Glad you're getting better. Broken wrists suuuck, especially your dominant one. Did you ever figure out what was up with the derailleur?

Not really. It might have been me. Not sure. But it seems like getting that shifter to work correctly requires the full travel on the shift lever. 90% isn't enough to effect a shift. I have to hit the end of travel.

None of my other bikes are quite so particular.

This place.

I wouldn't call the falls from not being able to unclip "crashes". They are just falling over (at a stop, or near-stop). I wouldn't call it a crash unless it was from riding - like sliding out or hitting something. But falling over is just falling over.

Maybe a GoFundMe campaign for training wheels is needed.

Too late. Even the usual gatekeepers have moved on.

From the 5-years I lived and biked in Vegas (primarily on the west side of the city, but also up to Mesquite), I absolutely agree with your description of what a Vegas ditch is like. Sorry about you accident, but welcome back.

Let's turn this into bold controversial statement--sand on roads is bad.

That kind of crash can happen to anyone going a decent speed. I'm in New England, much of my attention around April or so is trained on avoiding patches of dry sand on the road. I've never ridden in Nevada, but that's gotta be full time there.

VegasJen, welcome back! Are you all done with clinicals and ready to graduate, or will you have more next term?

Also FWIW, I don't know of many/any ditches that are soft and good to fall into. They're designed to move water away from the roadway, which washes away anything besides rocks and hard clay.

It can be prevalent in certain areas of S. Jersey, especially in parts of the Pine Barrens. I will never forget being on a charity ride when a young, inexperienced rider rode through a sand pile on the side of the road. Not even a minute after I cautioned him not to do that, he did it again. He slid out into the road. I don't remember him falling, but a woman trying to avoid hitting him did. Really bad road rash, and she was pissed as hell at him.

Let's be fair. She explained that it was only one real crash, and three incidents where she fell over while unclipping. Everybody falls over the first time they ride with clipless pedals.

It's actually a lot worse after rains. You guys back east probably see rain as washing the roads off. Out here, a good rain ends up flowing across roads/bike paths and dragging sand with it. That's what happened in this particular case. We had a good rain a couple weeks before and the city hardly ever sweeps bike paths so that crap stays there for weeks or months. 23c tires slide right through it.

And let's be fair to you--you made a seemingly legitimate observation based on a misunderstanding of what she wrote and withdrew it after she clarified that there really weren't 7 crashes in a couple months, while implying someone needs training wheels is just a pretty nasty insult.

Here, when the sand is wet, it's not really a problem. They dump the stuff on the streets in winter to improve traction. It's after everything thaws and dries out that the stuff is a lubricant.

We've got one corner a few miles up the road where the small gravel/dirt/sand washes out in the road. When the local century went that way, they warned everyone at the start, warned everyone with painted notes on the road approaching the corner, and somebody fell there every year. I figuratively tiptoe around the corner every time I ride up there, slow way down, approach it wide, stay nearly vertical. Darn shame, because it's at the bottom of one nice hill and the start of a hill going up the road you're trying to turn onto and climb up.

Uh oh, now you really stepped in it ...

When I first switched over to a "real" bike after years of Kmart/Walmart specials, it was my first experience with 23c tires. I was stunned at exactly how worthless 23c tires are for anything but reasonably well maintained paved roads. And especially now, after a couple years of experience, nothing makes me pucker more than seeing sand or water crossing an upcoming turn.

What did I do?

You mentioned 23mm tires. The gates have been thrown open ...

Oh, I figured it was because she said '23c' instead of '23mm'.

I cant keep up.

And I was working so hard to look the other way.

I say "23c" because that's what's printed on the tires. I assumed it was synonymous with 23mm. Is there a difference. And for the record, the only reason I'm still running those tires is because that's what came on my bikes. When they wear out, and by that I mean cord showing, I'll try a 25 or 28c.

23's keep it interesting...esp in the dirt/sand and/or rain but tend to find 25's and 28's boring riding. sticking with the 23's.

I’ve gone from 23s to 25s and now I feel like such a duffer.

.

It's unfortunate that tire sizes are printed that way - in this case 700X23C. Because the "C" refers to the rim size - 700C - not the tire size which is 23mm. The C attached to the tire size is really meaningless, and the tire size really is 700CX23. I have no idea why this is the conventional nomenclature on tires. A pet peeve of mine, but so ubiquitous nowadays (calling a tire size 23C, 25C, 28C,etc) that I just have to bite my tongue. We pedants will usually reply to such grievous errors by simply replacing 23C with 23mm rather than ***** about it.

But people know what you mean when you write 23C, meaning 23mm.