Deceleration Syndrome...

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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:37 pm

... and road rash!

So, I'm riding my mountain bike to work this morning, just like I do every day that I can. That is, every day there's no snow on the ground! They have torn up one good stretch of road along my commute, but I refuse to be diverted from my path, and hey, I do ride an "all terrain" vehicle.

The left side of the road is having new piping buried, and is currently a mix between a ditch and a dirt road in places, the right side is untouched pavement, and usually clear to ride on. At my favorite little downhill stretch, I see a big bucket loader at the bottom of the hill coming my way. I hop down into the dirt on the left and pick up speed. At the bottom I see (too late) that there is a pile of sandy fill waiting to be spread around.

"Oh f*ck..."

I lean back and try to "float" the bike over the sand.

The bike has other ideas, and stops dead.

Bail, fly, bounce, skid, stop.

At one point I felt like a 'tard sliding into home base ass first.

"ouch"

I stand up to a round of applause as the construction workers have just had their entertainment for the day.

At least neither the bike or myself are broken, and I get to work without further incident.

And I get a new dumbass biking trophy, road rash:

The Imp

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:00 pm

Ouch, done that too, got the scars and the bits of pebble still coming out

You should have passed your helmet around for donations Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Oh that looks nippy

Interesting tattoo

edit for missing t

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:35 pm

Oh thank God for that! I saw the phrase

Quote:

At one point I felt like a 'tard sliding into home base ass first.

caught a glimpse of the top part of that picture and thought I was going to see something else Shocked

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:50 pm

Owieeeeee! Crying or Very sad

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:00 pm

Quote:

'Tis but a scratch. A mere flesh wound.

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

I had a similar incident when I was around 13. My friend stopped in front of me, and I hit his rear tire. Bike stopped. I didn't.

Back then we didn't wear helmets. My face did a fine job of slowing me down, as did my shoulder.

Mom spent about 2 hours with tweezers and hydrogen peroxide getting blacktop and pebbles out of my face and shoulder. Luckily I didn't get any scars.

Glad you are ok. Road rash sucks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I'm a terrible nag when it comes to wearing helmets.
Justified I might add,
I saw a schoolmate of my kids fall from his bike, he died of head injuries several days later.

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:02 pm

Not that I have that much up there to protect anymore, but my helmet is always firmly in place. And I think the Camelbak is as good as armor when it comes to crashing bikes. It's kept my back from serious impact injuries more than a few times.

Now where did I hide the peroxide...

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:06 pm

That's gotta sting. Shocked

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:46 pm

Ouch. Glad you weren't more seriously injured.

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:49 pm

What stings even more, according to a friend of mine, is how they debride (get the pebbles out of road rash) in the ER. They use a wire-bristled brush. He had his helmet on, but was dazed, so they said they couldn't use novocain or any other anasthetic.

I got a little road rash on my cheek the first time I tried to walk across a parking lot with a prosthesis and two crutches. One reason I don't walk anymore: my vision is so bad I couldn't see the change in level of the asphalt.

Master Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 146

Read the title as 'Declaration Syndrome' thought you'd either proposed or were giving a crash course on American history...

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 1:36 am

I've had tarmac in my knee after binning a motorbike, when I was a teen.

A friend's milf (mum), wearing leather boots, put a foot under my armpit to undislocate my shoulder, then washed my knee in salt water. I still have a big scar there.

Years later I fell off a scooter on a Greek island, and had a little old lady do the same thing, but this time it was from my wrist to my ankle. I was wearing full safety equipment, shorts, a vest and trainers. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:38 am

I feel your pain. I like to wear sacrificial items. My last crash into a fence resulted in my helmet cracking and my losing one of those green fluorescent windbreakers branded by my bike maker. The jacket allowed me to slide really well without my getting a road rash.

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:23 am

Titania wrote:

What stings even more, according to a friend of mine, is how they debride (get the pebbles out of road rash) in the ER. They use a wire-bristled brush.

I've had that done after a fall from a motorbike. The nurse said I could have the slow not-so-painful tweezers or the quick lot-more-painful brush, and in the five seconds I was thinking about it, she just attacked my arm with the brush. It looked exactly like a domestic scrubbing brush. Hurt like hell, too, but it was over very fast. Smile

As an aside, I'd dithered about buying a cheaper half-face helmet or a more expensive full-face one. When I saw the huge groove in the chin on my full-face lid, I knew I'd made the right choice. Smile

Helmets for any kind of biking are utterly essential, and please, get the best you can. Your skull and face will thank you. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:35 am

That must hurt terribly. Shocked

Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:08 pm

I've had a few 'undesired, high-speed dismounts' myself. Gotta thank the good old brain bucket for being able to walk away from one of my more serious crashes.

The way I see it, any crash that results in only a bit of road rash(or less of course) is a good crash. Glad you weren't hurt any worse. Although, you could have used that excuse(you crashed) to get out of work and keep riding instead... Wink