Ouch!!

[Swislon]

Big off yesterday. Badly bruised my right hip and lucky not broken. I can only hobble with crutches at the moment but hoping things wil improve quickly.

Came over a rise in the road with a very steep down hill with a narrow bridge at the bottom and I couldn't see beyond. I thought I would take some speed off straight away at the top. Rear brake locked, recovered it but was heading towards the edge of road, rear brake locked again, recovered but nearer edge with a big ravine and trees over the edge. I had to turn the bike and tried to brake again. Next thing I know I went down hard and bounced then rolled a few times to try and take the sting out of it.

I'll spare the details of air ambulance, then road ambulance A & E etc. very embarrassing. We were 10 miles out in the sticks beyond Richmond.

Why did the brakes lock up?

These are my thoughts.
1. Road very greasy & slippy under trees just over the rise. Other riders skidded but no other downs, I was about third over the rise.
2. Brand new rims 19mm (old were front 17mm back 19mm). Front squealed like a banshee on previous downhills
3. Newish tyres pumped to 80 psi
4. Brakes (V brakes) very sharp not much play, I couldn't modulate at all


My view it was a combination of factors both mechanical and state of the road. This was the first ride after getting new rims and when I was in car park before ride thought the brakes had no play and should be eased off a bit but didn't do it there and then. Lesson learnt. I might still have come off but no modulation didn't t give me much of a chance.

Steve (bruised and battered but hopefully a little wiser)

[Danneaux]

Oh, dearie me.

What a sad, sad state of events, Steve. I'm so sorry for your fall, and a truly Big one at that. I was hoping for something of a lesser sort when you mentioned it so casually, but this was a step Beyond. I hope everything will soon feel better, and I'm sure we're all grateful it wasn't worse for you. As the old saying goes, "So long as you can still walk away...". Well, I think walking on crutches after an Air-ambulance ride still qualifies it as a better day than it could easily have been. Thank goodness it wasn't worse.

<nods> Yes, I think this was one of those unhappy occasions where everything aligned just right (wrong) to make it possible. A person thinks "If only..." in retrospect, but you've done us all a great service in listing the factors, any of which could have easily done the deed, and so are worth keeping in mind.

Amidst your pain and misery, it seems almost crass to ask, "Is the bike okay?" Hoping it wasn't hurt too bad in the carnage.

All the best,

Dan. ("Speedy Recovery" your way...)

[jags]

just seen this Steve, well yeah as long as your here to  tell the tale thats the important part.
when i came off a few years back i broke my collor bone (black ice) i was layed up for 6 weeks touch wood that never happens again
the bike came out with not one scratch  only thing that broke was the smart tail light which i patched up,
done a better job on it than the useless doctors done for me.
get well soon steve.

[energyman]

Wot no ABS, ESP, Traction Control ?
(Now wait for the cycle engineers to take the bait !)
You have my sympathy.
I did my collarbone going round Rutland water.  The comment from the kind bloke from the bike shop who came to my rescue was "Thank God there was no blood, it does mess the van up"
The bit that hurt the most was pride, the best bit was unlimited gas and air at Grantham A&E.  Thanks to all concerned (just in case it happens again)

[Swislon]

Unfortunately didn't get to ride in the helicopter. They had had a message that I was actually down in the ravine and had thought they would need it to get me out. Fortunately they had also sent an ambulance by road which arrived just after air ambulance. Still a lot of trouble for a bruised hip.
My group got some photos so I'll post them later.

As for the bike I don't know yet. It was my RST. The logistics were a bit complicated. My wife came with me in ambulance and our bikes were locked and hidden to be collected later. The group rode back to their cars and then went back to collect our bikes. They come back to our house tomorrow. Another group friend drove our car to the hospital to pick us up and then had about an hours drive home when X rays came back negative. Hurray!

All I can say is these group of fellow riders were fantastic and I owe them big time.

[Swislon]

I was offered Morphine, gas and air and codemine sulphate?

I could have come out of the hospital very high, they seemed very free and easy with it!

[Andybg]

I am really sorry to hear about the off but am glad to hear it is not nearly as bad as it could have been. I have had a couple of close calls this year due to loss of attention but fingers crossed no offs.

I really hope the bike is not too bad and as its steel it should be sortable whatever the damage.

Will keep my fingers crossed for a quick recovery of you and the bike

Andy

[Cambirder]

What tires are you using on the RST that require 80 PSI?

[Swislon]

The tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Racers 26x 1.5

The old ones were the same and no issues with those.

[Cambirder]

Just seemed a bit high for a larger tyre, I run Panaracer Pasela TG 1.75 tyres on mine at 45psi and my light DT Swiss rims max out at 60 psi, so was a bit surprised at the high pressure although on investigation that is within the tyre's range.

[Swislon]

Hi Cambirder, I also checked out the rim and tyre recommendations before pumping however re reading Anndy Blance recommendations suggest max on rear should be 70 psi for a 1.5 x 26.

Is your bike an RST ? I didn't think I could have clearance for mudguards and a 1.75 tyre, having said that i have always used 1.5 and no problems until last Sunday.

[JimK]

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/inflation_pressure#correct

Schwalbe recommends 55 psi for a 40mm wide tire, when the rider weighs 165 pounds. That's probably 190 pounds for rider plus bike etc. If the total load is more than that, scale up proportionally. If you weigh 250, then 80 psi is about right!

But it does sound mostly like nasty road conditions. The other day I was climbing a really steep hill, somewhere  in the 15%-20% zone. My front wheel was not doing well at staying on the ground! Conversely, going down hill, the rear wheel won't have much weight on it, so it will be especially easy for it to lose traction. Of course, the downhill means it is also easy to flip over the front!

I hope you heal up quickly and your bike needs nothing more than a little touch-up paint and you can get back out riding soon!

[jags]

can't imaging riding soft tires, i always keep mine at 80 pressure