Saturday's ride with the GF went OK until it didn't. We were heading back to the car on relatively flat gravel. A couple of riders were approaching, so we ceased riding side-by-side and went single file to the right. I had sped up a bit to get in front of her to move over.
The couple approaching were actually a couple. Female in the lead, seemingly in OK shape. I noted what seemed like a religious head-wrap (hijab of sorts, showing whole face but nothing else), no helmet on her or him. Neither were wearing cycling clothing, but instead just Florida hot weather clothing. I thought her halter-top with spaghetti straps - showing both shoulders and cleavage - somewhat strange with the hijab, but thought nothing more of it as I was cycling... until I wasn't. Just as I was passing the couple my rear tire went really low on air. I called out "flat!" and held my hand up to note 'stopping' while braking with the left hand.
The GF, however, was focused on the woman's cleavage/boobs as apparently the woman went over a slight rise and fall, her boobs going up and down. By the time the GF looked ahead, she had about a second or so to hit the brakes before hitting me. Based on her Strava/Garmin, I'm guessing that she rear-ended me at 13.5 MPH. I remember thinking to myself "ooh, this is gonna hurt" while I was in mid-air.
But it didn't, really. I was on my back on the ground kinda amused at the situation. The couple we had passed came rushing back to check on us. I made some joke while laying on the ground - it was kind of relaxing. I got up on my own, and the woman and I helped the GF up. GF wasn't up for even a minute when she said that she better lie back down, that she wasn't good, and that we may need to find a way out for her. Turns out that she had what she described to be "tunnel hearing" like listening from within a tunnel, and she knew she had hit her head/helmet.
Well, this could be a long write-up, but long story somewhat shorter: eventually she felt OK, so I told the 911 dispatcher (I had given google maps coordinates to - there was no good way of describing where we were) that we'd call back if help was needed. GF not OK, but her bike is relatively OK. Me - I'm OK, my bike will need some shop time. We gently rode out of the parks/gravel, I took her to an emergency room. CT scan of head, OKJ - she hit the top-left-side-rear of the helmet. Minor helmet crack, but she wants the same helmet as she believe that she always hits the back of her head in accidents. X-ray of elbow showed it was OK as well.
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This large version of a soft-shell turtle was laying eggs. I'm uploading a video (not a very exciting video) of it right now. Believe it or not, the video was taken after the picture. She felt comfortable enough around us to move away from the woods and start laying eggs. Unfortunately, the eggs will be on a commonly-mowed area, so they may not make it.
And another loss - my favorite cycling shorts on her of all time, reminiscent of the old Gulf racing livery, got torn up in the crash.