My latest fall

markz

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Jan 9, 2014
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Canada and the USA
I've been doing fine this winter with just a front V-brake but my latest fall was in the evening, was dark out around 7pm and I was riding on the boulevard sidewalk coming up to a side street. There was no new snow, but the patch of ice blended into the sidewalk about 4-5' from the curb ramp in which instead of sharp turn missing the crosswalk island and dealing with ruts/bumps of snow, I just go straight across the level side street to the driveway, 90 degree turn onto sidewalk, 4' another 90 degree turn onto boulevard sidewalk then giver until I hit the residential street.

Landed on my hands to break the fall and the wrists hurt for about a day. The muscle behind the shin, must've hit something because its bruised to the size of a football, and ripped my $20 walmart coat.

I havent been riding as much as I'd like to, the crash woke me up, the cold weather held me back too for a few days where I was up to ride but the cold weather was cold enough. I am still pissed off about the rear light ticket I got which was a consolidated ticket.
 
That sucks, you guys that ride Ice a lot are due some respect, luckily haven't had hardly a frost here in the Pacific NW. I had a small incident myself a week or so ago, crossed a busy street and swiftly pulled into the parking lot of the pet food store, up the slight incline and got caught by a big nearly hidden crack in the pavement, compensating caused me to goose the throttle (unintended) and the bike wheelied out from under me, flew a few yards before falling over. No real damage other than a small crack in my front shifter, which was solved with a bit of epoxy. Those winter MTB type gloves saved my palms. Right on a busy street, somebody got a laugh out of the show I'm sure.
 
Sorry about your fall/crash! Really sorry about your pain!!!! :evil:

I haven't figured out yet if riding an e-bike is dangerous or if just riding a bike all the time is dangerous.

In any case I am sorry you have pain and I hope you heal completely and quickly!!!!

:D
 
Hard conditions too in the east. But this winter I have no work commuting to do, so I can choose the best hours to ride. No crash yet, but some days are pretty tricky to ride with ice patches hidden under the slush. So far, skiing is harder on my body than riding this winter.

Sorry for your bad experience, 2nd this winter I recall ? Sidewalks are often harder to ride than streets, especially the moments you’re going to ride up or down them.
 
Not to steal your thunder...but I too had a nasty fall this fall...ha... Was going through a parking lot (Marriott international headquarters) and guess I wasn't paying attention but didn't realize I had to make a sharp turn at 20mph...ended up dropping my bike and skidding to a stop. When it was over my hands had road rash that was too bad but my forearm got the worst of it. I still have a dark scar on it to this day...not sure it'll ever go away.... The bike apparently still works just fine despite the drop though!! That was the day I realized I need a new back tire and some extra caution when I'm riding...lol
 
Talking with a seldom seen acquaintance at a birthday party yesterday, we both realized that we had been hurt worse in bike crashes then we ever had been in our previous decades of riding street and dirt motorcycles! After I told him about my two significant incidents, he told a story about when he was 8 or 9 years old, and somehow in a jumping type crash on his Schwinn Stingray, ended up with the tip of his man tool caught up in the chain ring. He does not lie, it was a true story..., he says the pain was intense (no surprise). Keep that story in mind the next time you have a crash, it could always be worse!
 
My dad shares the story that his brother would typically sit on the handlebars and have his feet on the pegs of the front wheel....one time his feet slipped and got caught in the spinning spokes of the wheel...ouch. Must not have been going very fast tho since I'd imagine your break all your metatarsals in your foot...
 
My best kid crash was when I was going to the hobby store with my friend. I was riding on the rear rack of my Schwinn Typhoon while pedaling. Since I could not reach the handlebars, I had my hands on the seat and was steering, "no hands." Well something happened and I over-corrected a steering shift. I then over-corrected that over-correction. The front tire went 90 degrees. The bike went sideways. I went forward and rolled off the bike. As I was rolling to a stop, I was thinking, "cool - I didn't get hurt." at which time my bike - which had apparently (according to my friend) been flipping behind me, landed on my head. It gave me a cut and enough blood to brag at least a little bit about.
 
Dang, hope your wrist recovers...mine right one is still sore from last year during an icy few days when some jack@$$ gunned his 4x4 next to me to be funny, started fishtailing, and I had to bail off the road hands first into the sidewalk at 20mph. They laughed as they passed by...one of the reasons I always wear a helmet cam now.
 
