since this seems to be CRASH day!

[caligurl]

there may be better places to actually crash... but my location has to be at least in the top two!!!!!!!

so sunday hubby and i are out riding.... coming down a slight grade... so going pretty fast.... stupid me... i turn around to see if there is a vehicle coming... yes... an ambulance (not with lights.. just driving)...

i turn back to the front and realize i'm drifiting into the dirt!

so i brake (i'm told that was my first mistake) and i unclip my left foot (and i'm told that was my second mistake.... hubby says that the sand/shoulder was packed enough i should have been able to maintain and slow down.... but hey.. i'm inexperienced with crashing... sorta.... i don't think it's something i want to get "good" at doing )

soooooo down i go.. tumbling... grrrrrrrrrrrr

first thought: OMG.. MY BIKE! (so much for getting a new one... i'm not "allowed" to get a new bike if i keep crashing!) then once i'm on the ground... shoulder, elbow, arm check.. then i remember... and am quite embarrased that an ambulance is behind me... uhm.. they even turned on their lights!!!!! i'm trying to unclip my right foot so i can stand up so they know i'm ok.... all the while still checking myself....

i'm shaking my arms (hard to explain... but was mad.. and checking for breaks... shaking was not the smartest move.... hubby made fun of my arm shaking later that day.....)

hubby gets back to me and is checking me over.. the guys get out the ambulance and i'm saying "i'm ok, i'm ok" (but my left hand was KILLING me... so everyone checks that.. just bruised.. but REALLY sore!

i also had a small scrap on my ankle.. (and some bruises on my leg, arm & hip that i didn't see right then.. but that i noticed later)....

hubby gets done checking me and starts to check the bike... brake/shift lever was moved but ok (scraped more *sigh*) he thought the wheel might be a bit bowed but no scraping on the brake.. ok... all looked ok with the bike...

i decided i needed to put my gloves back on (i had JUST taken them off not 15 minutes prior to my crash! i don't wear them in the sun of the day cuz i hate tan lies *rolls eyes* remember the recent discussions on here! however i think my hand still would been bruised bad.. but the scape wouldn't have been there...

then the ambulance guy asks i need a bandaid for my ankle... blonde moment of the day... perhaps of the weekend? (maybe even the year????) my comment back to him? "do you have one".... DUH.......... it's an AMBULANCE! of course they have one! (hubby LOVES telling that one to his buddies!)

to make matters "worse".... one of their stationmates was behind them a ways... a FIRETRUCK! so when they caught up and saw the ambulance stopped with their lights on ... they put their lights on and joined the "party".... OY VEY!!!!!!!!! i know they spent some of their day discussing the ditz on the bike!

i'm just thankful i was technically ok! bruised and a bruised ego... but OK overall.....

it was painful with my hand to ride my remaining 25 miles that day.. but i was damned if i was gonna stop!!!!! and then i had to go home and do my workout.. and on the menu for the day: pushups and pullups! that wasn't as bad as i expected... the push up bars helped...

no laughing at me! it's not nice!

[DeniseGoldberg]

Hey - I'm really glad you're OK, but how can we not laugh (with you, not at you) when you inject so much humor into your story?

No more crashes allowed!

--- Denise

[caligurl]

ok... you can laugh.. and definitely WITH me! cuz i do laugh about it now that i know i'm OK! but geez it does scare the bejeezus out of me when i'm on my way down! you just don't know how it's going to end up (as you well know!)

[LBTC]

so, let's see...

you were hurt, surrounded by ambulance attendants and firemen.....

and you didn't *cry*? awww, they would have been all over that!

I'm glad you're okay, too! and, good gravy! Another 25 miles *and* a workout after! you rock, girl!

Namaste,
~T~

[Grog]

I too am really glad you're okay! Going down at very high speeds always frightens me a bit, I think it's one of the most important moments to be well dressed and wear a good helmet. I always always wear gloves since my riding friend cut his hand open on a fall recently. Actually he cut through his gloves so I don't want to imagine what it would have been without them...

But the story IS funny! I loved the part when the firetruck comes in! At least you have something to tell to the little kids when you're old. These stories are much funnier than the rides-that-go-perfectly-well stories, aren't they? (As long as you live to tell them of course!!)

Heal well and soon (both the skin and the ego)...

[bikerchick68]

you know what they say about murphy's law right? apparently I'm not the only one murphy has it out for!

