Classic & Vintage - safety warning: do not insert your brake lever into your thigh

Last night was the last of four sessions of classes my partner and I taught. The course was called Let's Ride. It covered traffic handling skills and bike repair.

Near the end of the ride, a student fell, and in a freak accident, the brake lever entered her thigh and was completely submerged under her skin. It caused a lot of pain, and she was in quite a panic because it looked so very gruesome.

As luck had it, very helpful people were right there. We were in a county park, near the edge of the park and a road. In the park was a fire engine with full crew, a patrol car with an officer, an EMT riding his bike, and an OR nurse taking a walk. The officer called for an ambulance, which came quickly, with EMT's, as did an ambulance with paramedics. The cyclist-EMT and my partner disassembled the bike, separating handlebars from the bike so that our student could keep the handlebars in her lap. She didn't want anyone extracting the brake lever. The EMT's agreed and complied, and they gingerly lifted her onto a backboard and then a stretcher, taking great care not to disturb the handlebar/human interface.

The police officer said he is also a cyclist. He does mountain bike races. He had never seen a brake lever pierce a body before. I'm sure he never will again, either.

The student had brought her husband and kids with her for the first time. Husband was riding along with us. The two kids, age 17 and 7, stayed at the ride start point.

By the time the ambulance took the student away, the sun had set, and it was quite dark. I strapped the disassembled remains of the bike to the rack on my bike, and we pedaled through the quite-dark woods to our start point. I talked to the husband, making sure he was calm and wasn't worrying too much.

The kids took the news quite well. My partner and I accompanied husband and kids to the hospital. We found the patient in good spirits. Her injury, as it turned out, was minor. She said that at least half the pain was from the horror of seeing her body invaded in such a shocking and disgusting way. The lever didn't enter any muscle tissue.

She's sore today and has trouble walking, but she says she is looking forward to getting back on the bike.

I'm sure I'll be able to formulate a coherent response when I'm done cringing in sympathetic pain DAMN!

There is no smilet face on this forum that accurately reflects my reaction.
Its good to hear it wasn't a major injury, and you are very fortunate to have so much medical staff present.
Also thanks to you for teaching public classes to educate for biking advocacy.
While gruesome, this story replenishes some hope after hearing nonstop "bike vs car" rhettoric.

Ttiuwp :)

Seriously though, glad there's no permanent damage...the 64 dollar question:

What kind of brake lever?! :twitchy:

Working as a nurse in a trauma center, I've seen some pretty strange injuries (papermate pen in a particularly delicate male place:eek::twitchy:) but, I've never seen that one. Glad she's OK and still interested in riding!

If you are on facebook, you can see a funny video of a friend of mine. This has nothing to do with my story, but since you said ttiuwp...

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=420103164028

Why is it that when I googled that term, I got a lot of pictures of pretty young women with large breasts?

Dang that would hurt/be horrifying!!! My goodness! Glad she's okay, hopefully she gets back out and riding again.

I have faith she'll be back on the road soon.

Why is it that when I googled that term (ttiup) I got a lot of pictures of pretty young women with large breasts?

WOW you aren't kidding! :o :innocent:

What kind of brake lever?! :twitchy:

That's what I was wondering; most of them have that rounded bit on the end, and they should be on the wrong side of the bars to poke the rider anyway.

A little OT but not much:
Reminder: Everyone out there plug the ends of your handlebars.
It's a USCF rule, and one of the things I check each rider's bike for before each race I ref.

WOW you aren't kidding! :o :innocent:

This Thread Is Uuseless Without Pics. I didn't miss the "W".

I put a spoke through my left calf when I was a lad. Hurt.

WOW you aren't kidding! :o :innocent:

Try googling "CN tower"

:P

Try googling "CN tower"

:P
791,999 pics of the CN tower and 1 pic (interestingly the 4th result)....Clearly NOT the CN tower. :lol:

Another reason to have really good insurance and an LLC to protect you. I teach motorcycle riding in the Carolinas through the community college system. They had a fatality at another school in the program last weekend...... I may be rethinking that hobby job.

Wow, weird accident. I've also never heard of a brake lever causing such an injury. Sounds like it managed to pierce dermal layer and lodge into a layer of fat tissue. Glad to read she's going to be OK.

791,999 pics of the CN tower and 1 pic (interestingly the 4th result)....Clearly NOT the CN tower. :lol:
You didn't pay attention. The CN tower is on the left side of the image. Overwhelmed were we?

I was teaching it through The Adult School (http://www.ssreg.com/som/) which, I assume, has a full set of lawyers and accountants. Thank goodness for that and for the good nature of my student.

Wow, weird accident. I've also never heard of a brake lever causing such an injury. Sounds like it managed to pierce dermal layer and lodge into a layer of fat tissue. Glad to read she's going to be OK.

Yes, I think that's what happened.

I have faith she'll be back on the road soon.
Glad to hear that. :)

*Takes a deep breath*

I am not sure I can visit this thread again. I can't stand the thought. Very glad to hear it was minor.

-Kurt

:injured:
I'm sure I'll be able to formulate a coherent response when I'm done cringing in sympathetic pain DAMN!

As much as I would like to.. I don't think I can come up with more than OWWOWWW OWWWOWWWOWWWW OWWWWWWWW!!!!! Yikes... :eek:

Good to hear all is well..

