She’s opposed to doing long bike rides, but her family is probably at peace knowing she won’t be the one doing the peddling.

That’s because a year ago today, Mangine was recovering from a serious bicycle accident that occurred on Route 60 in Cassadaga.

A Stockton resident, Mangine is a strong health advocate. Over the last decade she has been doing a lot of bicycle riding, running, and power lifting. She’s even entered Tough Mudder and body building competitions.

Her desire for fitness led her to join the Southern Tier Triathlon Club. During training times, she would bike with them 20 miles or more. Sometimes the group would do long rides as far away as Niagara Falls.

The photo on left, taken June 2 shows Patricia Mangine has very little visible scars on her face following her serious bicycle accident Aug. 31, 2022 in Cassadaga. Photo on right, taken July 12 shows Patricia Mangine as she continues with her physical fitness training.

On Aug. 31, 2022, Mangine, a school bus driver, was scheduled to teach pre-kindergarten children about bus safety that evening around 6:30 p.m. Since she had a few hours available, she went on a bicycle ride with friends from STTC.

They were heading south on Route 60 and entered Cassadaga. As she approached Dale Drive, a driver pulled out and was turning left.

“He was going to pull out but he didn’t have enough time,” she said. “I think he kind of caught me because it seemed like our eyes connected. It was so strange. He stopped and I thought to myself, ‘I cannot believe you just did this to me.'”

Mangine was trapped. She slammed on her bicycle brakes, causing her body to fly over her bicycle’s handlebars. “I remember the motion going over, when my feet came out of my clips and that was the last thing. I don’t remember the impact or anything,” she said.

While on the ground she came to, put her hands on her face, and felt the blood rushing down. A fellow cyclist took of his shirt and handed it to Mangine to allow her to put pressure on her bleeding face. She remembers holding the shirt to her face and then when she was asked by a volunteer firefighter to remove it, she again blacked out.

When she came to, she was being loaded onto a gurney. She blacked out again, waking up in an ambulance near ShurFine, being told she was being taken by helicopter to a Buffalo hospital.

When she arrived at Erie County Medical Center, she was taken for tests and scans, but has no memories of that. “I remember waking up and seeing my husband and son in the room with me,” she said.

She was informed she had a dislocated finger and a broken front tooth. Her upper jaw was loose because her face had broken along her orbital and upper jaw on both sides of her face.

Though her injuries were not life-threatening, she did have to have her jaw reset during surgery. “I had to have plates and screws but I was thankful I didn’t lose any sight. I didn’t have any hearing problems or anything like that. I could talk and walk,” she said.

For the next two months, Mangine lived on baby food because she couldn’t chew food or drink liquids. But even so, she was still positive through it all. “It could have been a lot worse,” she said.

She wasn’t allowed to lift anything of significance. By early October, she could go back to work, but her exercising was still restricted for around three months.

As fall turned into winter, Mangine wanted to make sure she didn’t lose her nerve for being on a bicycle. A group of riders from STTC joined her on a short bicycle ride around Cassadaga Lakes. “I just wanted to show that I was strong and not concerned and I was not going to let it (accident) affect the rest of my life,” she said.

She credits her parents, who have both passed away, for where she gets her courage, especially her father. “With his health battles and how he battled, and not ever letting anyone know how awful it was, I guess I want to be like him,” she said.

But even though she hasn’t lost her nerve riding a bike, that doesn’t mean her family isn’t worried. “They don’t like me going out,” Mangine confessed, even though she still does ride.

Mangine later learned that the driver was ticketed for failure to yield the right of way. He was not intoxicated or texting, just apparently in a hurry.

That “hurry” attitude is evident with drivers all over, especially on Route 60. “I think drivers need to slow down and give themselves some time. Everything seems to be so rushed. It’s like, even if it’s going to be a tight squeeze, they’re going to gun it,” she said.

Mangine sees the rushing attitude as a bus driver as well. “People aren’t paying attention when the reds are activated,” she said. “They’re supposed to stop, but they’ll go right through your reds.”

Mangine notes she continues to run 6 to 20 miles every weekend. Running can be a little bit easier because runners face traffic, while bicyclists ride with traffic. “I’ll go way out when I see someone coming,” she said.

When it comes to making bicycling safer, Mangine said in the end it comes back to the drivers. “Everybody needs to be more aware and more concerned,” she said.

Today, she has very minimal scars. Mangine did admit her face feels different. When swimming, she’s needed to change goggles because the ones she wore before the accident don’t fit right. “It’s just something that I deal with,” she said.

And after today’s CassadagaMan, Mangine said next she thinks she will explore power lifting competitions. “This will be another new challenge. I’ve just come to the conclusion in the last couple of weeks that this is something I’d like to pursue,” she said.