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I crash into religion



 
 
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  #11  
Old May 7th 06, 12:23 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

landotter wrote:
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!


It shouldn't be a blood sport. Not every accident is avoidable, but most
are, including this one. Bike paths often have unique hazards, traps for
the unwary. How many more crashes will be caused by this particular
situation? I hope the OP reports this.
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  #12  
Old May 7th 06, 12:54 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

On Sun, 07 May 2006 07:23:42 -0400, Peter Cole
wrote:

landotter wrote:
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!


It shouldn't be a blood sport. Not every accident is avoidable, but most
are, including this one. Bike paths often have unique hazards, traps for
the unwary. How many more crashes will be caused by this particular
situation? I hope the OP reports this.


Dear Peter,

(AP-Pueblo, CO)

"Authorities were informed of a recent 6 a.m. bicycle crash
involving a rider who slipped and fell at 25 mph on a
dew-covered wooden bridge that had recently been
re-painted."

"Signs, warning that any surface may be slippery when
covered with early morning dew, are being posted at 100-foot
intervals along the 20-mile ride."

"In related news, Carl Fogel announced that he was damned
glad that Paul Cassel wasn't hurt worse."

"Mr. Fogel added something incoherent about being up at an
ungodly hour himself, having been struck by a thought about
hanging a biccycle wheel from its upper spoke in an
unrelated spoke-testing thread, stated that the accident
confirmed his long-held opinions about early rising, and
went back to bed at 5:52 a.m. MST."

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
  #13  
Old May 7th 06, 02:20 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion


wrote:
what's "I high sided" mean.

Never heard that phrase before.


Here's a low side:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...torcycle+crash

Here's a high side:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...rcycle+c rash

  #14  
Old May 7th 06, 02:31 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default 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.



Get rid of those visors, they do nothing but....they are held on with
what, little velcro things or something? I doubt you would have gotten
'serious neck injuries' because of this little piece of plastic. I am
not a helmet nazi but ya know, helmets never hurt, 'may' help. If ths
is a troll, I'll know soon enough.

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.


  #15  
Old May 7th 06, 02:55 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

Paul Cassel wrote:

Glad you weren't hurt much worse than you were... this kind of
accident always seems like the kind that happens to "other people",
and is a good example of the kind of thing that can happen when you're
just riding along minding your own business.

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.


As Sorni said, the visors pop off with almost no effort, so it's
unlikely it would have had any effect. Others claim that the
increased radius of a helmeted head will lead to more injuries by
applying more torque to the neck, but I have to believe that the lower
friction of a helmet to road connection (compared to skin to road
connection) would more than offset that.

The bottom line in this kind of "scraping, sliding" crash (to me at
least, YMMV) is that you're going to have to stop by grinding
SOMETHING on the road, and if part of that load is taken by the
helmet, there's some part of your body that's going to get off that
much easier.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame
  #16  
Old May 7th 06, 04:08 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:

Get rid of those visors, they do nothing but....they are held on with
what, little velcro things or something? I doubt you would have gotten
'serious neck injuries' because of this little piece of plastic. I am
not a helmet nazi but ya know, helmets never hurt, 'may' help.


"Helmets never hurt"??? You haven't been paying attention, Peter. SEVERE
neck injuries from all that "additional rotational weight"! Defelecting
blows to one's jaw! Bigger target for terrorist tree limbs! I'm afraid to
go ride /at all/ now...

And the AHZs say helmet /proponents/ are fear mongers.

BS


  #17  
Old May 7th 06, 04:31 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

Paul Cassel wrote:

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


Glad that you are okay. I had never wore a helmet in many years of
bicycling. A couple of years ago I was propelling my then 55 year old
body along on my road bike @ about 20 mph doing my Walter Mitty
imitation of Eddy Merckx. I went into a patch of sand on the road that
was deeper then it first appeared. My front tire grabbed and down I
went. I landed on my left shoulder breaking my collarbone and
separating my AC joint. When I hit I saw the asphalt coming to the side
of my head and in that tenth of a second tried to hold my neck muscles
to keep from hitting my head without success. I heard that sickening
popping sound you describe as the side of my head hit the pavement. I
am not sure if I was knocked unconscious. I think I may have been for a
short time. One way or the other I had one hell of a head ache. I lost
five weeks work and five days off the road. Got a stationary trainer
after the first week to maintain some semblance of condition. Once I
was able to get back on the road I have never ridden without a helmet
again and never will. An ounce of prevention.

Good day to all,

Jimmy

  #18  
Old May 7th 06, 04:42 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion


wrote:
(snip)
I lost
five weeks work and five days off the road. Got a stationary trainer
after the first week to maintain some semblance of condition. Once I
was able to get back on the road I have never ridden without a helmet
again and never will. An ounce of prevention.

Good day to all,

Jimmy


FWIW, I should have said I lost five weeks off the road and five days
off the bike. Incidentally, I found that using the stationary trainer
an hour a day left me in better condition five weeks later when I was
able to get back on the road then I had been in before the accident. It
also helped my morale a great deal as during my early recovery I was
not a happy camper.

Jimmy

  #19  
Old May 7th 06, 05:41 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 07:23:42 -0400, Peter Cole
wrote:

landotter wrote:
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!

It shouldn't be a blood sport. Not every accident is avoidable, but most
are, including this one. Bike paths often have unique hazards, traps for
the unwary. How many more crashes will be caused by this particular
situation? I hope the OP reports this.


Dear Peter,

(AP-Pueblo, CO)

"Authorities were informed of a recent 6 a.m. bicycle crash
involving a rider who slipped and fell at 25 mph on a
dew-covered wooden bridge that had recently been
re-painted."

"Signs, warning that any surface may be slippery when
covered with early morning dew, are being posted at 100-foot
intervals along the 20-mile ride."

"In related news, Carl Fogel announced that he was damned
glad that Paul Cassel wasn't hurt worse."

"Mr. Fogel added something incoherent about being up at an
ungodly hour himself, having been struck by a thought about
hanging a biccycle wheel from its upper spoke in an
unrelated spoke-testing thread, stated that the accident
confirmed his long-held opinions about early rising, and
went back to bed at 5:52 a.m. MST."

Cheers,

Carl Fogel


Thanks for all the good wishes on this thread. I also appreciate the
info that the visor will break off rather than kill me. I currently am
bidding on a Giro Atmos hat on eBay and will surely get something soon.

I had a good laugh at your post, Carl.

There is a bit of a postscript here. I found myself having nightmares
about that bridge last night so today I (perhaps stupidly) went out on
the single speed to ride the bridge again on the theory of getting back
on the horse. In the end, it was a beautiful day, I was happy to be
alive, I crossed the bridge and went on to finish up a pleasant 40 mile
single speed ride. I'm feeling fine except for being wracked by pain (I
expect that makes sense to all of you here).

Just to make it perfectly clear (to coin a phrase) I consider the crash
to be 100% my fault and none of it the City's. It is my duty to watch
where I'm going as well as assess the surfaces I'm riding on. I did
check the surface today and was astonished at just how slippery it is. I
will advise the City about using sand in its paint to make it a better
grip.

Looking at my clothes, I'm amazed at the damage. For example, my heavy
duty gloves are all but gone. Well, lesson learned and I guess all
people who ride need to take that spill sometime. I've been riding a
year now; my time was ripe.

-paul
  #20  
Old May 7th 06, 05:51 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default I crash into religion

Per Sorni:
My recollection is that you still might be looking at death.


Way to buck the boy up, Pete! eg


Yeah, I just thought it would cheer him up a little bit.

Isn't that how Bruce Lee got it?
--
PeteCresswell
 




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