Premature End of My Biking Commute after fall ??!!

littleprawn

Afternoon all!

I had an accident yesterday when I was cycling towards work in the morning and had my first cycling commute accident. I was cycling towards a bike path in a park (from a cul de sac) and swerved to avoid an obstacle and the next moment, I noticed I hit one of those metal poles and my backside was on the ground :roll: and then I was nursing a very sore and bleeding left elbow, a bruised left hand and with a numbing pain on my left thigh.

I stood up, quickly checked the bike was rideable, wiped some blood from my left elbow and pondered whether to go home first and then opted to continue my journey into work. I had my the morning shower and then decided to go to visit A&E, where I was given a few pain killing tablets and they cleaned up my wound. They gave me the green light to say I was fine. My worse worry was a potential fractured hand which has sustained heavy bruising...

Due to the exposure of the 'injuries', I came clean with the missus during the day and told her about the accident and that it was not on the road. Anyway, yesterday evening she is quite adamant about my commuting by bike has to be stopped :evil: ! So, my dilemma is how do I try and persuade her to change her mind, she initially was quite 'anti' :x alongside some family members about the commute by bike when I started back in Easter. I do appreicate her perspective and understand that there are 'risks' with cycling especially since we have quite young sprogs...

Any decent advice would be appreciated...

jonomc4

Seriously - I have the same problem from my wife - especially as I cycle more and more each month.

Explain to her the health benefits - thousand of website with that info. Really you are just as likely to be hit by a car on foot or be in a train/car/bus crash. The difference is those other forms of transport wont help your long term health like cycling does.

Also use the money you save in the first month to buy her a present

beancounter

littleprawn wrote:

Due to the exposure of the 'injuries', I came clean with the missus during the day and told her about the accident and that it was not on the road. Anyway, yesterday evening she is quite adamant about my commuting by bike has to be stopped

Good grief, it's a few scratches.

MTFU!

ToeKnee

jonomc4 wrote:

... use the money you save in the first month to buy her a present

Yes, N+1 can wait.

veronese68

Lots of health benfits to commuting by bike. Plus it'll save you money you can spend on her and the sprogs. Being fitter and healthier you'll be able to run around with said sprogs more.
There are bigger things to worry about if she looks for them. Oh, but look where you're going more carefully. I'm sure you know that though.

graeme_s-2

Tell her how happy it makes you and how much you enjoy it. The break in the day it provides between your work life and your home life and stops you coming home in a miserable mood after being sat in a traffic jam breathing the carbon monoxide that's piped into your little box.

People die falling down the stairs or putting their trousers on in the morning, in the grand scheme of things cycling isn't an especially dangerous activity.

antikythera

Consider it a baptism of fire, something will happen to everyone eventually...

A few bumps and bruises => more experience => less bumps and bruises

Alternatively you could point out that if you have an accident as a pedestrian does that mean you shouldn't walk on the pavement again?

estampida

buy a motorcycle

she will then decide that a push bike is safer

CiB

Wait for a quiet moment in the kitchen. Manouvre yourself in front of her, stand on her toes and as loudly as possible shout into her face "LISTEN YOU STUPID BINT YOU MIGHT THINK IT'S DANGEROUS BUT IT'S NOT, I ENJOY IT AND I INTEND TO KEEP DOING IT FOR AS LONG AS I DO ENJOY IT SO KEEP YOUR STUPID INTERFERING NOSE OUT OK?????".

Try that, let us know how it went. Good luck.

Daz555

We all do stuff that winds up our partners and sometimes you have to stick to your guns about such matters. For us the bone of contention is my BMW R1100S. She is never going to accept I have a motorcycle but at the same time I'm not giving biking up.

So we both just learn to live with a difference of opinion and move on - it is just part of a marriage.

redderekthelampshade

you could be a man about it and say 'look love, Im a grown up.. I'll do as I please' - hope this helps.

rubertoe

is the bike ok?

I had my first off last year after two years of commuting in and out of central London everyday, well I say off I was hit by a car. I had a few cuts and bruises and like you my GF was not at all pleased; but as soon as my hand had healed I was back on the bike (same as you severely bruised) and I am not giving it up for anything.

She only wanted to let me ride in the summer when it was light and not raining at first, she now see's how much i love it, even in the cold wet depths of winter. Mind you she still twice a day says safe ride to work/home every day.

Shoot happens, dust yourself off and on you go my friend.

