First big fall

budven
budven Posts: 5
edited November 2014 in Road beginners
I started riding seriously this summer. So far I have ridden about 400 miles. The first 200 were on a mountain then I purchased my first road bike. Yesterday I took my first fall. I was turning into a vacant parking lot and hit a patch of loose grave. I went down fast and hard; can't believe how fast it all happened. My bike suffered scratches to the derailer, pedal, and brake/shifter lever. For me; road rash on my calf, hip, and shoulder. A little sore this today but all in all things are fine. I am very thankful for my helmet. It protected my head from a good bashing against the pavement.

Comments

  • ktuludays
    ktuludays Posts: 97
    glad to hear you're ok. these things are inevitable. i did a sportive the other week and my legs kept cramping on the climbs - i went over 4 times!

    put it down to experience and just keep an eye out for gravel!
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    But the bike is ok yeh?
  • budven
    budven Posts: 5
    SmoggySteve wrote:
    But the bike is ok yeh?

    Yes the bike is ok. Funny that was my first concern when I fell. :D While the derailer suffered a small blemish, the pedal, and the brake shifter there is not a scratch on the bike frame. I am thankful for that. It was a 25 mile ride I fell at mile 24.
  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    Get a spare derailer hangar, if you bashed the rear mech you may have weakened it and you don't want that failing on you up a hill in the middle of nowhere.
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • simon_masterson
    simon_masterson Posts: 2,740
    Initialised wrote:
    Get a spare derailer hangar, if you bashed the rear mech you may have weakened it and you don't want that failing on you up a hill in the middle of nowhere.

    Indeed, good idea. Also a very effective way to destroy the wheel!
    Retro(ish) TT 2017-
    Fixed TT 2015-2016
  • budven
    budven Posts: 5
    Initialised wrote:
    Get a spare derailer hangar, if you bashed the rear mech you may have weakened it and you don't want that failing on you up a hill in the middle of nowhere.

    Good idea. Thanks
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    a rite of passage! pleased you are ok
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    broke my elbow earlier this year and first thought was is the bike ok. We can heal the bikes and take longer to fix :D
  • BLW
    BLW Posts: 96
    Glad you're ok... well apart from gravel rash that is, similar happened to me a few weeks ago.

    How's the helmet though?

    If it took a bash, chances are it will need replacing, mine had 2 cracks after a close inspection.
  • budven
    budven Posts: 5
    Took my bike to the LBS today. The rear derailer had to be straighten and the back wheel aligned. I got home and went out for a 12 mile ride. I was nice to get back on the bike.

    I have inspected my helmet and I did not find any cracks. I am going to inspect it again after the reminder from BLW.
  • thegreatdivide
    thegreatdivide Posts: 5,807
    There are two types of cyclists, those who have just fallen, and those who are about to.
  • gethinceri
    gethinceri Posts: 1,669
    I'm a third type. Just fallen and just about to!
  • yankeedoodle
    yankeedoodle Posts: 13
    happens to us all.better to get it over and done with.glad you're ok
  • BeaconRuth
    BeaconRuth Posts: 2,086
    I'm going to disagree with you lot about the inevitability of falling off. Commiserations to the OP - it might happen but hopefully extremely rarely. When you say "my first big fall" makes it sound like the next one is just round the corner too!

    Ruth
    http://www.rutheyles.co.uk/
  • nik6158
    nik6158 Posts: 32
    I fell off yesterday for the 1st time in a couple of years, got a bit of gravel rash and a broken wrist. On the bright side I did a good job of protecting my bike from getting damaged.
  • Lambretta_Special
    Lambretta_Special Posts: 52
    I nearly crashed last week turning right into the first junction at speed and banking.

    I had forgotten to check my tyre pressures
    (just returned to road bike from mtb)
    Soon realised how crucial psi on a road bike is compared to a mtb as I slid sideways and nearly smashed into the kerb :)

    Lesson learned and purchased a track pump. The first thoughts through my head were "oh no I'm going to trash my new bike" :D
  • w00dster
    w00dster Posts: 880
    I had a slow motion fall yesterday and made a mess of my bike. I've had a couple of off's on this bike, one at speed that made no damage to my frame and yesterday's off that was a cleat stuck in pedal moment that was at no speed but has made a mess of the paintwork on my frame - thinking it needs a respray.
    I lost a bolt on my cleat and without noticing a second bolt had worked lose, as I turned my feet to unclip the cleat turned with it! Coming to a stop at a junction on a hill, went to unclip and realised too late that my foot was trapped. Gutted!! And can't believe the mess it made, there's a row of scratches and scuffs all along the top tube and a nasty scratch on the headtube. The carbon underneath looks fine, just looks cosmetic.

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