First Big Off in Epping Forest

superkenners

Had my first big off last week (Thu Nov 17th), a consequence of a rather steep hill in Epping Forest and damp road/leaves. Not really sure what happened as was knocked out but result was concussion, right shoulder broken in two places and first and third ribs behind shoulder fractured for good measure. My knees took the obligatory peeling too. Spent five days in hospital for my troubles. Hopefully will not need surgery.

A big thank you to those motorists who stopped to help and called the ambulance. A bit of a blur but seemed to be quick!

All my gear a write off as had to be cut out of them but bike seems ok at first glance which is lucky given (as it turns out irresponsible) speed I was doing (probably high 20's), Giro Atmos helmet cracked in two places but physical damage to my actual head limited to a bit of bruising - so I will be buying another one of those. For those that doubt the effectiveness of lids I can tell you things would have been a lot worse without one!

Not sure if some wider rubber might of helped? Was on some 700 x 22 Gatorskins which let me down grip wise

Monty Dog

Sorry to hear about your off and wish you a speedy recovery.

If it was a combination of damp and leaves on the road, there's probably little you could have done.

Thelittlesthobo

That sounds awful.

Get well soon

thegreatdivide

Crikey! Glad you’re out of hospital and on the mend. Heal fast and don't let the fear bite you.

Helmets work - fact.

Monty Dog

As I said, wet roads and leaves can be dicey to the most competent of riders, but to maximise grip, wider tyres e.g. 25mm run at lower pressures (80-90 psi) can help considerably. Just as important is having a good knowledge / visibility of the road and judge your speed and trajectory accordingly. I expect you'll need to recover some confidence when you get back on your bike and should practise cornering on familiar roads as part of the process. Hopefully the wet leaves will have blown away!

Teece

It's a battle in Epping forest.

buder

Hi SupperKenners

Really sorry to hear this, I ride Epping every week our club runs usually stop at the green hut and we tend to do the full circuit ending with Mott street and carry on.

what Hill did you come off on ?, did the bike just slide away from you, I know they have done a poor effort at smoothing over the road surfaces recently by shoving aload of gravel on the roads.

I hope you are healing well sounds bad, take it easy.

keef66

Speedy recovery!

Glad to hear the Atmos did it's job cos I just got one myself.

superkenners

Thanks for well wishes, keen to get back on my bike although expect it'll be a while before my descents revert to usual speed! Should find out Thursday if healing going to plan and can avoid the knife

@ buder, I was going down Claypitt Hill, the roads round there are not great, lots of lose gravel by the side of the road, might of been that but as I was knocked out don't have much recollection of specifics! I will go and have a look this weekend as have crash spot in my GPS.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130976633#

Bobbinogs

Hi Superkenners,

Just to add my well wishes on your recovery. There was a spell a couple of months ago when we all seemed to be taking a spill and I for one am still a couple of weeks away from (hopefully) riding outside again.

My problem is that I am more of a climber than a descender so I suspect my injury (broken collarbone which required a plate and now needs a follow up op in January) will make lengthy climbs quite painful for a while (so think of me suffering going up and I shall think of your mental anguish on the way down ).

I can thoroughly recommend getting a turbo (if you haven't already) but I can understand that it might be a week or two before you even fancy spinning. The sufferfest vids are a great way to keep fitness (or keep your ration of suffering) and NapD has a good turbo thread on here if you are sat around (bored of watching Minder/Sweeney) and want to gen up.

I am with the folks who say that few road tyre types or widths would have helped you hitting a wet surface with rotting/slippery leaves so treat it as sod's law.

Post back on here with your recovery, specially the first ride back out...

superkenners

Hi Bobbinogs,

Collarbone sounds nasty, hope your back on the bike soon. Funny you should mention a turbo as was thinking about that, actually have been looking at rollers with a minds on x-mas (no one seemed interested in buying me an Enigma with Campag Record!) but that is probably a step far too far with one arm! Will have a proper read up about them.

Cheers

Nick

pipipi

Best wishes on the recovery.

giant_man

I ride in the area also and there are some good roads, but of course not so much at this time of year for some roadies. Hope you recover soon.