stupid injury, grrrr

I am so mad at myself... We rode downtown to meet friends at a new brewery and then to dinner at our favorite pub. There is a crosswalk light for a major road next to the pub so we use the crossway to get to the best road for biking home. I leaned over to push the crosswalk button and lost my balance and tipped over. In the process I jammed my middle finger on my left hand. My entire knuckle area and finger are now sausage size. Of course some people walked up right as I did that as well (so embarrassing)
Supposed to do a nice ride with two friends today but not sure my hand is going to be able to grip my bars. What a dork. I guess two beers was over my bike balance limit - actually riding was fine so even worse that I tip over basically while standing.

So sorry for your injury. Glad to see I'm not the only one to do something like that!!!!!

So sorry you hurt yourself! If it is any consolation, you are not alone in your crosswalk-button-pushing injury - bike club friend of our broke his hip that way!

Since I always unclip and lean left, pushing a crosswalk button is impossible for me, because I fear exactly what happened to you! The only time I ever have to do this, is if I ride to the gym at 5 AM and there isn't enough traffic to trigger the light to stop traffic on the highway I have to cross. It's a 2 part crossing, with a second signal in the center island. I usually just ride across for the first crossing, without pushing the signal for the crosswalk, as there is rarely traffic coming west at that time in the AM, but there is a lot of traffic going east, toward Boston. In addition, the signal is off to the side, up the curb cut for the sidewalk, nowhere near where I am on the road. However, when I get to the island in the middle, the signal is on my left, and I just reach over and push the button. I ride across this intersection all of the time, during daylight hours, and it's just a regular intersection, but without the cars behind me, the first time I did this at 5 AM, I could not get my bike to trigger the automatic signal for the lights to change.

so in lieu of biking, went for a nice hike in the foothills. Just about stepped on a rattlesnake! - I have learned the dance "Idaho Rattlesnake Shuffle" One big step up and 5 steps back.
While the snake rattled to warn me he wasn't to interested in anything beyond that - whew. We couldn't even get him to move on by tossing pebbles at him. Sure got my heart rate up in a hurry. Left some markers in the trail to warn others. We had to pass the same area on the way back and he had finally moved on.

Yikes! You just can't win can you? Heal up quick.

Thought that I would offer something healthy/natural. There is a natural oil called Arnica, helps to decrease swelling and discoloration, if you have any. I have used a few times and LOVE it! For me, it seems that oil works better than the gel rub.

Hope you're feeling better!!

Arnica is the best!

I will try the oil. I used the gel on my achilles and was looking all over for it but I must be out.

It could be worse, one of my riding BFF's was visiting her daughter in Portland and did a demo ride on a Santa Cruz, crashed and broke her humerous! Had to walk out two miles. I took her dinner last night - we were laughing about the poem "When I am old, I shall wear purple" Who knew our purple would be in the form of bruises :)

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Originally Posted by ridebikeme

Thought that I would offer something healthy/natural. There is a natural oil called Arnica, helps to decrease swelling and discoloration, if you have any. I have used a few times and LOVE it! For me, it seems that oil works better than the gel rub.

Hope you're feeling better!!

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Originally Posted by Sky King

Who knew our purple would be in the form of bruises :)

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Oh, that's perfect. And the red hat that doesn't go will be the stitches in our faces. :D

Love it

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Originally Posted by oakleaf

oh, that's perfect. And the red hat that doesn't go will be the stitches in our faces. :d

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What an exciting life you lead!

Love the purple/red references!

Those red hat women are loud and obnoxious. I always see them when I go out to lunch at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. It's a lovely, serene setting with great food and my lunch has been ruined more than once by this group. They seem to revel in how loud they can be. I don't know, something about this doesn't sit right with me. I would prefer not to get old, but, since I am, I am trying my best not to look or act it.

Heh. I kind of meant the poem more than the organization, but it's a fine line, I guess. Being old enough not to care what others think, vs. exhibiting the solipsism and entitlement that I often see ...

Yeah, I do get the poem. These women, though, just take it too far.
Sorry if I offended anyone. I am old enough not to care what others think, but, then, I've pretty much been like that all my life!

I have seen obnoxious gangs of red hat ladies, but not so much around here. To me it seems like another in-your-face display of over disclosure.

I never made the connection until yesterday, but I do have a red bike helmet. ;)

AHHHH Ha, Ha, Coffee out the nose on this one. I may have to get a red bike helmet too - snort

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Originally Posted by malkin

I have seen obnoxious gangs of red hat ladies, but not so much around here. To me it seems like another in-your-face display of over disclosure.

I never made the connection until yesterday, but I do have a red bike helmet. ;)

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Sky King, hope you're healing up well. I did feel a bit less stupid reading your post, though, as I just had a crosswalk button pushing crash of my own in Coeur d'Alene, ID. And no beers were even involved. I fell hard on my left side while trying to maneuver my front wheel back around to go across the sidewalk. The curb was slanted, and down I went. Of course there were several cars within laughing distance. D'oh...so embarrassing! :(

I hit my left ribcage hard and could barely breathe for a few minutes. Also scraped my right calf nastily on the chainring and was bleeding/hurting from that. The palm of my left hand (in gloves) stung like crazy for awhile, but that stopped very quickly.

The ribcage pain continued for ~ 2 weeks. Hurt when I sneezed, coughed, breathed in deeply, and especially lying down in bed. I would wake up early in the morning in pain that radiated all over my ribcage and back. Since we're traveling, a visit to the doctor would involve finding a facility and going to someone unknown...and probably paying way too much for x-rays that would only reveal that nothing was broken, just a strain or something. So I just hung in there. Interestingly, it really didn't bother me when I rode, so I continued riding after only two days off the bike.

Fortunately, it went from moderately painful to basically fine all of a sudden, yesterday. Yippee! I definitely learned a lesson about crosswalks and button pushing, though. If I do it from now on, I will unclip with BOTH feet. I fell because I unclipped only on the right, while the left remained clipped in, so I lost my balance when I leaned too far to the left. I've been riding clipless pedals for decades, so I certainly didn't expect a fall like this!

Ouch, and tough when you are traveling. I think I have to get off my bike completely to push any buttons from now on:) Still fighting the knuckle, suppose I should break down and get an xray...

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Originally Posted by Sky King

Ouch, and tough when you are traveling. I think I have to get off my bike completely to push any buttons from now on:) Still fighting the knuckle, suppose I should break down and get an xray...

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Sorry you're still hurting! I'm basically about 95% healed up; just an occasional twinge if I stretch funny around the left side of my ribcage. I am glad I didn't spend the money to go to a doc, since I have a high deductible. Back when I was working and had health care that covered most everything without a deductible, I would have totally been in the doc's office the next day. Fortunately it looks like not going worked out fine in this case, just took time to heal up.

Yeah, I figure if the intersection is busy enough to need to push a button for the light, it's too busy to be close enough to the curb to reach it ...


Hope you both heal up fast!

well my injury is a month old, still swollen so I broke down and went to the ortho. Good news - it's healing, Bad news - I did break the end of the bone off... More Good news - The woman who made my hand splint is a cyclist so she designed it to immobilize the bone but I can still ride and brake. Will have it checked in two weeks.

So sorry Sky King, but it sounds like you found the right help!