Yeah...I had a bad one in Italy this week, and here's what I learned from the experience.

I was lucky. I should be fine, and able to backpack this summer with no real issues. But I look even worse than usual.

Lessons learned:

Wear a helmet.stupid! With a helmet I would have walked away from this crash. I have ridden over 52,000 miles on a bike in the last ten years or so, and only ridden without a helmet about twice, And that's all it took.

Stay at a good hotel. They were solicitous beyond belief, and efficient as well. I felt fully and totally cared for.

Have friends and clients in Italy. They were wonderful, and really went out of their way to make sure that I was OK.

Wear a helmet, stupid.

If you want the whole gory story, here's a link to our blog:

https://sites.google.com/site/backpackthesierra/home/our-blog

You appear to be in better shape than Pika after his crash! Of course a drunk driver is far worse a thing to meet than pallets!

Best wishes for a complete recovery soon!

I agree about helmets, but take it a step further and insist on full face helmets.

When I went down around 1983 or 1984, I recall watching the pavement slide maybe an inch below my nose as my chin rested on the chin bar. The only reason I have a face is I was wearing a full face helmet. With a three-quarter helmet the face shield might have easily been torn off and my face shortly thereafter. Fortunately for the rest of me it was fairly cool weather in North Carolina and I had just gotten off duty so was wearing a heavy military uniform, including leather boots and gloves.

Glad to hear you're doing well.

Ouch! Yeah, always wear a helmet! I dented my helmet mountain biking. I hit the ground so hard I was dizzy all night. I don't want know how bad it would have been without it.

Well that just sucks balzaccom. Sorry to hear this and I do hope you heal fast.

I've heard similar stories for years, and witnessed it a few times too. A friend who was a Hollywood Stuntman injured himself once in the street outside of our shop while riding a dirt bike we were customizing for a movie he was in. He wanted to test drive it and did a wheelie and flipped it over. The street had just been paved and he lost a lot of skin. He was amazing though. He was famous for doing wheelies and even held the world record for longest motorcycle jumps back then. Knowing how amazing he was, that sure taught me a lesson.

I kind of have to agree with Perry too. I just don't believe that most bicycling helmets provide much protection. I watched one of my daughters face plant in our driveway when she was about 7 years old. She was wearing a Bell bicycling helmet and still got a nasty gash requiring stitches.

I do like the "Air Bag Helmet " those two women invented last year. It's pretty amazing too.

I couldn't really tell it was you in the photo. Glad you are basically OK. Heal up fast!!!! And wear that helmet.

You were lucky and in good hands.I crashed and burned on my mt bike about 12 years ago. Rode home. Three cracked bones (only one rib) and a collapsed lung. So, one night in the hospital to re-inflate it. Back to work the next day, just late to get there after I got released. I only had a helmit and gloves, shorts, got abrasions down my one side.
Duane

Unfortunately, the old saying is that there are two kinds of bikers - those who have been hit and those who are going to be hit. I've been hit on a motorcycle and a bike, plus another bike crash on wet pavement when someone pulled out in front of me and I went down trying to stop. None caused a lot of damage to me, but the motorcycle crash injured my passenger when the bike fell on her after I was tossed off it. We went straight into a car that pulled out in front of me. We were both wearing the old style 3/4 helmet with bubble shields which protected our heads and faces. Bike helmets have limited usefulness in my opinion, but I wear one anyway. If I was off roading at all, I'd get a full coverage helmet, but they don't seem that practical for road use.

I did see that inflatable air bag helmet online. Too bad they cost around $500.