First Crash

[Melody]

After a 25 mile ride with my husband and our friend Dave, I start speeding up to catch up my husband. I start moving into a tight right turn up on our street and like an idiot, I'm pedalling as I'm leaning hard... and end up causing a pedal strike on the right hand side. :eek:

I'm ok. I have a little road rash on the right elbow and leg near the knee. Plus, my ribs on the right hand side just under my breast is pretty sore.

Silver (as I have just named the Litespeed) is doing well. I just replaced the handlebar tape which was pretty trashed. I took her to the LBS to get checked out, especially the rear wheel which has pretty bad gouging, but turns out it's all superficial. They suggested sanding down the gouges to make sure there were no sharp edges. The inside of the wheel is completely fine.

I can't say the same for the tire. The shearing forces were strong enough to rip the valve stem completely out of the tire (Tufo S33 Pro tubular clincher). The tire itself looks great but there's no valve stem.

I've taken some vitamin I and I'm trying to relax though my husband makes me laugh from time to time and I go "ow". I still need to put a new tire on the wheel but at the moment I'm too sore to do so.

I'm just hoping I'll be ok enough to go out tomorrow and ride but at the moment, I don't think so. :( Oh well. I still have all limbs and such.

Mel

PS: I have a funny thing happen to me a little later today. I'll post it in the forums.

[carimail]

Ouch! Sorry about your crash. I'm glad you and the bike came out pretty good. I hope you're not too sore tomorrow.

[BikeMomma]

Buuummm-mmmmer! Yea, I've almost gone down that way before -- sorta jolts you out of daydreaming, huh? What kind of pedals do you use? Glad you're relatively ok -- hope those ribs feel better real soon -- and glad the steed (Hi, Ho, Silver!!) is only wounded superficially.

Take care....
~BikeMomma

[Melody]

Buuummm-mmmmer! Yea, I've almost gone down that way before -- sorta jolts you out of daydreaming, huh? What kind of pedals do you use? Glad you're relatively ok -- hope those ribs feel better real soon -- and glad the steed (Hi, Ho, Silver!!) is only wounded superficially.

BM, I have pair of Shimano SPD pedals on the bike. I forget which model specifically. The right one is now all scratched up of course.

Well today I feel better. The pulling/bruising seems to be less but still going to take it easy and take some vitamin I this morning. I'm able to at least move around now without that stitch of pain from there. I should go find my cane though. heh.

Mel

[CyclingChick]

Glad you're ok... :)

[Nanci]

I'm really cautious when cornering on a road bike- I don't trust it. Especially when it's wet. So since I am braking, I have my inside pedal up and my weight on the outside. I've had a few pedal strikes on my MTB, though, because sometimes to maintain momentum, or to gain some speed, it's nice to pedal around a corner, but the results on dirt aren't as bad as on asphalt. Still very jolting, though. Hurts even if you don't go down.

Glad to hear everyone is (relatively) all right!

Nanci

[Lise]

Hi, Mel,

Glad you're feeling better. One of my two bad wipe-outs on the bike was from cornering onto ~surprise!~ ice. Part of my caution in cornering is that I often can't see what's around the bend. Glad to hear that you and Silver came through with as little damage as you did.

Best wishes,

Lise

[Melody]

Thanks everyone. I'm feeling better today than yesterday though I am not looking forward to my commute to work tomorrow. I'm very very glad it's a short ride.

Mel

[BikeMomma]

BM, I have pair of Shimano SPD pedals on the bike. I forget which model specifically. The right one is now all scratched up of course.
Battle scars! :p I ride Speedplay Zero's....not sure what the comparison is on pedal clearance between the two, though. The Speedplays were an experiment on my part, and I ended up liking them, so I kept them on. I put them on the Cannondale too, for the trainer sessions I do at work during my lunch hour. So they're working out well for me. I've never tried the Shimano's.

Glad you're doing a tiny bit better. Careful on your commute. Perhaps it will help to loosen up some of the soreness, though. Hope so. ;)

~BikeMomma:)

[Melody]

Battle scars! :p I ride Speedplay Zero's....not sure what the comparison is on pedal clearance between the two, though. The Speedplays were an experiment on my part, and I ended up liking them, so I kept them on. I put them on the Cannondale too, for the trainer sessions I do at work during my lunch hour. So they're working out well for me. I've never tried the Shimano's.

My husband rides the Zero's too and he loves them. The clearance is better on them than with the SPDs but my bianchi (still unnamed) which I use for commuting actually came with SPD style pedals so I stuck with them.


Glad you're doing a tiny bit better. Careful on your commute. Perhaps it will help to loosen up some of the soreness, though. Hope so. ;)

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. I'm hurting more today than I did the first two days. I guess it took time to catch up with me. Because of that I've taken the day off. What really sucks is there's *no* truly comfortable position. Laying down hurts, sitting hurts, standing hurts, etc. :/

Sitting on a chair with nice back support hurts less which is what I'm doing now. I've gotten maybe 5 or 6 hours of sleep but I couldn't deal with it hurting any more, especially since my husband tends to toss and turn... which means he jostles me and it hurts.