OMG! First of all.... really glad you're OK. Second, wouldn't it JUST FIGURE that there'd be an audience??? UGH! I feel for you... I have crashed only one time, and it was in the middle of an intersection where I got my front tire stuck in the trolley track and didn't stop til I endo'd onto the sidewalk with the bike landing on top of me... every freaking car in the intersection stopped cold and they were ALL staring...

How shaky were you when you first got back on the bike? Once I realize I'm OK then the shakes set in and I'm more wrecked from nerves than actual damage...

I heard once that statistically you'll crash once every 3 years... so you've got at least 3 more years now free and clear!

[Lynne]

OMG...I'm so sorry, but I'm trying really hard not to laugh at work! SO glad you are ok, but that is the best story...I love it! And I agree, that's the kind of thing you remember forever, not the great rides (even if hubby isn't constantly reminding you that you asked the ambulance driver if he/she had a bandaid...)

Thanks for sharing! Wish my crash (ok, technically it was a fall over sideways thing...*plop*) had been as good as that one....

[mtbdarby]

Cali,
I'll chime in too I'm glad you're ok. You do tell a good story though! Hoping there was at least a nice looking fireman or two for you.....

All my biker friends keep telling me you have to leave a little blood on the trail and earn a story to tell. My knee hurts like a SOB today - it's right up there with having had a c-section. Time for my ibuprofin dose and a couple of cold cans of pop to the knee. The things we do for fun.....

[LBTC]

Actually....although I'm deathly afraid of crashing on the road, I've done it many times on my mountain bike!! And, I must say, I'm a little jealous that you did have an audience. I've only had people see 2 of my many crashes. and they weren't even the good ones!

heal, well, cali!
Namaste,
~T~

[caligurl]

thanx for all the well wishes and the laughing with me!

uhm... ok... so crash once every 3 years? well then i shouldn't crash again for another 15 years! cuz i've crashed 7 times in a year and 1 week of riding! (that i can recall.. probably more if i really thought about it!! no wonder hubby likes to call me "crash") (well..... ok... fell over 1 times due to being new to clipless and crashed 6 times but 2 of those again.. due to clipless newbieness this was the most amusing though.....

i've got to stop crashing! i want a new bike!

i wasn't so much shakey... but i was nervous and a lot slower after that... now i could say it was cuz i was tired from two days of long rides.. but no doubt the nervousness played a big part in the slowerness! (ya.. not a word!!!) i think i was too busy thinking about how much my hand hurt and trying to find positions on the handlebar that i could ride! i did stay MUCH further to the left.. away from that AWFUL and MEAN shoulder that had sand... that would make me fall and go boom again! hubby "yelled" at me one time... "i told you car back and you didn't get over" and i replied.. "i got over as far as i was comfortable" (which wasn't much further over than when he told me.. but hey.. i didn't want to get NEAR that sand!)

[Trek420]

Glad you're ok! So tell us...cause we all gotta know...and someone's gotta ask.....HOW'S THE BIKE!!??

[caligurl]

the bike appears to be fine! phew! the shifter was moved and scratched more (yes.. more... since it was already scratched from previous crashes)

hubby thought the front wheel was bowed (not sure that's the word he used) thought it looked like it wobbled a bit???? but didn't rub on the brake... i gotta remind him to check it out again!

my little bar end light thingy got twisted a bit.. but it still works!

my handlebar bag moved down and needed readjustment!

i'm sure my poor baby has additional scratches to go with its other crash related scratches... i'm such a bad bike-mom.. crashing my poor baby

and to think.. the 2 top bikes on my wish list are a custom luna or a full carbon roubaix pro... like hubby will let me get either.. just so i can crash on it! *sigh*

[betagirl]

Glad to hear you're ok. And your bike. Were the paramedics or firemen hot? No pun intended

I've only had an interaction with paramedics (not biking related) in Phoenix, and man it looked like they just walked out of a calendar. I immediately felt better!

[caligurl]

sadly.... no..... not hot.. just very nice!

(i think if they had been hot.. i woulda been more embarrassed than i already was!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm kinda glad they weren't hot! ya.... glad they weren't! ok.. maybe not.. hot woulda been good!)

[nuthatch]

Glad you survived! Ever think about a rear-view mirror? I love mine because where ever my head turns, my front tire follows. I can't tell you how many times I've found myself crossing the road unintentionally when I looked back to check out the rear!