I crash into religion
 

Today I fell down hard on my road bike. I figure I was going about 25
mph when I hit new paint at the end of a wooden bridge I’ve been over
dozens of times never finding any traction issues. However, sometime
recently, the City decided to put new wood and paint on the bridge. Add
some dew at 0600h and it made for a slippery surface. I skidded sideways
and then, when I hit the tarmac again, I high sided. I was not wearing a
helmet, but have good reflexes in the curl and roll. I ended up with a
terrible case of road rash, my eyeglasses embedded in my cheek (the lens
came out and stuck into my cheek right at the cheekbone) and a lot of
debris embedded into my muscles plus other injuries. I truncated the
ride returning 20 miles instead of the planned 40. My bike sustained
minor injuries with the saddle being the most badly damaged.

Evaluating the crash, I figure that I may have been more badly hurt
wearing a helmet, but ironically, I’ll will buy and from now on wear a
helmet when riding. This sounds paradoxical, but here is my logic. The
only place I hit was my face from the cheek down. I hit the glasses very
hard, scraped away a lot of skin from my face, nose, upper lip and chin.
There are other lower body injuries as well including a badly hurt right
arm and leg. I would guess that had I hit just that way with a hat on,
the visor would have exerted rotational force on my neck making for,
perhaps, much more serious injuries.

However, what will remain with me for a long time, and it was the first
thing I remembered when I woke up there on the bike trail, was the sound
of my face / head hitting. It was a loud crack-like sound. I had some
time to review things on the ride back home and then waiting in the
hospital urgent care to think on things.

I was mentally unprepared for the suddenness and ferocity of this crash.
Had I hit higher up on my head I surely would have had a great chance of
sustaining serious brain injury. Instead of a little nap and a hideous
headache now, (along with at least two weeks off) I may have been
looking at permanent injury or even death. It was the realization that
even at bicycle speeds, something I dismissed before, one can get badly
hurt.

Yes, I’m still opposed to mandatory helmet laws, but I doubt you’ll be
seeing me ride without one from now on.

I crash into religion
 

Paul Cassel wrote:
Today I fell down hard on my road bike. I figure I was going about 25
mph when I hit new paint at the end of a wooden bridge I’ve been over
dozens of times never finding any traction issues. However, sometime
recently, the City decided to put new wood and paint on the bridge.
Add some dew at 0600h and it made for a slippery surface. I skidded
sideways and then, when I hit the tarmac again, I high sided. I was
not wearing a helmet, but have good reflexes in the curl and roll. I
ended up with a terrible case of road rash, my eyeglasses embedded in
my cheek (the lens came out and stuck into my cheek right at the
cheekbone) and a lot of debris embedded into my muscles plus other
injuries. I truncated the ride returning 20 miles instead of the
planned 40. My bike sustained minor injuries with the saddle being
the most badly damaged.
Evaluating the crash, I figure that I may have been more badly hurt
wearing a helmet, but ironically, I’ll will buy and from now on wear a
helmet when riding. This sounds paradoxical, but here is my logic. The
only place I hit was my face from the cheek down. I hit the glasses
very hard, scraped away a lot of skin from my face, nose, upper lip
and chin. There are other lower body injuries as well including a
badly hurt right arm and leg. I would guess that had I hit just that
way with a hat on, the visor would have exerted rotational force on
my neck making for, perhaps, much more serious injuries.

However, what will remain with me for a long time, and it was the
first thing I remembered when I woke up there on the bike trail, was
the sound of my face / head hitting. It was a loud crack-like sound.
I had some time to review things on the ride back home and then
waiting in the hospital urgent care to think on things.

I was mentally unprepared for the suddenness and ferocity of this
crash. Had I hit higher up on my head I surely would have had a great
chance of sustaining serious brain injury. Instead of a little nap
and a hideous headache now, (along with at least two weeks off) I may
have been looking at permanent injury or even death. It was the
realization that even at bicycle speeds, something I dismissed
before, one can get badly hurt.

Yes, I’m still opposed to mandatory helmet laws, but I doubt you’ll be
seeing me ride without one from now on.

A visor will break off (quite easily) before "exerting rotational force on
{your} neck". Good decision; questionable reasoning.

Bill "glad you weren't hurt worse; heal quickly and fully" S.

I crash into religion
 

On Sat, 06 May 2006 15:38:26 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

Today I fell down hard on my road bike.

[big ol' snip]

Dude,

I'm sorry you got all banged up. May you heal quickly and ride again
soon.

Not fun....

I crash into religion
 

Glad to hear that you came away with repairable damage. My long
experience with oh-s**t moments (including one this AM that was of a
non-bike nature) is that you don't know when or if they're going to
happen; all you can do is figure what the odd look like to you, and
decide what you want to do about it. Sometimes, that's nothing;
sometimes it isn't. To each his own.

Ride on!


--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

I crash into religion
 

Wooden bridges are deathtraps. The slime that builds up on them can be
a terror as well. Last fall I took a spill on one due to similar loss
of traction. One second I was spinning nicely, the next I was laying on
my hip going WTF?? I got a hip bruise and lost a couple nice old
Cinelli end plugs. Damn you bridge!

Now I slow down and only coast across wooden bridges unless I'm
positively sure they're dry.

You'll heal up fine. I've taken a couple to the face, including going
headfirst into a snowbank at night, losing my glasses in the snow, and
having to ride home, one-handed to keep the blood from gushing out my
eyebrow. Fun for all! Commuting as extreme sport! w00t!

I crash into religion
 

Per Paul Cassel:
I surely would have had a great chance of
sustaining serious brain injury. Instead of a little nap and a hideous
headache now, (along with at least two weeks off) I may have been
looking at permanent injury or even death.

My recollection is that you still might be looking at death. Something about
subdural hematomas swelling up after the fact. Maybe somebody who actually
knows something can comment on this - I think it's a reasonably serious
consideration anytime you get whacked in the melon.
--
PeteCresswell

I crash into religion
 

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Paul Cassel:
I surely would have had a great chance of
sustaining serious brain injury. Instead of a little nap and a
hideous headache now, (along with at least two weeks off) I may have
been looking at permanent injury or even death.

My recollection is that you still might be looking at death.
Something about subdural hematomas swelling up after the fact.
Maybe somebody who actually knows something can comment on this - I
think it's a reasonably serious consideration anytime you get whacked
in the melon.

Way to buck the boy up, Pete! eg

I crash into religion
 

Subdural haematomas can occur some time after a crash but they're
slowing building up. Easy to deal with if diagnosed. Rare in younger
people. A MRI scan can exclude them with confidence.

I crash into religion
 

what's "I high sided" mean.

Never heard that phrase before.

I crash into religion