normal (PHEW!), and that they told him he broke several bones in his face/cheek. His shoulder was a bloody mess and they weren't sure at that point if anything was broken there. It turned out later that he only suffered tissue damage on the shoulder, though it sure hurt him all day.

He spent about 10 hours in the trauma unit and ER, before they moved him up to a bed on one of the other floors to let him sleep. They had wanted to discharge him a few times, but he had grown really light headed. We think it was due to dehydration, and they weren't really that worried... but wanted to keep an eye on him. They assured me I would be able to take him home tomorrow morning some time, and that he would need to take it easy for a few weeks (no Ironman for him in September! he is quite distraught about that).

So it turns out that Baldy was cruising along on his bicycle (making record time he assures me) right near Alice's. He spotted a pickup truck with a camper that was driving pretty agressively heading towards him on the opposite side of the street. He kept his eye on it, but as it got almost alongside him it decided it REALLY needed to get into the parking lot entrance Baldy was passing in front of. It pulled a hard left turn without even seeing him and totally clobbered Baldy. He woke up later with firemen surrounding him. They asked him his age and the year, and he failed both questions miserably. They flew him to Stanford as quick as they could and began working on him. He got better at answering questions quickly, and overall it looks like he should make a full recovery.

Anyways, if you want to leave wellwishes or snide remarks, I figure I will probably print some of them out and take them with me to the hospital if they aren't ready to discharge him first thing in the morning.

baldy: all of us here at dgrin wish you well, and hope you have a speedy recovery!

behr655

I hope you put a nasty dent in that idiots truck Baldy. Get well.


Bear

windoze

kind of post you dont like to read but when it happens to someone that touches your life, you cant help but to send your best wishes...
and your "site" has helped touch many lives........

best wishes for a speedy recovery,

troy

andy wrote:

baldy: all of us here at dgrin wish you well, and hope you have a speedy recovery!

Michiel de Brieder

I hope you will recover swiftly Chris!!!

4labs

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Sam

I wish Baldy well and hope for a speedy recovery.

Did the pickup driver stop? Did he have a license and insurance. If so, Baldy is really lucky.

Sam

GREAPER

We are all lucky that you were lucky Baldy. Glad you are still with us.

Ann McRae

Best Wishes for a Speedy and full recovery, Baldy.

Some flowers,


or if you prefer cuddly puppies

ann

DavidTO

This happens all too often. If you know a bicyclist, then you most likely know someone who's been hurt in a traffic accident on their bike. My uncle was just hospitalized and will most likely never be able to lift his camera (1dMKII) again. His son-in-law (my cousin-in-law) was hurt in a similar fashion last year. My cousin on the other side was also hurt this way, and helped to establish the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

My best wishes for a speedy recovery, Baldy. And please, let's all of us use this as an opportunity to raise awareness of cyclist's rights.

lynnesite

DavidTO wrote:

This happens all too often. If you know a bicyclist, then you most likely know someone who's been hurt in a traffic accident on their bike. My uncle was just hospitalized and will most likely never be able to lift his camera (1dMKII) again. His son-in-law (my cousin-in-law) was hurt in a similar fashion last year. My cousin on the other side was also hurt this way, and helped to establish the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

My best wishes for a speedy recovery, Baldy. And please, let's all of us use this as an opportunity to raise awareness of cyclist's rights.

Yeesh, Dave, and this ignorance/indifference is why I stopped riding motorcycles over 20 years ago, even if I rode as if invisible, it was still too risky.

Chris, wishing you a speedy recovery and glad you were tougher than Idiot Boy's truck. I hope they cited him. And I hope Toni's blood pressure is back to normal, what a horrible scare.

wxwax

Oh good lord, this is awful.

To Chris and his entire family, my sympathies, and thank goodness it wasn't worse. Good luck on a speedy recovery. And sorry about missing the September Ironman. Just know that your quest for fitness is an inspiration to a lot of us.

Unfortunately, as so many of you know, we often only see what we expect to see. Drivers often don't "see" motorcyclists and bicyclists even when they're looking right at them - something to do with how the brain prioritizes the incredible amount of information it processes. So be careful out there.

Hope the shoulder heals well, Chris.

Baldy

This is actually Ben, posting from Baldy's machine. He is home now, and doing much better... well on his way to a full recovery.

