The Rev. Jeff Bullock doesn’t remember much of what happened last Monday before he flew over the handle bars of his bicycle and landed on the pavement, breaking ribs and his scapula.
The rector of All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara is used to cycling 150 miles a week, when his ministry allows time, and Monday’s morning ride was like any other.
But Bullock’s cycling partner says he saw Bullock hit a pothole at high speeds while he was coming down Mountain Road behind Westmont College. He took a fall that landed him in the intensive care unit for two days. All sides of his body had road rash, and Bullock said the doctors had to cut him out of his clothing when he arrived at the hospital for treatment.
After returning home from the hospital, Bullock said he realized just how bad his injuries could have been. “When I got home and looked at the helmet I had been wearing, it had a big chunk missing from the side,” he said. “It was destroyed.”
Miraculously, Bullock suffered no significant head injuries. “Even with a helmet on, you can’t hit the ground that fast without some bruising,” he said.
He said he had been lucky enough to have a high-quality helmet on at the time that had been properly fit to his head.
Bullock is at home now and has begun a recovery doctors have told him most likely will take six to eight weeks.
Bullock’s accident is not the first cycling accident within the congregation. About seven years ago, a church member, who had been wearing a helmet, was killed while cycling on Las Positas Road.
Bullock said the experience has left him thankful for the safety gear he was wearing that day.
“My sermon is don’t do anything without a helmet, and use it every time you go out,” he said. “I absolutely wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for that.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com.
