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Kalidurga
05-10-2009, 11:55 AM
Well, I had a fun ride today :rolleyes: Headed up to Sharpsburg and got on the towpath across the river from Shepherdstown, headed downstream towards Harper's Ferry. No planned mileage, just figured I'd ride as far as I felt like then turn around, and enjoy the gorgeous weather along the way.

So I'm cruising along, when I glance down and see a wasp on my thigh. I brush it off without looking, then glance down again and see it's still there. I brush again, looking to see if I got it and... I don't know if I hit a rock or leaned my weight the wrong way or what, but the next thing I know I'm sprawled face down in the gravel with my bike under me. Hopped up, grabbed the bike to check it out, and noticed blood running down my arm. Twisted my elbow as close to my face as I could only to find a nice little hole gouged in my arm. There's also almost 6 inches of bright red road (towpath?) rash down my shin and the leather on the palms of my gloves is shredded. And I can feel a goose egg growing on the inside of my thigh from where it must've smacked against the nose of my saddle.

Fortunately, I was just upstream from the Huckleberry Hill campsite, so I start walking the bike towards it and see 4 people standing near the porta-john. They were standing around a snake that was in the middle of the towpath, probably wishing they'd all go away. I had to walk around and through the group of them to get to the porta-john for some toilet paper (since none of them would move), holding my arm up to prevent the blood from running down my arm, and not one of them seemed to notice. I come out of the porta-john wiping gore off my wrist, and still not one of them says anything to me.

So I grabbed my bike and headed down to the picnic table, where I had to lie down for a bit for the adrenaline to wear off and my ears to stop ringing (I had hit my chin on the ground). After a while I sat up, pulled out my first aid stuff (thank goodness I come prepared), and began trying to clean myself up. Then I had to get my chain untangled from the bottom bracket and fix the shifter that'd been knocked cockeyed. During the time that I was sitting there, 3 more pairs of people passed by and two of the people who had been looking at the snake passed again heading back. Again, not one of those 10 people said "How are you?", "Are you ok?", or even "Gee, you look goofy."

The 9 miles back to the car were easier than expected, and it was so beautiful out this morning that I was actually still able to enjoy the ride. If it hadn't been for the obliviousness of the people I encountered, the crash would kind of be no big deal.

Except that my elbow is still oozing blood... :eek:

Selkie
05-10-2009, 12:28 PM
I'm sorry to hear about your mishap and the complete lack of kindness on the part of those morons! I don't understand how people can behave that way but unfortunately, one seems to encounter it often these days.

Hope you heal up quickly.

divingbiker
05-10-2009, 01:20 PM
Oh, my, that sounds painful. What is up with people, ignoring someone who's bleeding?

Zen
05-10-2009, 01:59 PM
Good thing you were you were prepared and able to make it back.
I'm often stumped by the lack of awareness in people.

Were these people walking or riding?

7rider
05-10-2009, 03:10 PM
Well, if they knew you like we do...they would have known that you look goofy all the time, anyway!
Seriously...bummer about the wipeout. Keep it clean...

Zen
05-10-2009, 03:39 PM
Next time opt for the sting.

HillSlugger
05-10-2009, 05:29 PM
I guess that a snake is more interesting than a bleeding human. :rolleyes:

I'm very glad you are ok!

Kalidurga
05-10-2009, 06:04 PM
Were these people walking or riding?

Some of each, passing in separate pairs. It just annoyed me because whenever I see someone on the side of the trail/road/whatever, I pretty much always say "how're you doing?" or something like that.

Thanks, ladies. I think I just needed to rant. And by the way, I'm even more goofy looking than usual right now, with two stitches sticking out of my elbow ;)

Cataboo
05-10-2009, 07:34 PM
Ouch. I'm glad you had gloves on and I have no idea what's wrong with people.

A nurse friend of mine that works in an ER says that using spray & wash on your road rash is the gentlest thing to do, they use it to clean up their motorcycle accident victims... but luckily I haven't had road rash since she told me that to test it.

Maybe if you'd gotten yourself bitten by the snake, you might have gotten some attention.

PamNY
05-10-2009, 07:51 PM
Glad you're okay, and it's a shame no one offered help.

Pam

Eden
05-10-2009, 08:18 PM
Sorry to hear no one stopped :( I always ask if a person looks distressed, and a bleeding person is usually distressed....

Best thing to do for road rash is cover, cover, cover - if you can find big enough ones (you might need to look at a medical supply shop for the size road rash you have) hydrocolloid dressings like duoderm work really nice. They are kind of gross - you put them on and they stay on until they either fall off or the wound heals, but they do heal things up quicker and help cut the sting. Otherwise a cream with gauze works nicely - I actually like non-antibiotic bees wax based stuff unless I'm really worried about infection. Whatever you do keep it moist (avoid scabbing over) and it will heal better.

sgtiger
05-10-2009, 09:23 PM
Kalidurga, sorry to hear about your wipe-out.

