Brian Rides Bikes

11/27/09 – Bike Crash on Way Home from Work:(

Good morning friends,

Yesterday marks the first time I’ve taken a fall on my road bike.  Mountain biking?  That happens fairly frequently due to the uneven terrain, rock gardens, roots and just plain old tricky handling.  But road biking?  Usually, one can see everything that comes into your path from quite a ways away.  Yesterday, however, was not the case!

The thing that everyone who has experienced an accident says, including my friend and XX1090 teammate, Alex Hamlow, is that when it happens, it comes out of nowhere, almost in a flash, and next thing you know, you’re on the ground assessing the damage.  If you remember correctly, Alex has experienced a number of crashes throughout his excellent cycling career, but experienced a bad crash when his front tire blew out while he was flying down Palomar Mountain and was brought to the nearby emergency room with a broken collarbone.

I was on my way home from work in Downtown San Diego, just passing the 32nd Street Naval Base and heading south towards the Marina in Chula Vista when I grabbed my waterbottle and took my hands off the handlebars to stretch my lower back.  I was thinking about what I wanted to eat for dinner with my wife.  Earlier in the morning, I mentioned to Becky that I wanted Vietnamese food for dinner and, as many cyclists do, we obsess over what we’re having for dinner during our rides.  Laying off the handlebars to stretch my back wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.  It was something I did every so often, but this time was the wrong time to let go of my handlebars!

All of a sudden, a pothole came out of nowhere and I went flying over the handlebars at 16 mph!  Next thing I know, I slammed down on the asphalt and my bike went flying into some nearby brush.  After bouncing off the ground, I found myself skidding across the street on my left shoulder and head until I came to a stop.

As curiously humorous as it is, all I could think about was, “Is my bike okay?”  I got my sorry butt off the ground and limped over to my bike to assess the damage.  Luckily, no damage, just a couple of scuffs and a front wheel that needs a minor truing.  Things could’ve been worse, as carbon bikes are a tricky material.  Unlike aluminum, titanium or especially steel, carbon fiber is more brittle and though extremely lightweight is also prone to “hairline fractures” and could be dangerous to ride on after a crash.  Luckily for me, it wasn’t that bad of a crash and the Bailey is fine!

After my assessment of the bike, I made an assessment of my injuries.  Starting from my head, I took a look at my helmet, checked my skull, face, neck and went down the line.  While my left shoulder and hip were absolutely burning from skidding on the street, I knew nothing was broken as I had full mobility of all of my joints including my hip and shoulder.  The majority of my bleeding was coming from my hands as I used them to break my fall and had pretty good sized cuts on my hands and my left hand was pretty swollen.

I tried to get back on my bike and ride for another couple feet until I decided to call it a day and called my wife to come and pick me up.  Becky was amazing, getting me in the car, the bike in the trunk and helped me with my cuts and road rash after I got out of the shower.

Needless to say, I never got my Vietnamese food, thanks to my stupidity!

So, word of advice for the day, don’t take both of your hands off your handlebars unless you’re certain there’s no holes or bumps on the road and immediately put your hands (or at least one hand) back on the bars.  In addition, never take your eyes off the road, as you never know what’s on the road in front of you.  Basically stated, use common sense when riding and don’t be a moron like me!

See you in a couple weeks when I get back in the saddle!

-BB