Taking responsibility

[OakLeaf]

I think I had it straight in my head all along. But I'm afraid I may have left a different impression when I posted about my wreck. Getting my stitches taken out seems as good an occasion as any to correct that.

I don't believe that my safety is anyone's responsibility but my own - either in general or in this particular case. Although it was someone else's actions that precipitated my crash, it was my own poor braking technique that caused it.

First order of business once my hand is good to ride is panic braking practice.

Shouldn't be but a few more days - everything's healing very quickly. My chest/abdominal wall felt more or less okay for a 3-mile walk yesterday, and I plan to run tomorrow.

[indysteel]

Oak, I must have somehow missed your original thread/post about your crash, because this is news to me. Yikes; I sure hope you're okay.

[indysteel]

Okay; I just got caught up on your posts about the crash. How scary. I hope you keep healing and get back to normal sooner rather than later.

[Mr. Bloom]

Have you taken or considered taking any of the League safety courses? http://Www.bikeleague.org/programs/e...on/courses.php

Glad you're healing! Don't beat yourself up...no scenario is perfectly scripted to a safe outcome.

[redrhodie]

It sounds like going over the bars may have been your best choice given the amount of distance you had to stop since you had no brake light warning. Do you think it's possible to have avoided the car and not gone over the bars, in the time/space you had to work with? I'm not convinced you're braking performance was at all poor. I think you should give yourself some credit for not hitting the car, which would have been much worse.

I'm really glad your stitches are out, and you're up for running. Don't do too much too soon!

[OakLeaf]

@Indy - thanks. I'm feeling better day by day.

@Mr. B - I've considered it, but that's as far as I'd gotten so far. In this particular case I know exactly what I did wrong (too much front brake and not enough rear, not shifting my weight back), but having done the motorcycle safety classes four times, I'm very much a believer in rider education, and I know there's always something to learn and/or reinforce. Will definitely make time for a course this year if there's one near me.

@red - It would've been the rider in front of me I'd have hit, not the car ... and since neither he nor third member of the group crashed, I'm quite sure it was my technique. Really, for some stupid reason I'd never quite believed it was possible to endo a road bicycle on flat ground. One of the two things I clearly remember thinking was - in the fraction of a second as I flew through the air - "Well, I guess this really is possible." D'oh. (The second thing was chagrin about my brand new helmet as I heard a scraping sound against the ground. It was only the second time I'd worn it. As it turned out, my helmet didn't even touch the ground - it was my sunglasses and/or mirror I heard.)

I'm not beating myself up. The ground and my stem did that perfectly well for me. I've just learned something intellectually from this crash, and now I have to put into practice learning it in muscle memory.

[indysteel]

I did an endo over my handlebars on my inaugural ride of my Trek FX back in 2006. I was alone, and something ahead of me on the bike trail inexplicably freaked me out--alla a spooked horse. I applied WAY too much front brake and over the top I went. It was beyond embarrassing, but I thankfully didn't injure anything more than my pride. I have not done that again--yet.

Is that what you think you did--applied too much of your front brake in your panic to stop?

[hebe]

Get well soon. I missed your original post. Don't be too hard on yourself.

[Melalvai]

Don't trust your analysis right after the wreck.

I don't know (yet) if time brings more clarity but emotions can be too strong initially for rational thinking, even though you could swear you are being calm and logical!

[PamNY]

Oak, I don't think your original post gave the wrong impression. I had a similar crash (I wasn't injured) and did some emergency braking practice. That's a topic worth discussing, of course.

A side note -- I used to participate in a kick scooter internet group but I've pretty much dropped out because everything was always the scooter's fault. Scooters are overall simpler than bikes -- you can usually catch yourself with your free foot and just hop off, but you do have to watch for things like potholes. People kept blaming Xootr wheels for not cheerfully whizzing over huge holes, which they clearly are not designed to do. I found myself becoming a sanctimonious twit, and I don't think I was helping anyone, so I shut up.

There's a very different atmosphere in this group.

[Bike Writer]

Oak, so sorry about your crash. I had missed the first mention of it, I do hope you mend quickly. Please don't beat yourself up, people should not be driving a vehicle without proper lights. Yes it's probably smart to consider practicing panic braking.

Hope you are healing quickly, I just can't imagine the horror of going head first over the handlebars....makes me shudder to think of flying through the air like that. Yikes! You're fortunate to have escaped a more serious injury than what you already have.