Texas - i crashed!

Anyone see a crash yesterday on white rock creek trail, north of lake & lawther? if so it was me:-/

Got fed up of this line of really slow riders making it impossible for me to get a workout in, finally an open shot to pass, so guy in front of me starts passing, i make my move, but the guy in front of me is passing at an incredibly slow speed too, i come up on him and slow down, the trail goes to hell before i can see it cuz i'm close to the guy in front and he didn't signal, tire gets stuck in the crack/groove and it flips me...

...road rash, some real deep cuts, can barely move left arm, walking with a limp, knees busted up, bike broken, swelling ankles...

...annoying thing was all the slow a** riders keep going! people behind me wanting to pass the slow riders stopped, which was nice...eventually i got my stuff and walked back to the road...a very nice lady packing up for the day loaded my bike up and gave me a ride home (was going to take the dart)...whoever she was thank you!

..i'll say this, my first bad fall and it sucks, hurts a lot (like one spot makes me almost pass out every time i clean it), now i know why we shave our body, wound cleaning is miserable, and why we wear helmets!...worse thing is MS in 2 weeks, bike busted, and can't put any weight on left arm..even worse is this'll put me behind in my training for the season and i was making real good progress!! but all in all i'm thankful it wasn't any worse, no broken bones, face is good, no missing teeth, so i consider myself luck

Hey, I feel for you. Had a good one at HHH last year, was off the bike for 3 months with a knee injury. Now a word of advice, and i'm not trying to be an ass or anything, but if you are training hard and not out for just a ride, get off public trails. There is always slow riders, runners or walkers that have no idea what you are doing, and probably don't care. I ride the Trinity trails in FW quite a bit, but never at any speed to speak of because of the other people using the trails. I have been passed by pace lines of up to 10 riders, running flat out expecting everyone to move out of their way. Slow riders on crusiers, dog walkers, it just don't happen. For a workout, I have a set route on public roads that have little or no traffic to bother with. That way, any problems are my fault. No one else to blame but me.
Good luck in the healing, hope it is quick and as painless as possible.

thx, and i agree, usually i take my car to white rock to train (i stay mostly on the roads around), but this time i rode to white rock using the trail...from now on i'm sticking to the roads!

Hey, I feel for you. Had a good one at HHH last year, was off the bike for 3 months with a knee injury. Now a word of advice, and i'm not trying to be an ass or anything, but if you are training hard and not out for just a ride, get off public trails. There is always slow riders, runners or walkers that have no idea what you are doing, and probably don't care. I ride the Trinity trails in FW quite a bit, but never at any speed to speak of because of the other people using the trails. I have been passed by pace lines of up to 10 riders, running flat out expecting everyone to move out of their way. Slow riders on crusiers, dog walkers, it just don't happen. For a workout, I have a set route on public roads that have little or no traffic to bother with. That way, any problems are my fault. No one else to blame but me.
Good luck in the healing, hope it is quick and as painless as possible.

Your story sounds identical to what happened to my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago at the Trinity Trails. She went off the path to avoid some walkers, caught the edge of the concrete and went down hard. Thankfully medics were there for the mud run and were able to patch her up a bit before she went to the ER. Her elbow's hurt pretty badly and she'll be lucky to ride at all in the MS next weekend.

I've got to echo slowpace's comments here. It took me one trip down the White Rock Ramble to realize that these MUP's are more dangerous than even the most busy surface streets. No one ever seems to travel on these trails at the right speed. Riders are either going slow as a snail or see it as their own personal Paris Roubiax where they must go as fast as possible. It boggles my mind how people think it's safe to ride in pace lines on trails that aren't even wide enough to accommodate two sets of handlebars. I try to keep my road bike on the road as much as possible.

Hope you feel better, keep icing that arm, get the bike fixed and I really hope we see you next weekend for the MS!

Too similar to my brother, down in Houston we have the Terry Hershey Park trail, probably about 8 foot wide MUP so it is better. He didn't have a problem with anyone in his way, just a bolt snapped on the stem that had unknowingly been recalled! All the sudden all he had was bars no longer attached to his bike. Went down hard on the side of the path and ended up getting 9 stitches near his elbow on his left arm and hairline crack through his left thumb. This was 12 days before the BP MS150!!! Since it was this last weekend I can report that he rode the entire ride, the pain was pretty bad on rough roads and climbs but he did it anyway with enough drugs in him.

I had to hurry to be able to get his stem replaced and fixed (it was quill type, hard to find replacements) in time for him to have it before the MS150, he really wanted to ramp up and finish off some training before the ride instead of barely being able to move or sit at work.

Good luck with getting yours fixed and getting better quickly, maybe can still pull off a miraculous ride too.

I did that one of the first times I rode the Trinity Trail, but I was lucky. I went off the trail into the grass and I was okay.... until I popped back up on the paved section. The rear wheel caught on the edge. I didn't go down but the wheel tacoed pretty bad and I had to replace it.

Large sections of the Trinity Trail are empty lots of the time. The busiest section is between downtown FW and Benbrook. Less busy on the north side on the River Oaks and Stockyards branches, and very little traffic east of downtown FW. There are sections of the eastern part that I hesitate to ride alone on though. The thing I like about the TT is that large segments have two paths- paved and crushed stone- and the walkers and runners usually stay on the stone portion, leaving the paved trail to cyclists. Mostly.

I hope you recover quickly but you probably should get checked out at the ER.

Since the original thread starter guy mentioned that this happened near NW Highway and Lawther, this probably happened as a group of people were leaving the stop light at NW Highway. Usually it takes 1/2 a mile or so before everyone settles out and into their own pace. I usually try not to pass anyone till after the first DART bridge, by then I know how fast everyone is going.

