dennisa

Decided to take a decent ride on my birthday today. I gave myself a lovely present.

stuck in the rain + wet roads + Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Slicks + cornering = road rash

Kinda caught me off guard, was taking slow speed turn after a stop and the rear just slid out from under me. Needless to say I've got a pretty good case of road rash and amazingly enough other than a slight scuff on the brifter, looks like I'm going to need to learn how to wrap bar tape sooner than later.

So any advice on road rash treatment and any good links to bar tape wrapping

Thanks in advance
I'll post pics of the bike damage later.

frpax

Wow, happy birthday, huh? Sorry to hear it!

Cean, hydrogen peroxide, neosporin, gauze pad, and tape.

VoodooChi|d

I watch 3 or 4 different youtube videos of people doing what I want to do on my bike before I attempt something new. With bar taping you probably only need to watch 1 or 2. But yeah, youtube is your friend.

ptle

I'd watch some videos on it. You can find some on Youtube.

As for treating road rash, make sure you clean out the area very well. I'd use some hydrogen peroxide and some gauze. Once it starts healing, I would take steps to prevent it from scarring. I've heard Vitamin E oil works well.

Some tips for bar tape wrapping.
Start with good bar tape. I prefer Fizik. Deda is not bad either. Make sure you wrap the right way, which is towards the outside of the bars when the tape going over the bars. When you get to the flats, have it wrap so it goes over the top of the bars towards the front. Be sure you keep tension on the tape at all times. Try to get even spacing. I also like to count how many times I've wrapped the bars to make sure they match.

david_594

If your going to cover the wound use Telfa pads instead of gauze. They won't stick to the healing tissue like gauze will and will avoid pulling off fresh tissue every time you change it.

echappist

tegaderm

damocles1

Scrub it out (yeah, it'll hurt)
Alcohol
Tegaderm

frpax

Tegaderm is new to me. I am old school, though...

RiPHRaPH

equal parts of A & D creamy and Neosporin Ointment. Just wash in shower with soapy water beforehand.
Now that's sensible AND old school.

Grambo

Tegaderm (thanks to Botto for recommending this product in a thread I posted last week). Works amazingly well. I would estimate that it reduces healing time by > 50%. Can leave it on for showering and does not stick to the wound .... much better than gauze.

OldPilot

Sorry about the road rash but Happy Birthday! I hope the day gets better...

crimsonblood

Hydrogen peroxide is not your best choice for an antiseptic as it will actually destroy cells in the same process as it destroys bacterial cells. Clean very well with water, the more pressure you use here the better to help remove debris. An anti-biotic is crucial because not only is it going to prevent infection but it will keep things moist. My experience here is that if you let it dry and as soon as the wound scabs over, the burning and pain really sets in. Hope you heal quick. Have your tetanus shot up to date?

dennisa

Thanks for all the great remedies. My tetanus is good for another 6yrs, so I'm all set there.

Jakedatc

+1.. Hydrogen peroxide is some evil stuff. Straight water or saline is the way to go.. if you need to get rough about it you can probably ask the pharmacy counter for a plastic syringe that will get it to shoot at a higher pressure.

tefla pads or tegaderm is definitely better than gauze.. never had major road rash before but just thinking about changing gauze makes me cringe.

If you haven't done your own tape before do a practice run without pulling the adhesive tape off and get the hang of it then go at it for real. I like to only uncover the adhesive for a few turns at a time so it is a bit easier to handle.

Pilsley

Dude.... Quit it!

damocles1

What, solid advice that's been used for decades?

wens

https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...ebar-tape.html

https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...lustrated.html

eippo1

If your road rash is bigger than a tagaderm thingy, then I second the Telfa pads but recommend Brave Soldier to speed up healing. Good stuff. BTW, as far as cornering in wet, go practice it and get advice on how to do it. Often times people going into corners with too much speed on a wet day and grab more brake than they need to (which should be none) and cause the rear wheel to wash out. You should have braked beforehand and not in the turn. If that's not the case, then perhaps it was conditions and I'll button up.

Val23708

You can tile Tegaderm.

Tegaderm is great though. you can shower with it if you are careful. i don't have much scarring after a nasty race crash that landed me in the hospital.

If your Tegaderm gets full of brown liquid, drain it and/or replace it. Your wounds will heal like 3 times faster than normal.

teterider

Gauze?! Why not tell him to clean with lemon juice and wrap with duct tape.

Tegaderm as prescribed. I found the first one filled with ooze so clean and replace. My second one clearly had liquid under it but not full at all - so you leave it be. It turns out that the ooze our body produces actually heals wounds and fast. New skin grows unbelievable fast in that liquid environment. Get it on fast though, you actually don't want it to dry out.

Oh and as that new skin is growing it will get ichy. It sucks, but when you have scarless fresh skin in only 3-4 days its worth it.

They sell up to around 6x6 in stores I think, but they do make bigger. When all this is healed, have a couple stored away ready for the next time.

jsmonet

pix of the bars? if your tape is just ripped a little, go ghetto and elec tape over it. it's not going to be a big deal until the next time you post a pic of your bike on here.

also, this vid has a great soundtrack. the bars being wrapped aren't half bad either..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKZ_t1nnqgs

FIVE ONE SIX

i'm just curious, does Tegaderm ever expire?

carpediemracing 

I think it does. I can't remember but I was going to order a lot of it, like a roll of it, I want to say $300 or 500 worth. And then I decided not to. I think I saw something about expiration in the documentation. I can't remember and I don't have a package in front of me.

For pain free scrubbing, use that first aid numbing liquid (from my two posts linked up above). Also, push the top down about 3-4 mm, else it'll pop out and most of your bottle will end up down the drain. I know because I did that to THREE bottles of the stuff. I finally shoved the top half way down the neck of the bottle.

After spray, wait about a minute or two. Then scrub. It's amazing stuff. Then Tegaderm. That's also amazing stuff.

cdr