OWWWWWW

Yeah, we all cringed every time we looked at it. And we had to look at it a lot to help her.

Well....when I read the title, I was sure it had something to do with you breaking 50mph on that little hill by your house and discovering brake fade. Happy to read that I was wrong, sorry for your student, hope she heals.

Hey, how about adding a class on proper crashing techniques? I can do "how to hit a parked car 101"

791,999 pics of the CN tower and 1 pic (interestingly the 4th result)....Clearly NOT the CN tower. :lol:

The two things on the internet that will waste more of your life than anything...

1) Google Images
2) IMDB.com

khatfull, it depends on your taste. Music lovers lose their time to youtube. So do others.

Andrew F, you reminded me of a crash I had a couple of years ago:

I'm not normally afraid of bees. I was riding along, and a bee got in my bonnet helmet. I quickly ripped it off without stopping the bike. I crashed into a parked minivan. I didn't get hurt, so I kinda chuckled at my silly panic. The bee was gone. I went into the luncheonette I was heading for and told the owner my silly story. She said, "You ran into my gold minivan!?" Luckily, no hard feelings, and she's a super-nice lady.

That's what I was wondering; most of them have that rounded bit on the end...

Y'see, son, the female anatomy is...

Oh. Are we still talking about bikes? Never mind.

Andrew F, you reminded me of a crash I had a couple of years ago:

I'm not normally afraid of bees. I was riding along, and a bee got in my bonnet helmet. I quickly ripped it off without stopping the bike. I crashed into a parked minivan. I didn't get hurt, so I kinda chuckled at my silly panic. The bee was gone. I went into the luncheonette I was heading for and told the owner my silly story. She said, "You ran into my gold minivan!?" Luckily, no hard feelings, and she's a super-nice lady.

Mine involved a no holds bared around the neighborhood race between my Azuki and my buddies Schwinn. I had the outside on the last turn around the block, a beautiful down hill turn to the left, no cars in the intersection, only someone parked at the curb, the horror of it all! Everyone had driveways, what were they thinking! Well, I showed her a thing or two, seems a young boy full of piss and vinegar can do quite a bit of damage when given the opportunity. She lost a trunk lid and window and I a tooth.......and apparently some common sense! Oh well, I wasn't using it anyway.

A little OT but not much:
Reminder: Everyone out there plug the ends of your handlebars.
It's a USCF rule, and one of the things I check each rider's bike for before each race I ref.

I take it that plugging them with three-inch carbon steel spikes is also a violation?

It's on my "to maybe do" list of ways to reduce brush-passing in traffic.

So was this on a drop bar or flat bar? Did she go over the bars? Fall to the side? I'm having a hard time imagining what would have happened for a brake lever to lodge in her thigh.

Flat bar. I don't understand how it happened. She was a few yards behind me. I think she just wobbled for no apparent reason. I don't understand how her leg ended up beyond the end of the handlebar.

Which lever? Which leg? Which part of thigh? Inquiring minds want to know.

In my mind's eye: Left lever and inner left thigh, in a failed attempt to brace her fall with her foot as the bars spun quickly at impact. Ouch. Cringe.

Best wishes to the student.

I'll post pictures of the handlebar tomorrow. I'll be putting the bike back together. I'll put the brake lever on top of my own thigh to show you the point of penetration. (Ew)

I'll post pictures of the handlebar tomorrow. I'll be putting the bike back together. I'll put the brake lever on top of my own thigh to show you the point of penetration. (Ew)

Do me a favor and post it as a link. Just the sight of the bar will be enough to drive me bonkers.

-Kurt

I

Why is it that when I googled that term, I got a lot of pictures of pretty young women with large breasts?

Really ?

***Safety Warning***

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRoWtYemMHjje2669SsRRcwh5YSOhoBt_CwSw0QnrDQV_Ka5fk&t=1&usg=__No84YGm6JcxdPRa8yghxpBSkf_g=

were they hope hydro brake levers by any chances, there were a couple people impaled by their brake lever on mtbr.com

The two things on the internet that will waste more of your life than anything...

1) Google Images
2) IMDB.com

3) Classics & Vintage
4) Ebay

...maybe not 'waste' but definitely 'end up becoming addictive...'

Before you touch that bike, read up on blood borne pathogens.

In training motorcyclists, every once in a while we get a student that cannot ride in a straight line, and we wash them out at that point. A lot of it is about keeping their head and eyes up, looking forward.

wrk101, I don't follow.

The hospital staff cleaned the handlebars thoroughly.

I would suggest you read up on blood borne pathogens. Unless I witnessed their cleanup, I would not trust it.

Before you touch that bike, read up on blood borne pathogens.

In training motorcyclists, every once in a while we get a student that cannot ride in a straight line, and we wash them out at that point. A lot of it is about keeping their head and eyes up, looking forward.

Therein lies the problem with road bikes in particular, you're oriented in that "head and eyes down" position. When I first started riding them, I thought I had it all figured out...then you stop paying attention for .01 seconds and that twitchy racebike is on its way into a dodge caravan. Often times when I'm super wiped out on the bike I have to be very cautious. The other week after a killer ride I dumped the front wheel off the side of the pavement, luckily catching myself, but it doesn't take much.