Do you ever wonder . . .

. . . how strange we must look to car drivers when we suddenly fall over for no reason?

I had a somewhat high speed clipless fall last night. My own fault. Going to fast, mind somewhere else, came screaming up to a stop sign and . . . oh Sh*t a car! :eek: Couldn't get unclipped and fell. After a quick mental tally, bike fine, no holes in my new shorts, darn that hurt, I got to thinking. I wonder what the driver of that car must have thought? To see me ride up to the stop sign and promptly fall. :eek: :D No wonder some drivers give us such a wide berth! They never know when we'll just fall over. :D

I'm fine other than a knee that looks like hamburger and a nicely spreading bruise on my hip. And this has given me the chance to try the Second Skin bandages I've been reading so much about lately. So far, so good. The road rash hardly hurts. And as long as the Aleve doesn't wear off nothing else does either! :rolleyes: bikerHen

Note: Don't read if your eating. I do have a question about the Second Skin bandages. Are they suppose to leak? Mine has been leaking fluid from under the bandage all morning. Is that normal?

I have only fallen once so far with my clipless and I thought the same thing. Luckily mine was coming up to my mail box and I jumped up and looked around to see if anyone was around. I live in the country on a dirt road though so not likely anyone saw me, but your first thought is still, "did anyone see". :D

I'm glad you didn't get hurt to badly. I don't know about those bandages, have never even heard of them. I believe that your hambuger knee is going to probably ooz some and if the bandage is not the type to soak that up then I would think that it could nothing but leak.
I know, I'm no help sorry. :rolleyes:

Ha ha, yes.

It's not so much a car story, but my worst spontaneous falling episode so far was when I rode down to a local state park. There is a great hiking/biking trail that I wanted to ride and it seemed like a good afternoon. As I approached the road that leads into the park there was a ranger blocking traffic. "Park's closed, a climber fell." he said. There were lots of news trucks and ambulances parked nearby. I pulled up beside him and was asking him questions as I turned around.

I had my left foot clipped in and my right foot supporting me on a hill. I was chatting away when my right foot slipped and as I tried to regain my balance I tipped to the left, realized too late that I was clipped in, and fell over. The ranger darted out of the way and I hit the ground hard.

I scraped myself up a bit and the poor guy kept asking if I was ok, I think I really shocked him. It was pretty embarrassing but what can you do but dust yourself off and ride on...

Anne

If by Second Skin you mean the liquid bandages that some manufacturers are doing... I hate the stuff. It just doesn't seem to help things heal as well as a "regular" bandage. Last time I had a serious scrape I ended up going with a pad and tape with antibiotic ointment to knock out the infection. Getting it really clean just wasn't happening, since I'd ground loose dirt into it pretty thoroughly.

And even without clips or clipless pedals, I sometimes just keel over. Low blood sugar on a bike is bad!

No fancy shoes, no complex pedals, sometimes I just feel like falling.

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Originally Posted by onimity

Ha ha, yes.

It's not so much a car story, but my worst spontaneous falling episode so far was when I rode down to a local state park. There is a great hiking/biking trail that I wanted to ride and it seemed like a good afternoon. As I approached the road that leads into the park there was a ranger blocking traffic. "Park's closed, a climber fell." he said. There were lots of news trucks and ambulances parked nearby. I pulled up beside him and was asking him questions as I turned around.

I had my left foot clipped in and my right foot supporting me on a hill. I was chatting away when my right foot slipped and as I tried to regain my balance I tipped to the left, realized too late that I was clipped in, and fell over. The ranger darted out of the way and I hit the ground hard.

I scraped myself up a bit and the poor guy kept asking if I was ok, I think I really shocked him. It was pretty embarrassing but what can you do but dust yourself off and ride on...

Anne

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You mean he didn't cushion your fall ? :eek: . He's there to protect and serve like everyone else;)

It's a wonder any of us don't get banged/scraped/bruised more than we do. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by madscot13

No fancy shoes, no complex pedals, sometimes I just feel like falling.

