Bike Shop Girl is known to many of us as someone who loves to bike and loves to get other women on bikes.

In fact, her tag line for her blog is, “Helping women find their way in cycling”. 

A couple of months ago, Bike Shop Girl was hit by a car and as she noted on her Facebook page recently, she has been unable to get back on the road so far.

I understand her fear about getting back on the bike – on the road. 

I was hit by a car in June 1995.  Fortunately, I incurred relatively minor injuries and physically I was able to get back on the bike within a month after the accident.  Emotionally, it was a different story.

Eventually I did get back on and ride.  The first several times I rode, I stuck to trails around a local lake.  Once my strength and emotional/mental comfort was there I took to the roads again.

I remember being very fearful initially, but slowly my comfort riding in traffic increased.  It never returned to what it was before the wreck.  It never will.

You can’t go through something like that and not be changed by it.  I’m okay with that.  I ride smarter and more defensively than I did before I was hit.  

I believe Bike Shop Girl will get there too.  Those of us that follow her blog, or on Twitter or Facebook, offer encouragement through our comments.

We try to do for her what she has done for many female cyclists – encourage her to get on the bike and ride.