Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 12,727
Likes: 2,105
From: Madison, WI
Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
Yesterday I was out for an exercise ride. I stayed upright but someone else did not.
To make a really long story as short as I can, a gal was on on her road bike fitted with aero bars (time trial bars? triathlon bars?) and crashed. A pedestrian that observed it from a distance said her bike was shaking side to side and then she crashed. Sounded like high speed shimmy to me, and she was on a straight segment of the bike trail so I suspect but do not know that she was using the aero bars at the time.
When I arrived, the pedestrian couple and someone on an e-trike had already stopped, started first aid, 911 was already called and someone was on a cell with her family, so she was sufficiently aware to give someone a phone number to call. Ambulance arrived a few minutes later, her first question to the ambulance crew was - am I going to die? She was really scrapped up but I saw no evidence of broken bones, I assume she had been wearing her helmet that appeared to be intact. One of the aero bars on her bike was bent, I suspected that the bike landed on the bar and bent it.
And my first thought was that I was really happy to have a tag on my wrist watch band with my name with middle initial, birthdate, and in-case-of-emergency phone number.
Seeing that yesterday reminded me that about a decade ago I had been out on an exercise ride, a gal on a road bike had crashed. I was not the first one there, 911 had been called already, the victim was still unconscious. It was on a seldom used road, a few cars stopped after I got there, and I picked up her bike to move it out of the middle of the intersection so the ambulance would have room when it arrived. The bike would not roll. She had hung a pair of tennis shoes from the handlebar by the laces and one shoe got caught in the spokes and locked up her front wheel. I have no idea what speed she was going on her skinny tire road bike, but I suspect it was pretty fast before she went over the handlebars.
These things happen. [MENTION=423088]gauvins[/MENTION], thanks again for starting this thread. I had never thought of getting an ID to carry on my person when biking, but this thread convinced me it was a good idea, which I was reminded of again yesterday. Yesterday the victim was conscious, but that is not always the case.