First 'OFF' - Ouch!

pjh

Well I suppose it had to happen at some point

Minding my own business this morning turning a sharp left hand corner and probably only doing 10-12 mph .... then BANG .... I was face down on the tarmac!

I can only guess that I must have hit a slippy patch on the road without realising.

Picked myself up gingerly just in case anything was broken (on me) to find a dirty great hole in my winter tights and a whopper of a gash on my left knee (and what looks like a busted right thumb too )

What's really annoyed me though is the damage to the bike (damaged bar (tape and carbon beneath it), grazed/gashed left and right hand gear/break levers, damaged left pedal and scraped skewers .... damn, blast .... bu**ger!

Took the bike to the LBS this afternoon for them to check it over for any hidden damage that I haven't spotted ... but it's sure looking like an insurance claim.

huggy

I fell off today too, a fast corner, 25 mph + and misjudged it, hit a patch of mud and went straight into this muddy bank full of stingers. Luckily got off with a stung leg and a shifter full of mud but it put me off for the rest of the ride, I'm still a bit unsure of hills now.

fossyant

Ouch - happens to us all. Unless they are badly damaged, I'd continue to use them - a few scratches show it's been used - or down grade the components to another bike ?

SkyBlueKangaroo

I've got every sympathy for you pjh. I took delivery of my first road bike on Wednesday and took it out on its maiden spin yesterday. Roads still a bit greasy from the rain on Thursday.

About 10 miles in, turning right, suddenly (and there really is no warning is there?) I'm dumped on the tarmac. When I examined damage to bike, it was a scuffed right pedal. I must have had me foot down and clipped the road. Ground clearance is so much lower compared to my MTB. Lesson number one learned - ride at quarter past nine going around corners.

Another 5 miles further on, and I'm going left round a bend with a bit of adverse camber, smack I'm on the floor again with a car up my a*se and an oncoming lorry stopping to ask if I'm alright. Definitely a slippy patch tumbled me this time. Lesson number two - gently does it around any bend in the wet.

I think "I've had enough, here I am 39 years old and I can't ride a bike without falling off!"

A grands worth of new Focus Cayo already scuffed, and I've another 20 miles planned. Dejected, I turned round and started to ride home. 2 mins later I thought to myself "B****x, don't let a fall put you off, just ride carefully."

I turned around, finished a 37 mile ride, the furthest I've ever ridden, and felt totally exhilerated that I hadn't given in.

Still p**ssed off about the scuff marks on the shifters on my brand new bike, but as someone already said, shows its been used. I hurt my thumb too, all purple today.

Don't let it put you off.

pjh

certainly won't put me off .. I got straight back on once I'd checked everything seemed to be OK and cycled the remaining 15 miles home ... 39 miles in all took me about 2hrs 30 mins incluing the 10 minutes I was on the ground or recovering etc.

It does shake you though ... especially as it came totally out of the blue! I took it very steady not least because I wasn't convinced the bike was completely OK.

Should hear back from the LBS on Monday with some luck and then it'll be decision time as to whether to claim or not.

I take various people's point about these knocks/scrapes 'showing it's been used' but I spent £1600 just a few months ago ... and not sure I want it all beaten up ... just yet

If it was 5 years old and I spent £500 in the first place ... I think I'd be more relaxed about the knocks and scrapes (hope that doesn't come across as snobby ... it's just that I'm proud of my bike and I don't want to lose that by letting it get scruffy).

If I can afford it later this year I'm gonna look for a cheap winter bike so this doesn't happen again (hopefully )

feel

Having spent 25 years on motorbikes i can't help but spend all my time looking for diesel spills or the quality of the road surface. I also won't ride in the morning if there has been a heavy frost and long since decided that discretion is the better part of valour and so will use brakes going down hill :oops:

Looks like tomorrow will now be my first off

Saturn

Bad luck to all with scuffed bikes, bodies and kit.

SkyBlueKangaroo wrote:

Lesson number one learned - ride at quarter past nine going around corners.

Personally I prefer to have my outside foot at the bottom and push down on it.