Commuting - Very long commute club: week 20

Let's follow Gusboh's lead and talk about the worst injury ever sustained on a bicycle. For me, it was when i was about 12 and was jumping my bike off of a ramp at full speed. My front wheel came off in midair. Knocked me cuckoo when I hit the ground, I can tell you. :eek:

My golden summer is coming to an end. I have to go in Wednesday and Friday this week and full time after that. Oh well, it was a fabulous summer with tons of great sailing.

Another beautiful sunrise in the Nations capital this morning.

My worst accident happened during the 1990 Killington Vermont stage race. The second stage had a downhill finish. The pack was barreling down the hill to the finish at 52 mph. I was sitting on the outside of the pack in 3rd position. With 250 meters to go, a person started to bang handlebars with me, as he was boxed into the middle of the pack. Needless to say, he lost control of his bike and slid under my wheels. The ER nurse worked on me for over an hour before all of the gravel was removed from my skin. The road rash took 4 weeks to heal. I hope that I never repeat that accident.

You asked for it! I have an after-accident photo I'll be scanning and posting tonight... :D

(don't worry, it's just a flesh wound)

The commute today was great! I met up with Joe Blundo and his Walk to Work (http://www.dispatch.com/walktowork) folks in Worthington. A beautiful morning to ride or walk.

I posted this a couple of weeks ago. I'm too lazy to rewrite it, so here it is again. I plan on some special anniversary ride on Sept. 16 or 17, hopefully with some of my cycling friends.

September 15 will be the three-year anniversary of my infamous crash, the day I broke my helmet in three pieces, my bike in two pieces, and got to ride in a helicopter. Too bad I don't remember the helicopter ride, as I've always wanted to ride in a helicopter.

It took me 6 months to be able to speak in full sentences without stopping to think of words. It took over a year to be comfortable speaking on the phone or in meetings because I was so afraid of forgetting words. I still have trouble with word recall at times, but things are getting much better.

It's wierd. I was talking to someone this morning, and I got the order of my words screwed up. It's kinof embarassing, given that I'm over-educated and well-employed.

On bikes I have not had a bad injury, just some road rash every now and again.

Here is the data sheet from last week:

Not a car, got clotheslined by a ped, I blocked with right arm (dumb) and endo'd onto my face.

Now, I wear a mustache over a scar, and when my arms tan there are some funny-looking white blotches that won't tan...

Back in the early 90's I was headed to campus to take a final exam. One of the roads I was using was closed for construction and a inattentive dump truck gave me the ol' grill or curb choice. That much I remember, what I don't is walking into class with blood dripping off my forehead, or the prof taking me to the hospital.
A few days later I went to my professor's office to reschedule the exam. He said I got an "A" for effort, but my content was a bit thin, "How about I give you a "B" and call it done?" Hardest "B" I ever earned.

--A

Well did my last Very Long Commute for a while. The Home Depot decided to let me go. So for a while I'll be looking for a job. The store manager said that he and my manager fought to keep me but the head office wanted 5 people from every store that are late more then any others out of there. So I had three 15 min lates in the last month, so there you have it.

I'm going to miss the commute more then the job. I have 5457.1 miles from Jan 20 till August 21. Not bad for a young old man. I think I'll look for a job that will be between 20 to 30 miles from the house. But for now I'll just take the first thing that comes along.

Cig - Sorry to here it. That's corporate america for you. Nevermind that you were enough of an inspiration to make other ride and for you boss to donate the materials for you last paintjob -it's all about the "guys in ties" view of the bottom line.

My worst wreck - About 10 years ago now I was Germany riding my wife's new bike - no helmet as was and still is the norm in Germany. It was a pretty nice hybrid with much narrower wheels than my mountain bike (which was my only bike at the time) I was riding pretty fast down the taxi-way of a semi-abandoned airport when my front wheel caught in a crack in the pavement and my bike came to a complete and sudden stop. I continued on at about 25mph for a fair bit, taking the brunt of the impact on my left shoulder (thankfully not on my head). I new immediately that I had broken something, and I probably had a mild concussion (not my first - or last) The biggest problem was that this was late Sunday afternoon in damn-near the middle of nowhere Germany. No cars are allowed on the airport, so I had to walk the bike back about 2 miles for help. When I finally got to the hospital, it turned out that just my collarbone was broken, but I was in enough pain otherwise that they gave me a pretty heft dose of moraphine (ah, great stuff!) before they sent me home.

