Steve Urquell

Thanks for the well wishes. Very happy now.

John Howard

The best of luck to you!

RoadTire 

What's with all the "left" side crashes in todays posts? Had my first crash in decades last Tuesday - as FBinNY calls preflexes - caught me up. This particular time I didn't just hold on and bleed off the speed. Front wheel dropped off the path into sandy rock, and along with jerking the front wheel back into the path's ledge and the bottom of left pedal striking the asphalt I went down, watching my bike spin away from me. Nice "road art" as my wife calls it, but helmet kept my face off the pavement. Shoulder and neck muscles still keep me awake at night. Ibuprohen, hot shower, and light stretching keeps me mobile during the day. I am not riding the right edge any more , that bad habit is ended.

All of that is nothing compared to what you folks have been through. 10Wheels - I'm a little surprised you are riding again, even on a trike. I was really dismayed when I saw the first posts quite some time ago about you going down.

And the OP, starting the thread, helped to bring to light common problems we face, unskilled recovery causing us to go down, slippery when wet and watch out for steel, or some knucklehead on the wrong side of the path. It's so hard to realize the consequences of not staying upright on our bikes until something happens.

Steve Urquell

Hope you have a speedy recovery, sorry you hit the ground. I highlighted the words in your post that have the most weight to me. I'm 45y/o. When I was learning to drive a car at 16, I once spun out hydroplaning and nearly crashed.

The next time it rained, I drove to some backstreets and got my car into all kinds of out of control situations and learned how to steer out of it. Have never had a situation I could not handle since(and I drive like a bat-out-of-hell) When I'm able to ride the bike again I plan to do the same at slow speeds until I'm comfortable recovering in any given situation. Learn from my mistakes.

Leebo

Look at downhill mt bike helmets.

Leebo

I too have almost crashed trying to get back on the path. Next time hit the brakes and ride it out off path. I find mt bike has some great cross over benefits to road and street riding. Practice your bunny hops? Shoulder rolls? I use both of them off road. How did you helmet fare in the crash.

RoadTire 

Thanks - just a matter of time for the muscles to heal and scabs to fall off. Heh. It was worth the sympathy from some, notoriety from others, and more than a little jabbing at me to pay attention and stop gawking. Some of the folks here on BF really get beat up though and I'm trying to remember it does happen. One thing I'm not doing anymore (or less often) is racing down hills as fast as I can, and more cautious on train tracks, staying away from the curbs, etc.

Kinda hard to practice "out of control" maneuvers on a bike, like the car. (just have to practice visualizing and keep my head) Took my kids on the lake with ice and snow so they could get a feel for out of control, like you did. Had to have helped.

Steve Urquell

I protected it well with my face, not a scratch on it.

RoadTire 

brrrr.....gives me the heebeejeebies

FBinNY 

I guess that's what they mean by "leading with your chin"

dynodonn 

Still bear the scar on my chin, and a capped front tooth after my bicycle's front tire dropped through a storm grate slot during my youth.

ro-monster

Now I don't feel quite so silly for wearing a full-face downhill mountain bike helmet on the street.

Owowow! The broken jaw sounds awful. Heal well!

rollingtourer

After reading this, all I can say is "Wow." I hope you make a speedy recovery. I had a minor crash last month and all that happened to me is I skinned up my left leg and bruised my right shin (still have a large lump), now I realize how much worse it could have been. This it is a reminder of how fast things can go really wrong. Get back on the bike when you feel comfortable with the idea. If your still not sure, go somewhere with a large empty parking lot without traffic and allow yourself to get the feel again without the stress. Regardless, make sure it is fun and doesn't stress you out. Hope your feeling better!!!

work4bike

I don't believe the other guy is at fault, but clearly the guy shouldn't have been going that fast on a bike path, that's why I always ride on the roads -- I'm a speed demon. He could easily be at fault of causing an accident while riding in such a way on a bike path. I never ride those speeds when I do ride on paths.

However, regardless, if you ride a bike enough you're going to crash: you cannot ride so much as to become so proficient to avoid accidents.

