Matadon

On the commute home last night, a jogger and her dog decided to play the "dance of Death" with my bicycle and I; her dog (not on a leash) decided to attack the space immediately in front of my bicycle tire, and rather than killing Fluffy out of spite, I veered off to the left. Our jogging friend decided that now was the time to test her bicycle-stopping skills, and practically jumped in front of me.

I had all of about a fraction of a second to hit the brakes, and slammed into her at a bad angle at about 20mph. Knocked her unconscious for a few minutes; she landed on the soft dirt about three feet away at the side of the trail. I managed to plow my right arm into the wonderfully hard asphalt of the road. To those of you that study martial arts, I pulled a single-side-breakfall, only I did it with the wrong side of my arm facing down. Methinks you can imagine the result (four years of training and I screw up a breakfall like that...pathetic).

According to the ER doctor, it's not broken, just "bruised", but I've broken this arm before, and it felt kind of like this -- driving to work was interesting today, because I own a stick-shift. I can manage shifts between first and fourth, but fifth and reverse have to be done with my left hand, as I can't actually apply enough pressure with my right. Fortunately, it looks like I can still type, which is good -- that's more-or-less what I do for a living, because if the job involved lifting anything heavier than my keys with my right hand, I'd be in trouble.

Lessons learned? Always have a bike-light (it was getting dark, and I didn't bring my light as I had intended to leave the office two hours earlier). That, and even yelling and screaming at someone to watch their dog and get out of the way will sometimes provoke no response (I gave quite a bit of audible warnings before the collision).

The jogger was unhurt; she came-to, and after about ten minutes of extreme disorientation, seemed okay, and her husband drove out to pick her up. I tried riding, but a roadbike on one arm really doesn't work for any extended period of time.

This has, of course, completely fscked my training schedule, and I'm trying to find something cardiovascular that I can do with my arm in such lousy shape -- methinks my only option is walking at this point in time, unless someone else has any better ideas...?

a2psyklnut

Dude, that sucks!

Heal quickly!

What about the dog? Did you run it over or at least land on it?

Was she apologetic or trying to blame you?

Most importantly, How was the bike?

Steele-Bike

Get better soon, Matadon!

Commuters seem to be dropping like flies around here (i.e. Rainman), I just hope I am not next.

Matadon

Dog was fine, and she was quite apologetic; I actually wasn't angry or anything, and I'm still not -- these things happen. I was actually laughing most of the time, just because there was a certain surreal tone to it all.

That's the first thing I thought after I hit the ground. Not, "F***, I think my arm is broken!" or "I wonder if that lady is okay...", but "I hope I didn't break anything on my bike..."

Bike looks okay; I took the brunt of the impact -- which is good, because I'll heal. , Handlebars will need to be adjusted again, but the wheels are both fine, and I didn't even notice any additional scratches on the frame. Only thing I'm worried about is my bottom-bracket, and I'll have the LBS give it a quick look at.

wabbit

LOL, it's nice to know you have your priorities in order!

I fell on my left side a couple of weeks ago, crashing on some railroad tracks and I landed heavily on the heel of my left hand. I also thought it was broken at first because I couldn't grip the bars or squeeze the brakes, it hurt like HELL. However, not as bad as you and also, I'm righthanded so that wasn't a problem. I had to bail on the ride and essentially go home using one hand and my eyes crossed every time we went over a bump.

However, like you, my first thought was my bike, because I worried it caught caught in the rail tracks and I'd have a f*cked wheel, but phew! Just a couple of dings.

Tough break- those things can take a while to really heal. Mine still hurts a bit even two weeks later! NOthing to do but put ice on it and wait. At least it's not broken, so it could have been a lot worse and at least your bike will be there when you're ready.

ridealot

I could not have said it better myself!

Man I hope you get better soon.

Heres to ya!

Matadon

Crapola. I got a call from the hospital yesterday; looks like they missed the break (hairline fracture), and want me to get it splinted, so I can see an orthopedic specialist two weeks from now.

This is really irritating.

I think this might mean two weeks off the bike, perhaps more. Methinks it might be time to borrow a trainer from the local bike shop and hook it up to my commuter bike. Not as much fun, but I don't want to lose any conditioning, and I should be able to handle a trainer one-handed.

I'll have to find out how I can handle that -- I want a set of rollers, and plan on getting some Kreitlers (sp?) in the near future, so having a trainer would be redundant. Oy.

Any other tips on how I can continue to do some strength-training while this heals?

Natophelia

Aw crap..that sucks man! Gorge yourself on calcium.

edk

Trial running, I just came off of an extended lay off due to 2 broken hands and one wrist.

I trial ran and felt great for it. really works teh leg muscles and calves.

Probaby as good or better aerobically too....

ed

wabbit

Matadon that really sucks! As for training try going to the gym if you can, maybe they have trainers. You'll probably be able to ride pretty soon but don't push it. It's a hairline fracture, it won't take long but I know any time off the bike seems forever.

I guess I was pretty lucky, but I'm still feeling the effects of that fall. I sort of jarred my shoulder and I could feel it when I went to the gym today (hadn't been there since june) and did weight exercises. My hand still hurts and my left shoulder has a bit of pain in it. Mind you, I haven't been weight training for a while.

What can you do? It's not like we can choose to fall on feathers or a pile of leaves or something. Even off-road you can fall on a bunch of rocks!

Andy Dreisch

Matadon, I hope you come out of this OK. It's true, as someone said earlier -- we commuters are all getting banged up here. BE CAREFUL EVERYBODY !!

Question for you: this incident of yours sounds like it occurred on a trail of some kind. Am I right? Did I miss this point earlier? I doubt if you'd, uh, run into this type of "obstacle" on the road. I'm curious. I hate "multiuse trails" for this reason. I just wonder if this is the case for you.

John E

1) Get well soon!
2) Try power-walking or jogging.
3) Five weeks after a severe Colles' fracture of the radius (NOT cycling-related!), while still wearing a forearm cast, I was back on the mountain bike. Before that, it was kind of fun to blow away the regular crowd of spinners at the YMCA.

Pete Clark

Dang! (Sorry!)

wabbit

Light running and power walking are probably okay, or using a treadmill. Just be careful!