That wreck kept me off of bikes for almost five years, and it wasn't until this year that I started riding a lot again. Velo - I amazed that you were able to get back to it so quickly, and after a much worse wreck.

Mars:

I think next week we need to list our best cycling adventures.

Cig, I'm so sorry to hear about it. I thought HD was a good place to work, at least that's what they tout themselves as. Looks like I'll be shopping at Lowes from now on. I hope you'll visit here and keep us posted. I wish you the best of fortune in your new job, wherever it may be.

xroader, this is the first year that I have done group rides, since my accident was in group ride (well, it was a group of two, but still a group). I picked commuting back up a month later, before I could really have a normal conversation. Luckily, alot of my work involves writing, so I was okay on that front.

I was going to contribute my crash tidbits until I saw Velo's posting. As they say in the movies, "We're Not Worthy!" I'm glad Velo made it back to cycling, but my little bouts of road rash don't even deserve to be in the same thread.

Did some great rides this past week while on vacation. Rode the 36 miles around Lake Owasco in New York for our first real road ride as a family. Its a beautiful relatively easy ride that gives you a mix of sights and terrain. If you ever get over in that area I highly recommend it. Then later in the week we did a 20 mile chunk of the Cape Cod Rail Trail. We even worked in a trip to the Marconi Station historic site along the way to make the trip educational. Very nice riding through a weird mixture of plant life, although the relatively flat terrain will pose no real challenge to serious riders it is very pretty. Not quite my normal commuting distances, but some very relaxing riding.

Tomorrow it is back on the bike and the same old path.

Velogirl, The Depot is a place that tell you about all this stuff that they will do for you. But when you really need them, they act like they don't know who you are. Every store is control by the head office and the in store manager have very little say in what goes on.

It's like all the Managers at my store where trying they best to keep me there. But when it come down to it the Head office said get rid of him. I even got employee of the year last year. Any ways it's all water under the bridge.

Mybe I'll see the Lowes need a hard worker.

Good luck CigTech and I hope your unemployment is brief.

I had a great ride this morning in wonderful weather. It's actually nice to be back on the commute (even though it did end at the office). It looks like this whole week will be nice weather for riding. I looked at my log and it looks like this year I am 1000+ commuting miles over the same point last year, so I am getting more consistent. Its good to keep some track of mileage since it is truly amazing to look back and realize how many miles you have biked just to get to work.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4184/Austro00001.jpg

Here's my new ride, a converted Austro-Daimler SL. She'll have commute duties occassionaly; today was her maiden voyage.

Runnin' 46x16 freewheel...made the climb up the cemetery ultra challenging this morning (a ~500ft climb in about a mile). I rediscovered flat bars are so much fun to cruise in, but lack leverage in the hills. Like my friend Aaron said though "The great thing about riding one gear is when you get to a hill you either mother ****ing make it or you mother ****ing don't."

Beautiful Bike!!!

Wow, that's a beauty! I don't know if you can put some little bar ends on her, but if you can, they do provide good leverage on the climbs.

My evening commute brought me in front of the Capitol, as usual, and there was a crowd of folks around a white trailer. It was the guy from Chalmette, Louisiana bringing his FEMA trailer to DC to invite W to dinner! He was cooking crawfish and it smelled so good. All the TV cameras were surrounding the guy (Rocky is his name) and some politician whom I did not recognize (but you could just tell he was a politician). I signed the trailer for my friends in Chalmette.

Another day in the Nation's Capital.

It was 1969 in West Germany. I had a red Raleigh 3-spd stick shift Rodeo with ape bars, and a bananna seat. I lusted after a 10 spd. A German kid swapped with me for a test ride. I stalled on the hill and fell over (bike was too tall for me). Something punched a quarter sized hole about a cm deep just above the knee. I still have the scar. Apart from that some road rash turning too sharp on gravel. So, I've gotten off lightly and hope to keep it that way.

Man, Cig, that sucks. I am really sorry and I hope you weatehr this storm ok.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4184/Austro00001.jpg

Here's my new ride, a converted Austro-Daimler SL. She'll have commute duties occassionaly; today was her maiden voyage.

