Advocacy & Safety - Wipe-out

Ya, I took a right turn too fast for conditions yesterday morning (wet pavement, probably some oil, too) and "slid into home base." No problem, on my recumbent all I got was some rash on my right calf and the heel of my right palm.

But it reminded me of the danger of falls. Not just if I fall, but if I fall around moving traffic. Fortunately for me, there wasn't a car in the space I slid into!

I had forgotten a lesson of my youth, and repeated it. From now on, I will use care when riding in wet conditions.

No joke, falling in traffic can be deadly. A particularly memorable case happened here in NYC last year where young woman in Brooklyn tried to avoid, IIRC, a dooring or maybe a truck pulling out from being double parked, and ended up with her head under the wheels of another truck. Very sad.

LittleBigMan---I'm glad you're relatively okay. This serves as a reminder to me also--I haven't had an accident in a few years, and after reading your post, I realized that I was getting too complacent while riding. It can happen in a split-second...................

No problem, on my recumbent all I got was some rash on my right calf and the heel of my right palm.

Do you wear cycling gloves? I do, ever since I wiped out and scraped up my plam much like you did. It's a pain (literally) when you go to grab something and you wince from the wound on your hand...

LittleBigMan---I'm glad you're relatively okay. This serves as a reminder to me also--I haven't had an accident in a few years, and after reading your post, I realized that I was getting too complacent while riding. It can happen in a split-second...................

Glad you're ok. Yeah, hitting the pavement is usually more embarrassing than injurious, but the cars in back of you, or to one side, can be very dangerous.

Last time I crashed was also in the rain, I was testing the traction limits of some new concrete (very slippery when wet) crosswalks in the apex of a corner, and well, I found the limit pretty quickly, went down and the first thing I did was look in back of me, and sure enough, a big SUV was bearing down on me. She got around me, but I was scrambling to get off to the side of the road as quickly as possible.

A few months ago I had a front wheel slip-out when I traversed a wet manhole cover. A little too much lateral motion and a second's inattention cost me a helmet and some very offended joints, but little else. You don't soon forget that kind of thing, boy.

Glad you're OK, LBM.