It was such a nice day, I decided to take my Eight Year Old out for a bike ride. We drove out to Woodinville and headed for Marymoor Park in Redmond, about 6.5 miles.
It went pretty well: he was riding along just fine, we were checking out the farms, lots of tulips, some horses, and lots of people on the trail. Not all of them were careful, I suppose. We were just riding in Marymoor, crossing the bridge, when I took a look behind me to see where my riding buddy was. I didn’t see him right away, but I did see two adults, as close as close could be. I ended overcompensating into the rail, wedging my handlebar between uprights and breaking two teeth on the bridge deck, a long with various and sundry other scrapes and road rash. They were crowns, as it happens, but the impact was severe enough to break one of them at the gum line.
So I had an emergency root canal in an OR that was set up like a field hospital: things incomplete, mislaid, and generally hard to manage. The resident and the student(?) did a fine job, based on what they had to work with: since the tooth was broken off at the gum line, there was nothing else to do but dig out the nerve, seal the canal, and because they both had a refined sense of esthetics, remount the crown as best they could.
There’s nothing wrong at present that Vicodin won’t fix, but I have to see a dentist sooner than quicker, like tomorrow. This is patchwork at best.
While I was waiting for my prescriptions, I was chatting with a fellow sufferer who did way better than me: half a dozen or so stitches, a cervical collar, road rash all over the side of his head, a ripped jersey and lots o’ blood. I know right where he had his wreck and that’s why I don’t ever ride there. There are tree roots cracking the pavement, 3 and 4 inches high: they contributed to the wrist problems I was having, and they really are a menace. So all in all, it could have been much worse: we’re both going to need new helmets.
Not how I planned to spend the day, that’s for sure. My partner rode 13 miles, though, and did just fine. I’ll remember that part more clearly, I hope.