He’s battered and bruised, and he learned Ferris Bueller is painfully funny. Literally.
Other than that, Gov. Bill Ritter is out of the hospital and back on the job — albeit lighter duty — after last week’s bike accident left him with five fractured ribs, a separated shoulder and a bruised lung.
“It is extremely painful,” Ritter said Wednesday in his first public appearance since the accident.
He said he is still taking painkillers, particularly at night to help him sleep. The 53-year-old Democratic governor was at Denver Health Medical Center through Saturday recovering from the crash.
After being discharged, he said, he has been conducting business at the Governor’s Residence, meeting with staffers there daily.
“I think I’ll probably be close to a full schedule hopefully by next week,” said Ritter, adding it would probably be six to eight weeks before his ribs fully heal.
“Exercise is out of the question for a long time,” he said.
Ritter was riding in a group of five men when the crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m. March 2 at East 23rd Avenue and High Street in Denver. Ritter’s tire apparently brushed the rear tire of the rider in front of him and he crashed, as did the person behind him.
The governor said one of the riders — identified by The Denver Post as Dan Smink, a partner in a Denver marketing firm — suffered fractures in both arms. Ritter administration officials have declined to identify any of the other riders and wouldn’t say whether Colorado State Patrol security officers were with the governor at the time.
Ritter did say that one of the riders called 911 after the spill. However, there was no investigation of the accident.
“We were under the speed limit, well under the speed limit,” Ritter said. “I had a helmet on. We were doing everything I believe we were supposed to do. It was just one of those things that happened.”
Virtually unscathed was Ritter’s touring bicycle, which he said suffered only minor damage to the front wheel. “I basically wound up on my back with the bike in the air,” he said.
When world-renowned cyclist Lance Armstrong heard about Ritter’s accident, he sent a get-well greeting via Twitter. Ritter and Armstrong met at the statehouse last fall to discuss reviving the famed Coors Classic bike race in Colorado next year.
Ritter said he has heard from many well-wishers, including “just about everybody who has had a rib injury.”
It hurts to breathe sometimes, and it hurts more to laugh, Ritter said, recounting how his kids wanted him to watch the 1980s teen comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” which he had never seen.
“We were five minutes into the video,” Ritter said, “and I had to ask them — not just ask them, I screamed — ‘You have to take it off’ because I was laughing so hard it really caused excruciating pain.”
An avid bicyclist, Ritter last summer completed the Triple Bypass race, which covers 120 miles and scales three mountain passes between Evergreen and Avon.
He said it will take awhile to get back in bicycling form.
“I’ll ride again,” he said. “I’m smart enough to know it’s going to be important to do that very slowly.
“I did not sign up for the Triple Bypass this year.”
