I suppose it was always a possibility, but I finally wrecked commuting from work. And to top it off it was ON Katy Trail (in Dallas - a hike/bike trail). The guy was actually just walking facing away from me - no one else was even close to us. I reached down to grab my water bottle and take a drink and low and behind this guy decides to make a very sharp left turn without looking. I was stunned and swerved to avoid him but it was too late - if I knew any better I would have thought he had a death wish. He didn't notice me until I was about 2 feet from him - and I still had water in my mouth so I suppose I could have spit on him to alert him but otherwise it was a no go.
Post impact my bike was not rideable - it bent my handlebars, which I fixed. But it also bent my chainring and after messing with it for a bit I decided it would be better to walk toward a road crossing than just stand there bleeding. Another interesting note - as I pushed my beaten bike about a mile up to Knox/Henderson to get picked up by my wifie and the left side of me was bleeding from about 4 different spots, not one of the 200 or so people that walked, cycled, rollerbladed or jogged past me asked if I was OK (including a bike cop).
As for the other guy - I'm fairly certain the initial impact knocked him out. He certainly seemed dazed and was still sitting up when I rolled over and got up. I directed him to his phone and Ipod which were about 5 feet away from where he was last standing. We really didn't say too much - I was amazed at his stupidity and I think he was probably still loopy.
One other thing to note - as I was walking up the trail (it really was a nice day out) I noticed a lot of other cyclists that were taking a lot more risks than I did/ever do on that trail - splitting between people - not announcing at all - etc. I've had joggers pull U-turns out of nowhere before and I've always been able to avoid them under the notion that everyone in the world is attempting to destroy me (meaning to or not). I guess this time it was just my lucky day. Actually I do feel lucky - I should be able to ride again fairly soon, and I was commuting on an old Puch that I converted to a single speed so I could have run over/through a barnyard animal and the frame would still be OK (and even if it weren't it was not a large investment).
Be careful out there.
Post impact my bike was not rideable - it bent my handlebars, which I fixed. But it also bent my chainring and after messing with it for a bit I decided it would be better to walk toward a road crossing than just stand there bleeding. Another interesting note - as I pushed my beaten bike about a mile up to Knox/Henderson to get picked up by my wifie and the left side of me was bleeding from about 4 different spots, not one of the 200 or so people that walked, cycled, rollerbladed or jogged past me asked if I was OK (including a bike cop).
As for the other guy - I'm fairly certain the initial impact knocked him out. He certainly seemed dazed and was still sitting up when I rolled over and got up. I directed him to his phone and Ipod which were about 5 feet away from where he was last standing. We really didn't say too much - I was amazed at his stupidity and I think he was probably still loopy.
One other thing to note - as I was walking up the trail (it really was a nice day out) I noticed a lot of other cyclists that were taking a lot more risks than I did/ever do on that trail - splitting between people - not announcing at all - etc. I've had joggers pull U-turns out of nowhere before and I've always been able to avoid them under the notion that everyone in the world is attempting to destroy me (meaning to or not). I guess this time it was just my lucky day. Actually I do feel lucky - I should be able to ride again fairly soon, and I was commuting on an old Puch that I converted to a single speed so I could have run over/through a barnyard animal and the frame would still be OK (and even if it weren't it was not a large investment).
Be careful out there.