Anatomy of a Fall (in Summer) Off My Bicycle (Part 1)

~ A Dude Abikes

Your dude is pretty good about keeping the rubber side down. A recent exception to the rule deserves some ink. I’ve had a few days to think it over and for the pain to subside somewhat. The three ingredients that keep coming to mind that make this recipe for disaster are: 1) low headlight battery, 2) too much downhill speed, and 3) overconfidence that I knew the road. Do the opposite of those, and you might reduce your own chances of taking a spill. What’s done is done, but here’s how it happened… and the aftermath. (What was there before math, anyway? Lunch period, probably.)

I was 20 miles into my ride on a warm summer Sunday night when it happened. I had just crossed an old highway bridge that was replaced with a highway next to it, and was converted to be for pedestrians, cyclists, and others on wheels, from skateboarders to wheelchair users. After a slight rise and a turn, I was in a park. This part of the path was paved, but not far in in, there were some major cracks.

Spoiler alert: I hit the cracks a high-ish speed (for me), and I went down hard. You could say that I crashed and burned even faster than Joe Biden’s polling numbers after the first debate. The low light doesn’t do the cracks justice, but they’re serious enough mofo’s. I haven’t been back to check on them yet, but I will at some point. It will hopefully be therapeutic. Or maybe fixed by then. Just kidding! The parks department and pavement department people can argue over whose responsibility it is, as long as someone gets the job done.

When one falls there is that moment of shock, pain, and emotional response. I’ve been on the floor before, so I knew to stay down, breathe and assess. Sure, I was pissed, mostly at myself, but I was also fairly mellow about it. There was blood from the skinned elbow and pain from the shoulder which took the brunt of the force. I had pain upon moving it, but not so much that I couldn’t move it, no sounds of cracking, or visible bones sticking out of my skin. I poured water over the red ouchy part and then wrapped a bandanna I had with me around my elbow.

People on Strava always ask if the bike was okay as sort of a joke, but in this case, Soqi the Cannondale Quick 4 seemed fine. I happened to be wearing my A Dude Abikes custom jersey (get yours in the merch store! Oops, I don’t have one, but if you really want we can try to make it happen). It was a little worse for wear but okay. Later I learned I had road rash on my scapula, tricep, and a little on both knees.

The short version of the rest of the story is that I made it home thanks to two things. One, a bag of ice from a convenience store that I put under my jersey and occasionally on my elbow. Two, I got paper towels tied around my elbow by a kind cyclist who happened to be hanging out in a parking lot (he knows a couple of the same people). That, some adrenaline, and disdain for SAGging out and Crapital Metro buses kept me pedaling for another 14 miles.

More to follow in Part 2.

Copyright Strava. A shot of my ride.

Copyright 2024 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved. Shortlink to this post.

26 thoughts on “Anatomy of a Fall (in Summer) Off My Bicycle (Part 1)”

  1. Been a while since I have fallen. thanks for the reminder that you have to work at making sure it doesn’t happen again — or just continue to be lucky and stay off the crack(s).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. No idea, but if it is of any consolation it happens to me too and also I have to re follow at times🤷🏻‍♀️the strange world of WordPress😉I hope all is good with you, bike accident aside🥰

        Liked by 1 person

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