General Cycling Discussion - 1st Group ride and...

...first time I've seen someone take a spill right in front of me. I was following about 8 to 10 feet behind this guy. He hit a rut just as he was going over an overpass (small overpass over a creek). We'd just come down a hill so we had some good speed going. It was very flat, except for the little rut going up onto the bridge. I think he say it in the shade at the last minute and tried to veer around it. Anyway, he hit it and started oscillating back and forth... like he was doing a slalom around cones. I thought for a second he would pull it out and right himself, but it finally got too far out and he just fell over. Landed right on his right shoulder and then his head bounced on the asphault. I had about half a second to slow and veer right next to the little wall on the bridge.

I think he was out for a few seconds because he hit like a ragdoll. I'm pretty sure he had a concussion too. Slurred speech, couldn't stand up straight. Kept feeling around for things. At first he could speak to us. Couldn't tell me what day it was either. His helmut was cracked in two places. Made me a firm believer in helmuts, I tell ya. After seeing what that helmut took.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. After he landed, he basically slide along for about 6 or 7 feet on the asphault. Shocked and scared the h*ll outta me. It was pretty much a fluke crash. IF he'd just hit the dip head on, he would have been fine, but he tried to veer around it at the last minute and that started him oscillating.

I got to thinking on the way home. That could have been me. Or what if that would have happened as a car was passing us. Just freaky... yanno.

Anyone else have a close call with a crash? or been in a crash?

PBW

Hopefully you got him to the hospital. At the very least wake him every two hours to ensure his brain is still functioning (I am being very serious with that one).

A couple of years ago on an MS150 ride, a guy wiped out on some railway tracks just ahead of me. They were at an angle to the road and it had been raining.

It wasn't as bad as the situation you described but it happened very fast.

Did you ever find out how the fellow made out after the ride? Is he OK now?

How is your friend doing? I hope he went to the ER. What did the doctor say? Hope he's doing ok.

Did anyone ahead of him have problems?

Stories like this are the main reason I ALWAYS wear a helmet!!

Hope you friend is well on his way to recovery. Think of the amount of energy that went into cracking the helmet. If he didn't have it, all that energy would go directly into cracking his skull! I always shake my head in disbelief when I see riders (especially some very professional looking ones) going along without a helmet.

Hope all is well. And I'm very pleased he was wearing a helmet on that particular ride.

I did not know this guy actually. It was my first group ride with the local riding club here. I didn't even know his name. However, there was a lady riding in front of him and a guy riding behind me. They both knew him. Plus, about 30 ppl stopped and asked how things were and at least 10 of them knew him.

We sent two ppl ahead since we only had about 4 miles left in the ride. They came back with a car and drove him to the park where the ride started. I'm pretty sure they were going to get him to a hospital. He didn't want to go. I wasn't going to sit there and argue with him since I didn't know him. The lady that was right front of him had to talk him out of riding back to the finish place. He was being stubborn and macho. I could tell something wasn't quite right. At the very least I'm almost positive he had concussion. I just hope his friends that gave him the ride didn't let him drive home or something like that.

Didn't hear anything about him when I got to the finish, so hopefully he got some medical attention.

After seeing that, I'll never ride without a helmet.

PBW