"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Crashed...on a training ride, road rash q's

In my nearly 6 years of riding, I have crashed 2 times on training rides. I'm not talking about those stupid 0 mph, no injury, no equipment breakage types of crashes, I'm talking about actual broken stuff and removed skin. I feel like this is a pretty impressively small crash total, and I generally make fun of those who crash on training rides, after all, its a training ride.

well thursday, I increased my total by 50%. I was doing a sprint workout, rolling along at 25-26ish, my watch beeped, and I jumped in about a 53-middle of cassette. My chain decided that it wanted to end its life on the third pedal stroke, and proceeded to break, leaving me WAY off balance, enough to throw my back wheel up in the air. my awesome handling ability allowed me to get my back wheel down, however, it slammed really hard, tacoed, and proceeded to wedge itself in my frame. crazy fishtailing at almost 30 mph resulted, and I ended up sliding along on the pavement on my ass.

My back wheel was taco'ed, but I was still 10 miles from my house, so I whacked the wheel on the ground to try to make it somewhat true enough to ride (forgetting about the broken chain, btw). All I got was a marginally straighter wheel with a flat tire. I called for a ride and stopped at a CVS on the way home.

My main problem, aside from needing a new rear wheel and shoes, is that I have a 6''x6'' almost perfect square of road rash on my right hip/cheek. I put tegaderm on it, but it keeps filling up with this goop, and I'm afraid its gonna burst if I sit on it just right. Is is supposed to do that? I keep hearing rave reviews of tegaderm, but so far, I'm not too impressed. Is there any other suggestions on products? should I just do the ol' gauze and tape method? Is tegaderm not actually meant for road rash?

sorry to read of your crash. tegaderm works that way. in the early stages of road rash where wounds are weeping alot, I tape gauze over the tegaderm, making sure that I have about a half to 1 inch on each side to sponge up the mess. after a few days the weeping will subside and you can put the tegaderm on for several days at a time until you're good as new.

I wish I didnt have this much experience to share.

sorry to read of your crash. tegaderm works that way. in the early stages of road rash where wounds are weeping alot, I tape gauze over the tegaderm, making sure that I have about a half to 1 inch on each side to sponge up the mess. after a few days the weeping will subside and you can put the tegaderm on for several days at a time until you're good as new.

I wish I didnt have this much experience to share.

If I remember right, I left about a 1/2 opening at the bottom of the tegaderm patch for the ooze to seep out. I covered the opening with gauze to soak it up, and just changed the gauze periodically. Gross stuff, but it healed quickly.

My main problem, aside from needing a new rear wheel and shoes, is that I have a 6''x6'' almost perfect square of road rash on my right hip/cheek. I put tegaderm on it, but it keeps filling up with this goop, and I'm afraid its gonna burst if I sit on it just right. Is is supposed to do that? I keep hearing rave reviews of tegaderm, but so far, I'm not too impressed. Is there any other suggestions on products? should I just do the ol' gauze and tape method? Is tegaderm not actually meant for road rash?

Before applying tegaderm, use a q-tip to draw a line using petroleum jelly from the center of the rash area to the bottom ... the tegaderm won't stick to this area, providing a roadway for the goop to drain out. You might want to put a cotton dressing at the exit area to collect the leavings. Tegaderm is fantastic.

Spray on bandages hurt going on but work damn well, very little weeping. Usually I just try to let them air as much as possible, and by no means leave the wound in direct contact with skin hugging underwear. Did that and found myself grown into them in the morning. Ow.

I'm going to hear some crap for this but here goes....

Maxi pads and Neosporin. Get some snug fitting shorts, put some pads in them over your wounds and keep it smeared in neosporin. Heals in no time.

Of course, if you don't have a woman in your life, you may just want to stick with tegaderm so you don't have to go buy pads.

So - I'm going to second the maxi pads for seriously weeping wounds.

Tegaderm isn't staying on my leg on this round, I think it's cause I'm too close to the knee. One corner peels up and sticks to my pants leg. The rest follows.

Ok, those last two posts get a big WTF?

Apply Tegaderm in your "bent" knee position, where it is stretched the most. When your leg is straight, it'll bunch up and look/feel weird, but it should still stick.

And yes, Tegaderm roxxors my soxxors; I used it everyday for years while on dialysis, wonderful stuff (albeit expensive if you're buying it retail).

I'm going to hear some crap for this but here goes....

Maxi pads and Neosporin. Get some snug fitting shorts, put some pads in them over your wounds and keep it smeared in neosporin. Heals in no time.

