KD5NRH

Yup, that's me.

The garage door opener snagged on my pocket while I was getting it out, and I started to turn into the driveway while I was looking at the pocket. Unfortunately, I turned my entire upper body to look, and pushed the left handlebar farther away when I did that.

I was wearing gloves, and took almost the entire impact on my palms, so the only road rash is a very light bit on my left forearm where I rolled away from the bike, but my palms are bruised, my right wrist is sore, and there's a 3" bruise on my left thigh where I caught the bars as I went over. The bike came through a bit better, with the only real damage being to the $12 set of barends. The left one bent a bit, and the right one is just scuffed.

On the plus side, I got back on the bike about an hour later and rode 9 more miles that night, and 8 last night without any real pain. The handlebars just miss the bruises on my hands, and the wrist doesn't hurt with a proper grip on the bars.

Chris516

I am glad you are ok.

limeylew

I give you a big ATTABOY for being man enough to 'fess up to this. :-)

Glad you weren't badly injured.

bluefoxicy

Yes, that sounds like a rather poor strategy.

I find that climbing off my bike can be a little annoying, since I can barely reach the ground. The way I dismount is to bring my speed down to just under 3mph--2.5 is too slow, 3.2 is too fast. I make sure I'm clicked out, then grab the front brake. If it feels good (assessment time: 1/10 of 1 second), I lift my elbows a bit to release the bracing, which jumps me off the seat. Too fast and I slam into the handlebars; way too fast and the bike flips over its head. Too slow and I don't get a good jump, which is a little annoying since I wind up just sitting on the nose of the seat.

With a little practice, you can go for around 4-4.25mph and--if you lurch forward to bring your body up over the handles--do a handstand on your handlebars, and flip over; but usually the bike leaves the ground and slams into you, even if you pull it off; more often it comes out from under you on the way over, depositing you head first into the ground. Not recommended unless you're Jesus.

genec

How to dismount... I get a kick out of coming to a stop, planting one foot and then swinging the other leg over the handlebars. For some reason I can only do this if I plant the left foot, and swing the right leg up and over the bars.

It takes a bit of practice, and you should be well stretched before you try.

Yeah I know, doesn't count without video.

Digital_Cowboy

Glad to hear that ya weren't too badly hurt, and also glad to see that ya got back up on "the horse" as it were and "hit the bricks."

Whatever works, works, I routinely do a rolling dismount at about 10 - 15MPH. And so far (both knocks wood & fingers crossed) so far I have NOT done a faceplant, yet. And yes, I know that some day I will probably end up doing a faceplant dismounting as I do.

bhop

Sweet! I had a similar dismount this morning thanks to my clipless pedals.

Unreqistered

The only way is Kevin's way

Doohickie

dumbass!

CB HI

You attempt a near endo to dismount?
That sounds like a rather poor strategy.

rando

Oops-- glad you are OK! on dismounting, I have found stopping first to be an effective strategy.

rydabent

Ah but on a LWB bent all you would have had to have done is braked and put your feet down.

bluefoxicy

It was intended to be a joke, although the numbers are real-- I do this sometimes. I don't, however, do front flips over the handlebars

The problem is now I can't tell if some of the responses to this were sarcastic or serious.. rolling dismount at 10mph?

oldster

DIT DA DIT.....
Bud

Digital_Cowboy

Yep, I do it so often that I don't think about it. Such as when I'm going to the grocery store I'll dismount before I reach the end of the sidewalk while in the driveway and stand on the left pedal as I swing around to lock my bike up to the bike rack. The same with going into PetSmart, I'll pull up to the stop sign in front of the store in the parking lot start unclipping and again stand on the left pedal just before I'm ready to enter the store.

KD5NRH

Normally, since I use toeclips on this bike, I pull the left foot out and let the pedal roll over just as I start up the driveway, then pull the right foot out, swing the leg over and stand on the left pedal for the last couple feet as the slope stops the bike. Then it's a gentle step off and walk the bike between the cars into the garage.

Seems I may have clenched my teeth too hard though; one that has been cracked for a while finished breaking off, got abscessed, and has been bugging the heck out of me all weekend. The swelling is going down with antibiotics, and it's finally to the point where the pain isn't as distracting as the side effects of hydrocodone, so I've ditched the painkillers for now. Guess I'll have to confront my phobia of dentists soon, though, as the regular docs can only do so much.

oldster

After considering the pic, I would guess you figured out a way to operate bicycle/mobile on HF,and the loading coil for 75M caused your off balance situation...HI, HI...
Bud (a W0)...

dougmc

How is it that you have a picture of this? Video camera recording for security?

Digital_Cowboy

That's a good question.

BSB

A real ham would do 80M CW.

Ever heard of N8MX?

oldster

Yea I think there was a writeup in QST about that...
Bud

KD5NRH

I have two cameras on the driveway since we had an attempted vehicle breakin shortly after we moved into town, and one each on the front and back porch after some neighbors ran off a guy trying to steal their brand new riding mower. With the price of network-connected 4-camera systems these days at around $300, it's handy to have.

KD5NRH

I've been really tempted to try to set up a 6m SSB rig for the bike. The groundwave range should be just about right for any of the 100k loop rides that are so popular in the area, and since we do communications for all the rides anyway, I could be a bit more effective mobile station, and a more efficient way to ride drag than the guys with their Harleys and or full-size trucks idling along for hours behind the slowest guy in the bunch.

oldster

not sure how your area is for 2M ,but since we have mtns here, 2m repeaters would be the best, (and lightest/smallest)..
Bud

KD5NRH

The local club has a trailer-mounted 70cm repeater and a 2m repeater on a tower in town. The 2m has great coverage for 10W mobiles in three counties, but not so much for any rig I'd want to put on a bike. Location tends to be a problem with the 70cm one; it's usually near the start/finish line rather than somewhere near the center of the geographic region defined by the course.