Anyone fallen off recently?

[jags]

thank's lad's,ill be the forum's best custumor in the next month or so,
i dident check the bike john im in to much pain got it all down my right side so i cant move ,
only just please excuse the spelling the head is not quiet right.
anyhow you have to laugh or either crack up

[julk]

jags,

Sorry to hear about your fall on ice.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[jags]

last post got lost, anyhow i reckon ill be the forum's best customer in the next month or so ,
still havent checked the bike john im in to much pain, but i think it's ok

[jawj]

Jags, I feel your pain...

I fell off my bike recently due to nothing other than laziness: I was cycling home from Brighton on the mighty orange Brompton, as I often do, and was attempting to hide in the slipstream of the number 14 bus, which makes cycling sooooo much easier (well, YOU all know how annoying wind and hills are, right?) I've done it loads of times before. Anyway, the hard part is attempting to keep up with the bus when it accelerates away from bus stops. Normally this is fine, but I hadn't counted on the rubbish grip on the folding pedal...

Right at the peak of my effort, my left foot sipped off the front of the pedal and over the bars I went. I bounced straight up to clear the road of my bike and me, blood piddling out of my head and leg, but that stopped after a while (did the car behind stop to see if i was alive? Did they ****. They waited for me to clear the road of me, bike, bag, water bottles, etc. and then drove on.) I noticed my shoulder was a bit crunchy and at first thought I'd dislocated it, but a quick feel revealed a not-as-whole-as-it-used-to-be collar bone. I was a little shaken and stirred and bleeding so got an ambulance to take me for a night in a very comfy and expensive bed in A&E (they kept me in as I was a bit woozy and fainted at one point whilst waiting, though that did get me seen more quickly!). The good ol' Brompton faithfully accompanied me in the ambulance, all around casualty, to Xray and back and kept me company while I was kept in the ward. it even sat there stoically as a doctor and I had a mini-helmet-debate (which it would perhaps not be a good idea to go into here if we want this forum to remain friendly)
What a faithful little bike.

Anyway, that was many weeks ago, three of which were in a sling. It WOULD have to be my right arm too, wouldn't it?

I had five weeks of not riding, which was the longest I've been without it since I learnt to ride a bike! Getting back on the bike was a joy, though the hills round here left me tasting blood in my throat before I realised that I perhaps had lost a little fitness...

How's your clavicle now, Jags? The ends of mine are still moving and 'clicking' a bit inside the boney callous, but it does everything I ask of it. Has yours got a lump? Anybody else broken theirs in the past (this is a cycling forum so I'm sure there will be takers!) and care to report on how it heals and if it stays lumpy?

[jags]

jawj glad your ok i felt your pain there for a moment,ah these things happen .im a bit more careful now especally decending, i used to be a nutcase going down hill not any more.
yeah my collor bone it does get sore every now and then but nothing bad ,it seems to have healed well dosent stick out to much
i used to slipstream anything i could ride behind ,i once sliped in behind a lorry doing 50mph but i was so much younger then ..these days i listen to some mucic on my ipod and i just go with the flow..
anyway jawj glad your here to tell the tale ,no more racing for you.

[stutho]

jawj,

I bet that hurt!  I can't believe the following motorist didn't stop. 

6 years ago (Pre Thorn - not long after I had taken up cycling) my front wheel slid out on ice and I was sent sliding across a busy junction.  Luckily I was unhurt however I had the opposite problem the people from the car behind me were insistent that I went to hospital - and they would take me!  Even if I didn't need the attention I would much rather it this way round.

I don't cycle on ice or snow any more - not worth the risk 

           

[jawj]

Glad to hear you're all healed up Jags, let's hope it continues to improve. I haven't had the courage to slipstream anything since the fall, but I'm sure it won't be long until the spare-tyre-waisted devil of laziness catches up with me and persuades me to take just one more 'ride' on the number 14...

You know, Stu, it didn't actually hurt that much, bizarrely! I'm not trying to sound macho, but it was remarkably painless - I guess one's body just knows when it's in trouble and adrenaline keeps pain at bay (I wish that happened every time I fell off...) No, the worst pain, which was more uncomfortable than painful, was for a couple of weeks the two ends of the bone would occasionally 'pop' out of place over each other and I'd have to shove that shoulder backwards with my other hand to get the ends lined up again.

