Crashed, and now I have a question...
 

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There's a sticky dedicated to this very topic: http://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-bi...-question.html

it's as sticky as your wounds and will last as long as the scars

I don't quite understand how fingertips hit pavement.Stickys are long and difficult to read all the way through. Easy answer is always tegaderm for gooey/large/bad areas. The smaller spots I just leave to open air. You may have to change tegaderm daily for the first few days, but it's a quick painless process. Don't make my first mistake of trying the so-called "non stick" pads haha

Google voice > typing (unless you have a slight accent like me) :)

Unfortunately I have recent experience with this.

Everyone talks about tegaderm, but I just used basic **** from CVS. They have mineral oil-soaked pads you can put on the wound, and they don't really stick.

I wounded one fingertip in my most recent crash, and crashed my thumbnail, but that's all healed now, no biggie. Good to hear the gloves didn't help - I was planning on doing that from now on but now I'm rethinking this..

Anyway just be patient and the skin will heal. Bones take a bit longer.

I'm not a big fan of tegaderm either. Non-stick pads won't stick if you put on enough neo/polysporin and change them frequently.

OP keep the wound moist unless it's a very small spot, scabs are generally bad.

mattm don't badmouth stuff you can get from a pharmacy. In the land of "free" health care the stuff the gov't will reimburse local clinics for is crap; only hospitals get nice stuff. Then again, it is free and a nurse will do the changes for you if you want.

The last time I had road rash I let them do two changes (I presented for other issues) before I told them the stuff they were using was crap and I would do it myself. The Dr laughed and fully agreed.

Full finger gloves only help, but wow, to grind through the tips, that's pretty hard core.

The next thing is were you on tubulars? If you were, okay, not much to do, but if not, then you should know that tubulars give you a pretty good chance of staying upright even if you flat mid turn in a crit at full gas. Like every time that's happened to me or a friend they've stayed upright. Not sure if the newer wide rims will be the same, I'm talking the 21mm wide rims with 19-21mm tires.

My thoughts:
Sprinter della Casa: How To - Road Rash Care
Sprinter della Casa: How To - Road Rash Care, Illustrated

I crashed moderately hard on a Tues Night group ride in 2010, after my 2009 crash used in the illustrated guide above. 28 mph when I hit the deck I think, was coasting down from doing a pretty big jump, and my teammate slammed on his brakes as I was checking back for cars. Anyway I cleared out the CVS of Tegaderm after the ride, patched myself in a restaurant stall (we had dinner after the ride - most of the guys didn't even realize I fell). I took the last of the Tegaderm off that same Sunday, raced Monday (Tour of Somerville), 6 days later, with no Tegaderm, no wounds, just pink skin.

For many years I crashed regularly, about 10-12 years. Then I basically stopped crashing at all. I've tried a lot of different stuff but the Tegaderm works best for me. In the "illustrated" thing above, in 2009, I tried everything because I had so many wounds and I was bed or wheelchair-bound. I reverted to Tegaderm after trying everything that the various local CVS/Walgreen/RiteAids carried.

Don't listen to the Tegaderm naysayers, they know not of what they speak lol. But seriously, any pad will stick, and you will hate life trying to remove it. I was wary of Tegaderm, then tried it and wow. It sticks like a charm to healthey skin and not one bit of stickiness at the rash area. I don't really think it heals faster than leaving it open (I still have Tegaderm on from 18 days ago) but at least it keeps it sterile/from sticking to clothing etc.

Same here. I don't think my hands ever got scraped during all my crashes. Hips, shoulders, elbows etc seem to take the brunt of it.

I'll say that full finger gloves likely saved my fingers in my early season crash. I ripped through a couple of the fingers, and the palm, but no wounds.

That's what I'm saying though, the mineral oil pads (they're just mesh) don't stick either.

At any rate, I say let's just all put an end to this crashing business in bike racing. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Good idea. It is decided, no one may ever crash again. I love bike racing :)

the countdown is on. statements like these aren't to be taken lightly. sorry in advance, aaron, I hope it's the other hip!