I have not damaged a bike in a crash since high school commuting. I bent a fork, tacoed a wheel, and various other damage in 1975.

Today, I was pulling a Bikes At Work trailer with four bikes on it and overcooked a turn. I was leaning into a left turn and the 4 top-heavy bikes flipped the trailer to the right. Almost an instant stop for trailer and bike. Not so instant for me tho. I was pedaling in sneakers because I didn't have far to go (but was wearing helmet and gloves) so I was not clipped in and therefore free to fly. And fly I did landing on the pavement in a fine 5-point landing...2 knees, 2 elbows, and a chin. Plus a nice contusion inside my right calf muscle where the bar end tried to give a nice piercing. My chin is barely nicked. I remember feeling it hit the ground, but could not see the mark until hours later. By the looks of my injuries I must have hit the ground at a really low speed - like a belly flop into a pool minus the water.

I am remarkably good and pedaled the rig three more blocks no problem. Bent my bars, tweaked my front brake, and have the frame and fork being inspected at the LBS where I was taking the 4 bikes for their rental fleet.

Attachment 147531

The road rash if fairly minor but my calf needed rest, ice, compression, and elevation. And some anti-inflammatory/pain med. After about 20 minutes of ice and an hour lying on the floor with my leg elevated (and the meds kicking in fully) I managed to hobble through the last 3 hours of my day.

I feel pretty good after a shower and some more ice and elevation. About bed time now. Should be nice and stiff come morning. I had a bud drive me home and will be driving me to work tomorrow. I have Sat and Sunday off, so I can lay around the house if need be.

(If you want to see what the trailer hauling bikes looks like, here is a vid from last year).

https://vimeo.com/4559175

Ouch! That smarts! Glad your more or less intact.

Any crash that can be tended to with my limited onboard first aid kit is a good crash. That and some ice and an ace bandage from the corner market.

Ouch man! Take very good care of that calf. Get well soon.

Wince. Heal up!

volatile!

Joey, great videos. I remember watching quite a few of them a few years back. I remember one where you were beating the same car to each light. Beautiful City you live in.

Mind if I ask what brand fenders those are. Love the Hawaiian style pattern on it. Same as they plaster on the sides of the Honda Metro II scooters a few years back.

Electra makes them for their Townie line of bikes. They fit on the Trucker perfectly.

Glad you weren't too badly hurt; sounds like a nasty spill...

That's what she said...

Awesome! I rock that bar tape on my green tourer, too. Thick and Zesty for the win.


Heal up fast.

Never seen handlebars bent like that before. Glad you're relatively okay.

I suppose this week was catch up for a couple of us. I also had my first "crash". Number 3 son went down in front of me and I tried to ride over his fallen bike. He looked up to see me at the apex of my somersault going over the handlebars.

If nothing else, our crashes are conversation starters, and we are both here to talk about them.

video blooper was shades of things to come... :-) need bumper sticker.... Wide Turns....

Ouch!

Those Bikes at Work trailers certainly have minds of their own. So far the worst I've done is to knick my shin with 200 lbs of trailer mass when I was starting up.

OUCH!!

I feel your pain- I really did- as I read that post. I'm still wincing.

Ouch bud!

I like the floral fender

Were you ever an EMT? Where did you pick up the RICE acronym? I'm sure its common but that's where i first heard it.

It is pretty common, now it's PRICES with Protection and Support PRN.

And glad you're OK enough to post about it here.

I'm disappointed, Joey. I expected to hear how you got smacked by running a red light.





No, actually, I'm glad it was something like this. If you had been riding your normal way and your normal speed and wrecked, we wouldn't be talking to you right now.

Get better soon, buddy!

Human body has a tendency to heal itself. Isn't that great???

Glad you're mostly OK.

it's a shame you didn't get it on film. that would have made a killer "check THIS out.." thing to show unsuspecting people haha

yeesh, you showed that bar who's boss, didn't you?

Me neither. I was pretty surprised to see that actually. The rest of the bike checked out OK. My LBS checked the frame and fork alignment. Just the bars are dead although we pulled the bar back in shape for fun and it refused to break! I will not ride it that way. Got trucked home tonight with the bike by a bud. I actually rode a bike today about 5 blocks for an errand with no prob.

BTW...made it through 10 hours of work on my feet today with some grimacing. One shoulder took a nice strain when my elbow hit, and that shoulder was already not very good from old sports injuries. At least I didn't hurt the good shoulder too. Calf is not bad. Bumped my skinned knees and elbows continually throughout the day. No biggie. Very happy to not need stitching or bones set. Did not take pain meds today. Might take some at bed time.

Anyway, that's about it. Thanks for all the good wishes. Gonna take the weekend off from bikes, then back on a spare bike Monday.

Cheers

What took down your son? Link?

Yeah. Glad to be typing. Usually my hands/fingers get damaged in crashes, but not this time thankfully.

Well, the weather should turn out to be horrible for tomorrow so you'll have some guilt-free relaxation.