+1 for the presents though they always help.

graeme_s-2

I've had a bit of this from friends and family after getting hit by a car in December (2nd time since I started commuting in 2006). The weird thing is nobody ever gets told they should probably give up driving after being in a car accident.

My sister had a car accident within 36 hours of passing her test that wrote off her car and left her with a permanent scar on her face. The only advice she got was to get back in a car as soon as possible so she didn't get put off. Her fiance was in a car accident years ago that left him quite badly injured (although he made a full recovery), and his only thought afterwards was about replacing his car. Yet when he got knocked off his bike last year he immediately packed in cycle commuting during the winter months.

There does seem to be a weird knee-jerk reaction to bike accidents that you just don't get with other forms of transport (particularly driving).

corshamjim

littleprawn wrote:

Any decent advice would be appreciated...

Sorry - can only offer indecent advice - find yourself another missus! 8)

littleprawn

Thanks guys, some very useful comments there...will hope to heal soon and by the weekend aim for another
ride.....advice.....unfortunately biking always will always be associated with negative aspects of accidents ...I remember when a former female colleague (ten years ago) suggested I embark on the cycling commute at my old work place and my initial response was...'biking is dangerous and I do not want to be a statistic....' how I regret those lost ten years!

For the record, I will aim to 'MTFU' while the missus is still making anti biking comments.....unfortunately as much as we all might want to find Wife Mk2, I think I will stay put with my current model!

Will keep you guys informed of how things progress and thanks for all the contributions!

veronese68

estampida wrote:

buy a motorcycle

she will then decide that a push bike is safer

Not necessarily. I always used to ride motorbikes. My wife thinks I should get another one in case I feel tired and would rather have the choice. If I had the choice I wouldn't cycle as much, I'm lazy. So, no motorbike.

MichaelW

As you become more experienced, you quickly learn the most common causes of crashes (there are very few accidents). If you can survive the learning process you are them much safer than average.
The "average" cyclist in the UK is about 10 years old with about 6hrs of riding experience. The typical touring club rider is about 40 , with about 20,000 hrs of riding experience. Touring club riders have a much lower rate of crashing.
I crash off the bike when 3 or 4 causes coincide and I just run out of options or traction. Crashing is not a normal part of cycle commuting.
The injuries you suffered are what you expect from a normal crash, ie a bit of road rash and some bruising. I wear gloves or mitts on every ride to protct my hands so I can carry on working. Serious crashes involving broken bones and worse are harder to mitigate.

lockstock666

I slipped in the kitchen the other day and bruised my thigh pretty bad. Am I allowed to enter the kitchen ever again? Sadly Yes.

Adamant? Really? Because you fell off your bike? Or are there other underlying issues here?

Are you obsessing with your bike? Reading bike websites all the time, fettling every night?

littleprawn

MichaelW wrote:

As you become more experienced, you quickly learn the most common causes of crashes (there are very few accidents). If you can survive the learning process you are them much safer than average.
The "average" cyclist in the UK is about 10 years old with about 6hrs of riding experience. The typical touring club rider is about 40 , with about 20,000 hrs of riding experience. Touring club riders have a much lower rate of crashing.
I crash off the bike when 3 or 4 causes coincide and I just run out of options or traction. Crashing is not a normal part of cycle commuting.
The injuries you suffered are what you expect from a normal crash, ie a bit of road rash and some bruising. I wear gloves or mitts on every ride to protct my hands so I can carry on working. Serious crashes involving broken bones and worse are harder to mitigate.

Thanks for the support MIchaelW....and quite reassuring....

lockstock666 wrote:

I slipped in the kitchen the other day and bruised my thigh pretty bad. Am I allowed to enter the kitchen ever again? Sadly Yes.

Adamant? Really? Because you fell off your bike? Or are there other underlying issues here?

Are you obsessing with your bike? Reading bike websites all the time, fettling every night?

Missus has never been too keen on my cycling (only was kick started in October last year) and she does see the health benefits....the key issue is that she does not trust some of the car drivers out there who she believes are the menance which I point out is no different when if I cycle at the weekend! My commute route is mainly in the back streets and main roads are at a push travel at 30mph.

CiB

Out of millions of cycle journeys every year about 110 cyclists die. That's not good, but it's not a worrying ratio. And you came off in a park. I don't see how her argument stands up one jot.