Your crash caught my attention, because it was my first crash when I first started riding back in the mid-80's, but I was on a road and merely drifted off the road from a momentary loss of attention -- I also didn't stop and attempted to get back on the road. I also went flying, but my flight path was back into the road and landed very hard in the center of the road, but somehow I (without thinking) jumped up and scooted out of the road away from traffic. To this day I still think of that accident when I get too close to the side of the road.


I just recently had another accident from my front wheel taco'ing and jamming against my front brakes; it's basically the same thing, you go flying over the handlebars in a very short period of time. Here's more of a description of that accident https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cy...-happened.html

It's just part of riding

work4bike

Never allow a crash to deter you from riding. On my last crash, that I linked above happened on a Thursday, I took Friday off then worked on my bike on Saturday and took it for a 21-mile test ride that day. I did have visions of my wheel taco'ing, but you just have to not let those thoughts control you, if you're serious about cycling.

InOmaha

Good luck healing.

I was out on a ride with my daughter last year and had a slower version of your accident. We were riding on an MUP with our mountain bikes and I went off the path to avoid a sprinkler. I slowed down but when I was getting back on I didn't realise that the ground was no longer level with the path like it was when I got off. The grass had grown in that area and hidden the 2-3 inch lip on the MUP.

I caught the edge and it turned my wheel back parallel, then flipped me over. I managed to skid across the concrete on the palms of my riding gloves and the tips of my shoes. All I was thinking was, "Wow no road rash", when BAM, I came to a stop and my momentum caused my head to slam down on the path. I remember a sharp pain in my jaw and when I sat up my ears were ringing. I moved to the side of the path and my daughter said my chin was bleeding. After a 10-15 minute rest, the bleeding slowed down and my ears stopped ringing, so we rode back 8 miles. I had to hold my finger on my chin several times whenever it started back up.

I was able to clean up and there was a hole the size of a pencil eraser. I cleaned it out, closed it up, covered everything in anti-bacterial cream, and took it easy for a couple of days. I can feel the scar on the bottom of my chin but it's unnoticable and fading over time.

I broke horses as a teenager and learned the get back on that horse routine. At least the bike doesn't weigh a thousand pounds and step on you after it throws you off.

Steve Urquell

I plan to get back on when I can. The left side of my jaw is very unstable. I re-broke it Monday night. It will shift and the the muscles spasm and crunch it outward. If it keeps doing it I'll have to get back in and have it braced in place.

Ear has been ringing and burning since monday. This is very disheartening.

Matariki

I'm recovering right now for a wrist fracture and subsequent surgery, and so I understand disheartening. When I think about it though, especially after listening to your account, my fall could've been much worse. I have come to welcome those very small day to day improvements and that's allowed me to overcome the occasional setback.

Good luck on your recovery.

Phlorida

I hope that is all a temporary setback Steve, we are thinking of you. Get well.

Steve Urquell

I've been meaning to update this for awhile. Winter weather slowed my riding down a lot. I initially got back on the bike after ~3 weeks and rebroke the jaw just from clenching and the jarring of the ride. I ended up getting a 2nd opinion as my jaw was not healing. My new maxillofacial surgeon gave me some great tips and I was able to stabilize my jaw to keep it from kicking out to the side. It finally healed after ~2 months of hell.

I rode a couple times in Jan but it got really cold. Rode again recently and met a rider who was hauling a$$ on the wrong side thru a tunnel. I braked and held my line forcing him to swerve and willing to take the crash rather than go off the side again. Later I ran off the path and just held my line and braked/slowed until I could safely get back on. Lesson learned.

Chicago Al 

Thanks for the update--good to hear you are healed and back on the bike!

EvilWeasel

Glad to hear you are healed up and back on two wheels.

It's easy to blame something or someone else for your crash. Especially when thier bone head move starts the chain of events that leads to our face plant.

Truth is that most of the time it's our own incorrect reaction that puts us down. Learn, Practice, and always strive to improve your road craft.

You can't remove idiots from this world but you can learn to avoid them better. It's up to us reasonably intelligent people to prevent accidents. You can't trust the other guy to practice accident avoidance skills.