no good deed goes unpunished

I was riding north from Golden through Arvada to do tempo around the Koppenberg circuit.    On Quaker a Land Rover going the opposite direction stopped abruptly and shouted some question.  It was too windy to hear, so I decide to do the nice thing and pull around to see if I could help.  Since he was stopped in the middle of the road, I decided to make a U and pull up on his passenger side for safety.    As I'm crossing his stern (about 1-2 car lengths back) he suddently puts it in reverse and hits the gas.




A few seconds later I pull myself out from under his SUV with my Look in one piece.   He apologies but I tell him I'm going to need him to write down his name and number. Still slightly disoriented. He gets out a matchcase to write on but, alas no pen.  He goes back to the car for a pen and the next thing I know he's speeding off into the distance.  I got his license number though.  dial 911.  JeffCo Sherriff showed up in short order.  License number doesn't seem right, but I remember one other fact; the road the guy was looking for.

This area is apparently the State Patrol's bailiwick so I had to wait a long time for the trooper to show up.  In the mean time the JeffCo Sheriff's officer went and actually tracked the guy down.  So at least 15 minutes before the State Trooper showed up, the Sheriff came back with the malefactor in tow.

Turns out I had the license exactly right but it was a vintage plate which didn't show up for some reason and the guy  admitted instantly that he had simply booked it.  Needless to say this doesn't change my already abysmal opinion of Arvada drivers, but I was greatly impressed by the speed and initiative of the Jefferson County Sherrif's office.

Bottom line?  who knows.  I ache a lot.  I landed on my right side which has the new clavicle and bad shoulder.  The Land Rover hit just below my left knee, which is pretty sore.  I'll have to go over the carbon frame carefully for cracks.  Could have been worse.     Will I stop to help a driver in the future?  Good question.  I violated my own basic rule with cars however, which is to always assume that drivers are either completely incompetent or homicidal maniacs.

But I rode the 20 km home and did a quick tempo climb of Lookout Mtn, just to make sure all the bits were working.