Impressive Skin Grafting Skills
*This memory is a continuation of the 'Barrie Bike Bet' memory.
I knew I would need many months of long distance riding under my belt if I had any hope of completing the 250 km journey. I figured a Thanksgiving ride in October would again work best. It would mark a year since the Barrie ride as well it would give me the whole summer to train hard. I decided that Saturday October 9th would be the day. However little did I know that spring just how much my life was about to change so quickly and in so many ways.
I began riding that spring in early April and at this time I was living in the most northwestern area of Mississauga. Milton was the closest town from where I lived and in between there was nothing but paved roads crisscrossing rural farmland. For the most part I concentrated most of my rides on riding west along Britannia Road for approx. 20 km to the Appleby Line.
From there I would have three choices.
One, I could ride south to the Oakville area which I rarely did because it was always much more congested and busy. Two, I could head on back home east along Britannia if I was just doing a short 40 km ride. Or three, I could ride one of the most savage climbs in all of Ontario.
One, I could ride south to the Oakville area which I rarely did because it was always much more congested and busy. Two, I could head on back home east along Britannia if I was just doing a short 40 km ride. Or three, I could ride one of the most savage climbs in all of Ontario.
Rattlesnake Point was located just west of Milton where the Appleby Line twists up the Niagara Escarpment. The climb itself is a bit too difficult for most recreational riders, but the entire area is a great one for all cyclists of all levels. After the climb I would then loop around some of the side roads that connected with Derry Rd and on my way back home I would hit another tough climb on the Bell School Line.
Most of my rides during that spring were in the 60-80 km range over very tough and hilly terrain and I remember getting caught in a couple spring ice storms. I was pelted by hail and blinded by freezing rain as I struggled to barely get myself back home. Those were probably the two nastiest and most grueling rides that I have ever ridden in my life. Everything was about to change at around 4 pm on Wednesday May 19th. On that day I had finished work early and it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon. I decided to squeeze in a quick ride, maybe an hour or two before dinner.
I was always home for dinner.
I headed along my usual route west on Britannia Road. I recall I was going at a pretty good clip as I passed under the traffic lights at Trafalgar Road. The next thing I can remember I was lying in the grass up against an old rusty wire fence and there were cows staring at me from the other side. I was in so much pain as I struggled to get myself up from out of the grass and back on my feet. There was a stranger there who was telling me to stay still; an ambulance was on the way.
As it turns out I had just been hit from behind by a landscaping truck and the stranger was the driver who had rushed to my aid. At first he thought I was dead, but then realized I had been knocked out cold and he immediately called 911. I got myself up and stood on the side of the road. The complete left side of my body was hurting with a stinging pain. I had a severe road rash from my ankle right up to my shoulder. My left knee was also very sore and it was bleeding; as well my collarbone was hurting real bad.
Other than that I was fine.
"I don’t need an ambulance," I said.
"I just live about fifteen minutes away, I can’t ride my bike. Could you just please drive me home?" I asked him.
"Are you sure, you were unconscious?" he looked relieved.
"Yeah, I’ll be fine," I assured him.
Surprisingly, my bike was not in too bad of shape and for the most part it was still rideable. Although my helmet was another story, it was broken in two pieces. I assumed I must have hit the shoulder of the road with my head before tumbling into the soft grass. The fence was about six or so feet from the gravel shoulder. Either way I had a pretty good tumble and there was no doubt that my helmet had prevented my accident from being much more serious.
He threw my bike into his trailer and we headed back east on Britannia Road. Within seconds we passed the ambulance with lights flashing, rushing to the scene we had just left. The only thing those paramedics knew was that some poor bugger had been hit by a truck while riding his bike.
I never got the name of the driver who hit me or his license plate number, but I should have. After me reassuring him I was going to be fine, he left me and my bike on my driveway and drove away. My daughter Stephanie had just got home from school and was very upset that I had been in an accident. All I wanted to do was relax, have a warm bath and get cleaned up. While I was sitting in the bath I gently cleaned and wiped the numerous little stony like gravel particles from all my abrasions. I then got totally grossed out, I could see my actual kneecap bone when I bent my knee to clean the cut. There was an actual hole a bit smaller than a dime in the skin covering my kneecap.
No worries.
There was another piece of skin that was just dangling around my ankle area. I cut that piece of skin off then placed it in the hole on my knee. Once I got cleaned up and out of the bath, I put some gauze and tape over it to hold it in place. It worked and nothing remains even to this day but a small scar.
