Commuting - Went into a trench, helmet saved my life.

I'm riding along through a construction zone and I went wide on the other side of the road to avoid a huge mass of potholes. Ended up going into the construction zone, saw a pothole, jumped over it and right after directly in my path was a 4 ft deep 1.5 ft wide trench perpendicular to where I was going. So 23mph I landed in the trench, the front wheel went in, endo'ed over, handle bars hit and I flew off, landed on my face, my upper lip hit the ground then my forehead. I got up and had a dizzy headache, looked around, saw that I was fine, picked up my bike, put the chain back on, checked my body parts, spit out the blood pooling in my mouth and rode to work. When I got in, I checked myself out in the bathroom and other than some rash on my elbows, arm, leg, and a bruise in my rib from hitting the handle bar as I went over, I was fine. There's a huge lump in my upper lip which is actually the worst part about the accident was now I look terrible (I know I'm superficial but when you're ugly, you take as much pretty as you can get). I didn't lose any teeth, but my under bite's now been fixed, heh. When I checked out my helmet, there was a big dent front and center and it was cracked. I thank god I actually followed the instructions and kept my front strap tight so my helmet doesn't rotate back and that I had actually been wearing a helmet in the first place. Otherwise, instead of getting up, putting my chain back on and riding the remaining 6 miles to work, I would've split the front of my head open.
Lesson learned, watch where you're going, don't do stupid things, and always wear a helmet.

Glad you are o.k.

Get a lawyer, there should be some way to sue the construction site operator. :D

Glad you are o.k.

Get a lawyer, there should be some way to sue the construction site operator. :D

LOL I don't want to turn this into another RINGO story. "I willingly went into the construction site and hurt myself, I'm thinking of suing." :)
The worst part besides buying a new helmet and front light is that now I look horrible.

About fourteen years ago while I was going fairly fast clip on my road bike, a car pulled in front of me. I was young and stupid and going way too fast in a potentially dangerous situation. The car was parked with many others on the side of the road making it difficult to know the driving was going to pull out. I was probably going about 20mph and could not stop in time. I hit the front of the car, flipped over the hood and landed on the street on the other side of the car. Luck was with me that day and I only needed a few stitches on my face and one leg. Of course the bike was a lost. I was not wearing a helmet thinking they were a bother. If I was wearing a helmet, I would not have the scar on the side of my face. Its small, but something that could have been prevented with a helmet. Of course if I had hit my head directly on the pavement, it could have been much worse. Needless to say, I never ride without a helmet now.

Glad you are o.k.
Me, too! Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to go see your doctor and/or dentist...



Get a lawyer, there should be some way to sue the construction site operator. :D
If you had had insurance, your insurance company could sue for you... ;)

who saw you, did anyone offer to help? glad you're okay - that sounds pretty bad.

I'm riding along through a construction zone and I went wide on the other side of the road to avoid a huge mass of potholes. Ended up going into the construction zone, saw a pothole, jumped over it and right after directly in my path was a 4 ft deep 1.5 ft wide trench perpendicular to where I was going. So 23mph I landed in the trench, [cut]
Lesson learned, watch where you're going, don't do stupid things, and always wear a helmet.

Glad you are OK. Its sounds like from you lesson learned to avoid doing 'stupid things'. Does that mean you considered going 23mph thru a construction zone with likely hazards 'stupid'.

However why was the construction zone not barracaded off? I think yellow tape and/or barracades, etc. must be used, especially to block out trenches in road.

Al

Make sure you're icing that injury. You'll look fine in a week or so, who knows, maybe it'll make you look rough and tough like Clint Eastwood.

Good that you were very alert, if you hadn't been, you could've broken your neck. Glad you're in one piece.

I wonder if it helps to keep icing my lip 6 hours after it happened. Will that further reduce the swelling? I haven't noticed any improvements so far.

I'd definitely consider going through any place where you don't know the terrain and faster than you can detect hazards ahead "stupid" or at the very least foolish. Again, I do consider this my fault, there were traffic cones to keep cars out but they're spaced far apart for machinery and construction crews to be able to cross that section of road to get to the building they're working on. I probably should've slowed down, a lot.

The ice may not reduce the swelling right away, but it should help prevent the swelling from getting larger. I have a feeling you are going to be in agony tomorrow morning. When I had my accident I could barely get out of bed the next morning.

You never went to the doc? Please go get checked out, Void.

WOW, our newest employee has a cement(now concrete) covered bike, due to a similar diversion, Fortunatly, depending on how you look at it, the stuff was still wet and soft.

You never went to the doc? Please go get checked out, Void.

Well my old insurance just expired and I'm waiting for the new one to kick in. I think I'm ok... :(

WOW, our newest employee has a cement(now concrete) covered bike, due to a similar diversion, Fortunatly, depending on how you look at it, the stuff was still wet and soft.

It's funny cause afterwards, the only way to ride out was to go through some not so dry concrete. I only noticed when I got home that the bottom of my bike and my fenders had clumps on it. My LBS offers life time tune ups for free. I tensioned my wheels myself and they're still amazingly within 1mm but I bet they'll be pissed when they find out I put concrete in the BB heh.

I am very glad you are alright. You will live another day!

Glad you're OK. I still think we should have a Helmet-Saved-My-Life sticky. These come up often enough. And it's worth the reminder.

Also, call the construction company and the whatever government agency is in charge of the construction. Tell them about the problem. I've found them to be very responsive.

WOW, our newest employee has a cement(now concrete) covered bike, due to a similar diversion, Fortunatly, depending on how you look at it, the stuff was still wet and soft.

I hope his isn't one of those weight weenie types.

I wonder if it helps to keep icing my lip 6 hours after it happened. Will that further reduce the swelling? I haven't noticed any improvements so far.

I'd definitely consider going through any place where you don't know the terrain and faster than you can detect hazards ahead "stupid" or at the very least foolish. Again, I do consider this my fault, there were traffic cones to keep cars out but they're spaced far apart for machinery and construction crews to be able to cross that section of road to get to the building they're working on. I probably should've slowed down, a lot.

Your injuries sound like the kind that will heal up ok on their own. No need to run off to a doctor if you don't have to. I don't think the ice is going to do much after the first few hours.

Congratulations on having the character to take responsibility for your actions instead of blaming someone else.

Glad to hear to came out on the good side in this one. And too think there are bike riders everwhere that think the helmet does nothing to protect you and thus won't wear them.

Also, call the construction company and the whatever government agency is in charge of the construction. Tell them about the problem. I've found them to be very responsive.

I probably shouldn't have been wandering off my side of the road into it anyway but I do notice people going through those areas regardless so I'll see if I can pop a quick message off to at least put a warning flag there or something.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. Everything's healing up really nicely except now I'm 90% sure my bruised rib's actually cracked. :(