My guardian angel has been working some serious overtime today.
About 57 minutes into my bike ride to work this morning I became one with the pavement. I was coming down a steep hill but due to wet roads had been doing some periodic braking to keep the speed manageable. Fortunately, this meant I crashed doing about 17mph versus a normal max speed on this descent around 25mph (or more).
What happened?
In a nutshell, I screwed up.
I was slightly right of the middle of the lane when I noticed some cars approaching. In an effort to be courteous, I eased right and struck uneven pavement that knocked me down. The fall was so quick that I didn’t realize what had happened until it was after the fact. My hands remained on the handlebars so the bike frame (and after closer inspection, the right pedal) absorbed a good portion of the impact.
That is not to say my own body didn’t do its share of absorbing the energy as well as these photos attest.
The fact that this crash could have been much worse does not escape me. I fell away from traffic, the wet conditions resulted in less skin to pavement friction and my bike – after some wonderful assistance from the helpful mechs at BikeWorld 1604 – appears to have sustained almost no damage except for $23 to replace the pedals.
The big lesson learned here for me is to put more thought into the decision to relinquish my lane position since moving too far to the right leaves so little room for avoiding road hazards and begs drivers to squeeze into the lane with you.
Thanks to my parents for providing transportation all over creation today and my wife/daughter for all their support (and everyone else out there that expressed your concern about my well-being).
Hitting the pavement is such a drag. I have been there and done that, and as we get older, the fall always seems to be harder. As the saying goes, “If you ride a bike, it’s not if you’re going to fall, just a matter of when.”
My last one was about ten years ago after being runover from behind. That one left me in the hospital for a month.
Glad to hear your bout with the black top was relatively minor.
Thanks Arnie. I’m on the mend and hope to be back in business to do some commuting on my bike next week.
“I screwed up.” Spoken like a pilot. I’ve heard that line a few times and –to me– it is always refreshing to hear someone admit they are human.
Glad you are okay and able to share your pain. Noting your “relinquish” comment gives me a more optimistic opinion about biking on narrower (no berm) roads that are around my area — the plus is that a car either ‘goes around’ or ‘waits’ because there isn’t room for both.
Rich – thanks and kudos on the astute observation there. I chose the word relinquish for exactly the reason you described. Every basic bicycle commuting course will instruct you that riding too close to the side of the road increases risk and leaves you with few options.
And the statistics keep indicating that there is far more danger coming from in FRONT of you or from the SIDE than cars behind you – however counter intuitive that might feel.
Sorry to hear about your crash, glad that you came out of there ok. As I gain more experience riding on the streets I try more aggressively to take the lane. I get way too many close calls when I try to be courteous to other drivers but they just zoom right pass you like your not even there. Hope you heal soon and get back on that bike.
What about the vehicles? Did they stop and render aid? When I slid around a corner, the driver I almost slid into refused to acknowledge my prone bike and body and couldn’t wait for the light to change so she could leave.
Glad you, too, came out unscathed.
Jerry,
Like your experience, the 3 cars behind me did not stop to check on my condition although the driver of the truck directly behind me must have had quite a show with me and bike flying through the air. That was a little disappointing…
Glad to hear you came through relatively unscathed.
If all you hurt were a couple of pride muscles it can’t be all bad.
Cheers!
Todd
I just realized this would be your Ride # 10. Unfortunately, you had to crash on # 10; however, at least you know the durability of you and your bike. Can’t wait for that review. Take care.
Jay-Ar,
I have actually completed many more than 10 rides on my Valencia but choose selected rides for my “ride reviews”.
That said, this particular commute to work WAS going to be my Ride #10.
And still is…
More to come!
Came here to read your reviews on the Edge 705 and ended up looking through the rest of your blog.
Glad you’re OK… looks like you made out fairly well judging by the photos.