The next few days for me were pretty tough. I was self-employed at the time and I could not afford to miss work. I went to the clinic on that evening just to get checked out. On my way home I purchased a hundred bucks worth of gauze, white medical tape and Polysporin since I could not risk getting the area infected. Each morning I needed to wrap my left arm, my left leg and tape large square gauze pads all over my left hip and thigh area if I had any hopes of working. I went through all of the gauze and tape in just a couple days and I needed to buy more supplies which cost me another hundred bucks.
Surprisingly, I never missed a day of work and within a week I was starting to heel up quite nicely. However, I did still have a very sore knee. I made a quick trip to the Milton hospital where after having an X-ray it was revealed that I had a cracked kneecap. I remember the doctor being pretty impressed with my skin grafting skills that I had performed on myself the previous week.
I was now very anxious to get back on my bike and continue training for my Huntsville ride. As the weeks passed, I had some scarring and I was still having issues with my sore knee. Within a couple months I was back to riding four times a week. However, the distances were much shorter previous to my accident. My knee pain continued to linger well into the summer and I knew that my Huntsville ride would not be a go that year.
As well as riding my bike to Huntsville, I also wanted someday to live there. As the summer of 2004 heated up, my ice cream business kept me very busy and my desire to move out of Mississauga was becoming stronger after each and every passing week. I was now so sick and tired of my job, the same job I had done for the previous twenty-three years. I was sick and tired of the rat race and big city life. Simply put, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I wanted a change; I wanted something better for my daughter, Janine and myself.
Much of my time that summer that I would have normally spent riding was now being spent house hunting with Janine up in Huntsville and the Muskoka area. We spent many weekends looking at many houses, but found nothing we were happy with. I decided that I did not want to move during the school year and have Stephanie change schools after the school year already started. At the beginning of August we decided to put our house hunting plans on hold until the following year.
Most of my rides during that spring were in the 60-80 km range over very tough and hilly terrain and I remember getting caught in a couple spring ice storms. I was pelted by hail and blinded by freezing rain as I struggled to barely get myself back home. Those were probably the two nastiest and most grueling rides that I have ever ridden in my life. Everything was about to change at around 4 pm on Wednesday May 19th. On that day I had finished work early and it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon. I decided to squeeze in a quick ride, maybe an hour or two before dinner.
I was always home for dinner.
I headed along my usual route west on Britannia Road. I recall I was going at a pretty good clip as I passed under the traffic lights at Trafalgar Road. The next thing I can remember I was lying in the grass up against an old rusty wire fence and there were cows staring at me from the other side. I was in so much pain as I struggled to get myself up from out of the grass and back on my feet. There was a stranger there who was telling me to stay still; an ambulance was on the way.
As it turns out I had just been hit from behind by a landscaping truck and the stranger was the driver who had rushed to my aid. At first he thought I was dead, but then realized I had been knocked out cold and he immediately called 911. I got myself up and stood on the side of the road. The complete left side of my body was hurting with a stinging pain. I had a severe road rash from my ankle right up to my shoulder. My left knee was also very sore and it was bleeding; as well my collarbone was hurting real bad.
Other than that I was fine.
"I don’t need an ambulance," I said.
"I just live about fifteen minutes away, I can’t ride my bike. Could you just please drive me home?" I asked him.
"Are you sure, you were unconscious?" he looked relieved.
"Yeah, I’ll be fine," I assured him.
Surprisingly, my bike was not in too bad of shape and for the most part it was still rideable. Although my helmet was another story, it was broken in two pieces. I assumed I must have hit the shoulder of the road with my head before tumbling into the soft grass. The fence was about six or so feet from the gravel shoulder. Either way I had a pretty good tumble and there was no doubt that my helmet had prevented my accident from being much more serious.
He threw my bike into his trailer and we headed back east on Britannia Road. Within seconds we passed the ambulance with lights flashing, rushing to the scene we had just left. The only thing those paramedics knew was that some poor bugger had been hit by a truck while riding his bike.
I never got the name of the driver who hit me or his license plate number, but I should have. After me reassuring him I was going to be fine, he left me and my bike on my driveway and drove away. My daughter Stephanie had just got home from school and was very upset that I had been in an accident. All I wanted to do was relax, have a warm bath and get cleaned up. While I was sitting in the bath I gently cleaned and wiped the numerous little stony like gravel particles from all my abrasions. I then got totally grossed out, I could see my actual kneecap bone when I bent my knee to clean the cut. There was an actual hole a bit smaller than a dime in the skin covering my kneecap.
