I've joined the club

Last night, September 11, 2007, I joined The Club. I took a header on South Street, the tire of my bicycle caught in the groove of the unused trolley track.

I tried to keep control of the bike, and managed to hang on to the handlebars until I had planted the bike sideways, skidding another good ten feet or so. I landed on my right side, bruising my right knee, right hip, and right elbow. I also have some hard to describe muscular pain under my right wing, so my shoulder is somehow involved as well. In addition, I have massive bruising in the knuckles of my left hand - I think that the handlebar came smashing down across my hand. I managed to ice it down pretty quickly, but it swelled a nasty amount nevertheless. There's a bruise in my left instep - I think the pedal poked me there pretty hard.

Conditions were not good at the time: it was dusk, and it had rained earlier, so the pavement was slick. The rails were slicker than the pavement, of course, and I think it was my rear tire that got caught in the groove. I was probably going a little too fast for the conditions, but in my defense, I was very aware of the proximity of all traffic around me. I was travelling west on South Street, had just passed Herb's TV Repair, and was planning to turn left on Child Street. I knew I had to at least get between the right rail and the left rail in order to be in place to make the turn. There were no cars behind me or in front of me for about a block, so I decided I had the time to make an attempt. I recall seeing my front wheel skidding sideways left and right before I went into my slide - this is how I've deduced that it was my rear wheel that got caught.

I lost all traction, veeered from side to side, went over to my right and ended up sliding into the oncoming traffic lane, which would have been a very hazardous issue if there had been oncoming traffic. As it was, there was a car approaching about a block away when I went in to my slide, and the woman driving it stopped well before me and asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. I got up off the pavement and quickly dragged my bike to the sidewalk, mentally checking my limbs and trying to determine if anything was broken. Two other passers-by were asking me if I was alright, and I asked for a moment to keep checking myself out. My left hand was beginning to swell, and felt pretty useless. One of the bystanders, a fellow named Rick, tossed my bike on his bike rack and gave me a lift home. Thanks, Rick. You really helped me out, and I appreciate it. If I ever run in to you again, I'll try to return the favor.

I'm thankful I'm alive.

Say what you will about the trolley returning to Jamaica Plain - something must be done about these tracks. I'll come out and say it: I am firmly against bringing the trolley back to JP. I was planning to start this blog anyway, but last night's event has finally pushed me to do it.

The tracks need to be paved over. End of story. They're a danger to cyclists, they're contributing to the deterioration of the pavement on South and Centre Streets, and the city has been promising to do something about it but sitting on their duffs for too long. I reckon there's only about six to eight weeks of asphalt-laying weather left this year, and there's no sign that anybody's going to make a move to pave over these tracks, despite published common consensus from both the anti-trams and the pro-trolleyistas.

I was lucky. I hope nobody else gets seriously hurt.