My first proper crash

geebee2

Today I had my first proper crash.

It was pretty stupid.

I drove to Bwlch in the Brecon Beacons, did a ride to Merthyr Tydfil, returning towards Brecon past Pentwyn reservoir on a stony track. On the descent, it was going well. It was the most technical thing I have done, lots of loose rocks, quite steep, and I was feeling pretty pleased. After a while it got a bit easier, and I relaxed, even though it was still a fairly rough stony track.

When riding on the road, or on easy tracks, I quite often rest my hands on top of the bars, instead of hooking the thumb under the bar, to stop my wrists getting stiff / numb.

This is what I did. Big mistake! I must have hit some bump, which dislodged myright hand. My hand slipped forward off the bar, my weight came forward, an instant later I hit something and the bars rotated through 90 degrees, and I went over the bars at about 10mph.

I landed on a load of rocks,and lay on the ground groaning for a couple of minutes.
Luckily no real harm done - lot's of bleeding from one knee and my head, and a few other cuts, but nothing broken.

So, remember to hold onto the handlebars, I don't think I'll forget that again. Doh!

monkey_man_1

lol hope your ok mate, rule 1 when riding a bike, hold the handlebars :P

chrism110

i'm guilty of this to lol always rest my palms on the end of bars think i need to invest in some bar ends hope your ok anyway bud

al2098

I remember riding the 'Gap' at Talybont, Brecon.
Got through the route nice and sweet, even the very technical rocky paths along the road at the end. When I got on the road I relaxed and rounded a bend on the road and a big rut where the road had deteriorated due to rainfall caught my front wheel and I flew at about 30mph. Lucky nothing broken but lessons learned and a new front wheel..

geebee2

chrism110 wrote:

i'm guilty of this to lol always rest my palms on the end of bars think i need to invest in some bar ends hope your ok anyway bud

Yes, I could probably do with some bar ends as well. Have been meaning to look into that, but haven't got round to it.

I'm fine, my knee is a bit stiff and looks a bit of a mess (7 separate cuts), but it's fairly superficial.

What was quite nice is that I stopped in a Morrisons garage in Brecon, and while I was eating a sandwich two different people came up and asked me if I was ok, one offered to take me to hospital, then a third person gave me some alcohol wipes. I assured them I was fine, but I guess I looked a bit of a mess, there was a lot of blood on my knee. I didn't realise at that stage I also had some cuts on my forehead, didn't realise that until I got back to my car and had a look in the mirror.

I'm counting myself pretty lucky to get off so lightly - no damage to bike or my club kit, and just one small hole in the arm of my wind jacket.

Mojo_666

I have to admit is has never occurred to me not to hold my handlebar correctly

having said that my bike came with clear instructions

warpcow

If you have to rest your hands on top to avoid stiff wrists, you should maybe look at your bar layout. Moving the controls around (angling the brake levers up a little more, for example) and maybe new, different shaped, bars, or even grips or gloves, can make a big difference. I recently moved from lockon grips to ESI Chunky foam and my comfort has improved no end.

Though I admit, it tend to rest my hands on smooth transport sections.

cat_with_no_tail

Could have been worse.

I'm currently typing this with a full-length cast on my leg after my last off almost 4 weeks ago. Broke my fibula just below the knee. Got an appointment at the hospital tomorrow too to go over my MRI results and discuss the damage to my ACL and meniscus and see if an op is required.

Just remember, no matter how bad it is, there is always someone worse off. Unless you're dead, and then it dosent really matter anymore lol.

chemicalviking

had my first real crash yesterday, after getting a new mech hanger and indexing the gears i decided to go on a training ride to make sure the new chain and gear cable etc were working ok. on my way down to a tow path there is a small wooden bridge, now me obviously going too fast did not notice that is was soaking wet and the front wheel quickly gave way and i went over the bars. i have two very sore knees, one of which has swelled up to the size of a melon and i cant bend it . will go the docs after the swelling has gone to make sure the knee is ok.

bought some new knee pads today of a smaller profile to wear, you live and learn as they say, bring on winter

jsync

To add to the list of heroes...

I am sat here typing with one hand as after 2 months of bike ownership had not learnt to keep both hands on the bars.

This is especially important when going downhill offroad in the fog at night.

So one operation ater and a new piece of metal in my shoulder I am a little wiser, if only mine had that message on the bars

Wishing you all a quick recovery, race you to the old blokes that should know better pics in mbr!

