On Thursday, November 20, two-time Olympian Tinker Juarez fell victim to one of cycling's most feared dangers: a suddenly opening car door. Best known for his long and storied career as a pro mountain bike racer, most of his training now takes place aboard a road bike.
You too can have colorful bruises just like mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez. Simply ride your bike into a car door while doing about twenty.
“I had set out to do a long day, like five hours or so,” he explained. “I was headed back, maybe an hour from home. I had just gone through an intersection and saw a few cars and a pick-up truck parked at the curb ahead and next thing I know I’m on the ground in the worst pain ever! I’m always real careful when passing parked cars; you always want to look for someone about to get out. But the truck had a camper shell and I couldn’t see the driver and I guess he didn’t see me ‘cause he opened his door right in front of me. I probably hit it going fifteen or twenty miles an hour.”
No broken bones were found on the X-rays taken that day. But the next day, Juarez, who is notorious for his loathing of hospitals, insisted on going back for a second look, “I was really hurting inside,” he said, “And I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have some kind of internal injury.” He felt more at ease when further examinations and an MRI found nothing out of the ordinary. Within four days of his injury Juarez was back to training, putting in a three hour day in the mountains. “I was really stressed about this,” he said. I have a mountain bike stage race to do in South Africa this month and I’d hate to miss it. I’m not 100% yet. I’m still sore and I definitely feel it if I breathe real hard. But it’s getting better every day. I wish I could say the same for my bike. The frame was completely destroyed.”