Man down (like a sack of sh*t!) - Brookmill Road

bigmat

Finally succumbed to a heavy crash in the current ice-rink conditions. Safely negotiated the sharp left heading north on Brookmill, could see that the road was its usual filthy self but seeing as I was heading in a straight line felt I should be OK. Cruising along maybe 20mph, the road bears right very slightly. Suddenly felt rear wheel wash out, no chance to correct it and down I went on my right side.

Minor damage to jacket, tights and shorts (needle and thread should sort that out tonight) but bike taken a couple of knocks - new tape required, left shifter / bars will need close inspection, saddle badly scuffed - the usual really.

I have road rash on shoulder, hip and below knee and my right hand / wrist is very painful. Going to pop a couple of ibuprofen and give it until lunchtime but may end up paying A&E a visit this afternoon to get it x-rayed as feels pretty bad - anybody got any ideas how cautious you should be with this kind of thing?

Can't remember such a sustained perod of slippiness as the last few weeks, really losing faith in 23mm tyres

DrLex

Worth a trip to A&E from what you describe.
Don't assume bigger tyres will help- I went down yesterday on 35mm slicks and suffered similarly. Luckily I broke the bike's fall, so merely damage to self & clothing...

Pufftmw

Sorry to hear that Mat. I've not noticed the slipiness but seen a heck lot of diesel on the roads recently.

Hope you feel better soon.

ketsbaia

Ooof. I'd go and get it checked out anyway. Hope you're OK.

menthel

Ouch, GWS!

iPete

Went over the front in a Darwinistic manner in the summer, smashed up my wrist. I gave it till the morning before an A&E trip. They didn't need to x-ray, just did a few movements to work out whether it was bone or tendon that was hurt.

It really really hurt in the morning and couldn't put any weight on it. If its broken you'll probably know about it but if in doubt drop into a walk in. As I went nice and early mid week it was 15 minutes in and out.

daviesee

More evidence of climate change.
Things are definitely screwed up when it is snowing in the middle east, icy in the south of the UK and double digit temperatures in the north of Scotland.
Weird.

bigmat

Not ice - its just a film of scum all over the roads that the rain hasn't washed away. Mud, diesel, I don't know but its starting to get annoying! Back on the mountain bike for the rest of the year I think.

pitchshifter

Ouch. Heal up!

Name and shame the tyres, Gatorslips?

LiveGiantly

Sorry to hear about your accident...

I hope you heal up good and nice!

rubertoe

I thought that this was going to be about the brilliant Gregg Davis show on Channel 4.

Which has spawned a line that still makes me chuckle now and is appropriate for this thread.

"Oh my F*ck"

Get checked out and GWS

daviesee

BigMat wrote:

Not ice - .......

Still snowing in the middle east though.
GWS.

veronese68

Ouch, sorry to hear that. I'd go and get it checked out if I were you. Hope it's not too bad and you feel better soon.
I think the compound of rubber makes the biggest difference in bad conditions. I'm tempted to try some of the Conti winter tyres, not spiked but the right compound and a very fine tread maximising contact area as I recall. A quick Google shows they are hard to find but seem like a good option for a London winter. Winstanleys list them, but are out of stock.

TheStone

Muppet.

Mikey23

Going a bit quicker than me and I did clavicle, ribs and pneumothorax. The effect of gravity and inertia on the human body is not a good one. Get it checked out by the professionals...

bigmat

TheStone wrote:

Muppet.

Cheers. You must be overdue taking out a granny?

TheStone

BigMat wrote:

TheStone wrote:

Muppet.

Cheers. You must be overdue taking out a granny?

I'd have to actually get on my bike first!

MrSweary

Ouch - heal up soon fella.

roger_merriman

Owch take your self if not to A and E at least to a walk in center I didn't and still have a sore wrist from April.

ugo.santalucia

Time to abandon the slick and fit touring tyres?

I was on my 32 mm knobblies this morning (50 PSI or so) and found that the grip has improved significantly since last week... could be the tyres... :roll:

rubertoe

Are the roads really that bad,

I havent had any issues with the roads, or slippage and I am on 28 gatorskins at the moment.

bigmat

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Time to abandon the slick and fit touring tyres?