Kalidurga
05-11-2009, 02:47 AM
Aw, thanks. You all are making up for the dorks on the trail yesterday.

The dr in the er cleaned up my road rash nicely after he put the stitches in my elbow, and it's actually not too bad. It's not pretty, but should heal fairly soon. The huge, lumpy bruise on the inside of my right thigh, on the other hand, is so colorful that it's practically a work of art.

Catriona: Spray & Wash?? Please tell me you don't mean this (http://www.spraynwash.com/).

7rider
05-11-2009, 04:55 AM
Surely, she meant Windex. Isn't Windex supposed to be good for EVERYthing??;):rolleyes:

Wait until gravity goes to work on your bruise and it leave fun streaks on your leg! When I wiped out mtb'ing, we used to look for shapes in the bruise ("Oh look, today it looks like Elvis!").

Eden
05-11-2009, 05:10 AM
Surely, she meant Windex. Isn't Windex supposed to be good for EVERYthing??;):rolleyes:


:eek::eek::eek: OMG that would hurt.....

Cataboo
05-11-2009, 05:52 AM
I do mean that stuff...

http://www.spraynwash.com/

My nurse friend says that they've found it to be the gentlest thing for cleaning road rash.

I keep hoping I find someone that has road rash to test it on before I get the chance to test it on myself.

Kalidurga
05-11-2009, 08:06 AM
Sorry, but I will NOT be your guinea pig. And I'm stayin' out of your friend's hospital.

And I'm not Greek, so no Windex, either.

Cataboo
05-11-2009, 08:09 AM
Sorry, but I will NOT be your guinea pig. And I'm stayin' out of your friend's hospital.

And I'm not Greek, so no Windex, either.

ha. She works at a hospital in Denver, so I'm thinking you'll be okay unless you're going to be biking in Colorado anytime soon.


When I was little, I had a black guinea pig and at some point I thought wouldn't it be cute if I took the guinea pig to meet the german shepard we had... stuck the guinea pig up to the fence and everything went well until the german shepard tried to eat it... he just ended up with a mouthful of fur and I had a black guinea pig with a bald spot.

I figured my parents would get mad, so I got a black marker and colored the guinea pig in...

Apparently I shoulda used spray n wash first, then used the black marker.

Kalidurga
05-11-2009, 09:26 AM
Apparently I shoulda used spray n wash first, then used the black marker.

And then some Windex for polish. Did your parents notice?

Zen
05-11-2009, 12:15 PM
In first aid class I was taught to use saline solution (contact lens stuff) for road rash.

withm
05-11-2009, 01:40 PM
I'm so sorry! What a nightmare. Good that you were prepared, and got home OK. That could happen to any of us at any time. What a shame that none of the bystanders could be bothered to offer any assistance.

Martha

Kalidurga
05-11-2009, 03:07 PM
It was really more annoying than anything else. There probably wasn't anything anyone could've done that I wasn't able to do for myself, and I certainly could've stopped someone and asked for help if it was really necessary. It just would've felt nice for someone to acknowledge it, y'know? Any one of those people probably would've expected that much if it had been them in my shoes.

Anyhoo... The dr in the er apparently used plain water in a syringe to clean it out (well, fancy hospital bottled water, which certainly might've been saline). When I was trying to clean it up on the trail, I used wetnaps that I'd nicked from various restaurants over the years. Now I need to go out for bbq so I can refill my kit :D

Zen
05-11-2009, 05:17 PM
Now I need to go out for bbq so I can refill my kit :D

Yeah, they don't have those at Waffle House. You have to go to one of those upscale places :D
The reason I asked about cyclists or pedestrians was, well I just thought cyclists might be more empathetic to a fellow cyclist.
So much for that theory:rolleyes:

Kalidurga
05-12-2009, 06:55 AM
Yeah, I would've expected the same.

If anyone's feeling morbidly curious, here's mah hematoma (http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z163/KaliDurga/assorted_crap/?action=view&current=004-resize.jpg&newest=1). I should have taken the photo yesterday when it was still multi-colored.

7rider
05-12-2009, 08:54 AM
Yeah, they don't have those at Waffle House. You have to go to one of those upscale places :D


Like Kentucky Fried Chicken???
That's where my wipies in my bike bags come from....

Zen
05-12-2009, 09:12 AM
If anyone's feeling morbidly curious, here's mah hematoma (http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z163/KaliDurga/assorted_crap/?action=view&current=004-resize.jpg&newest=1).

You know I had to look. Is that a knee?

Kalidurga
05-12-2009, 09:18 AM
You know I had to look. Is that a knee?

That's the top inside of my thigh.

Hmmm... The KFC's near me don't give out wetnaps. I may need to talk to them about that.