Do you think this will be selected as a Kodak POTD?




http://ben.smugmug.com/gallery/763261

Andy

Baldy wrote:

This is actually Ben, posting from Baldy's machine. He is home now, and doing much better... well on his way to a full recovery.

Do you think this will be selected as a Kodak POTD?




http://ben.smugmug.com/gallery/763261

:yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes:yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes

marlof

Best wishes, Baldy! And as for that picture: it is in need of a soundbite, where someone with an Austrian accent says "I'll be back".

ChrisJ

Wow! I'm really glad he's not seriously injured. Wearing a helmet, I presume? If so, another life saver...

Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

Ben

95Mcaj wrote:

Wow! I'm really glad he's not seriously injured. Wearing a helmet, I presume? If so, another life saver...

Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

Actually, the helmet is about the only thing that DIDN'T get beat up. I was going through his bloody clothing last night taking stock of what made it and what didn't... and I pulled his helmet out and it was perfectly intact. It didn't look like it had hit anything... I think his cheek absorbed the impact unfortunately, not his helmet.

ehughes

Oh man, so sorry to hear about this. Very glad to hear that you are going to be ok. Get well soon Chris...

Ed

dragon300zx

Glad your gonna be ok Baldy, here's to a speedy recovery, and that truck driver getting the book thrown at him.

wxwax

There's only one solution: full face bicycle helmets.

Baldy's the Saturday night Monster Movie host this weekend. Curl up with the babe and a bucket of popcorn, this one's gonna be really scary.

Andy

wxwax wrote:

There's only one solution: full face bicycle helmets.

Baldy's the Saturday night Monster Movie host this weekend. Curl up with the babe and a bucket of popcorn, this one's gonna be really scary.

look, i've seen baldy in person plenty, and i'm kinda likin' the new look over the old one he's a little less a-skeery now, eh what?

Eric&Susan

Best wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery!!


Eric

DJ-S1

That photo is classic and says more about Baldy's personality than most anything I can think of. After getting beat up like that the last thing I'd think of doing is mugging for the camera!

Glad a full recovery is already begun and hope it doesn't take long.

I can already see the business opportunity here. Smugmug signs up with Aerostitch to create an armored-yet-lightweight bicyclist clothing line! "FULL GEAR, FULL TIME."

tmlphoto

Get well soon. Speedy recovery. Very glad is wasn't more serious.

imax

Baldy

Best of luck to you on a speedy recovery.


Joe B

Nikolai

Chris, get well soon!
I hope you'll be alright!
My thoughts are with ya!

Dee

Hope it's a speedy recovery
Ye gads, such horrible news. I hope they get the truck driver, do keep us posted on that.

I'm sure all are relieved you'll be all right. Here's to a speedy recovery.

KevinKal

Get well soon...
Baldy,

Glad that you're recovering mate, and that you'll be around to ride another day. Remember though, scars are cool . Seriously though, hope you have a speedy recovery.

Cheers,
Kevin K.

Sam

The doctors, and nurses must think your nuts! Who in their right mind runs into a hospital with a camera to photograph their injured and bloody loved ones?

Glad Baldy is home, and I hope for a speedy pain free recovery.

Sam

Baldy

Many thanks for all the well wishes and funny insults!!

You know how you sometimes wake up in a hotel room and it takes awhile to figure out where you are? Imagine waking up on your back, strapped to a board with a neck collar on, buck naked (which you can tell from the cool breeze), able to open one eye, seeing perhaps 8 firemen/EMTs looking over you, hearing a helicopter on the ground nearby...

They ask you confusing questions like "what year is it?" that you can't answer. And finally the moment of truth: "can you wiggle your fingers and toes?" Check on toes. Check on left hand. Right hand? Can't tell, can't see it, the whole arm is numb. And then someone says something ever-so-sweet: "They're moving."

And now I have a constant source of amusement which gives me a smile every 3 minutes: I watch my fingers and toes wiggle.

Don't count me out for IronMan September 17th. My specialty is overcoming adversity.

Andy

Baldy wrote:

Don't count me out for IronMan September 17th. My specialty is overcoming adversity.

in the dictionary, under "determination" there's a picture of baldy

Nikolai

Great to hear from you!
Once again, get well soon!

Cheers!