Fifty Plus (50+) - I think I had a crash

So, I was coming home at the end of a 40 mile ride the other day and as I pulled into the yard and dismounted, I thought (sort of in passing) “How did I get here?” I remembered getting to within a few blocks of home and then being at home—old age short term memory loss or some such thing I figured.

I came in the house, logged my miles on the computer and started fixing dinner. Then I noticed a sort of tender place when I rubbed my head. A check in the mirror revealed a small, but noticeable scrape on my scalp. I checked my helmet and it had a small hairline crack that lined up with the scrape on my head. Hmmmmm.

I then did an inventory of my body and found a scrape on my elbow and a small tear in my riding pants (it was cold that day) near the knee and a bit of a bruise on my hip. All of this on the left side. However, my pants and jersey had none of that telltale gravel and dirt that you normally find after a fall.

My neck and chest were stiff for about a day, but no shoulder or arm pain and no leg or knee damage except for the bruise on my hip. Bike (Jamis Coda Comp) has a slight abrasion on the left handlebar end (flat bar) and a small scrape on the left side of the saddle. No other scrapes or marks on it that I can find. It rides fine and everything seems straight and true.

I have, of course, retired the helmet. Oh, and skip the doctor lectures, I've already been checked out.
So, let’s hear your theories.

Well, it's obvious that you were abducted by aliens, who were a bit careless when they handled you. I'm envious!

So what did the medical experts say? Did they think you had been in a crash? Any evidence of a concussion?

I won't lecture, but I hope you are taking care of yourself.

I am going to ask the obligatory first question of all cyclists: "How's the bike?" Sorry but that is the first question I always asked when I crashed and people were helping me to my feet.
You must have hit your head pretty hard. Road rash really stings and if you didn't feel it when you got home you definitely got a concussion. Thank the cycling gods for helmuts or you might not have been able to start this thread.

I rode away from a spill over 2 months ago where I cracked my helmet and bruised my knee. I was in a daze for almost a minute. From your avatar and description, it looks like you took a pretty decent spill.
Hope you don't have any hidden damage. Good luck.

Now, what was I doing? ;)

I am going to ask the obligatory first question of all cyclists: "How's the bike?" Sorry but that is the first question I always asked when I crashed and people were helping me to my feet.


Same here. After my last crash, I did an internal check of myself, kinda like Commander Data, when I finally got up, the next thing I did was to check the condition of my only working bike.

Obviously, you had an out of body experience. While the totally aware self was out exploring the astral plane, the physical body was taking the abuse of the real world crash. Makes perfect sense to me. Hope you heal quickly and completely.

, I thought (sort of in passing) “How did I get here?” I remembered getting to within a few blocks of home and then being at home—old age short term memory loss or some such thing I figured.

Then I noticed a sort of tender place I then did an inventory and found a small tear in my riding pants
My <deleted> stiff for about a day, everything seems straight and true.

So, let’s hear your theories.

Older gentleman decides to visit a younger 'lady of the evening'. Lady says - Old Man at your age I thought you were Finished. Older Gentleman looks confused but says "ohh- OK, how much do I owe you?" :eek:

Had the same thing happen to me when I bailed off my horse. Wasn't wearing a helmet (which I always did, but forgot this time) and hit my head pretty hard. There was a good 30 minutes which I still don't remember. Everyone told me all the things I did during those 30 minutes. I do remember having tunnel vision but couldn't remember anyone but my girlfriend I had known for 20 years and my husband. That's when they decided they better call 911. By the time I got to the hospital, I was okay.

That's just freaky......

But, last year a buddy of mine was out riding solo one day and woke up in a hospital in a town 100 miles from where he lives. To this day he doesn't remember anything leading up to it and never figured out what happened. His wife was out of town so for a while noone knew where the heck he was.

(Reminder to self: give the wife a route map before you leave on solo rides........)

Wasn't associated with biking, but I used to race Karts. I had a bit of debris hit me in one race, and apparantly I slowed down about two laps later for about a lap. My pit crew had seen the debris and thought I had a serious problem - What had happened was that despite this being a track I raced on regularly- I forgot completely the lay out of the track.One lap later and it was back in my brain. Finished the race and got back to the pits- only to be chased by the medical guys. I did not even know it- but my face had been badly hit and I was bleeding profusely and had sustained a broken nose with all the blood to go with it. I did not remember seeing the debris, did not see the blood or feel the pain, and the only odd thing was forgetting the track.

