I had the greed for speed...

Sedwick · Post by **Sedwick** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:51 pm

...And paid the price for it this morning. I've been biking to work more lately, and my favorite hill was just too seductive. I was up to 28 MPH, coming up on my left turn, which included a grassy dip I had to cross--it's a divided suburban parkway. Today there were some cars behind me certain to intersect, and I moved over to the left side for them, so then I couldn't approach the divide at the angle I usually get, starting from the right side. I went onto the grass, did some slipping and wobbling, and actually did right myself, but still had too much speed to avoid the oncoming ditch. Not wanting to collide with its far side, I hit the brakes a little hard--as if I had a choice--and did a little flip'n'roll against the pavement. Nothing broken, but please enjoy an album of scrapes:

First, some tar fragments I still haven't scrubbed out of my handprint from the prominent black smear it started out as. My hands still hurt in certain movements. The other hand also got a bloody little nick. Bad day to forget the cushioned gloves...

Near the elbow. Oddly enough, there was no bleeding from this:

The ankle and knee released the most blood:

Fortunately, a church 3 blocks away was just opening for business and I got to clean and band-aid the wounds. But the biggest casualty was the case containing my prescription sunglasses:

The glasses themselves bent a little, but were just fine. I suppose this protector did its job, and ya can't ask for much more!
Lesson of the day: if you can't do what you can usually get away with, SLOW DOWN.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:37 am

yum yum you got some nice chili dogs there

FireFox · Post by **FireFox** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:05 am

Damn! That reminds me when I did a 40km/h whoops on the tarmac with my one bike

Oh and then there is this one

they got on cam

That's what happens when you push your limits to fast if your still a n00b

d3jake · Post by **d3jake** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:14 pm

Oww, I've gotten up to ~31 mph on my bike going down a hill. Thankfully the hill has nice grassy ditches on either side in case I need to bail...

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:17 pm

Ouch! Road rash! At least a car didn't pull out in front of you.

Kiran · Post by **Kiran** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:31 pm

Reminds me of the time I ran over gravels while turning too fast. Fliped over the bike, tumbled a couple times, and came to a stop on my back. My first reaction was: \"Whoa! That was fun!\" then I felt sharp pains on my knee and looked down to see the the road rash on it. Ouch! I learned to never turn too quickly in gravels again.

Other time I had a road rash was from going down a hill in my street and as I approached the curve turning left, I went on the right side of the road so I wouldn't worry about oncoming cars. That precaution was in vain because some idiotic big van driver(oncoming vehicle) was going pretty quickly through the street and decided to make a very wide turn, thus using the left side of the road to curve right Just as that driver came around the corner, so did I and in a stunned and confused second I scrambled to get out of the way, fell off, and woke up in the middle of the road with my head spinning. Serious road rash all over my body and a concussion was the result. That part wasn't fun.

Moral of that story, slow down when you approach curves.

Never know when a maniac driver would be driving on the wrong side of the road to keep speed.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:58 pm

Lol, actually reminds me of an incident with my younger brother when we were both pretty young:

He was on his bike, heading toward an oncoming car; both he and the car driver were completely distracted by some kids playing basketball. They collided head-to-head, but they were both barely moving (well under 5mph combined). It knocked my brother's bike to the side, and he fell on the sidewalk, just getting a few scrapes like the pics above. Not a big deal, he was fine.

Anyway, the funny part is that the lady watching my brother and I completely flipped out, called my grandmother (a nurse), and told her that \"Troy has been run over by a car\". So a couple minutes later, here comes my grandmother... a little lady (who usually drives slow) skidding around the corner at high speed, tires squealing, slamming to a stop and leaping out of the car. She must have been doing probably 85mph on the way over.

Sedwick · Post by **Sedwick** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:53 pm

BUBBALOU wrote:yum yum you got some nice chili dogs there

Um, thanks!

d3jake wrote:Oww, I've gotten up to ~31 mph on my bike going down a hill. Thankfully the hill has nice grassy ditches on either side in case I need to bail...

Yeah, I've done 36 from one hill if I time the traffic light right. Another favorite local hill gives me 34 and has a gentle curve that can be turned into from another road. No cars came from it yet...

tunnelcat wrote:Ouch! Road rash! At least a car didn't pull out in front of you.

Yeah, fortunately. If I'd seen an oncoming vehicle I definitely would have slowed down. I think...

Foil wrote:So a couple minutes later, here comes my grandmother... a little lady (who usually drives slow) skidding around the corner at high speed, tires squealing, slamming to a stop and leaping out of the car. She must have been doing probably 85mph on the way over.

Ha! And the cars behind me didn't even stop to check on me. Sub-urban A-holes...