Man returns unhurt from 2 wars, gets hit while cycling

Not too long after he suffered a badly broken wrist courtesy of a hit-and-run driver who sent his bicycle spinning, Pat Rimron can almost crack a smile when he considers the irony of his situation.

He's served for 20 years as an officer in the U.S. Army, graduated from some of its toughest training programs -- he wears the Ranger tab and Airborne jump wings on his uniform -- and is a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Through all that, including his most recent tour leading armored patrols through IED-laden streets in and around Baghdad, Rimron was never wounded.

"There were some close calls from rockets and mortars," he said. "But nothing that actually worked. We took sniper fire, but when you're inside an armored vehicle you don't worry about that much."

Yet nearly nine months after he returned home from what he expects will be his last deployment, Rimron finds himself recovering from surgery to repair an injury suffered a few miles from his own home here in Forsyth County.

"The irony didn't escape me," said Rimron, a reservist who works as a teacher and wrestling coach at Forsyth Country Day School. "I told my students that it must have been a Taliban guy figuring he'd get one last whack at Major Rimron before he retired."

Distracted driving

As you would expect from an Army Ranger, Rimron works hard at keeping fit. He's a dedicated cyclist who loves long rides through the rural roads of Davidson County.

He was headed for those familiar roads the afternoon of Aug. 27 when he approached the intersection of South Stratford and Jonestown roads about 5:30 p.m. A smallish sedan -- Rimron thinks it resembled a Dodge Neon -- zipped around and cut directly in front of him to turn onto Stratford. In the process, the car clipped Rimron's bike and sent him crashing to the ground.

"My wrist was angled off in a direction it wasn't supposed to go … my instinct was to throw my arms out in front of me," he said in a tone no different than what he might use to describe his lunch.

The driver didn't stop. He (or she) didn't even bother slowing to see if Rimron lived or died.

Other passersby did, however. One woman offered to chase after the car to see if she could get a license plate number or a better description of it. (Rimron said she told police what she could, but that it might not be enough to help nail the jerk.)

"People drive so distracted these days, turning their radio dials and talking on their cell phones while they're in such a hurry to get somewhere 10 seconds faster," Rimron said. "I can only assume that this person was doing something like that to distract them. The sad reality is that people think cyclists are some sort of a nuisance even though we have the same right to the road they do."

Final irony

It's funny (and sad) that motorists in Iraq who have plenty of other things to worry about -- gunfire and roadside bombs to name two -- are more considerate of nonmotorized vehicles than many North Carolinians.

"You do see a lot of people on bikes over there. Donkey carts, too," Rimron said. "In the Middle East and Europe, it's just a fact of life and not an annoyance. People are wary but don't treat (bicycles) like a big deal."

Here, especially as suburbia overtakes once-rural areas, bicyclists are buzzed, cursed and targeted by trash-throwing idiots passing in cars.

"Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies if we ride in packs and spread out to take up the whole road," Rimron said.

Still, being forced to slow momentarily isn't a reason to shower cyclists with debris and invective.

The odds are good that barring an unlikely attack of conscience, the driver of the car that hit Rimron will never be caught.

Rimron knows that, but hasn't allowed it to ruin his faith in his fellow Americans.

"It doesn't make my wrist feel any better, but the scale definitely tilts in favor of those who stopped to help rather than the one knucklehead who took off," he said before noting one final irony of the accident.

"That bike was one of my ‘I survived Iraq' presents," he said.

■ Scott Sexton can be reached at 727-7481 or at ssexton@wsjournal.com

■ Anyone with information about the accident can call Winston-Salem police at 773-2800.