Unfortunately I now know when I have fallen off the bike- It Hurts. so heres wishing you a painless recovery.

I got a concussion (and broken scapula and a few ribs) when I endo-ed during the final sprint of a crit in 1988. Even though the paramedics and my wife claimed they had been talking to me, I "came to" in the ER of a local hospital. The last thing I could remember was going to bed the night before and "dreaming" about the bike race. As I looked down at my riding clothes while in the ER bed, I thought why the heck did I go to bed with my skinsuit on?

To this day, that whole experience seems surreal...

So, let’s hear your theories.

Coincidentally your story is similar to an incident that occurred during a road race in Australia (Jacobs Down Under) this year. One of the riders for no apparent reason rode off the shoulder and crashed. He had no recollection of the incident nor was he aware of the fact that he signed up for the race in the first place. This chain of events was explained by dehydration, being a very hot day and a particularly long stage.

Hmmm,interesting story.I'm wondering if you had a sudden loss of consciousness before you fell?No headache since then-not much of a concussion?Your md would have looked into this?I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
1)Did you retrace the route to see if you could find any crash site-dirt disturbed etc?
2)You are 100% sure they wounds are new,right? So you crashed?!
3)Why??
1)Drop in BP,HR causing a "faint"?It wasn't hot that day?It might be possible to precipitate a faint by suddenly sitting upright after being in the drops-not likely-but maybe possible.You can also cause a faint by holding your breath and bearing down hard- tightening-squeezing you abdomen.Some variation of this would be my 1st guess.
2)Occasionally an older person can have a very minor reversible localized decrease in brain blood flow that can cause instant arm-leg weakness-loss of control,slurred speech etc.If you have never had this before it isn't too likely.Exercise does make your bld a bit more prone to clotting.I wouldn't worry much about this.
3)Someone in a vehicle brushed by you,and you fell-hit head etc.
Interesting story-glad all is well. Any idea how long the unremembered event lasted?How close was your ETA to expected ETA?Thanks.Charlie

This seems to happen quite a bit when hitting the head. I've talked to a few people that have had this happen in cycling accidents, and a skiing accident.

Thanks for all your interesting comments and stories. While the 'getting lost on the go cart track' and the 'winding up 100 miles from home' were good stories, I like the Alien abduction theory best.

I retraced things and it looks like what happen was that I hit a Metrobus shelter along 16th Street in DC about four blocks from my home. I remember going up on the sidewalk because traffic was blocking the road at the upcoming intersection. As I approached the (very substantial) bus stop shelter, a woman with a baby carriage seem to come out of no where. I swerved to miss her and the baby....then I was on the street going back to my house. Total time seemed to be on the order of 3-5 minutes, maybe less. I did the close-your-eyes-and-touch-your nose and all the other things the sawbones asked me to do (stand on one foot, walk a line, etc). In spite of the lump on my head, I have had no headaches, no speech or vision problems, bp and other vitals have remained normal.

By the way, my Avatar was from the Last crash, not this one. I remember that one all too well and it hurt like hell.

A good friend, professional accountant, age 54, recently "came to" as he says and was standing on the front porch of his church waiting for his wife, on a Monday morning with no recollection of how or why he went there. Some sort of "transient amnesia" and has not happened since. So....

GROWING OLD IS NOT FOR SISSIES

A few years ago a friend of mine, who had just turned 50, was sitting on his front porch in the late evening. The next thing he remembers is getting up in the morning, and all the cat food in his refrigerator was gone. Nothing in the trash, and the cats were starving. To this day, he has no idea where the cat food went.Better than waking up in the morning and finding all the cats missing.

By the way...where someone wakes up in the morning and can't recall going to bed, that may be due to sleeping pills, or pills plus alcohol.

Lay off the Ambien:D

While I'm sorry the OP got hurt, this is also a pretty clear lesson about the dangers of sidewalk cycling...it's actually more dangerous than the road, both for the cyclist and pedestrians...it sounds like he almost hit a baby carriage.
I speak from experience. I stepped out of a glass bus shelter with one opaque wall, and got knocked down by a 12 year old girl on a bike.She had been riding full tilt along the sidewalk past this blind spot. I'm 220 lbs...hard to knock down. Had I been an older frail person I might be dead.

Well, it's obvious that you were abducted by aliens, who were a bit careless when they handled you. I'm envious!I think it depends on where his shorts were torn.