Injured Bicyclist Meets Her Heroes

Isabel Barrios doesn't remember much of her bicycle accident earlier this year.

“When I was in the ambulance, I was aware that something had happened,” the Campbell resident says. “I could hear the voices but couldn’t see anyone.”

Barrios had been participating in the Strawberry Fields Forever bike race for the first time when  in Watsonville.

“I was vomiting a lot and went into shock,” Barrios says.

She had a concussion, dental damage and five facial fractures—nearly a quarter million in medical costs.

The details of the day are lost on Barrios and she says what happened next, she read on Patch.

“My neighbor came over to see if I was OK and I was surprised,” Barrios says. “I asked her how she knew I had been in the hospital and she said she had read about it online.”

What she found out was that as she lay crumpled on the roadway, underneath her bicycle, a group of bicyclists came to her aid.

Good Samaritans

Members of the Snow Drifters ski and snowboard club were participating in the Strawberry Fields Forever bike ride for the first time in May. They were on the last leg of the ride when the thing that bicyclists dread most became a reality.

“I got a little ahead of the group and made it through the light. They didn’t. I was going downhill and starting to pick up speed,” Belmont resident John Stoddard says. “I saw that there was a car at a T-intersection. I saw Isabel ahead of me and said, ‘Oh no.’ "

Stoddard was about 40 to 50 yards behind Barrios when he was hit with the realization, ‘She’s not going to make it.’

“I got down there and checked on her,” he says. “She was conscious, bleeding but OK. A young couple was in the car and I said to them, ‘Don’t go anywhere.’ She was stunned.”

Stoddard says that the group had caught up with him about 30 seconds later and they all got to work.

“Some of us were with the car, some with Isabel making sure she was ok and another friend, a New Yorker named Susan Dinga was directing traffic,” says Sunnyvale resident Jennifer Milstein. “We were all over. She (Barrios) knew her name but didn’t know where she was. There was blood everywhere. I’ve seen other accidents but not as traumatic.”

Face to Face

After nearly three months, Barrios met the bicycle club for the second time on Aug. 15 at Memorial Park in Cupertino during the club’s monthly meeting. In contrast to the first time she met the group, this was a jovial reunion, with hugs and stories exchanged.

“I was a little surprised to hear from her,” Stoddard says. “But not very.”

Barrios had gotten his name and information from the police report and had been exchanging emails and phone calls with the first person to lend her a hand that day.

“I was glad to hear she was ok but sad to hear she had a lot of damage; facial and dental problems as well as the cost of the helicopter and ambulance.”

Barrios says that because the teenage motorist was uninsured, her insurance paid the bulk of the medical expenses—about $31,000 for the helicopter and ambulance ride and $72,000 for the emergency room visit.

“It was a real eye opener,” Barrios says. "And there are many lessons to be learned."

The importance of wearing a helmet as well as having identification not only on your bicycle but also on your person are two things Barrios has taken away from this experience.

As to what she thinks made the difference in her accident, Barrios says, "wearing a helmet and having the right people around."