One Slip and I was Gone...

[rdp_au]

I commute twice a week from Hornsby to Sydney Olympic Park. Part of the route involves cutting through Symons Reserve in Eastwood via a short shared bike path. This has a few twists and blind turns, so I normally traverse it pretty slowly. Yesterday evening I left work early in an (unsuccessful) attempt to dodge some heavy rain that was fast approaching. Got quite wet, but fortunately the rain had nearly stopped by the time I’d reached Eastwood although the roads were now very wet. The path through the reserve was covered with leaves and flower petals (I think you might be able to guess what’s coming next).. Carefully picking my way along a fairly level and quite straight section of the track and without warning, the front wheel washed out and I was down. One minute I was pootling along, the next I was sliding towards a fencepost. Thankfully didn’t hit it and ended up rolling under the fence onto the (very muddy) grass. Picked myself up and found I’d made a surprisingly generous donation to the Road Rash God. Big scrape on my knee and another on my hip, even though there was no damage to my knicks. Bike was OK, with just the handlebars knocked slightly askew and a tear in the seat. Went back and checked where I’d fallen and found that the surface wasn’t exceptionally slippery. I suspect I’d clipped a twig which skipped the front wheel a little sideways and that was enough for it to lose traction completely.

I was a mess, covered in mud and blood, but felt fine due the influence of adrenaline, so decided to keep going. Rode another 5km or so before realising that I was actually feeling pretty ropey. Made a diversion to Epping station and caught the train home. Must have looked quite a sight.

Pretty uncomfortable overnight, but felt reasonably OK this morning, so rode in again. Picked my way very carefully through the reserve and arrived at work without incident. Bl&&dy sore now though.

No real moral to this tale, just wanted to share my pain……

Watch out for wet roads…. Wear gloves (bruised thumb, but no skin lost)

Rds,

David

[Max]

Ack!! Heal quickly, mate.

Max

[Boognoss]

Ack!! Heal quickly, mate.

Max

+1.

And it's amazing how much skin you can take of under knicks that sustain no noticeable damage isn't it? Weird.

[a]

Been there, done that. My worst morning on the bike. 5 minutes into the ride - a car reversed into me. I went down - but no real damage done - so I continued. Them did the slip on the wet jackaranda petals on the shared path. Some very nice road rash on the hip through the undamaged nicks. Gloves were trashed (you guys who ride withot gloves are nuts BTW). The salt bath on returning home was unpleasant.....Have only ridden my roadie on the road since...

[steambao]

Friday the 13th is taking its toll
Hope u recover fast mate!

[brauluver]

Friday the 13th is taking its toll
Hope u recover fast mate!

except OP's accident happened on the 11th


Hope you heal rapidly

[utopia]

Friday 13thstikes. Ploughed into a car today and wrecked my front wheel. A car was turning from the opposite direction into a a side street near a busy intersection in Essendon, some cars let him through and I was riding in the bike lane and crashed into the front corner of the car. I was spewing, the car had a small dent which can be easily popped back, but my wheel was really bent up as I would have been going relatively fast and had no time to stop.

Had a few scratches and bruises and the handle bar bit my gut as I flew over the front of the car. The driver agreed to pay for a new wheel and I managed to limp my way back home after going to the nearby LBS. The rest of the bike seemed ok considering it was a big hit, it was not a very nice experience.

[silkishuge]

good to see you back on the bike so soon. I recently had a accident as well but will try to get some kms tomorrow morning.

J

[rhancock]

I slipped on a wet pavement about a month ago, same thing, not that slippery, but just enough to turn the wheel out from under me. I rode home with matching grazes on chin, shoulder, elbow, knee, but its an invisible injury that's plagued me since. Got CT scanned this week and there's a tiny broken bone in my hand.

First fall in decades, and first fall sober since I was a kid!

Hope your injuries heal quickly.

[Mulger bill]

Damn that's not fun, heal quick.

Dunno 'bout the knicks, but I've had 5 stitches in me right forefinger without damaging the gloves.

Shaun

[tinhorn]

On the 12th i was coming down foveaux street in sydney CBD and these cars in front of me were slowing down so i held the front brake coming over the crest and as i went over a manhole cover the front end just fell right beneth me and i had the joy of sliding down the bitumen on foveaux for about 5-10m. Was VERY lucky there was no car behind me at the time as it would have more than likely been my last right if it was the case.

Anyhow, some nice people helped me find a medical center which bulk bills - got a tetanus shot and my wounds bandaged up.

Still healing but these dressings seem to be mixing it up with the scabs making life hell.

[bigfriendlyvegan]

As I was riding out to the spring cycle this year I went very slowly around an >90degree turn, my back wheel hit a pile of gum nut thingies and I ended up on the ground. Banged my knee up pretty bad and walking was a real pain. Fortunately, pedalling was fine and I did 90k more on it that day and a hundred or so in the week after. It took 4 weeks to heal properly and for my average speed to get back up to normal.

Heal quickly,
David

[rdp_au]

Still healing but these dressings seem to be mixing it up with the scabs making life hell.

Ain't that the truth!!!

It's been a while since I last did this to myself, and I'd forgotten that healing road rash gets a lot more painful before it gets better...

Rds,

David
Still limping and sleeping on one side only..