Runnin' 46x16 freewheel...made the climb up the cemetery ultra challenging this morning (a ~500ft climb in about a mile). I rediscovered flat bars are so much fun to cruise in, but lack leverage in the hills. Like my friend Aaron said though "The great thing about riding one gear is when you get to a hill you either mother ****ing make it or you mother ****ing don't."

that is an awesome lookin gbike! :eek:

I posted this a couple of weeks ago. I'm too lazy to rewrite it, so here it is again. I plan on some special anniversary ride on Sept. 16 or 17, hopefully with some of my cycling friends.

September 15 will be the three-year anniversary of my infamous crash, the day I broke my helmet in three pieces, my bike in two pieces, and got to ride in a helicopter. Too bad I don't remember the helicopter ride, as I've always wanted to ride in a helicopter.

It took me 6 months to be able to speak in full sentences without stopping to think of words. It took over a year to be comfortable speaking on the phone or in meetings because I was so afraid of forgetting words. I still have trouble with word recall at times, but things are getting much better.

It's wierd. I was talking to someone this morning, and I got the order of my words screwed up. It's kinof embarassing, given that I'm over-educated and well-employed.

Whoa daddy, that is on hardcore story! I have a lot of respect for anyone who will get back on the bike like you did after that!

Mars:

I think next week we need to list our best cycling adventures.

+1. ok!

You asked for it! I have an after-accident photo I'll be scanning and posting tonight... :D

(don't worry, it's just a flesh wound)

The commute today was great! I met up with Joe Blundo and his Walk to Work (http://www.dispatch.com/walktowork) folks in Worthington. A beautiful morning to ride or walk.


Dude, where's the pic?!?

That is a real nice bike TheDL.

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Yeah, I could put bar ends on it but...I'm afraid it'd take away from the asthetics :)

I did some tweakin' of the seat height and stem height durring my ride home today. I'll see if that helps with the climbing at all.

Now I want to find a pump to fit on those pump pegs.

Mars - holy new avatar batman!

Cig - sucks man. Time to move to oz i think, we always need people who actually know what they are on about in hardware stores.

DL - I've got a pump for you mate if you want it. Although its a schraeder only jobbie - you'd need to get the adapter i think. Is that a 27 inch to 700c conversion too?

My worst injury was a shattered elbow from high-siding myself. Happened when i was 5, so they couldn't use any bolts etc. I now have an elbow that, if extended horizontally at shoulder height has a 2 inch bump upwards. Instead of being straight, or close to it, my arm is like a shallow dog leg that goes up to the elbow and back down after that. Get it?

Gusboh - Thanks for the offer but I think I'll find a proper presta pump. I know I'd loose one of those little adapters. It's a 700c conversion w/ long reach brakes.

DL: Very nice bike, I like the aestetics of a lugged frame. Is this a new frame or an old frame? The color suggest a frame from the late 70s early 80s. DL we will have to get you to try a fixed gear.

Had a nice surpise this morning, as I met a person on the bike trail who has an almost identical commute and we plan to start riding together. I think that he is stronger than I am, as I was doing 26mph down a fast part of the trail and he caught me. I will let you know if he makes me feel my age.

tibikefor2: Yeah, perhaps when I get more comfortable w/ the bike I'll turn the wheel around to the fixed side. As far as I can tell the Austro-Daimler SL is from the mid 70's. Amazingly enough there's very little history I that I can find on the Austro-Daimler models/brands.

After getting flats going both to and home from work, I finally broke down and took the racing tire of my recumbent. Now, the back tire is an Avocet, much larger and heavier. I hate it, but I did get to work today without a flat. I'm not sure of how much difference it is going ot make on my speed, probably very little I'm guessing. It's just that it looks like a tractor tire compared to what I had before.

Mars - holy new avatar batman!


Heh, that's an ariel view of me - well, my head anyway - going by on my recumbent last winter.

Amazingly enough there's very little history I that I can find on the Austro-Daimler models/brands.

DL:

Two of my favorite bikes from that period were Austo-Daimler and Eisentraut. The two bikes were beautiful with classic lines. I liked the look of them more than Peugot and Motobecane frames.

