My first big crash

[hmbmd]

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Yesterday I was riding alone to my mother in law's house to meet the family for their anual 4th of July weekend party. I was desceding a small incline at about 28 mph when I noticed a large deer racing me just off the road to my left. He looked at me and turned right at a 45 degree angle. I pulled the brakes and the rear wheel locked up on the shale and I went down on my left side. My injuries include a broken and dislocated right thumb (I was holding on the brake hood with my right hand which caused the thumb to hyperextend), severe road rash to my left thigh, left shoulder, and left arm. Luckily, I had no other broken bones but I had significant soft tissue damage as I am extremely sore in my chest wall and left thigh. It is difficult for me to even lift my left leg up one step. Hopefully I will recover quickly since I am scheduled to ride in a local MS 150 in 3 weeks. The good news is that I did not have a scratch on my helmet, I had no neck, head, or back injury. The other good news is my Ottortt did not suffer any significant damage with the exception of the left shifter being scuffed up a little.

[Louis]

Bummer.

We too have lots of deer and lots of hills around here, and I've often wondered what I'd do if one got in my way.

When I see one that seems to be a threat I yell something, which usually causes them to run away.

Good luck with the injuries. Thumb / hand injuries can take a while to heal. (Spoken from personal experience.) Be patient and don't rush things. In the long run it will pay off.

Louis

[Kevan]

scream your bloody head off. Maybe the next deer will change its mind in coming over to greet you.

Good thing about 4th of July, plenty of cold beer to numb oneself. Which reminds me...


Feel better soon.

[hmbmd]

Check out the left shoulder on the jersey. By the way, the shorts looked worse.

[Ginger]

Oh, that's rough. I hope you heal fast.

At least it's a good story!

You may want to set your bike up on the trainer and spin a bit so you can keep up your fitness (ask your doc of course...). You won't want to be riding outside for a bit...but with the trainer you don't have to worry about leaning on your hand so much and you can just get off the bike when you're "DONE." :)

Good luck!

(I bark at the deer...seems to work...)

[CalfeeFly]

If you have severe bruising you should get it checked out. Believe it or not it can kill you a few days down the line. I did not know this for a long time and then read it about two years ago. I thought back to one time I went down at about 35 and looked purple on one side of my body about 2 days later. If I remember correctly it would be similar to throwing a clot. The article was not to be overly alarmist. The idea was to get checked out as a precaution as opposed to what most of us do and that is "tough" it out. While we tough it out we eventually mourn our clothes assuming the bike is fine. :) I also decided the key to how bad the fall is depends on what you check for working parts first...you or the bike. :bike:

[billrick]

Bummer about the crash, but you will bounce back fast and have a great story for the MS150. And keep that jersey as a souvenir. I've kept all my broken helmets over the years. But I forgot where I put them. ha ha

[coylifut]

I say stitch that jersey up and use it for mountain biking. There, now your Ottrot's a real bike. My experience is that day 3 after a crash is the worst.

Sorry to hear you're beat up right in the middle of summer. Heal well.

[Fixed]

bro the tough part is the clean up ...rest up you'll be good as new soon
cheers

[swalburn]

You wouldn't believe this but my wife had a small crash today, after a bunny ran out in front of her on a downhill. She hit it and basically broke its back. She had blood on her leg and waterbottles. She got the bike under control, and basically just tipped over in the grass. She has been traumatized all day. She was finally starting to ride more. She said she sat and consoled the rabbit and it finally died after about 10 minutes. She has been crying all day long. I wasn't with her at the time, but I keep telling her it could have been worse. It is very easy to hit 30 or 40 mph on this hill were it happened. She could have had a nasty spill. She is soley upset over the fact that she killed the rabbit. Honestly, I don't think I would have taken it too well either. After the rabbit died, she had to compose herself and ride home. She said she couldn't drink from her water bottles because they had blood on them. I really couldn't believe it. When I saw her I thought a family member had died or something. I was kind of relieved. Either way, it is a quite goofy set of circumstances.

[Fixed]

bro a person who loves animals is a person worth loving .take care of her .there are a lot of bunnies in the world the fact she cared means a lot .i.m.h.o.
cheers

[Ray]

bro a person who loves animals is a person worth loving .take care of her .there are a lot of bunnies in the world the fact she cared means a lot .i.m.h.o.
cheers
I love animals but not as much as people. I counsel new riders that when dealing with small animals (bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, etc) to hold a line and let them react to you. If you try to outguess them, you're even more likely to hit them and all the swerving around is waaaaaay more likely to you get YOU and others you're riding with hurt. My bro-in-law screwed himself up really badly for months from a crash that happened because he was trying to miss a squirrel. He still hit it and paid a big price.

You just can't outguess them or out-quick them. So be predictable and let them get out of the way. You'll still hit one from time to time but no more often than if you try to avoid them and you're far more likely to stay upright if you're going in a straight line when you hit 'em.

Maybe I don't love little animals all THAT much. I've hit a few squirrels and maybe a bunny and I've never felt any real remorse.

Be careful out there.

-Ray

[mike p]

Today as I was headed out the driveway for a ride I noticed our longtime cat spook dead in the ditch by the road. Hit by a car? I yelled to my wife who was mowing the lawn "I'll take care of spook when I get home". Not going to let it spoil a good ride.


Mike

[Louis]

Mike,

What you do is your own business, but IMO that's about as callous an act as I can imagine.

Louis

[SponsorsWanted]

I too have hit a deer... I was climbing and the thing came outta the woods too fast, didn't get a scratch on me or my bike and the deer was fine, but we were both very freaked out. Lotsa Advil and don't keep your road rash too moist with burn cream, that itches like hell...

[alancw3]

had a similiar fall and injuries awhile back so i can feel for you. took me like three weeks before i could begin to ride again. i tried to start walking several days after the fall and also swim some laps. seemed to help the healing process. i did find that aleve went along way in eliminating the pain the first several days but a real bummer went i stopped taking it. good luck with the healing process. :beer:

[rwsaunders]

It beats hitting a car.

You might want to check out your brakes, since there was most likely a lot of stress placed on the levers when you tried to stop.

[shaq-d]

assos. crash'n in style :banana:

sd

[William]

Glad to hear you came out of it in one piece. :)



William