Any Road Cyclists Here?

[Soulstation1]

Totally fuc&ed up and hit a guy on a bike on Sunday!!!!

Did not see him and by the time I heard him scream it was too damn late

He suffered road rash on his elbow, ankle and thigh....

He didn't go to the hospital and it seems like his bike was ok

It coulda been worse.......

[Ed S]

I had a pretty serious crash this past Saturday. Hit a depression in the road while I was going about 16 -17 mph. The bike stopped completely, but I did not. Flew over the handle bars and landed about 10-12 feet up the road. Really bad road rash on my knee and elbow, bruised ribs, general bruising all over, a fracture in my upper arm and perhaps a torn rotator cuff. Going for an MRI today to check the shoulder out.

[CJ Shearn]

Feel better Ed!

[Ed S]

First of all thanks for the good wishes CJ.

I've been back on the bike for the past month and while there's still a lot of discomfort in the shoulder/upper arm area, I'm enjoying riding....... and losing weight. If I ever reach my weight goal I'll post my whole miserable weight history but suffice it to say that riding again has really been a positive.

[Clunky]

I had a pretty serious crash this past Saturday. Hit a depression in the road while I was going about 16 -17 mph. The bike stopped completely, but I did not. Flew over the handle bars and landed about 10-12 feet up the road. Really bad road rash on my knee and elbow, bruised ribs, general bruising all over, a fracture in my upper arm and perhaps a torn rotator cuff. Going for an MRI today to check the shoulder out.

I'm really sorry to hear of your accident. I have very mixed feelings about cycling since my own accident 2 years ago. Slid off the bike an a descent in the Pyrenees . I too wasn't going fast, about 10-12mph. Bruised my left side badly but more crucially prolapsed a disc in my neck. Two and a half years , three operations and enough painkillers & pain modifying agents to stop a herd of elephants , I'm only just getting back to some sense of normal. The good news is that surgery in August appears to have worked. It's been a long dark night and the ground colder than I could ever have imagined.

Bradley Wiggins said on winning a stage of the tour of Britain the other day that he'd rather end in hospital than lose. I wasn't happy with that message, cyclists need to be careful and minimise the risks. Unfortunately it's a fact of cycling is that you fall off, it's part of the deal. Subsequent medical disasters don't help, as I can attest.

Ed, I hope you have the courage to get back on your bike, I'm not sure I do. I'm pretty sure my days of road biking are over. From where I am now, cycling on the pavement seems challenging enough.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Clunky

[Guy Berger]

First off, Ed, I hope your healing process is going well.

Second, I have been road cycling for about 5 years now. My first bike (aside from ones I had as a kid/teen) was a Specialized hybrid I picked up when I started doing triathlons. I wasn't sure at the time that I really wanted to be a road cyclist and wanted something versatile. After a few races I realized I liked road biking and got a Trek (the 1.2, which I think is the most basic model). I even got my fiancee into it somewhat, she has a low-end Specialized road bike and joins me on occasion.

I'm not a fanatic cyclist (never done a century - not sure I am motivated enough to do it), but I do like to do one 20-mile ride every week during the warmer months. That's one thing I miss about living in the southeast US - I used to be able to bike almost year-round (or at least, from February through November). Here in NYC it's really an April-October proposition. I usually do loops around Central Park. Unfortunately we recently moved to the southern half of Manhattan which makes it a pain to get to the Park - it's actually pretty terrifying. My biggest weakness as a cyclist is that I'm usually not that motivated to push myself hard, I do the CP loops at an overly-leisurely pace unless I'm with one of my more hard-core cycling buddies.