RoMad

Last Sunday we rode the annual ride on the Withlacootchee trail in Inverness FL.. The newspaper said 1300 people signed up and they estimated another 300 showed up. We rode with my wifes sister and brother-in-law which makes a slow but enjoyable day. We had gone about a mile when we caught a guy one of those three wheeled trikes that you stand on and sway all over the trail to propel it. My wife was in front of me going about 12-13 mph and as she was passing him he swerved to about the middle of the trail. She had rang her incredibell and he didn't cross the center of the trail. As he made his swerve, she swerved a little more to the left and ran off of the trail. She only went about 10 feet (you could see her tracks in the wet grass) and as she turned to come back on the trail there was about a two inch lip at the edge of the pavement. Her front wheel stopped, she went down hard on her right side and never even let go of the handlebars. Her body ran into her right elbow. It knocked the wind out of her, but after a few minutes she got back on her bike and rode 30 miles. It hurt all week and today she went to the walk in clinic and got an x-ray. Rib #7 broke. She is quite active and told the Dr. what she does. The Dr. said no rollerblading, no palates, no bicycling, no lifting, no pulling, for 6 weeks. She (the Dr.) also said do not tape it or compress it. she said that was not good for your lungs and no longer recommended. She gave her a prescription for the pain so she can sleep better. I know a lot of people don't like the big group rides and no one on bikes likes those stupid scooters, but my wifes injury was cause by her trying to come back on the road too soon. The lesson from this should be that if you run off of the road, don't come back on unless you have a plan. And no she is not reading this, but we discussed it and she mostly agrees. She doesn't blame the guy on the scooter she says but.....

soma5

Wow, I hope she is feeling better soon. It seems like open season on ribs, these days - I cracked one this week. There are of course things she could have done to get back on the roadway safely after leaving it. We've seen threads here on that subject. I don't know what kind of scooter you were describing, but the use of such a scooter that weaves back and forth is dangerous in a group ride because you can't tell where it's headed.

Best wishes for her speedy recovery.

-soma5

DnvrFox

Yeah. My wife fell once while trying to get up a road edge - she had gone off when a car pulling a boat trailer got too close.

Best thing to do is to come to a stop, and manually get the bike back on the road/trail/whatever.

Give my best to your wife. A broken rib is quite painful. One thing to watch out for is a disorder causing a lack of deep breathing caused by the pain of breathing - costochondritis(sp??).

Beverly

Ouch! Hope your wife heals soon.

George

I'm glad she's going to be alright. The few group rides I went on were a lot more than you had to put up with and I really don't care to go on anymore.

I went down myself at the end of March and I just start feeling 100% about 6 weeks ago. Anyhow it's sounds like everything is going to be alright, tell your wife to take it easy and take care, good luck.

cgallagh

Most organized rides ban those things for obvious reasons. They are not safe in a group situation. I have broken a rib or two in my day and it does hurt. Hope you wife heals quickly and doesn't have to much pain in the process.

CrossChain

Could have been worse...but this is worse enough. Best wishes for her recovery. I recall 2 broken ribs. Just don't make her laugh or or do LT training for a while.

Kurt Erlenbach

Tell her we are all sorryfor her. Cracked ribs hurt more than just about any other bone.

stevegor

Hope your wife gets well quickly AND back on the bike asap....my wife had a fall recently too, she blacked out for a few seconds, but was ok after she rested for a bit, I was calm on the outside, but freakin' out on the inside....thought I'd could've lost her.
Btw,I did ribs awhile ago from a fall off the bike, but had to work 2 days later, (bike courier type of work), the first week and a half was sheer agony, then once, as I was bunny-hopping a gutter, the back wheel got stuck and the full force of my efforts transferred to the ribs..... Next time, I'll have a week off.

BSLeVan

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

cyclinfool

I feel or should say, have felt her pain in the past. Not a fun injury and it does take a long time to heal. Although I have tried to pull the same move twice in my cycling, jumping back on the pavement once off the side, both times with painful outcomes - mostly slight shoulder dislocations. I would rather have the cracked rib (I have had two incidents causing a cracked rib from skiing accidents. I beautiful bump run in 8" of fresh powder, a double eject and a hard crash onto the top of a bump - hurt for a month, the other was less epic). She gets to take it easy now for a bit.

europa

Eeks. Great way to enjoy a nice ride. How she gets well quickly and enjoys her injury - red wine helps there

Richard

The Smokester

Not good news but relieved to hear the prognosis is good. My best wishes to your wife for her speedy recovery.

eldenh

Sorry about her injury. When I had a broken rib, the most painful thing was getting out of bed. I was able to rig a rope above my bed that allowed me to rise by usig my hands rather than my abdominal muscles.

Motorad

Hope your wife heals soon. I only saw two trikes ridden at the Blue Water Ramble last week. One gentleman on a low rider, and powering his crankset with his arms. Another gentleman with a regular-height top tube with apparently three 700C wheels, and powering his crankset with left leg only (right leg paralysed). Both rode their trikes straight and narrow.

The boob that caused your wife to wreck should be banned from riding his trike in group rides until he learns how to ride.

taxi777

Man that is my worst nightmare. My wife is a good rider but, somewhat oblivious to general traffic rules, and she's done some stuff that stopped my heart for a sec. She never drove and we live in the city with so much traffic, and lately she's discovered she loves going fast downhill. One day we we're going down a big hill and I always tell her to take her time and I'll meet her at the bottom. Well I'm to the bottom and my max spd is 43..I glance back and she's right on my wheel! I think I've created a monster. I'm not Mr. Macho, or trying to keep her down, but If she ever crashed I would absolutely Freak Out! Only because I care for her so much. Love is a two edged sword.
Pete

SaiKaiTai

That sounds just awful. I full-body slammed a phone pole many years ago as a kid. I never knew if I broke anything but it just hurt like the dickens. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Oh, and it's "had rung" NOT "had rang"
We're all old enough to know better.
This is my crusade.

jim p

Your wife is tough. If I broke a rib my ride would be over. I hope she heals up fast.

One of my fishing buddys decided that he wanted to ride some. I gave him a bike and he had been riding about two weeks. He called me and wanted to go riding. I met him and we were riding along at about 10 mph. This car comes along and gets all the way over into the other lane but my friend runs off the side of the road. I think that he crashed trying to get back on the road but it happened so quickly that he does not know exactly how he crashed. He broke 3 ribs and since he is 72 years old I don't know if he will ever ride anymore. After he heals up in a few months I may ask if he wants to go ride in the park where there are few to no cars.

Bud Bent

Dang, sorry to hear this. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for her.

jwbnyc

Sorry to hear it.

Wishing her well.

LynnH

Hope she is better today, and everyday forward!

berts

Instinctive reactions often over-ride controlled pre-meditated responses under conditions of stress. After many years of riding and racing, near crashes and several crashes which I managed to come out unscathed, I recently rode off a high shoulder on a major highway. Whatever was going through my mind at the moment of leaving the road (probably minimize bike damage), I did the same thing your wife did, i.e., tried to come back to the road with similar results - broken femur and hand. All this happened in a span of about 1-2 seconds - I was going about 25 mph - and looking back at my instinctive response even during the time of impact, which set the cascade of events leading to the crash, I realized there was a better alternative - but too late.
Anyway thank god it was only a broken rib,
Here's wishing a speedy and full recovery

Artkansas 

Ouch! I hope she feels better soon.

hoss10

I broke two ribs the day before a week long tour. The good news is I was able to do the tour, so maybe your wife can ride sooner then should thinks. The bad news, it's been 12 weeks and it still hurts when I lay down. I hope she feels better.