Give me your worst shot
Posted: January 31st, 2008 by Pinchie
One of the reasons I’ve always had a slight preference for riding in dirt is that the landing is a lot softer. When you crash on pavement, it’s going to be your flesh and bones that absorb the blow — not the road.
But no matter where you are, goofing around on bikes is always an opportunity for some sort of crazy accident. Take this young fellow down in Australia for example:
JACK Hewitt’s much anticipated return to school this week is on hold as he recovers in hospital from a freak bicycle accident in his Rainbow Beach front yard.
In a manoeuvre his parents admit they will never quite figure out, the 8-year-old managed to come off his BMX and impale himself on the handbrake.
“He’s come off and yelled out `Dad, I’m stuck’,” said father Chris Hewitt. “I couldn’t believe it. The lever from the handbrake had gone right into his groin. Just missed his vital organs.” [The Courier Mail, Australia]
Uffda. I’ve had some crazy injuries, including the infamous “stem stress test.” But never an actual impalement.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Separated shoulder, from hitting a pedestrian and then skidding 20 feet on the pavement. But that pales in comparison to this kid.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
14 sutures in my scalp after putting my head through a lady’s windshield when she turned left in front of me and stopped. There’s a picture of my head on my Myspace http://www.myspace.com/chokehazard
February 1st, 2008 at 7:44 pm
on the last downhill of a wonderful 4 hour ride + 1 hour hike through big basin, i hit a bump and crounched for the jump and the bike landed off axis and i was tossed. my bike landed softly in leaves, i landed in a pile of rocks, which tore a 4″ gash into my right leg just below the knee. i bounced up happily, noticing that my lousy maneuver had been seen by an upcoming cycler. i said i’m ok and laughed, but as he approached we could see this was a bad wound and i was in shock. i felt great, the adrenaline was making me euphoric, i felt no pain, but this was obviously bad, so i whipped out my first aid kit, which was on it’s first ride, and we got me patched up, i coasted down the hill and got to the hospital. 12 stitches later, i still felt great and drove to a nearby motel. a few hours after getting to sleep, the pain hit, i wanted to gnaw my leg off. i went right back to the hospital at 3am to get vicodin for the pain.
over the next 2 days my leg puffed up, i was looking for a room to rent, went back to the doc and the wound had gotten pretty infected, i had waited about 36 hours before starting antibiotics, bad move, get your antibiotics right after the hospital kids. i had a few stitches pulled to let the wound drain. 11 days later the stitches were pulled out. 4 weeks later i was biking cautiously at burningman, 8 weeks after the crash i was riding trails again.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I had just started grad school, happy to be in a town with lots of bike lanes. It was the first week of class and I was riding through campus in the morning. A freshman stepped off the sidewalk and into the bike lane right in front of me without looking (students have a habbit of thinking the bike lane is just an extension of the side walk). There was no time to stop. We collided and both hit the pavement. Neither of us were seriously injured, but a half gallon of milk intended for office coffee burst in my backpack. Milk was everywhere, all over my shirt and papers. My chain popped off and I was too shaken up to get it back on with everyone watching. I had to walk the rest of the way to my office soaked with milk. I got in and washed my shirt in the bathroom sink, then went to my first day of class with a soaking wet T-shirt. Great first impression. I now bring powdered milk to the office.