Had a spectacular crash Monday night ...
File under (a) dumbass move, or (b) lesson learned.
Went out w/Doug and Jess - they were on their road bikes (both Orbeas) while I opted for the fixie just to see how it would treat me on a faster ride. (I'll post more on the fixie in the near future.)
We headed west to ride the Medicine Lake loop, and I was leading. Had a good amount of speed build up after a decent downhill, and took a turn a little too fast, leaning to the side further than I should have been. My right pedal connected w/the pavement, and I went down hard. Doug was behind me, his bike connected w/mine and before he knew it he was in on the action. My bike and I went down in a furious jumble - I went down sort of on my left side, banged my hip and momentum rolled me on to my back, just in time to witness Doug flying over me like a pro wrestler coming off the top rope.
As he sailed overhead, I somehow thrust my hand upward and kind of levered him away from me in midair (don't know if I was subconsciously trying to slow his fall, or if it was an act of self preservation on my part - it happened way too fast) and thankfully he didn't land ON me. And thankfully he came out of it in even better shape than I was, or I would have felt like even more of a tool.
I sat there for a moment seeing stars (which was cool - I checked my helmet and I don't think my head hit anything, but stars were cool nonetheless.) We both seemed pretty OK (my hip and one wrist are a little sore today, but nothing major). How I got a small patch of road rash on my hip *underneath* my spandex, while the spandex remained unscathed and in place is a mystery to me.
No major damage to either bike, although my front rim is doing a little shimmy-shimmy-shake-shake now, but nothing that can't be trued out.
What I learned:
Went out w/Doug and Jess - they were on their road bikes (both Orbeas) while I opted for the fixie just to see how it would treat me on a faster ride. (I'll post more on the fixie in the near future.)
We headed west to ride the Medicine Lake loop, and I was leading. Had a good amount of speed build up after a decent downhill, and took a turn a little too fast, leaning to the side further than I should have been. My right pedal connected w/the pavement, and I went down hard. Doug was behind me, his bike connected w/mine and before he knew it he was in on the action. My bike and I went down in a furious jumble - I went down sort of on my left side, banged my hip and momentum rolled me on to my back, just in time to witness Doug flying over me like a pro wrestler coming off the top rope.
As he sailed overhead, I somehow thrust my hand upward and kind of levered him away from me in midair (don't know if I was subconsciously trying to slow his fall, or if it was an act of self preservation on my part - it happened way too fast) and thankfully he didn't land ON me. And thankfully he came out of it in even better shape than I was, or I would have felt like even more of a tool.
I sat there for a moment seeing stars (which was cool - I checked my helmet and I don't think my head hit anything, but stars were cool nonetheless.) We both seemed pretty OK (my hip and one wrist are a little sore today, but nothing major). How I got a small patch of road rash on my hip *underneath* my spandex, while the spandex remained unscathed and in place is a mystery to me.
No major damage to either bike, although my front rim is doing a little shimmy-shimmy-shake-shake now, but nothing that can't be trued out.
What I learned:
- when riding fixed, don't lean into the corners as much if avoidable
- maybe opting for the 170mm cranks (to be interchangable with my road bike's components) wasn't the best idea - 165s might be a better option
- lower profile pedals (I'm riding wide "campus style" platform/spd pedals) might be a good idea too
posted by equipoise at 6:07 PM
4 Comments:
I've found that out to that spandex don't actually protect you in the slightest bit. I've gotten large amounts of skin removed with out so much as a scratch on the spandex covering it.
I also might have to agree with you on the pedals. My road bike came with extra long cranks. I think they're at least 175's. They hang a good 2" lower than my mountain bike cranks. I came close to taking a huge spill going pretty fast after clipping the bottom of my spd campus pedals on the bike trail. I have a hard time pedaling through any corners.
On a fix, don't lean in the corners at ALL if avoidable. The 165s would probably help a little, but I think that riding style makes as much of a difference. Sometimes you just have to take a wider line and slow down a little to make the turn safely...
Glad to hear you're mostly OK...
Yeah, I hear spike heels really get the chicks too!
Nah, I don't need the spike heels to get the chicks ... I use the plaid punker skirt for that :-)
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