Bike Mishaps and Pee
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | July 30, 2009
Betcha’ve never seen those words in a single headline before… we’re nothing if not original over here at TC HQ.
Let’s start at the beginning: Bike Mishaps; or, Jenn Got Doored:
v. to crash into and/or over a driver’s side door(of a vehicle) while riding your bike. A painful biking experience where two conflicting world-views collide.
Indeed. Painful, not to mention terrifying, scary, annoying, frustrating, and unnecessary. First off, all you drivers? PLEASE look in your side mirror before you swing your door open. Please, please, please. Second, can we PLEASE get some separated, sensible, functional bike lanes around here? The .5 miles of separated bike path on the West side of Manhattan was maybe a good start but how much longer do we have to wait to be taken seriously? I realize that NYC is not Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but there is now a huge number of everyday cyclists in this city. We’re all doing our part to reduce pollution, stay fit, save money and raise our spirits, and it would be nice to be shown a little bit of actual, we-mean-it-for-real love in return from the city. I’ll try to stop ranting now, but it’s hard when I can’t sit down because of my very bruised butt-bone (what is that called?) and jittery nerves. Also, if you’ve been doored, I’d love to hear about how you overcame it and got back in the saddle.
Stay with me. There is an eco-point coming.
The fellow who doored me was a car service driver (here in Brooklyn, they’re more numerous than cabs). After I assessed my damage and realized I was probably physically mostly ok, I told him that I couldn’t ride home. He flagged down one of collegues who was driving a minivan, put my bike into the back, gave me his contact information, apologized again, and off I rode with driver #2. This guy was from Russia, and he told me to put a ureen compress on the bruise. “What?” said I. “Ur-een” said he. “What?” said I. “Urine” said he.
A urine compress. He said that, back home, they use it for all kinds of things, both internally and externally. Yup. I should first boil my urine down to about 2/3 it’s original volume, then soak a cloth in it and apply that to the area, topped with a plastic wrap. I told him that was probably a remedy my great-great grandmother back in the Motherland knew, but wasn’t anything I’d heard of before. And that I’d read about it when I got home.
Since I’m going to wrap this post up here and head to sleep because I’m exhausted and fried, I haven’t searched on this topic yet. Thought I’d ask y’all about it. Have you heard of this? Tried it? Swear by it? It certainly is a natural home remedy, and while a few years back women might have been burned at the stake for suggesting it, I really wouldn’t be surprised if it worked.
So tell me: do you urine?
[Image by via Creative Commons]
Topics: Health, Transportation | 25 Comments »
I hope you feel better soon! That must have been so scary!
I’ve never heard of putting urine on an injury. Urine is supposedly sterile so I guess it’s not a problem, but the thought of it kind of skeeves me out.
Yea, it seems like an old-world folklore remedy that very well might work (for some things at least), but is so far removed from any “natural remedy” we westerners generally consider that it’s hard to even imagine boiling my pee in a pot. :)
Oh NO, Jenn! I’m so sorry to hear that you got doored! I got doored back in May, and like you, nothing was broken, thankfully…but yeah, I’m still fightin’ mad about it! And, I’m now almost a thousand dollars out in chiropractic care bills because my shoulder is still not quite right. Next time – file a police report, even if you don’t need medical care. In most states, injuring a cyclist is a fineable offense, even if the car is not moving. In Chicago – its a $500 offense, and I figure it’s one small way to teach a few drivers to be more cautious.
It took me about a month to physically be able to get back on bike, and really, just the act of having to sit on a train or bus for a month in prime biking season was enough to get me itching to be back on bike. I am even more cautious now, I watch every parked car, and yell louder to announce my approach if I’m not sure what a car ahead of me is going to do.
Hope you heal up soon!
I was thinking of you as I wrote this post, Jenn! Which is unfortunate for both of us.