Of course, if you don't have a woman in your life, you may just want to stick with tegaderm so you don't have to go buy pads.

Nope crap from here... this works!

Actually, I used something akin to a maxipad, not the real ones. The Neosporin keeps it from sticking as much.

To the OP, clean it before bedtime and let it air out, but don't get your sheets stuck in it. :cry: Also, wear baggy pants. Keep from having pressure put on it as much as possible.

For the early stages of my road rash a few weeks ago, my coach recommended using a Telfa pad to absorb the goo. It breathes better than plain gauze and provides more cushion than tegaderm if the road rash is in a sensitive spot - e.g. sitting. I had that on for about a week with neosporin and change the pad out twice a day. After a week I went the tegaderm until skin was forming again.

Hmm.

So I kinda took the first folks advice. Since my tegaderm was already in place, I just sterilized a safety pin, poked a small hole in the tegaderm, put a piece of gauze over it, then taped that on. Its been 5 days since I've crashed, it should be gettin some good looking skin growing. I might take this tegaderm off and hydrogen peroxide it good tomorrow night then put on a final tegaderm layer till it heals all the way.

There is a product called DuoDerm that is thicker and more absorbant than TegaDerm. It is designed for people with ulcerlike draining wounds. It is expensive ($30 for 6 sheets) but is designed be put on and kept on for several days. I've used it for deeper road rash and it works nicely. It keeps the wound moist so the fresh new pink skin keeps from cracking while providing a protective bandage. Call around to some medical supply stores to see who carries it. Most generic drug stores do not carry it.

There is a product called DuoDerm that is thicker and more absorbant than TegaDerm. It is designed for people with ulcerlike draining wounds. It is expensive ($30 for 6 sheets) but is designed be put on and kept on for several days. I've used it for deeper road rash and it works nicely. It keeps the wound moist so the fresh new pink skin keeps from cracking while providing a protective bandage. Call around to some medical supply stores to see who carries it. Most generic drug stores do not carry it.

+1 on the Duoderm. It also comes in larger sizes than Tegaderm (I got 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 for my knee recently). I've found them at Drug Mart...usually gotta talk to the Pharmacist, the store folks have no clue and they're not on the shelf. Nice thing is, if they carry it, a lot of times they have opened boxes and will sell them to you individually, if you are a friendly, supermodel-looking type, like me.

Yah, tagaderm isn't great for heavily weeping rash. I've usually used nonsticks plus rolled gause with some Brave soldier underneath. I wish I knew the maxi pad trick for when I got hit by the bus and ripped most of the skin off of my right butt. I basically wore a gause diaper for the next 5 days. It was more comfortable to ride than to walk after that so I rode everywhere - even if it was only a block away.

What kind of chain and how old was it?

Hope you heal fast.

What kind of chain and how old was it?

Hope you heal fast.

It was just a 10 speed ultegra, nothing superlight or extreme, with about 2000 miles on it. I bent my dérailleur hanger a few months ago, then shifted into the spokes soon after. The chain probably got messed up at some point during that problem.

I rejoined it with a new pin and have been riding it for the past week until I get my new chain.

As for the road rash, I'm pretty impressed with how fast the tegaderm heals wounds up. 8 days later I had new skin and could take the tegaderm off. It smelled ripe, let me tell you.

Get a scrip for Silvadene cream. It is the best, what MDs use in the ER for road rash (and 2nd and 3rd degreee burns). It is very soothing and prevents scarring. If you use it right away its hard to tell you ever had road rash.

Slather on the cream, cover with gauze. Now go out and buy some fat girl pantyhose, they should be fairly loose, and cut them off below the knee. Put the pantyhose on and it will hold the guaze in place. No fun having the gauze slide and your pants getting stuck to the wound, not to mention the embarrassing bloody, oozy stain on your pants.

... hydrogen peroxide it good tomorrow night then put on a final tegaderm layer till it heals all the way.

for future reference, use of hydrogen peroxide for cleansing wounds seems to out of favor now.

good article on road rash here:

http://velonews.com/article/3909

I use telfa pads - similar to gauze, but they let the rash breath. To keep them in place use a breathable dressing holder such as Hypafix. Its like wide pieces of medical tape, but it does not leave residue, breathes and works wonders! The tegaderm is just too expensive for me. Telfa pads are way cheaper and that way you also have a little bit of padding there if it is still sensitive.

Edit: WOW. I didn't realize I had already posted a week ago.... Er Superweek is taking its toll!