Philaphlous said:
My dad shares the story that his brother would typically sit on the handlebars and have his feet on the pegs of the front wheel....one time his feet slipped and got caught in the spinning spokes of the wheel...ouch. Must not have been going very fast tho since I'd imagine your break all your metatarsals in your foot...

That happened to one of my kid sisters when her boyfriend was ridding her home on the handlebars. She didn't break any bones in her foot, but she managed to stop the bike. Both of them got thrown over the front wheel. She smashed her head on the ground and had to have stitches. He broke one of his arms.
 
Your kid crash memories woke up some of mines.

One day at the park, long ago. A woman was screaming, her bike on the ground besides her. I ran to her, to see that her 2 yr old child had his leg stucked between the frame of the baby seat and the rear wheel of the bike. I did bend both the baby seat and the wheel to free the kid’s leg.

After she calmed down, with the kid in her arms, she looked at the bike and said, annoyed: What am I gonna do with this bike now that you broke it?

I was a bit frustrated from her attitude, so I answered: Time to trade it for a kid bike, and run behind.
 
Markz
Ride in our city a lot during winter.
Since I switched to studed tires 2 winters ago I feel much much safer.
Do you ride on just regular MTB tires?
 
e-beach said:
I haven't figured out yet if riding an e-bike is dangerous or if just riding a bike all the time is dangerous.
Riding all the time the odds are greater something will happen. Door opens, someone cuts you off, unseen pothole.

MadRhino said:
Sorry for your bad experience, 2nd this winter I recall ? Sidewalks are often harder to ride than streets,

Well I've been lucky, the only other fall I did was un-tracked powder on the greenway path, sliding on a hidden sprinkler box which was a soft landing onto pow.

Couple close calls the res. road riding, where the tire tracked snow breaks apart and the front wheel moves on you, I just stick both legs out.

Oh the other, was simply walking the bike, stopped, got on, too much throttle back slides out and fall, that was skating rink ice in the front of my house.

Not much interaction with other people (walkers, runners, bikers) as its my neighborhood so I dont want to be a jackass so I am ultra nice. But I give plenty of room no matter what, but people still tend to get startled for some reason. They just dont hear me I guess, I know my hearing isnt the best but I am always always always looking.

As a child, decades ago, I broke both bones above the wrist in a bicycle accident in Fishcreek Park. The crash that made me post this thread, came very close to causing damage. It was simply where the ice was located, 3'x3' right where I was breaking the front tire to slow down enough to hit the bump of snow in the gutter in order to go straight across the residential street to the driveway.
 
miro13car said:
Markz
Ride in our city a lot during winter.
Since I switched to studed tires 2 winters ago I feel much much safer.
Do you ride on just regular MTB tires?

Yeah I bought some used studded's from that used bicycle store Goodlife by Chinook, which didnt do much. New ones would do the trick! but I dont like spending that kinda money, unless I know for a fact its worth it!

miro13car - Where do you mostly ride? You more then likely have seen me frocking around town on my ebike. I go downtown, mardaloop, currie barracks, chinook, I am all over the place, but never north, NE/NW, though sometimes I go up into the SE/NE hood.

With our latest dump of pow, I am hitting up Banff to go skiing at Norquay. 1st Wednesday's of the month you can ski for $2 all day long, plus whatever charity donation you wish to contribute. I havent skied in 8 years so it should be a bit of pain from the boots. Renting the gear, even though I have old skis and boots and poles, the new skis should be fun, wider then late 90's version, parabolic for easier turns. I just hope theres some pow for me to ski.
 
Makz,
spare me checking your threads,
refresh my memory,
what do you ride?
I ride almost every working day:
from Riverbend crossing Bow River on pedestrian bridge to dog off-leash pathway along Deerfoot /pathway is between Deerfoot and Bow River/next
to Heritage DR and farther into 11 Street heading North.
Saw several times a man on MagicPie.
Right now I am recovering for min. 2 mounths from surgery driving.
 
This is local to me, in town anyway, 20 miles away. I had heard about it when it happened, but there was no mention of it being a "motorized" bicycle, (until this most recent article) whatever that means. The victim, may or not be partially to blame, (I have no idea) it was almost dark, real dusky anyway (a known most dangerous time to be on any road) in an area with all the local hard core bars. No mention if he also was drunk or had any lights, or blew through a stop sign. Giving your profession as a boat mechanic, in a state where the boating season is 3 months at best, is interesting and may or may not be relevant. I find myself hoping the poor guy was not on an ebike, but one of those gas engined mopeds, because he had lost his drivers license, for DUI. That ain't right, I know, but the guys I ride with, about his age, who can afford ebikes, arn't boat mechanics who live in a basement apartment. None of it makes any difference, who was at fault that is, as he got majorly screwed up. No mention if he had a helmet on, typical lousy reporting by our local rag of a newpaper, I need to stop by the LBS and see what they know, as it happened less then 2 blocks away.

