Rescue 911 on the towpath trail...

Pyromaniac

So I'm trotting along on my Sunday afternoon run, which should've been Sunday morning but I got too lazy, and there is a couple on bikes up ahead. And suddenly there is only one on a bike and the other does a face plant along side the trail with her feet still attached to the pedals. This occurs about 25 yards ahead of me, so I speed up to help this woman out. Her hubby/SO/whoever is standing there looking at her asking her if she's okay - she's screaming at the top of her lungs that her leg is broke. I'm think, you dipsh!t, you're f**king up my run with your inability to ride a bike because I can't leave you laying there in the mulch and muck.

I get over to the screamer as doofus man has finally gotten off his bike to help her out. We get her detached from her pedals and rolled over. Her screams are piercing my ear drums as a cloud of mosquitos begins to swarm about us. I think it was the call of the wild to those damn insects, the dying screams of prey in the throes of death.

Anyway, I get her calmed down as doofusman mumbles away in the background and we get her to roll up her pant leg to inspect where her leg is "broken". She then decides maybe it really isn't broken but her knee hurts. There is no swelling, redness and it's not hot to the touch so I don't think it was broke. I help her to her feet, no easy task as she had a good 40-50 lbs on me and wasn't exactly a gymnast. She decides she can walk and they will push their bikes to the nearest parking lot where she will rest while superdoofus goes to retrieve their car from another lot about 12 miles away. I tell them that since I'm on out and back I'll be back in about 20 minutes to check on her.

I start up my run again and on the return there they are only another couple on bikes has stopped. They've called 911 and they are going to haul her out of there because she doesn't think she can all the way to the lot. I see the EMS guys coming as I continue on my run and point them in the right direction and then I finish my run with no additional excitement.

Moral of the story: Overweight, out of condition people should not attempt long bike rides. She still had another 12-14 miles to ride when she went down and she was physically exhausted and sweating heavily on a day that was barely 60 degrees. I also think toe clips on bike pedals are a stupid idea for the average schmoe on a bike.

Member

Props to you for helping out. I can't believe EMS was called in because she couldn't walk to the next parking lot (was there something wrong with her (aside from obesity and stupidity) after all?). That's sad.