No worries.
There was another piece of skin that was just dangling around my ankle area. I cut that piece of skin off then placed it in the hole on my knee. Once I got cleaned up and out of the bath, I put some gauze and tape over it to hold it in place. It worked and nothing remains even to this day but a small scar.
The next few days for me were pretty tough. I was self-employed at the time and I could not afford to miss work. I went to the clinic on that evening just to get checked out. On my way home I purchased a hundred bucks worth of gauze, white medical tape and Polysporin since I could not risk getting the area infected. Each morning I needed to wrap my left arm, my left leg and tape large square gauze pads all over my left hip and thigh area if I had any hopes of working. I went through all of the gauze and tape in just a couple days and I needed to buy more supplies which cost me another hundred bucks.
Surprisingly, I never missed a day of work and within a week I was starting to heel up quite nicely. However, I did still have a very sore knee. I made a quick trip to the Milton hospital where after having an X-ray it was revealed that I had a cracked kneecap. I remember the doctor being pretty impressed with my skin grafting skills that I had performed on myself the previous week.
I was now very anxious to get back on my bike and continue training for my Huntsville ride. As the weeks passed, I had some scarring and I was still having issues with my sore knee. Within a couple months I was back to riding four times a week. However, the distances were much shorter previous to my accident. My knee pain continued to linger well into the summer and I knew that my Huntsville ride would not be a go that year.
As well as riding my bike to Huntsville, I also wanted someday to live there. As the summer of 2004 heated up, my ice cream business kept me very busy and my desire to move out of Mississauga was becoming stronger after each and every passing week. I was now so sick and tired of my job, the same job I had done for the previous twenty-three years. I was sick and tired of the rat race and big city life. Simply put, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I wanted a change; I wanted something better for my daughter, Janine and myself.
Much of my time that summer that I would have normally spent riding was now being spent house hunting with Janine up in Huntsville and the Muskoka area. We spent many weekends looking at many houses, but found nothing we were happy with. I decided that I did not want to move during the school year and have Stephanie change schools after the school year already started. At the beginning of August we decided to put our house hunting plans on hold until the following year.
Shortly after, once again everything was about to change.
On August 8th a house with everything we wanted had just been put up for sale and both Janine and Stephanie really wanted to drive up and check it out. I was not that keen since the closing date was in mid-November well after Stephanie's school year started. The three of us drove up the same day, we all loved the house and we put in an offer that was accepted the following afternoon. The house was located in the little town of Bracebridge about 40 km south of Huntsville.
In September I quit my job and sold my truck. I now had so much I needed to do before our moving day in November. And maybe, just maybe, I was going to be able to ride up to Huntsville in 2004 afterall. Although my knee was still very sore, I was pretty confident. So long as there was no snow on the ground, I could do the much smaller 40 km ride to Huntsville from our new house in Bracebridge.
On August 8th a house with everything we wanted had just been put up for sale and both Janine and Stephanie really wanted to drive up and check it out. I was not that keen since the closing date was in mid-November well after Stephanie's school year started. The three of us drove up the same day, we all loved the house and we put in an offer that was accepted the following afternoon. The house was located in the little town of Bracebridge about 40 km south of Huntsville.
In September I quit my job and sold my truck. I now had so much I needed to do before our moving day in November. And maybe, just maybe, I was going to be able to ride up to Huntsville in 2004 afterall. Although my knee was still very sore, I was pretty confident. So long as there was no snow on the ground, I could do the much smaller 40 km ride to Huntsville from our new house in Bracebridge.
I never did.
In the days after our moving day, the weather for the most part was cold and rainy. The rain would eventually give way to snow and the long, cold brutal Muskoka winter set in. During that first winter, I had my doubts as to whether we had made the right decision in moving up to Bracebridge. It seemed like the winter would never end and there was so much snow.
I could not wait for spring to arrive and get back on my bike. I was soon to discover that Muskoka is a real paradise for a road cyclist.
And, I was soon to become a real Paradise Rider.
In the days after our moving day, the weather for the most part was cold and rainy. The rain would eventually give way to snow and the long, cold brutal Muskoka winter set in. During that first winter, I had my doubts as to whether we had made the right decision in moving up to Bracebridge. It seemed like the winter would never end and there was so much snow.
I could not wait for spring to arrive and get back on my bike. I was soon to discover that Muskoka is a real paradise for a road cyclist.
And, I was soon to become a real Paradise Rider.