Seems like your injuries were much worse than mine, and I’m sorry to hear about that. Thanks for the tip on the police report– I’d thought about that but didn’t have the presence of mind to do it. And I’m not sure what the law is here in NYC, though I do know that almost every motorist who injures/kills a cyclist ends up getting off without a hitch. I should research this more.
I’m still feeling really jittery and angry and pissed off, kind of on a cellular level. I guess it’ll take some time to work out this energy and let it pass, but I’m not going to let it stop me from riding (once my butt heals).
Thing is, I’m already super conscious of parked cars, and I’ve successfully avoided being doored a few times before– but I realized the difference then was that those drivers happened to be slowly opening their doors, which gave me time to see it happening and swerve/yell/etc. This guy just flung open his door in my path, and while I did yell something there was no way to avoid it. And I do try to ride 3 feet from the line of parked cars to avoid this very situation, but on certain roads it’s just really not possible.
Thankfully it’s also legal to take up a whole lane when a safe alternative doesn’t exists… I often do ride right in the center of a “car” lane so that I’m fully visable and away from parked cars. This pisses off drivers but is safer for me, I think. Guess I’ll make this my standard practice now.
Glad to hear that you’re riding again!
I hear you on the “cellular anger/shaking.” I still feel a lot more vulnerable out there than I previously did, and even though I’d previously been right-hooked a couple of times, getting doored shook me up a lot more, because as vigilant as you are, you can’t prevent it all the time, and every car on the side of the road could be a danger.
I’ve been taking the lane a lot more downtown as well, I get a lot of honks, but like you, sometimes it’s just safer if the streets are narrow.
And alternating heat & ice will be most beneficial at healing post-injury. And I think I’ll stick with the arnica cream, and pass on reducing my urine. Eeeew!
Also with the police report you can bill his insurance to get your bike fixed or replaced if it was broken. Or possibly get your own insurance to cover it.
In these days of readily available refrigeration, I think I’ll stick with the time-honored & proven ice pack. I’d have to have satisfactory proof that the urine pack works better before I reduce mine on the stove (and how would that smell, anyway?)! Hope you feel better soon – that kind of injury often worsens over time before getting better.
Yea, you’d think I’d have an ice pack in my freezer, but… I had to resort to frozen tubs of soup in a baggie. :)
OH MY GOSH! I’m SO GLAD you’re ok, dooring is a really dangerous accident because the corner of the door is right at neck level and…. yeah. you don’t need that kind of detail.
instead I will try to crack you up. when the URL for this post popped up in my browser and it said “bike mishaps and urine” my first thought was: “bike mishaps! URINE TROUBLE!” heh.
re: getting back on – just start slow, and look at your accident as a learning experience. move a little slower down the street and practice checking the insides of the cars that you’re passing until you feel more confident! you can do it!
Thanks, I’m glad I’m ok, too. Funny, I hadn’t really thought about the door/neck thing; what I mostly think about is getting flung into traffic. Not good.
Thanks for the joke, it helped! :)
Jenn, i am soooo sorry to hear of your accident, hopefully that driver really learned his lesson, and am thankful you are mostly ok. (and sorry about above’s ^ weird sense of humor, comes from me)
Thanks, Kristine! I did make sure that driver understood the intense severity of what he did, he seemed shaken too, and I told him to tell all of his friends about this too. And, her sense of humor was a welcome relief :)
Wow, I’ve never heard of a Urine pack before. As far as getting back on the bike I’d say just do it. The longer you wait the harder it will be to get back in the saddle.
My boyfriend got “Schwinned” a bike came barreling through the crosswalk and nailed him, not even paying attention. Its unfortunate that our city infrastructure doesn’t allow multiple forms of transit to easily coexist
Schwinned, that sucks, I hope he’s ok.