If memory serves me well, I believe that the Austro-Daimler frames were first produced in the early 1900s. The last new frames that I saw were from the late 70s or early 80s (gray haired moment). When I got my first Peugot back in 1969, I wast trying to talk my father into buying me the Austro-Daimler. Needless to say that I ended up with the Peugot, but what 9 year old would compain about that particular bike. You have a real beuaty and I hope that is serves you well. It just reminds me how much of an idiot that I was to sell my 1957 Frejus Track Bike. If it is a 53cm or a 54cm and you ever want to sell, please let me have first crack at buying it.

Well my bike stories are rather little in comparison. The only cager incident that ended with me on the pavement happened about 4 weeks ago. I was passing a ton of cars that were stopped in traffic. I was between them and the curb. A car about a car length ahead of me decided that he would cut through the parking lot to my right. Did he look in his mirror? Of course not. I only had the presence of mind to yell "HEY HEY HEY!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs. It was enough to grab his attention, and he stopped. Directly in front of me. I hit him on the right fender and went down. I came off the pavement SCREAMING at him but I didn't use any swear words or anything. I schooled him in how to use a mirror. He said "I didn't see you!" I said "Of course you didn't, because you DIDN'T LOOK IN YOUR MIRROR!" Yes, I was *mad*. Fortunately I was OK except for some road rash on my right knee (the side I fell on). The bike was fine. I had slowed enough that the impact was just enough to knock me over.

Now, when I was about 14 I was riding my mountain bike. I took a sharp left turn into an alley and went down (too sharp of a turn lol). My right hand hit the pavement (you know how you put your hands down instinctively?) with the right thumb tucked under. I tore my right thumb up pretty good. A few weeks later, when it had healed compeletely, I noticed a bump on my thumb. I touched it, and it hurt! I went to the doctor and he numbed it up, cleaned it, and took a scalpel and tweezers to it. After a few minutes of trying (whatever it was did NOT want to be held by his tweezers) he got it out. A nice clear piece of glass. Somehow, it was sterile enough to heal inside my skin without getting infected.

Now, when I was 10 years old, my Dad (RIP) and I were racing our department store ten speeds on the bike paths of Palm Springs, where we lived at the time. We were next to each other and the bike path opened up into a service entrance to the country club we were next to. He moved to the left for some reason, and so I moved to the left also (he was on my right). I hit the square curb head on, and went over the handle bars and endo'd in the air. I landed half on grass (my upper half) and half on pavement (my lower half). Skinned up my right side pretty badly. We walked home. My first taco'd wheel! <sniff>.

On another note, my commute just got longer. After 7.5 years at my current employer which is 5.5 miles from my house, I got a new job at a different company that is 10 miles from my house. Yeeha! The only bummer is the ride time is closer to an hour instead of max 30 minutes. But I'm not complaining!

tibikefor2: Unfortunately (for you) she's a big'un. She's about 58 c-t-c and 60 c-t-c in the top tube. :)

Mars - Helmet??? tut tut

DL - Where did you get the long reach calipers? No-one in oz has em, and no one is willing to ship them for less than $25US.

What the heck, we got bumped to the back page. Cigtech, we miss you!

No flats since I switched to the "tractor" tire in the back. I think I might be 1/2 mph slower than before, but that is more than made up for in the time it takes to change a flat.

I know I'd loose one of those little adapters. It's a 700c conversion w/ long reach brakes.

Easy way to never lose one of those: Leave it on the presta valve. Doesn't hurt anything. You can even put a cap on it if you feel the need. I have been doing this for a year and have had no problems, and have *never* lost it.

I will hit 2 milestones today!

First, today is my 11th weekly commute this season. For both 2004 and 2005 I managed only 10. Although still short of my original goal of 15 this season, there are still 2 more weeks remaining untli it gets too dark too early, so maybe I'll hit 13.

Also, on this pm commute home I will hit 3000 miles on my bike (since I got it June 2003)! OK, I know some of you put 2000 miles in a year, but we all have our own personal rate and goals and I'm really happy about this.

For my 32-miler home this PM looks like a more reasonable 80 degrees or so, much better than the 88+ degrees from last Sunday's Lancaster County metric.

