5th consecutive commute and crash
 

I finally made the commute all 5 days and while I had slowed down by the end of the week, I was doing OK. It really seemed like the county was out to make sure I could not succeed between their poor maintenance of the gravel roads and fresh chip seal on the paved ones, it was quite the challenge.

Well on the way in on Friday, I hit about 3" of gravel around a corner. Not something you expect on a paved road. Fortunately, I was already going considerably slower than usual due to the chip seal. Even so, I went down hard and cracked a rib and ended up with 8 stitches on my knee and elbow. The bike's fine and only needed to have the handle bars straightened out and the chain put back on.

After the crash, I opened my backpack to get my cell and call for a rescue only to find no cell phone. Figuring I was a bone head and forgot it, I rode the next 10 miles (700" climb and several miles of poorly maintained gravel) to get to work. After showering, I realized that the wounds would need more than a simple cleaning, so I had a co worker take me to the ER.

Turns out, I did take my cell phone, it just popped out of the backpack when I crashed.

The doctor cleared me to get back on the bike as soon as it does not hurt too much to do so.

So, I have made it IN all 5 days, but not in and back.

Sorry to hear about your crash. Gravel can be a real pain for sure, no pun intended. I can't believe I'm saying this but gravel and twigs concern me more than motorists. I feel like I do a really good job of watching the behavior of motorists, but random stuff in the street (like the busted car windshield that hasn't been cleaned up for 2 weeks on this main road) really concern me.

Good luck with recovery!

Get well soon and congrats on getting to work by bicycle 5 days in a row!

Props for taking the initiative and hanging in there after a nasty crash. As time goes by (and with training) you'll become more proficient at monitoring your surroundings, being aware of distant road conditions and formulating various escape routes and how to react to a multitude of possible scenarios that may require you to respond quickly.

I've already had a lot of practice with my surroundings and I have grown much more cautious over the last year with a couple of close calls. I have a better idea of what different amounts of gravel do to the conditions and I what my bike can and can't do. I think the long week of commuting did dull my edge a bit, but that section of road looked like asphalt even when I went back to look for my phone.

I now know what chip sealing does to the corners, so I'm unlikely to get into the same trouble again, but some things really do take you by surprise.

LOL! I know what you mean. I'm usually on red alert when riding... I monitor what's behind me and plan an escape in case I get bum-rushed by a car... at the same time I monitor cars parked to my right and anticipate that one of them may pull out at any time and how I should respond... also look for debris in the road as far as I can see. I'm constantly scanning my surroundings and anticipating the worst and what my reaction would be. Yet a few years ago I was on an unfamiliar MUP going at a pretty good clip. It was early in the morning so nobody was around. I let my guard down and had my head in the clouds until I realized that the path I was on was about to follow a couple of dozen concrete steps to the path below. I went airborne. I was lucky to have been wearing a loaded back pack that cushioned my back when it hit the concrete steps midway down. A couple of scrapes was all I got... I was lucky. I mounted my bike and continued to ride but went back into red alert mode from that point on.

Your chances of avoiding accidents is increased if you stay alert but all that is needed is a momentary lapse to get bitten.

Sorry to hear about your crash and glad you weren't hurt too bad :-( Road conditions can be deceptive. I avoid dirt/sand like the plague. Wet/water is also challenging. Congrats on the 5 day straight commuting, though. You are off to a good start there. Don't forget to take days off. I often take Wednesday off and then I am ready for a weekend ride instead of needing both Saturday and Sunday to recover.

What is chip seal? Are you on skinny tires? Would some wider tires hep with nasty roads?

Chip seal is when a layer of oil is placed on top of the existing paved road and gravel is applied to the top. After a couple of days, you get a new surface repairing small issues that were on the old road. Not all the gravel sticks (and our county is particularly good at putting too much gravel everywhere) so excess gravel can pile up places.

I'm on a mountain bike and have 2" tires on at the moment. I don't think much of anything would have helped hitting 3" deep gravel while turning especially if it looks like asphalt.

are you guy who does the tour de france commute daily?

I'm pretty sure I'm not the longest commute on this forum, but I do have a 36 mile round trip commute about 1/2 gravel and lots of hills.

yeah, with the large elevation gain as well, right?

It has some good climbs. After the crash, I still had a 700' climb to do to get in to work. Amazing how much an adrenalin rush can help, I hardly felt that climb on Friday.

i'm quite impressed with your progress (i read your first thread about possibly commuting).

good luck with the healing and keep it up as long as possible :D

Unfortunately, it seems like cash-strapped municipalities are moving more and more to chip-and-seal instead of regular asphalt or concrete paving. We have major thorofares here in St. Louis that look like County Route HH, and they stay dangerous for cycling for many weeks after the initial treatment.
Also, those sticky pebbles can be really annoying going through a relatively close fender clearance.
I have pointed out the irony to City Hall, which otherwise is giving lots of lip service to promoting bicycle commuting.

Well I'm riding a country route, so the chip seal actually makes some sense. Not that riding on it is any fun and, as I found out, it's not particularly safe.

The sticky rocks through the fender were only bad the first day, climbing a hill with the rocks slowing me down was no fun at all.

What gets me about the local road maintenance is their excessive use of gravel on highly travelled roads. That turns into a washboard mess within a couple of days and it takes them weeks to smooth it out and when they do the ADD MORE GRAVEL! Someone should make the guys maintaining the roads ride bikes down them for a couple of weeks, it would probably give them some new insight.

wow thanks for sharing. you've earned your first tatoo