Been a long time since I have fallen on my bike there. With the new wider width in some places and an overall drop in people using the trail, wrecks are more infrequent.

Treat your road rash as a burn. Essentially thats what it is. The pain of the first few showers is unbearable!

Also, the fastest people I see out on the White Rock Creek Trail are guys on mountain bikes. Since the larger wheels eat up pavement cracks, have better brakes and you can quickly jump off the trail, a mountain bike is really better suited for riding out there.

Couple of those mountain bike riders have serious, mind boggling speed on their mountain bikes. Like 23-24mph sustained. One guy in particular I see out there daily on a white lefty cannondale 29er holds a couple endurance records in Colorado. There are not many people on road bikes that can keep up with him.

... One guy in particular I see out there daily on a white lefty cannondale 29er holds a couple endurance records in Colorado. There are not many people on road bikes that can keep up with him.

I think I've seen him. Taller guy, wears a ballcap? Hauls ass.

Yep. Thats him. Maybe 6-7 years ago I was watching OLN(now Versus) and they were showing a documentary styled race show on a race in Colorado called "Montezuma's Revenge". It was some hellish 24hr bike race that required a nighttime climb over a 14,000ft mountain range and over terrain without trails. So I was watching it, then I realized the dude they were keyed in on following, was the dude I saw all the time riding around White Rock. I was like, whoa dude, he's a badass!

I feel sorry for you that you crashed but I wouldn't blame the slow riders- you were the one who got impatient and decided to make your move. The "slow riders" have just as much right to use the road for their own cycling enjoyment too- no matter the speed or experience level. Most advanced cyclist, like yourself, recognized this is a publicly shared riding space and should augment your cycling routes/actions accordingly if the recreational cyclist are in your way.

I wish you well in your recovery.

I feel sorry for you that you crashed but I wouldn't blame the slow riders- you were the one who got impatient and decided to make your move. The "slow riders" have just as much right to use the road for their own cycling enjoyment too- no matter the speed or experience level. Most advanced cyclist, like yourself, recognized this is a publicly shared riding space and should augment your cycling routes/actions accordingly if the recreational cyclist are in your way.I wish you well in your recovery.

Thanks, didn't think I was blaming anyone but if i was :) ....i guess i could blame the person in front of me for not using the proper hand signals to identify riding surface issues, or i could blame the fact that a group of riders in a pace line taking up a considerable amount of distance traveling at a slow rate on a narrow path with curves, path damage, and walker, biker, and runner traffic is not only inconsiderate but also heightens danger for those around them and for those enjoying a public space...but i'm not blaming anyone i was just saying what happened: i crashed because i tried to pass and didn't see the trail damage, the reason i tried to pass was the long line of slow riders and the lack of trail damage hand signals..i guess the reason could be blame, but not my intention

Impatience implies an eventual end and a soon one, and a person unwilling to wait for that end. Sure I could have hoped they would have sped up or maybe hoped they would have exited off the trail, but they weren't going to and they weren't planning on spacing out their line enough to make it safe for people to pass...so if i blame anything i blame luck, plain and simple bad luck

Thanks for the well wishes, recovery is coming along pretty good, today was the first day i was able to raise my left arm high enough to scratch my nose and the first day my grip was strong enough to hold a glass of milk. Hip is feeling good and the bruise isn't hurting as bad, knees and ankles are popping a lot lately but feel fine otherwise..but i do agree, i always thought the trails would be safer than roads, but it's the people on the trails that make it dangerous and i would probably be safer on a quiet road...unless those people on the trail get in vehicles and drive on my quiet road!!! :-s

...so i'm borrowing a friends bike, riding the trainer tomorrow to see if my body can support itself on the bike and if so i plan on doing the MS this weekend, at a minimum i try, fail, and sag it to TMS!

but just to reiterate, crashes suck and so do sleeveless jerseys when you slide on your arm

You must have really eaten it! After about 5 days when the road rash goes from gooey slime to a hard scab, you should be good to go. I guess you wrecked on the 21st?

Road rash can be very painful. I know, personally.

I'm nursing some road rash from a fall on Sunday. In case it hasn't occurred to you - the thing I'm worried about the most on the MS is the patches of raw/new skin will be extremely susceptible to sunburn and yet very sensitive to the chemicals in sunscreen. I'm stocking up on good old fashioned zinc oxide to keep the hot pink patches protected.

I'm nursing some road rash from a fall on Sunday. In case it hasn't occurred to you - the thing I'm worried about the most on the MS is the patches of raw/new skin will be extremely susceptible to sunburn and yet very sensitive to the chemicals in sunscreen. I'm stocking up on good old fashioned zinc oxide to keep the hot pink patches protected.

I am a little worried about that too, considering buying the Pearl Izumi Sun Sleeve (http://www.pearlizumi.com/product.php?mode=view&pc_id=50&product_id=1499883&outlet=) since it is 50 UPF it should protect the wound from the sun, skin from cancer, and in crashes should offer some protection from road rash, going to call RBM to see if they are in stock...but i wonder if it will make me too hot? I was also thinking about using some hydrocolloid patches on the deeper injuries to prevent some rubbing. Will have to look into zinc oxide, didn't think about that...

http://www.moruyabicycles.com.au/contents/media/l_pearl-izumi-sun-sleeves.jpg

I've got a few patches that are still open and oozy (lovely) - those I'll put 2nd Skin patches on and use some CVS-generic Surgilast to keep it in place; the 2nd Skin patches work better than the others I've tried but let me know if you've got something you like better. Surgilast is a tubular gauze, it's the best thing since sliced bread.
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Surgilast is what many pro cycling teams use during multi-stage road races. During the Tour de France, towards the end, some guys look like egyptian mummys.

Nice thing about road rash is that it usually feels better after 10 miles of flexing on a ride.