A little over a year and a half ago, I was involved in a serious bike accident. I was hit by a drunk driver after making a questionable move at an intersection and my left ear almost got torn off my head. It didn’t actually but I did have to have a lot of stitches. It left a very clear scar on my head and a not-so-clear scar in my head. Added to this, the accident occurred at the height of the “health crisis” (I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) and because of this, the hospital I was taken to immediately afterward was a very strange place indeed to spend any amount of time in. Also, my family refused to visit me after the accident, claiming that they were taking “recommended precautions” as per various government agencies. I was in the employ of the government at the time of the accident but left government service shortly thereafter on a rather unresolved note. I do not feel that I have received very much care or support (physical or emotional) in terms of recovering from it (the accident). The doors to support of any kind seem to me to be barred somehow and I can’t understand why. I don’t wish to dwell too heavily on this but since I am in the process of creating a new bike and will be, presumably, getting back onto the road fairly soon, I wanted to address it, for my own peace of mind if for nothing else.

The option to sue is open to me now and has been since the accident occurred. I have not exercised this option yet. I believe it is open to me for another year and some change so I have some time still to decide if I want to do it. I’ve sued people before and didn’t have a very good time of it which is one of the main reasons I’m not sure I want to do it again. I did make an attempt with one lawyer but he refused to take the case so I’m not sure where that leaves me. There are plenty of other lawyers out there but so far I haven’t wanted to enlist the help of another lawyer as my recourse.

The health crisis has ebbed in intensity since the time of my accident but it has certainly not disappeared altogether, far from it. It seems that it is basically here to stay albeit in the background. But that is neither here not there.

I AM in the process of making a new bike (as I said) which is vastly superior to the last bike I owned. I have given it better components, and the frame itself is of higher quality than my old early 2000’s Cannondale (which is the bike I was riding at the time of the accident). My new bike is made of Titanium and it is actually older than the Cannondale I believe, but it is in great shape and I think age has less of an effect on a metal like titanium than on say, aluminum. My new bike is almost ready to ride and I swear, I have never looked forward to anything as much as I’m looking forward to riding this new bike. I have put A LOT of effort AND money into it and I’ve done basically everything myself insofar as it has been within my power to do. I didn’t very well smelt and weld the frame myself nor did I assemble each and every moving part but I located components that were compatible with the kind of frame I have and made sure that everything fit properly and paid for it all myself. My father gave me the money for the frame as a birthday present but I paid for everything else. And, as I said, I put everything together including the wheels. I’m very proud of it and it is kind of the only thing I care about, really, at this point in my life. I mean, I love my folks but we live a ways away from each other and we don’t see each other much these days.

It will be finished by the beginning of June, I’m sure of it. I bought it in the beginning of January so I guess I’ve been working on it for about 4 months but it feels like a lot longer than that. Here is a picture of it with a new fork, headset, crank, rear derailleur, and front derailleur attached:

All I know is that I can’t wait to ride it. I have truly poured myself into it and I dearly hope that it performs up to my expectations which I do not doubt that it will. My plan is to ride it in a 100 mile “ride” (not a race…) that happens in Boston annually sponsored by Bikes not Bombs. I rode in this last year and had a good time. That’s all for now.