Bad crash

[st0ut]

My son went down hard today..he panicked during a decent and instead of checking his brakes he tired to put his feet down.. this set him up for a high side . It was scary enough that 2 park rangers on bikes came to his aid shortly after i got to him. we carry a first aid kit in the daughters trailer

i think he was doing about 20 when he went down. His gloves prevented the most damage but his helmet did get scuffed.

road rash on left forearm, legs and torso ... and his bike took the crash very well.
his marial art ahelped him iwth the roll and he prstected his head and face. this could have beeen soo much worse and luckey we got out of it with just a few bad scrapes.

did some road side first aid and he finished that ride pus a follow up on the TAB later that afternoon.

He has ALOT more respect for downhills now.

[owenh]

make sure he gets a new helmet
if he crashes again it might not have the structual integrity to withstand
it.

[HardyWeinberg]

Glad he came out OK. I was just talking w/ the mom of one of my kid's friends and we were wondering about the 'learning value' of that first accident.

[st0ut]

A big part of it is mind set. My son is small for his age however i think he thinks he is 6'4 and 210LBS. Also i have never told him that bicycles are safe. I have told him that we can be as safe as we can but we have to think about what happens when things go wrong.
a big rule in our house is play more then you think and you get hurt fast and the is nothing mommoy or daddy can do.

[Tom Stormcrowe]

Sounds like you're teaching him well....keep it up :D

Glad he wasn't hurt badly. :D

[girljen]

Poor guy! He sounds like a tough kid, though.

[leob1]

Chicks dig scars.
+1 on the new lid.

[Hezz]

Sorry to hear about the crash. I'm glad it was not too serious. These kind of things always teach us respect for the conditions. Was he on a road bike. I can see how one can panic on a road bike more easily since you may not have your fingers on the brake levers when a sudden emergency rears it's head.

I am probably going to build up my sister a road bike out of parts on sale and one thing I struggle with is whether or not to put a mountain type handle bar on it or a drop bar. I guess I fear for inexperienced riders using drop bars if they are going fast and need to make an emergency stop.

[st0ut]

He has been up on 2 wheels for less than 3 months. He has a specialized hot rock BMX type bars. coaster brake and rear hand brake.

[Hezz]

He has been up on 2 wheels for less than 3 months. He has a specialized hot rock BMX type bars. coaster brake and rear hand brake.

For some reason I was thinking that your son was a young teenager on a road bike but it looks more like he is just a youngster. I'm glad he was not hurt badly. I think that what he did was very common for young riders in a panic. You have to wonder if it would be wise or not to put a front hand brake on the bike and teach them to do a bunch of emergency training stops using both front and back brakes at the same time.

I guess the theory is that this is too complicated for young riders. Either that or there is still worry among the manufacturers that a light weight child can fly over the front with too much front brake pressure. But I wonder if a young child can squeeze the brake hard enough to create that kind of braking force.

[veloellen]

My son hit the pavement BAD about 2 years ago on the Baltimore Annapolis trail. Chin, both arms, both knees, hip - it was ugly. We had to put him back on the bike to get to a store to get him cleaned up, etc. When we walked into the 7-11, I wasn't sure if everyone there wanted to call an ambulance or child protective services. He was 4 at the time on the back of a trail-a-bike. Let go to "check a splinter in his hand" - ugh! He recovered. Got back for a short ride THE NEXT DAY to a parade and we're still riding strong. He still talks about that day like it was yesterday though!