Yesterday was day one of a two day charity bike ride. Being a somewhat experienced road cyclist, I knew that I’d be with a lot on novices who would have minimal bike handling skills, and that I needed to maintain a lot of distance. Apparently 15+ feet wasn’t enough for the hard braking that happened in my line. I hit the tire in front of me (a team mate) at about 30 km/hr and went over the handlebars. My helmut saved my right temple - it’s got a giant crack in it - but my right elbow was the second part of my body to hit the ground, resulting in a broken elbow.
Surgery is tomorrow with one of the best sports orthos in the city. They’re using circlage wire to pull it back in place and I’ll end up with a nice scar. Pretty wickedswelling, but thankfully manageable pain so far.
My bike (2014 Specialized Venge just purchased in May ) has a huge crack in the carbon frame, so is trashed. Luckily the road racing season is over (my last race was Friday night), but I will miss cyclocross season and a duathlon I was signed up for. I am really thankful it wasn’t worse too - I could have gone the other direction in to traffic.
I destroyed a knee skiing in high school. A year later I destroyed both knees in a car crash. Thirteen years later I got back on skis. I started on the ‘bunny hill’ and then spent the rest of the day on the easy trail. I didn’t fall a single time the whole day (eight hours of skiing). I’m walking back to the car and step on an ice-covered manhole lid. Severely sprained ankle. It took three weeks for the swelling to go down enough to get my foot into a ski boot again. (Still sprained, but the boot gave support for skiing.)
Ouch! Sorry to see that EmAnJ. I think you are in Calgary, no? I presume you were participating in this. Very worthwhile cause – I sponsor a couple of friends every year. Thank you for doing so, and I hope this will not put you off future charity rides.
Sucks too that your (very nice) bike was totaled. Is that something insurance will cover?
I’m a novice rider and crashed a couple of weeks ago; managed a mild concussion and a nice road rash from elbow to knee. My helmet (Specialized Echelon) gave up the ghost as well. Seems like it did its job, but I’d love the thoughts of an experienced cyclist (if you have any) before I purchase my next helmet.
Your shirt intrigues me. What’s that whale smoking, and why?
Ouch! Sorry to hear it…but glad you had the helmet, and it did it’s job!
I’ve seen a friend go down HARD on a snowboard - I watched his head bounce on the hardpack, then his hand go down. He shattered his wrist badly and needed surgery, but his helmet saved his life.
Closest I can come personally was when I was in high school, I spent a day playing sports outside - I remember some soccer, and I don’t know what else. Lots of running. We ended the day at a clubhouse playing ping pong. I turned my head to track a ball, and my glasses flow off. Broke the frame.
Thanks for the sympathy and stories all! It seems that despite good pan management during the day, pain management at night is completely different. After taking a Percocet at 11 pm last night, I was up in some pretty brutal pain by 4 am. Two T3’s later, I’m still awake at 5 am because the ache is unbearable. I need to get better at being proactive with the pain meds!
cardinal_fang, yes, I am in Calgary, and yes, it was the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I’m a team captain, so I’m sad I didn’t get to finish (or hardly start!) the ride. However, the point is to raise money, and I raised $3,650, so I’m happy with that.
I head to the hospital in an hour in hopes I get in early for surgery. I just hope the pain doesn’t get any worse!
My Minister, a keen cyclist and owner of a garage full of recumbents, ended up in hospital with an x-ray very similar to yours. I asked him which of the fleet had caused his injury, and he told me it wasn’t one of his bikes. Despite thousands of miles cycling every year, it was five minutes horsing around on one of those aluminium kids scooters that saw him lose his balance and go down hard.
When we visited him in hospital, of course we ripped the mince out of him.
Above his bed there was a sign that listed off his allergies. Somehow we didn’t think his allergy to pet hair was going to be a problem in hospital. (What were they going to say, “I’m sorry Rev Smith, we can’t fix your elbow unless you take this drug made from kitten fluff”?)
I was on a charity ride a few years ago. Riding my just finished bike that I built from the frame up, dream components, custom painted frame, etc.
At a rest stop I leaned my bike up against a curb and walked away. Suddenly I hear a crash and think, “I just know that was my bike!” Yup, some newbie couldn’t unclip their shoe and tipped over onto my bike, bending the back wheel into an L shape. Luckily nothing else was damaged, and they paid a local shop to replace my wheel. Sucks I couldn’t finish the ride, my wife went off on her own.
But seriously, what are the chances that they would land on my bike, when there were like 200 other bikes they could have wrecked? Or even have just fallen onto empty parking lot or grass?
Ugh, I feel your pain pabstist. I’ve had someone knock over my bike before too.
So, after nine hours in the pre-op waiting area, I got bumped to tomorrow. No surgery yet, and I had a hangry cry when they told me. Ate my face off as soon as I got out. Fingers crossed for surgery first thing tomorrow morning. :dubious:
The last time I hit the ground, I got off easy. I hit some glare ice but was able to fall into a pile of snow. I’ve got 2,500 miles in this year since then, so I’m due.
That sucks, EmAnJ. Racing has people riding at high speeds close together; however, they usually know how to ride & have good bike handling skills. I think the charity rides are more dangerous because of all of the people who don’t know what they’re doing in terms of bike handling, signaling, replacing water bottles in their cages & such.
cardinal_fang, all helmets are certified by one of the standards agencies (ANSI or Snell) & will do an adequate job of protecting you in a crash. The more expensive helmets generally have better air flow designs so that you will keep cooler when wearing it while riding with the best helmets designed to keep you even cooler than not wearing one at all. The more you ride, the more $ you want to spend on a helmet because of the comfort factor.
Ow – that hurt just to read about. Here’s hoping you a speedy recovery, EmAnJ.
I’m an amateur road cyclist myself, and frankly the terror of being in such tight packs is what’s kept me away from competitive cycling so far. I just know I’d be the goofball who twitches the wrong way and causes a pileup.
I think I’ve been fairly lucky so far; in the past couple of years since I started biking regularly, I’ve had a few spills and was hit by a car on two separate occasions, the second time totaling an almost-new Specialized (but it was just an Allez Sport, so it was cheap to replace at least) – but I haven’t yet suffered any serious injury while cycling. Then again, I’ve only got 2900 miles in so far this year; there’s always room for a good solid screw-up, especially once the weather starts getting nasty here in Seattle.
Thanks for the stories and well wishes! Surgery was late yesterday afternoon and I spent the night, discharged mid-afternoon today. Lots of pain now. but full mobility should be restored within three months with good physio.
I’ve always been lucky, but an acquaintance of mine wasn’t. I’d kind of lost track of him, but heard he had a pretty bad wreck at high speed. He survived but had very painful back trouble from then on. I later heard he had shot himself dead because of it.
) has a huge crack in the carbon frame, so is trashed. Luckily the road racing season is over (my last race was Friday night), but I will miss cyclocross season and a duathlon I was signed up for. I am really thankful it wasn’t worse too - I could have gone the other direction in to traffic.
