Oddly, last September 7, I had a fall at close to 0 mph, which probably wouldn't have happened except I was clipped in, and I did sustain a compound fracture.

I'm still not quite sure how the fracture happened. I was making a slow tight U-turn, I didn't see the gravel in the middle of the intersection, and the bike started sliding. I had been using the SPD's for only about 3 months, I was fine at unclipping except when needing to get out quickly and unexpectedly, which, unfortunately, was happening here. I quickly tried to get my left foot out to prevent the fall but realized it wasn't happening, the fall to the left was inevitable. I thought, "Don't stick your arm out and break something." I hit the left shoulder OK. Not quite sure what happened after my left shoulder hit. The next thing I knew, my left knee slammed into the pavement, and my face was headed for the pavement. I got my left hand out to keep any part of the face from hitting pavement except a chin bump. I got up, checked everything out. The kneecap would clearly be bruised but otherwise OK, the left hand was protected by the glove from road rash, my chin wasn't bleeding and my jaw seemed fine and unbroken. I got back on the bike.

About a quarter mile down the road, I realized I couldn't straighten the right pinkie. I realized there was throbbing pain on the side of the right hand. Stopped at a stop light, it was too painful to try to remove the glove to check on the hand, so I went home to either cut off or remove slowly. Slow removal worked, but the right hand was obviously deformed and broken. I didn't notice the hole in the back of the glove and the bloody spot where the bone from the 5th metacarpal had pierced not only my skin but the glove (although the bone did go back inside the skin), but admired the glove a few days after the emergency surgery. The fracture being compound was in some ways a blessing, I got to have surgery right away instead of waiting until it could be scheduled on a weekday 2-4 days later.

10 weeks later, I was back on the bike, and now I'm riding farther than ever, in spite of the compound fracture from the fall.

I still have trouble getting unclipped when needing to get out quickly and unexpectedly, but so far, no further falls as a result. Next time I have a slow speed fall, instead of just thinking about not sticking a hand out, I'm thinking about not letting go of the handlebars.