Shannon is OK

For nearly all her life, civic advocate, volunteerist and all-around good person Shannon Markley has used a bicycle as her principle form of transportation. [Bike Intelligencer profiled her bike-centric lifestyle in March 2009.]

So when she took a tumble and fractured her hip at N. 85th and Greenwood three days ago, her first thought was: I won’t be able to ride my bike for awhile!

Shannon was taken to Northwest Hospital, where they inserted three stainless-steel screws in her hip. Yesterday, post-op, the pain was subsiding, she was feeling much better and expected to be able to go home today.

She blames the accident on “doing something stupid,” but it was the kind of thing any seasoned cyclist can relate to. The Greenwood crossroads is one of the busiest in the city, with little bike clearance from traffic. (Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, a Greenwood resident, can vouch for this.) Although it’s always tricky to reconstruct an accident second-hand, it appears Shannon was going to continue riding in the street but found herself squeezed by cars, to the point where she decided to bail on the sidewalk. She thought she could just ride up the wheelchair-access curb ramp, but instead missed it and hit the curbside square on. The impact threw her from the bike and she hit on her side “really hard.”

“It could have been a lot worse,” Shannon recounted from her hospital bed. If a car had come along, or she’d landed on her head, “I’d be in a lot worse shape.” That’s typical Shannon, making the best of a bad situation and looking at the glass half full.

She’s already started physical therapy and plans an aggressive recovery but does not yet know when she’ll be back on her trusty teal (Bianchi green) Marinoni.

“You know,” she said, “This will be the longest I’ve been off my bike in what, 52 years!”

Get well soon, Shannon — and back to your Samaritan ways.