Detour ahead

July 27, 2010

All great adventures are about the journey not the destination and my latest impromptu expedition through the woods just helps to reinforce this thought. Me the day before my accident after I set up my tent

On July 19th I woke up early and cold as the rain had stopped allowing frost to come in. Packed up camp excited to sleep in a hostel in Napier that night. Went to the local mower/bicycle store (this made my day) purchased a high visibility jacket and was directed to Middle Road.

The sun was coming out and a beautiful day was promised. Turning on to Middle Road I was relieved to be away from the traffic of the main highway and the scenery was great. Riding through valleys I would push through heavy fog and feel like I had enter some scary movie. As I came out of fog up a hill I stopped at a fence gate to have a snack. As soon as I had placed my bike there I saw the farmer approaching on his 4wheeler (called a bike here). At that moment I truly did not want to have to move my bike and luckily he was content with talking about my adventure. He gave me cookies and his phone number in case I had troubles. I told him I hoped never to see him again and than continued on my way.

About 20 km into my ride and 2 km after I chatted with the farmer a downhill windy section of road was ahead with an amazing view of the valley below. As I took the second curve in the shade of the hill I hit a patch of ice (yes ice the thing I rode on for 4 months this MN winter) and began my crash.

Looking back at where I was coming from

I believe that as I began to lay my bike down my front left pannier came lose and started dragging and up righted me back on to two wheels. I veered to the left, which up until this point had been a hillside. To my horror in this exact location and only for about 200 feet there is a fence and a gully to my left. By this time it is too late as my wheels are airborne and braking is not an option...also I'm clipped in and not unclipping fast enough. As a last ditch effort I flail my arm out for anything to grasp and connect just below my wrist with a branch. My bike proceeds to hit the fence and I fly somersaulting over into the gully. I land with a yard sail of gear but luckily my bike has remained with the fence. Looking at my wrist the break was obvious and I climbed out of the gully.
Where I went down...my bike was stuck where I was standing

My glasses were lost and I was hoping my handle bar bag still held my phone. It did but as I feared no signal. I began slowly climbing out of the valley on the road hoping for signal. Shortly a car passed and I did my best to stop them. Thankfully the three older ladies stopped and one happened to be a nurse.

They made a makeshift sling with my windbreaker and we went to find a house to call the ambulance.

Ambulance/Hospital

While waiting for the ambulance the question that would haunt me for the next couple of days was asked "Where are you staying in Hawkes Bay?". Well I was going to stay in a backpackers but since I have broke my arm I really haven't thought about it.

Luckily I had multiple people offer to stay in their homes (ex: ambulance driver, house where made ambulance call, people picked me up). At first I was not willing to accept these offers but the reality of the situation and the pain of staying in a backpackers slowly set in.

Lesson learned: Sometimes you need to accept help.

I decided to take the farmer who had heard from the lady who drove me to call the ambulance that I had had a crash. He reminded me of home and was the only person I had not previously inconvienced.

Once I had my cast on and than had my arm "manipulated" and in another cast I stayed the night in the hospital. I was released on Wednesday and Bas came to pick me up. After discussing if we should take my bike and bags (which the social worker had went out of her way to find storage for) I won and we continued to my recovery center.

Bas and Jill (aka My saviors) in Napier...one of the day trips they took me on...and my first ice cream in NZ

Recovery

I've decided to cheat a little with recovery and just show you the pics as we go!


Jill and I with my black cast...above the elbow...two days after accident



I have an elbow!!! and a pink cast...super awesome fantastic times!


Bionic arm activate!!! My new brace to help rotation