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Like in PeeWee's Big Adventure...when PeeWee is zooming along on his cool cruiser bike...then does an endo and flys through the air with a triple somersault and lands in the dirt right in front of a group of kids watching him. He gets up and brushes himself off and walks off saying "I meant to do that!"

Too funny!!! :p :p :p

i've just come to the conclusion that i am one with the ground.

though it has to look funny to a non cyclist when we just fall over.

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Originally Posted by madscot13

No fancy shoes, no complex pedals, sometimes I just feel like falling.

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Are you my long lost twin?:D

Cyclists keeling over for the heck of it is no more strange to drivers than say, fainting goats. :p

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Originally Posted by madscot13

... sometimes I just feel like falling.

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...it's the really, really cold Minnesota winters, right?;)

...for your very amusing question (and for everyone's responses)! I'm new to road biking and am just about ready to go clipless. I'm totally scared of falling and know that it's part of the learning (and lifelong) process of being clipped-in, but it's nice to read everyone's humor about the whole thing.

My BF tells a hysterical story about falling on his bike while working at a band camp. He had some free time while the kids were working drill out on the field, so he decided to take his bike for a spin. On the way out of camp, he lost his momentum (and therefore balance) on a patch of gravel and fell right over with no time to get unclipped. He got up quickly and brushed himself off, hoping that no one had seen him fall. Unfortunately, he was within view of the field and when he got back from his ride several students asked if he was okay. I'm sure they thought it was quite funny to see one of their teachers tip over for no known reason!

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Originally Posted by singletrackmind

Cyclists keeling over for the heck of it is no more strange to drivers than say, fainting goats. :p

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Fainting goats.....I love it!!

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Originally Posted by zencentury

Are you my long lost twin?:D

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let's see here: both female, bikers, unemployed, odd tendency to fall, i'm getting your pedals, and did you say you had wide feet too? Yes it is official not only are you my twin but you are my identical twin.

But hey watchout Jeannine, I hope it's not genetics, but you may end up looking like my avatar!

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Originally Posted by madscot13

But hey watchout Jeannine, I hope it's not genetics, but you may end up looking like my avatar!

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which by the way i love :D

I posted this in the June 13 rides thread but I thought it was so bizarre I should add it here.
I had every intention of doing my regular Wednesday night training ride only to find the ride leader not at the appointed meeting place. Seems he was unable to make it and forgot to inform all of his riders! I went out anyway and when I saw the sky start to blacken raced back to the house. Not only did I not make it but i got BLOWED OVER by a gust of wind. I wasn't too far from the house and rather risk getting BLOWED OVER (yes, I said blowed) again, I hoofed it and got soaked.

I'm still cold, I'm getting in a warm bath.
and
I hope my shoes dry out in time to ride tomorrow morning.
and
I can't get the theme song to Dennis Leary's firefighter show 'Rescue Me' out of my head (stop, drop, and roll):D

Yea, we had some wind here yesterday too. I almost got blown over as well. :eek: Scary feeling! As for wet shoes, stuff them with newspaper. The paper soaks up the water and helps them dry much faster. If they are REALLY wet you may have to change the paper after a couple of hour. bikerHen

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

Fainting goats.....I love it!!

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I'll bet the goats don't! :eek:

Ahhh yes. The embarassing falling over story. Mine's a tandem story. It was one of our first tmes out on the tandem (which means one of my first times out with clips and new to serious cycling). We were stopped at a fairly steep incline, which meant we had to "work together" to get going. I was fully clipped in. DH had his left foot clipped in. He had some brilliant plan to get us going up this incline, which he didn't relate to me, which meant when we tried to take off, we were not balanced well and the bike started to fall to the right. He put his right foot down to try to save it. I couldn't get my newbie foot out and in total slow motion, the tandem went down like a big ship sinking! With me the only one attached!

And then the light behind us turned green and cars went zooming by on this VERY busy street as I lie by the curb like a beached whale. I can still hear them laughing and mocking me. (I'm just SURE that's what they were doing! ;) )

I actually fought tears all the home and told DH this was NOT a good way to get me excited about riding tandem with him. Luckily, I did stick with it and haven't had ANY falling over adventures since, not even on my new single. :)