And, yes, I dream of the day when bikes and peds are taken as seriously as cars around here.
yikes! freaking doors!
well, urea and uric acid are in all sorts of things…a quick search revealed that it is produced when proteins are metabolized, so perhaps it’s a component of the pee and perhaps that component is urea? in cosmetics it helps keep moisture in the top layer of the skin? i think maybe you should have asked him if peeing in your pants counts, just to see what he would say.
depending on type of injury, it varies weather cold or hot is best, and again, that could be one of the reasons it’s beneficial.
if you don’t want to try it but are looking for something more natural, i highly recommend taking arnica sublingual tablets and they also sell topical gel or cream.
better thought…maybe it’s the salt content, i.e. epsom salts are good to soak in for soreness?
and in my quick searches I found this on wikipedia but it is missing a reference: “In recent times, the Port-A-John corporation of Utica, Michigan, USA has developed a filter to collect medically significant proteins from users of their chemical toilets.[citation needed]“
Glad to hear you are in good shape. Accidents are certain in the city, not just a probability.
On getting back on: three will be trepidation, but simply believe the road is yours and it is. –that doesn’t mean be oblivious, of course. Respect the road and the traffic and flow with it.
On preventing dooring: for me it has always been a combination of things.
1. Riding with confidence and claiming as much street/lane as needed to feel secure. If cars honk, that is FINE. Shows they know you are there and will only hit you with intent :)
2. For parked cars, I sort of keep my peripheral vision active for movement changes – the way animals will be still and react in response to movement/light changes. That also helps for pedestrians, dogs, other cyclists, roller bladers, etc. I also scan the rear view mirrors ahead of me to see if there are people in them and react defensively as needed.
3. Know your route. In the city, each street/block will have its own typical traffic pattern. Some spots will have quick in & out parking traffic (think video stores, medical centers, schools, and the like); others will have turning and lane changing traffic but no parking issues (think bridge and tunnel entrances, major crosstown streets, parking garages).
Yeah, that’s a lot to keep going on in your head while riding and wanting to enjoy the zen of the ride. Hard to do 100% of the time, but it can become part of the zen and help.
Urine: go for it! It won’t hurt, and might help. I actually got a recommendation to use urine topically (not in a compress though) to fight back against annoying toenail fungus that I can’t beat. Came from my herbologist appointment when I mentioned it as an aside. They were all “you’re a student here right?” and I’m “yeah” and they are like “pee on it.” Man I love that school :)
Oh, and always wear the helmet! (duh)
Hey Chris, thanks for all the kind words and tips. I just rode my bike for a short time (about 10 mins) and felt kind of wobbly but also good to reclaim it. Sigh.
And, I gave up finding the zen of city riding ages ago. Maybe others have found it, but I’m not so advanced… I’m a buddha on the greenways, though.
And, I love that you’ve heard of the miraculous pee remedy! Let me know if it works! :) (I sense a guest post…)
I’m sorry to hear your in pain (yuk yuk). The butt bone you’re thinking of is the Coccyx (beavis like laughing ensues) . Pee is a handy-dandy old time first aid tool. (Did that come out right?) I remember reading nurses in the civil war would save their pee to clean out soldier’s wounds (and you thought we treat our troops bad now!). Not for any healing properties though, just the most sterile water available. I also remember hearing British sailors would wash their clothes in pee while at sea (1800s? No references, I’m tired of googling for pee related items).
There is some interesting information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine_therapy , but the most interesting thing I read was that peeing, or putting alcohol, on a box jellyfish sting releases more toxins (http://www.aloha.com/~lifeguards/alsting1.html)
My inner angry biker suggests renting a big ass suv and drive around looking for carelessly opened doors ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zttKSsdJ3Q8 ). Punting a few cage doors seems like a good use for those tanks
OMG! I’m gasping in horror at you being doored, cringing at the thought of odiferous boiling urine, and laughing at the cross-streets of Pee and Hoohu. I think I need to take a nap….
Alline, you always make me laugh. :)
Yes! My uncle got hurt playing highschool football so my grandma put a urine compress on his injury and he healed so fast the coach was amazed and wanted to know what my uncle had done – but – Uncle John was so embarassed – urine, highschool boy, etc. that he said nothing – only heat – My grandma was born in Hungary.
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