About two weeks ago I read a statistic that stated, on average, a roadie crashes once every 4k miles. On my cool down last Monday, on a rain slick perimeter road at my condo, I went down...hard.

THE SCENARIO:
I was going 10 to 12 mph (down from about 20 mph 75 yds earlier) into a 90 degree turn and I (later realized) woke up on the pavement with a very concerned neighbor talking to me and calling 911. She had been in her car and watched me fall. I had landed on my left shoulder, left hip and hit my helmeted head on the left side. The EMTs came and checked my vitals, asked if I wanted to go to the hospital (I declined), and left. I got back on my bike and pedaled about 150 yds to my home.

FOLLOW-UP
When I got home, I Googled head injury while my wife got a close friend who is a recently retired doctor on the phone. My wife and I performed a DIY neurological exam and declared me fit for service. Well, in all honesty, I declared myself fit for service; my wife wanted to take me to the ER.

DAMAGE

• My Giro helmet had a minor scuff mark in the left temple area and the foam behind the scuff had a single crack all the way through the foam.
• My left shoulder and left side of my neck hurt like hell.
• My left hip hurt and had a minor abrasion.
• There was a minor 3" cut on my left knee.
• A 1" x 1" abrasion under my left eye.
• A minor cut in my left eyebrow.
• Some marks on my (NEW!!) Florida Freewheelers jersey

DISCUSSION
In doing the after action review (hey, I am an engineer and a retired Naval Officer ), I found a couple of points very interesting.

• I have NO recollection of an impending crash or the actual crash process. This happened FAST!
• I had no road rash.
• There was no real damage to the bike. Further inspection found that the only indication that the bike went down was some road grime on the outside of the white bar tape on the left drop and the left left brifter was rotated inboard slightly.

By the way, and I think this is important, I really did not comprehend that I had been unconscious until several hours later when I was mulling over the accident.

REPAIRS
I iced down all of the hurting areas every couple of hours for the rest of the day and started taking ibuprofen at 1 x 600 mg every 6 hours. Straightened out the brifter and thoroughly inspected the bike. Monitored my neuro signs for 36 hours and bought a new helmet. Because of the injury to my left side, I stayed off the bike for three days. Each day of R & R I felt significantly better than the day before. In general I heal quickly and this was no exception.

CONCLUSIONS
I was very, very lucky! I discussed this all with a former Masters racer and his take is that, in light of the injuries and lack of damage to the bike, the wheels went out from under me. No sliding, skidding, swerving, etc. They simply lost traction and went to the right and the bike and I went left...hard and fast. The bike/rider system rotated around the longitudinal center of gravity which I approximate is the top tube of the bike. My left hip, shoulder and the left side of my head absorbed all of the energy of the fall. The normal mode of energy dissipation by sliding on the road did not occur.

In retrospect, I should have gone to the ER for a check up. Head injuries are not insignificant events.

Did I mention that I was very, very lucky?

Ride safe!!
Charlie