I will hit 2 milestones today!

First, today is my 11th weekly commute this season. For both 2004 and 2005 I managed only 10. Although still short of my original goal of 15 this season, there are still 2 more weeks remaining untli it gets too dark too early, so maybe I'll hit 13.

Also, on this pm commute home I will hit 3000 miles on my bike (since I got it June 2003)! OK, I know some of you put 2000 miles in a year, but we all have our own personal rate and goals and I'm really happy about this.

For my 32-miler home this PM looks like a more reasonable 80 degrees or so, much better than the 88+ degrees from last Sunday's Lancaster County metric.


WooHoo! Way to go, Dave!

Very nice Dave. It does feel good to know how much you have done.

CigTech,

Sorry to hear about the lost job. Too often in the big companies they come up with a policy - we need to remove 5% of the workers, and then they do a formula. This is so that don't get sued by someone who will claim that they were unfair.

Not fair, not right - work for smaller companies, they don't have mindless policies. Stupid perhaps, but not mindless.

:roflmao: Gusboh, I would move to OZ but the water goes down the drain suraling the wrong way. Thats just to much. I mean does the wheels on your bike turn backwards as well? Man my head hurts now.

:roflmao: Gusboh, I would move to OZ but the water goes down the drain suraling the wrong way. Thats just to much. I mean does the wheels on your bike turn backwards as well? Man my head hurts now.
:roflmao:

:roflmao: Gusboh, I would move to OZ but the water goes down the drain suraling the wrong way. Thats just to much. I mean does the wheels on your bike turn backwards as well? Man my head hurts now.

If your head hurts from water going the other way, imagine what would hurt from us driving the other way!

Oh now I have a migraine.... just kidding

I love to come down there and teach you guys a thing or two about hardware. Maybe after I rob a bank or two to get the money for the airfar.

Well, by Tuesday, I will hit my revised mileage for the year. I first told myself that I would/could ride 1000 miles this year. Well, I hit that in June. Then I doubled it, to 2000. Well I'll hit that on Tuesday.

Thanks to all y'all for helping me with this. I'm glad to see you back, Cig.

The brake calipers happend to come from the same friend that gave me the frame. They're old Grand Compe calipers.

http://homepage.mac.com/ndjedinak/.Pictures/Photography/DiscoTReK/nateface.jpg

My worst bike accident, the morning after. I was riding my then-new Gary Fisher Paragon, my first ALU bike, and loving the speed and nimble feeling. I had a friend with me, but he was about a half mile or so behind... I was just flying. One of those fun "good" days. I had no helmet on, and 8 years later remember very little about the accident, although some came back over the years. What I know:

I was riding fast, cranked over in a turn.

I remember hitting the ground with my head and going "out", thinking "I'm dying and this isn't so bad!!"

I came to with my friend standing over me, yelling "oh my god! oh my god!" (Thanks for the vote of confidence!!)

I was still "sitting" on my bike. I never tried to break my fall.

My face was on a brick, my ankle was twisted backwards (how the brick got onto a nice singletrack trail, we never found out).

I refused to go to the hospital, rode home, took advil, and went to sleep after throwing up a few times. This part I don't remember. I lived with my dad at the time (fresh out of college) and he never saw me walk in. In fact, I don't remember much of the next week or so, even today.

I went to work the next day, where this photo was taken. I had to excuse myself to throw up every once and awhile, and my boss made me go to a doctor.

I had a nasty NASTY concussion, and the doc really gave me a lashing for not visiting a hospital. They did all sorts of scans and kept me for awhile to watch. My doc was shocked that I didn't break my orbital bone... But nothing was broken! The swelling in my brain went down very quickly. I was lucky. My face was scraped up, as you can see, but no lasting injuries.

In piecing together the scene of the accident, and memories that sometimes came years later, we figure a tree branch or root somehow made it's way into my spokes, as when my friend came upon me he remembers something sticking out of the front wheel spokes. I endo'd and never took my hands off the bars. Somehow, with really bad luck, my face landed on a brick and it was "lights out."

My doc scolded me to stay off the bike for awhile, but it just so happened that 10 days later I was to leave on a weeklong trip to VT for singletrack fun. I went anyway. And lived. Ahhhh... The stupidity of youth.