A blur...

I see I haven't posted since Friday afternoon...

let me see...I rode home from work and got home in time to watch the cricket...later that night we took the boys for a walk...two in one day for Hodge!

Saturday I walked the boys then we played golf (34pts)...

Sunday we went fishing on Lake Burrinjuck, had a great time, found three caches, didn't catch any fish (lots of nibbles though and we saw lots)...it was a good day with lots of laughs...

Monday, I walked Hodge then rode to work late after having a sleep in...

I had planned to run at lunch I elected to skip it and work a little later...

I headed off on the bike for what I thought was going to be a normal ride home....little did I know!

from Civic I ride in the on-road cycle lane until I get to the off ramp for the Curtin shops where I then get on the bike path for the rest of the ride home...

as you probably know I have a GoPro on the handlebar and a Fly6 on my seatpost...I have them running for the whole ride just in case anything of interest, whether for me or other road/bike path users, occurs...little did I know!

anyway I was riding along having a good one, pedalling at about 30-35kph, as I rounded Capital Circle and onto Adelaide Avenue...

I was keeping an eye out for cars and other cyclists as usual...

just as I was about to cross the bridge over State Circle I saw a brown furry shape, suddenly appear from the left right next to my front wheel, a 'roo!

in a split second we collided and I was thrown onto my left side where my elbow and knee, and to a lesser extent my hip, took the full brunt of the road...at that stage I had no idea where the kangaroo went...

within seconds four cars including a taxi had pulled up and five people were offering help...two rang an ambulance while a woman had a towel which they wrapped around my knee...they all introduced themselves to me and kept talking to me...while I was lying on the ground they helped me fish my phone out of my back pocket so I could call Tammie to (a) let her know I had had an accident but was OK and (b) to ask her to come pick up my bike!

the ambulance arrived within about 10mins and the police were there too...

my cameras were running the whole time until someone turned off the GoPro...the Fly6 was a strange beast to them and at first they didn't realise it was a camera...it was funny watching the footage later of the police trying to turn it off...fortunately someone had placed my bike on the footpath where the Fly6, having twisted in the collision, was able to show me all the people who stopped to help, the ambos and the police...

I was placed into a neck collar as a precaution even though I don't think I hit my head nor did I lose consciousness or have any associated neck or back pain...

by the time the ambos had done their work after loading me into the ambulance, Tammie had arrived and stuck her head in to see me and find out where they were taking me...

it was off to The Canberra Hospital at about 7pm where at first I waited in a corridor with the ambos on their trolley then I was transferred to a hospital bed so the ambos could leave...meanwhile the media man from the ambos (just call me CB) came and saw me and put out a press release on the ESA website...apparently a roo hitting a cyclist on a main road in Canberra was interesting enough for that...little did I know...

I spoke to mum whilst I was waiting and reassured her all was OK just in case they saw something on the news...

several other major traumas had to be dealt with before I was seen and in the meantime Tammie was joined not long after by Jodie and then Suze and Delanie arrived...they were checking out all my injuries and taking photos and generally keeping themselves and me amused, mostly at my expense...

the collar was quite uncomfortable and I was keen to get it off but I had to be seen by a doctor first...

given the length of wait, I persuaded Tammie to go with Suze and Delanie to feed the boys...

sure enough, about 10mins after they left at about 10:40pm, I was moved to a cubicle to be assessed by a doctor...they made it back in time to see the rest of the drama (!) out...

first off the doctor (Damon, a lovely man) examined my back and neck and removed the collar which made me feel a lot more comfortable...then it was time to examine the rest of my injuries...

in the meantime, because I was feeling a bit faint (after the pressure of the dressing was taken off my knee), they plugged a saline drip into the cannula the ambos had placed in my right arm...I was also given some apple juice and a tetanus booster...

I was whisked off to x-ray to check my knee and elbow...when the all-clear (phew) came back from that it was time to clean my wounds up...

the hip wasn't too bad but the elbow was quite painful even though the nurse did a good job...

finally the knee had to be dealt with...Damon called in another doctor (Osman) for a consult as it was quite deep...there was some discussion about subcutaneous stitching but in the end it was apparently a clean enough cut for standard stitching only...

after several local anaesthetics were inserted, he stitched up my knee with 8 stitches...the last two stitches on the lateral side didn't quite have enough local in but I was happy enough for him to finish the job without any more locals...he then went back and inserted one more stitch between his initial first and second ones...

by this stage it was 1:05am...then it was a case of waiting for the paperwork (medical certificate) and some medication (antibiotics for 5 days and basic painkillers)...I was advised not to bend the knee past 60 degrees given the location of the stitches...we eventually left the hospital at 1:45am...

we finally fell into bed at 3am after I had something to eat and my first lot of antibiotics...

we were up early yesterday to play golf or for Tammie to play golf and me to cart caddie...

during the day I was contacted by the Canberra Times via email (after they published a small article based on the ESA release) for an interview and while I was emailing her I mentioned that I probably had footage of the accident...

after I did the interview that afternoon I had a look at the footage, or rather Tammie watched it first as I wasn't sure I could...it reassured me that I remembered the accident properly and that there was nothing I could have done to avoid the accident...

while we were looking at the footage, the Canberra Times photographer rocked up to get some shots...he was expecting a copy of the footage but I said I would upload something to my YouTube channel and send them the link...

after he left I edited the clip down to a minute and sent the link...

I subsequently produced a 15sec version and changed the name slightly based on advice from Tammie's nephew and placed that up as well...

and that I thought was the end of it!

today, I had a text from a friend who had seen it on twitter and an email from Tim in France who had seen it on YouTube and recognised it as me when he saw the white Fly6 in the footage...

I was fielding media from left, right and centre as the footage had gone viral on the Canberra Times website...I did another interview with Fairfax before heading to golf again with Tammie to be cart caddie, one with the Daily Mail whilst we were on the 12th hole, a TV piece with the ABC at the golf course at 3pm and then a live radio interview via phone for 2CC at 5:30pm....

as far as I could see the footage appeared on ABC, Prime, WIN and Channel 10...as you'd expect there were all sorts of 'roo jokes to go along with that...I particularly liked the piece which said I was 40!

I've also had to deal with emails and phone calls requesting rights/access to the footage from around the world...

my boss emailed me from China where he said it was being talked about in Beijing and I received lots of support and well wishes from people on FB, via email and via phone...

finally I am kicking back (well not literally) with Tammie and watching the cricket as I type this...

tomorrow I return to work...I have an appointment for Thursday next week to remove the stitches so I will know then when I can get back into running and cycling....my bike will need to be checked out, my helmet replaced (just in case), a new mirror, my lights fixed...

what a blur...

here's a sequence of screen grabs covering approximately 2 seconds...and then one of the aftermath...