I was on my 32 mm knobblies this morning (50 PSI or so) and found that the grip has improved significantly since last week... could be the tyres... :roll:

I couldn't do that Ugo, they'd never fit with my mudguards!

Tomorrow I will be on my MTB with 26" wheels and slicks that are measured in inches rather than mm, PSI around 60. Will stick with that at least until the Prorace gets repaired.

roger_merriman

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Time to abandon the slick and fit touring tyres?

I was on my 32 mm knobblies this morning (50 PSI or so) and found that the grip has improved significantly since last week... could be the tyres... :roll:

CX tyres do tend to have softer compounds do they not?

I certainly notice the MTB's ability to disregard metalwork and other features that can make the roadie twitch, a big contact patch running at low pressure, with soft compound rubber, may not make the fastest tyre in the world but by heck they don't half grip!

ugo.santalucia

roger merriman wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Time to abandon the slick and fit touring tyres?

I was on my 32 mm knobblies this morning (50 PSI or so) and found that the grip has improved significantly since last week... could be the tyres... :roll:

CX tyres do tend to have softer compounds do they not?

I certainly notice the MTB's ability to disregard metalwork and other features that can make the roadie twitch, a big contact patch running at low pressure, with soft compound rubber, may not make the fastest tyre in the world but by heck they don't half grip!

Indeed... I find them draggy at low speed but once you hit 23-25 mph they seem to roll just as well

msmancunia

BigMat wrote:

Finally succumbed to a heavy crash in the current ice-rink conditions. Safely negotiated the sharp left heading north on Brookmill, could see that the road was its usual filthy self but seeing as I was heading in a straight line felt I should be OK. Cruising along maybe 20mph, the road bears right very slightly. Suddenly felt rear wheel wash out, no chance to correct it and down I went on my right side.

Minor damage to jacket, tights and shorts (needle and thread should sort that out tonight) but bike taken a couple of knocks - new tape required, left shifter / bars will need close inspection, saddle badly scuffed - the usual really.

I have road rash on shoulder, hip and below knee and my right hand / wrist is very painful. Going to pop a couple of ibuprofen and give it until lunchtime but may end up paying A&E a visit this afternoon to get it x-rayed as feels pretty bad - anybody got any ideas how cautious you should be with this kind of thing?

Can't remember such a sustained perod of slippiness as the last few weeks, really losing faith in 23mm tyres

I'd go and get it checked out. When I came off a month ago I landed right hand down, but because I could still wiggle my fingers I thought I was ok.

By lunchtime my hand had blown up like a balloon and the doctor at work sent me off to Oldham A&E, me all the while protesting that I had just banged it. Two hours later I was stood outside the hospital waiting for a cab with a broken carpal bone and a pot on my arm

Mikey23

And one of those cones round yr neck to stop you licking it!

itboffin

If you die can i have your bikes ...? :roll:

rjsterry

I think it's got less to do with tyre width and pressure, and more to do with how much diesel there is on the roads. The insides of roundabouts seem to be particularly prone to collecting a greasy residue.

rolf_f

I went straight down a few weeks back - the road (rural, no diesel or anything - just wet, leafy mulchy cacky) was straight, I was travelling at a constant speed and the back wheel just slid straight out from under me with the front immediately following. I couldn't work out what on earth I'd done wrong until I realised it was the tyres - Rubino Pro Slicks. I now keep a Durano on the front at least. I wouldn't want to run both of those tyres at the moment.

awavey

rubertoe wrote:

Are the roads really that bad,

I havent had any issues with the roads, or slippage and I am on 28 gatorskins at the moment.

seems to be a mix of damp roads,mud/leaf mulch + the new flavour rock salt molasses mixed in with the odd bit of diesel have created very slippy road conditions, heard alot from people slipping on some roads round near me, so been taking it easy lately

meanredspider

Hope it's not too serious.

I'm using Vittoria Pave Tyres (green stripy ones) on both my road bike and SS here on the pave and cobbles. Great grip as you'd hope