josh

In my experience so long as your level of consciousness is normal the choice to go to a hospital by ambulance is ultimately up to the injured. I know that the Emts on scene in the situation last weekend had differing opinions on the neccessity of ambulance transport (vs opting for transport by private vehicle/ teammate, etc) for the injured cyclists. However, with head and back traumas involved I agree that it is typically the best choice to agree to c-spine precautions, backboards and gurneys as was the chosen route on Saturday. With the patients on opposite sides of the road being tended to by different emts it sounds like each cyclist had a slightly different experience. Additionally, being out of cell phone range seems to have made several aspects of the situation more complicated.

While the day didnt pan out for many quite as anyone could have forseen and with all the inconveniences that people experienced, the most important thing is that we were all able to go home to our families to ride another day. My baby girl's smile when i walk through the front door always seems to make a bad day on the bike seem absolutely meaningless in the scheme of things.

I am rather curious though....the need for urinalysis at the hospital seems out of place....that wasnt a random OBRA drug screening, was it? Did you pass?