*sigh*

I'll be ok that I know. It just hurts at the moment. :mad: Plus I want to get back on the bike. :p :D :cool:

Mel

[slinkedog]

I'm so sorry to hear about your crash! I hope you're feeling better soon! Keep us posted.

[bikerchick68]

OW! yikes... sorry to hear about your crash.... give yourself permission to be off the bike and heal... hope you're much, much better soon... :)

[bcipam]

Glad you survived. Makes a good "war" story. Be proud of your scrapes and scars.

PS: If you in any way hit your head, you will need to get a new helmet. They are good for one crash, one crash only. Since I crash alot, I always have spares. I buy them when on sale just in case. ;)

[BikeMomma]

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. I'm hurting more today than I did the first two days. I guess it took time to catch up with me. Because of that I've taken the day off. What really sucks is there's *no* truly comfortable position. Laying down hurts, sitting hurts, standing hurts, etc. :/

Sitting on a chair with nice back support hurts less which is what I'm doing now. I've gotten maybe 5 or 6 hours of sleep but I couldn't deal with it hurting any more, especially since my husband tends to toss and turn... which means he jostles me and it hurts.

*sigh*

I'll be ok that I know. It just hurts at the moment. :mad: Plus I want to get back on the bike. :p :D :cool:
Darn! I was sure hoping you were doing better. Hmm....perhaps a doc visit would be appropriate, to rule out anything serious? I think I would go at this point, since you're not seeing improvement after a few days. Bikerchick is right, too....you should take it easy -- give it time. Sucks to be off the bike, I know (I heard that sigh loud & clear!), but the alternative could be worse.
~BM

[RoadRaven]

How are you doing Melody - this was over a week ago, right?

Trust everything is healing up well

Can I just put on my "home-nurse" hat and say arnica... take it internally or smear a cream on the uncut bruised bits (never put on open wounds)

It is the best thing to assist in the healing of bruises...

[Brandi]

I second that. I had some tendon soreness for a long time a friend suggested arnica. Love it! you can take it internally?

[RoadRaven]

Yes, you can Brandi...

If I could have only one thing in our first aid kit it would be arnica...

Arnica externally...
(but never on broken skin)

Arnica cream... to rub gently on bruises, sprains and aching joints/ligaments/tendons.

Arnica oil... to massage into tired sore leg muscles and backs.


Arnica internally...
(every few hours initially to work on internal bruising, hard to get at bruising or tired sore muscles - even after a vomiting bug to help those retching abs recover)

Arnica pillues... (they're tiny pills a bit bigger than a pin head) cause they seem sweet and young children will eat them easily, or will dissolve quickly under the tongue if someone doesn't want to eat/swallow

Arnica pills... small chewable tablets

Arnica drops... 15 virtually tasteless drops in a some water (though I have dropped straight on my tongue when no water was available)


Road (wishing I had shares in some arnica company cause I'd make a fortune from my advocacy :p ) Raven

[Melody]

RoadRaven, I'm healing up ok. I've stayed off the bike this past week to help with healing. I've been using betadine on any surfaces that have been cut/scraped and then applying bacitracin (a combination topical antibiotic) afterwards.

For the bruished/sore ribs where there is no skin breakage I've been using Tiger Balm, which I personally love the smell of (though the DH hates it. heh).

I am still sore but I think I'm ok enough to get on the bike. I'll be trying later when I put Silver on the trainer. :)

Mel

[RoadRaven]

Great to hear you are doing ok Melody... betadine is most excellent and not as stingy as iodine...

I like the smell of both Tiger Balm and Deep Heat too... but no-one else in the house seems to!

Have fun on Silver :)

[DirtDiva]

Tiger Balm being massaged into shoulders that have been carrying a tramping pack all day is heaven. :cool: (I love the smell of it as well.)

[Melody]

I just think "Mmmmmmmm tigerbalm" whenever I open it up. :D

Anyway, went out for a short ride today (~9 miles or so) to one of the local LBS' and back. I still have some pain in the ribs but it's pretty minor except when I stand to sprint, which wasn't happening too often. I was, however, bonking fast. My legs felt like wet noodles.

So I rode through that (and I was going slow because, well, I felt I had no energy) and at the LBS, I finally sat on a bench at took my sugar (I'm diabetic). My glucose was 75. :eek: So I ate a banana and a packet of Gu and rested a little bit. Needless to say I had quite a bit more energy on the way back. I guess a carton of yogurt for breakfast just wasn't enough. :o It's just hard to guage what my sugar levels are going to do some days. :/

But! I was well enough to get on the bike so that made me happy :) Even if I do feel like an idiot. :o

Mel

[Jo-n-NY]

Good for you Melody. I guess with little steps at a time, you will be back to your good ole self in no time. With the sugar, I would imagine it is a day by day learning experience.

I am wishing you improvement with every ride.

~ JoAnn