I bet y'all wanted to know THAT.

How was your bike after that fall, Stu?

[stutho]

It was a bit scratched up and I smashed a brand new set of front lights (less than a week old) but otherwise it was undamaged.  I was back on it later the same day.

If someone hasn't experience a fount wheel slid out on ice - I would recommend that they keep it that way!  I hit the ground before I even knew it was sliding, it all happen VERY quickly.   

The bike I was riding at the time was an 531 British Eagle that must be at least 20 years old.  I have still got the frame and I intend on day to restore it - but this is a Loooong term project.

[Cake]

That sounds as though it should be very painful Jawj - especially the bones misaligning now and then! Glad its healing well though.

I'll second Stutho regarding avoiding a front wheel slip on the ice.  I was turning left at a junction on a quiet estate a couple of years ago, not seeing the sheet ice, going at walking pace, and the next thing i knew i was on the floor - not a chance of putting a leg or arm out to stop it - instant! 

If i had had time to put my arm out i might well have hurt myself - luckily i didn't.

[jags]

not easy been a cyclist's is it lads.

[davefife]

I fell off my RST back in February on some ice and 3 weeks ago fell off my hired road bike in Corsica; I was bonked with the heat and 3 kms from home, ended up in the gutter and knew a spill was coming.  Road rash, bleeding kneees, sore ribs etc but worst of all ripped my assos F1 bibs.  The good news is that assos are going to repair free of charge and if unable to do so supply a 50% voucher off a new pair - result, they are also the best shorts i have ever worn.
By the way, my Ardbeg jersey that i love wearing on the continental jaunts survived intact!

[stutho]

Fell of again!

Descending a moderate slope and going relativity slowly ~10mph.  I turned into a bend with an slight off camber.   The bend was nothing special - this was all easy riding.

However... there was loose gravel on the inside of the bend that I hadn't spotted. 
I was braking front  and rear and yes - you guessed it -  the front wheel slipped out.

What made the fall particular bad was that I was towing my 3 year old daughter was on her Islabike Trailerbike.  As I somersaulted over the front of the bike I had a brief view of her falling off too. (Not a nice feeling.)

Lucky she was unhurt. My wife, who saw it all happen,  said that my daughters fall had being much less 'energetic' than mine.  The bike & trailer had kind of jackknifed and I guess most of the energy departed the seen as my 80Kg of mass took to the sky in a most undignified manor!

I ended up with a badly gashed hand but nothing that wont heal.  Damaged my handlebars and my rack (the Islabike attaches to the rack) again nothing that can't be but right. 

Overall it could of being a lot worse - Mia (my daughters) got back on without too much drama.

Ride safe

StuTho


 

[Cake]

Bad luck Stutho - good to hear your daughter was unhurt, it sounds as though she is made of tough stuff to get back in the saddle without too much fuss.

And of course its good news that no terminal damage to the RST occurred!

Gravel patches are a nightmare - surprisingly difficult to spot before its too late to avoid them!

[jawj]

Ooh, Stu, that sounds nasty for your hand, but happy to hear the bike's ok. Oh yeah, and more importantly, family fine too! :-) Despite many years of riding I still sometimes have to conciously force myself not to brake in corners - we'll learn one day...

During a XC mountain bike race the other weekend impatience got the better of me, despite me laughing at all the people who were taking it FAR too seriously and the fact that I kept telling myself I was doing it just for fun. There was massive bunching and mush slowness through the first singletrack sections so I decided to nip along the side of the trail, passing lots of people in the process.
"Brilliant!" I thought, until the ground fell away from me and I went over the bars into a big hole; the last thing I heard before it happened was someone, who could see it coming, saying, "And into the ditch..."
It was all soft pine needles so no harm done, but, sheesh, did I feel like a complete wally. I quipped "Well folks, that's what impatience gets you!" but my pride was quite dented.

[rafiki]

I rode into a ditch the other day but, fortunately, the Sterling remained upright long enough for me to get my feet down. Moral: go cycling or birdwatching...to do both at the same time could damage your health and your bike!