70\ʹspenguin

Is there a crash and burn thread anywhere on the forums with piccies and such?

delcol

70\'sPenguin wrote:

Is there a crash and burn thread anywhere on the forums with piccies and such?

i'l start here and now.. not piccies but a video well with piccies.....

not my worst but my most expensive crash.. and i had both hands on the bars.. but lack of vision and hardpack dusty trail didint help matters.... it was probably one of my gayest crashes to but you will see the end results....
arrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrDelcol#p/ ... fHoIjRZuoI

cat_with_no_tail

Can't work out the MRI, so can't show the LCL tear, but this is one of the breaks, top of the fibula:



Soon as I work out the other images I'll stick them up.

Will also try to get some pics of my new hardware.

70\ʹspenguin

Dunno what happened - literally nothing in the way - off the bike and next thing im flying into a fallen tree stump. The ambulance people let me take my bike in the ambulance with them as i wouldnt let them leave it! The paramedic even chained it up in the A&E ambulance bays while i got seen too

Broken nose, broken arm and dislocated finger. Finger was pointing right up like delcols, so i snapped it back thinking i was Riggs in Lethal Weapon (i wouldnt recommend it as it fookin killed)

delcol

thats what ppl kept telling me to do just snap it back in and ride.... there was no way i was doing it myself, i wanted it to be xrayed first to make sure it would go back without surgery.....
thankfully it did....

here's another of delcol in action... i was lucky very lucky to walkaway from this one.. well actually ride away from this one cause thats what i did rode out back to the chalet....
i think i may of cracked a rib it was definatly bruised... and hurt like hell.. and the double vision and slight loss of conciousness.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB2cLY3zHzk

70\ʹspenguin

Jesus that looked horrid! Good job you tucked your head at the last second and turned the shoulder!


The doc said it was the best thing i could have done as it reduced the overall damage. However even after snapping it back it was still totally dislocated. You can see in the pic it aint right. The two bones were left parallel to each other O_o. The joint is still swollen and i still cant close it properly.

70\ʹspenguin

Reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLjNzwEULG8

jsync

My turn

delcol

yeah i just thought this is gonna hurt and as my helmet touched the ground i tucked and rolled...

jsync i gues you had shoulder surgery there is that for a fooked clavicle..

i did my clavicle and dislocated my shoulder earlier this year.. lucky for me it never needed surgery...

jsync

Hi delcol,

Yep I snapped the end off it and shoved the rest somewhere above my shoulder just over a week ago. I have an appointment with the consultant tomorrow to find out what they did as they haven't told me yet!

Mental note, when going downhill offroad keep both hands on the bars as there is less chance of going over them. According to endomondo I was doing 16mph at the time so could have been worse, especially as it was dark.

70\ʹspenguin

Thank god thats a surgery scar! Thought you had impaled yourself on something for a moment.

jsync

70\'sPenguin wrote:

Thank god thats a surgery scar! Thought you had impaled yourself on something for a moment.

Now that would be a story!

dan shard

Nothing too horrific from me. smashed my helmet once and broken a few ribs

johnwilliam22

Yep I had done the same with resting my palms...so painful but luckily not had another crash for a while now! Touch Wood lol

stubs

Clipped a bridge railing once with my hand it stung a bit but I didnt stop and carried on riding thinking nothing of it till a mate asked me why my little finger was sticking up all funny. I tried taking my glove off THEN IT FOOKING HURT tried the hero bend it back into shape thing and nearly passed out. Southport District General popped it back in for me. My left little finger still goes white in winter.

jsync

Blimey Dan, makes you realize what lids are for.

I've just got back from the consultant, have broken my collarbone into 5 or 6 bits at the shoulder end and have around 12 screws in it, will try to get pics of the xrays.

delcol

stubs did you have gas and air.... i did when she snapped mine back in.. i never laughed so much in my life.. then i never cried so much in my life when they gave me my med bill... how much for less than 25 mins work...

jsync.
my helmet kinda ended up like that when i did my collerbone and dislocation in march @leequarry... they definatley work....

stubs

delcol wrote:

stubs did you have gas and air.... i did when she snapped mine back in.. i never laughed so much in my life.. then i never cried so much in my life when they gave me my med bill... how much for less than 25 mins work...

No they froze it with some kind of spray then did the old we will count to 5 trick. 1..2..3..crunch crack AAAAGH what happened to 4 and 5. No med bill good old NHS they might not be perfect but at least they dont give you a bill.

delcol

well it's paid directly out of our wages in he form of national insureance. but i would rather do it this way instead of being hit with a whopping $1400 (£965) bill...... that gas was bloody good stuff though....