Ginjafro

Sh it happens! A few years ago I had a bad off and smashed my shoulder, resulting in 6 weeks injury leave from work. A former work colleague of mine moaned that I should never had taken such a risk like cycling and accused me off having all my priorities about serving my employers wrong. This was from someone who is clearly overweight, high blood pressure and fat induced diabeties. He even complained about someone else who got the ocassional knock as a bloody good rugby player, county level and all that. Amazingly, he is still alive, just about, but to be honest has had miserable health for years. Perhaps if he had opted for a healthy lifestyle, with the risk of ocassional injury here and there, he would be far happier, healthier and off everyone else's case.

So, what I am saying, is life has its risks. I would prefer to be healthy and happy rather than sick, grumpy and plane jealouse of anyone else living a good lifestyle.

logitech208

If you had been hit by a car/bus I could understand the worry, but you crashed into pole FFS. :roll:

inkz

Agree to disagree and move on.

flimflam_machine

I'd second the idea of explaining to her that you enjoy it and that it's a bit of "you time" at the beginning and end of the day and helps put a bit of mental space between work and family. Plus all the health benefits that are difficult to get in amongst busy work and family life.

Ultimately her concern is admirable but counter-productive, you'd just resent it if she did actually stop you from cycling. After all, you are an adult and can make your own judgements about its riskiness. I get a bit nervy when my wife cycles to work, but I remind myself that she's done it quite a lot, that she's an experienced and confident cyclist and that she enjoys it.

You could also try pointing out that it's actually not that dangerous. Cycling deaths are noteworthy because they are quite rare and seeing crashes is sufficiently rare that it usually merits a new thread over on commuting chat. Ask her if she notices the streets cluttered with cycling commuters who've spontaneously hurled themselves onto the ground?

London_Falcon

http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/ ... rtpop.html

If you have a choice between cycling, walking, motorcycling and driving then clearly cycling is the winner.....

shouldbeinbed

Given that a minor off and a couple of cuts got reported here as some major trauma & involved a trip to A&E, I do wonder if Mrs got a factual (had a small off, nothing to see here) report or the full blown woe is me account of the original post.

Your response to and reporting of inevitable small moments like this will colour how your Mrs reacts to your cycling.

I'm unapologetically in the MTFU camp.

Initialised

MTFU and put your foot down and hit the road.

In January this year I went sideways at 20mph, fractured my left arm and got back on, got to work, called it a day at mid day and went to A&E. In all I missed 1 days worth of riding over it. The tissue damage in the shoulder is still healing and I'm still going to physio sessions.

Last night I was playing with our kids in the park and twisted my knee and ankle badly, I didn't ride today and wont tomorrow as I don't want to make a minor knee or ankle injury worse and could barely walk last night and this morning was a struggle.

I've moved from riding on shared paths to roads as I find being dodged by cars generally feels safer than dodging pedestrians, their dogs, broken glass and stupid barriers that stop a cycle-path deserving that description by getting in the way and slowing us down with minor injuries. Remember, the drivers drive that way every day so they get used to avoiding you, the more of us there are on the roads the more respect we'll get.

All in all the health benefits, mood, (sexual) stamina, physique, energy etc far outweigh the risk of fatal injury. After all you are more likely to die crossing the road in case you were wondering the stats are here:

MichaelW

So, if I'm read that colourful diagram correctly, dying from cycling stops you dying from other things.

CiB

MichaelW wrote:

So, if I'm read that colourful diagram correctly, dying from cycling stops you dying from other things.

Close enough. Or you can read it that out of 493,242 deaths, 96 were cyclists. That's good odds in my book. and most of them were in London. You aren't in London are you?

gtvlusso

Sorry to hear about your spill, hope you recover quick.

Firstly, I would say to her that you are happier, fitter, stronger and are now a sex god because of cycle commuting. Then I would tell her the cost saving to the family and that the only safe way to commute would be to buy a Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged that does 8MPG and costs £1000 per annum to tax.

TBH, I had the same from my wife after she saw me weaving through traffic on my way in one morning - we have a junior too. She told me that cycle commuting was dangerous, so, I just ignored her and carried on anyway.

That should do it - watch out for the low flying frying pan though......

rolf_f

A moron ran across four lanes without looking last year and collected me. I'm not sure if he was hurt more than me (I hope so) but I suspect his Missus didn't try to ban him from walking............

We live in the world. Stuff happens. That's how it is.

MichaelW wrote:

So, if I'm read that colourful diagram correctly, dying from cycling stops you dying from other things.

If I read that diagram correctly, I can see a horse