The drunk driver, the repeat drunk driver, is the son of a friend of mine, who served in the first Iraq war, and has been at loose ends since his return. Just a real shitty deal for all concerned. s://idahostatejournal.com/news/local/family-of-severely-injured-bicyclist-says-hospital-plans-to-discharge/article_47aef510-583a-593a-961c-c34bc0091762.html
 
craneplaneguy said:
...
The drunk driver, the repeat drunk driver, is the son of a friend of mine, who served in the first Iraq war, and has been at loose ends since his return. Just a real shitty deal for all concerned. https://idahostatejournal.com/news/...cle_47aef510-583a-593a-961c-c34bc0091762.html

Being hit by a drunk driver, does make the kind of bike that you are riding irrelevant. The only prevention against dangerous drivers is to ride off their way, either off the street or fast enough to leave them far behind. Riding is a survival game, with a long and painful path to master.

Hard experience for both, of course. One will be going to jail for a long time, the other likely to live the rest of his life with some pain every rainy day.
 
markz said:
As a child, decades ago, I broke both bones above the wrist in a bicycle accident in Fishcreek Park. The crash that made me post this thread, came very close to causing damage. It was simply where the ice was located, 3'x3' right where I was breaking the front tire to slow down enough to hit the bump of snow in the gutter in order to go straight across the residential street to the driveway.

Man bet that hurt. Did you hit something or just the ground? I still remember when I was about 5 and flying down the footpath on my bmx and stright into a car that was coming out a driveway. Caved the front guard in and flew over the bonnet.
My last couple of crashes were on a dh mid drive. Flipped it backwards at around 50kms on the concrete. Wrecked two 18650 cells in the back pack battery and landed on my elbow hard. Put me in hospital about a month later with an infection for 4 days. Doc told me off for cutting the white stringy bit off with scissors. Bit of burst tendon apparently. The other one was from going over backwards and sliding along the road on my ankle with the bikes weight on me. Wore through the skin to the bone, have a cool scar now. Hurt like hell.
Anyway still reckon you guys that ride in the snow and ice are pretty brave.
 
Mad Matt said:
sorry trying to figure out how to use the quote buttons when posting

At the top right corner of every post, there is a ‘’quote’’ button.

Hands and head are to be kept clear of any crash. Heels, bum and shoulders are your best landing options, and no part of your body are to be straight or stiff. Landing stiff does break bones, while landing slightly bent and relax does end sliding with only scratches and burns most of the time.
 
Seems to be instinct to put out arms in a crash, think it is something done without thinking to protect the head. Tucking head into shoulder and rolling with it has worked in the past especially going over the bars at speed where you see it coming. although have had my fair share of broken bones. Having 2 mates in wheelchairs from motorbike racing makes me think about how I ride now. Its just so addictive once you jump on an electric bike and the freedom of places to ride
 
Yep. Took me a lot of crashes to start being relax crashing. Lucky that only few of those early crashes ended with broken bones. Horses and bulls did hurt me much more than bikes, and I recall the most dangerous ride was a woman. :wink:

Now I ride very relax. For the last 20 years, all crashes (about 100) had been mostly bruises and minor damages. I broke a finger with my brake lever 2 years ago, last fracture was an elbow about 15 yrs ago.
 
That's the secret, relax and enjoy it crashing.
 
The great thing about falling, either snowboarding or riding, is it keeps you limber and I guess in shape? Or at least, like others have said, you learn HOW to fall. I have to laugh when I realize someone may be concerned about me slipping and falling while at work, when I do (icy winter conditions on job sites, crawling around sometimes in the rafters, etc.) around usually construction crews in their 20's and 30's, because I don't realize I'm an old fart. They seem amazed when I bounce back up, usually saying something like "hell that was nothing, let me tell you about the bike crash I had last....blah blah blah!"

The same injuries that happen in snowboarding seem to occur in riding, wrist, arms, shoulders etc. After
I realized this, I was a little concerned about aggravating my bike shoulder injury while snowboarding this winter, but so far no problem. That reminds me, I need to ride my fatbike up to the ski area, I have not done so this year yet.
 
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