[Bent] Do as I say, not as I do!

[Joel F. Waxman]

You are a lucky man Dick, I have seen a similar accident and you got off 
lucky. Hope you heal real fast so you can get out before the end of the 
season.

Joel

DAVID CHOU wrote:
> Wow.  So summer really is over now!  I tend to be more careful as the weather cools, anyway -- metabolism probably slows down, so I'm not as easily excited and reckless -- but thanks for the warning.  Glad you're okay.  Reminds me of the time I mistook a flight of stairs for a ramp (easy to do given my lowered visibility and how "long" each actual step was, contributing to the illusion of a continuous decline) and suddenly I'm (ch)airborne like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon!!  Luckily I landed easily on both feet, and the SWB wasn't damaged at all.
>
> Maybe the club should offer some kind of patch in recognition of wounds obtained while riding?  "The red meat shield" or something....  =)
>
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>   
>> Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:46:28 -0400
>> From: "Carole & Dick Ludwig" <signgrap at ptd.net>  
>> Subject: [Bent] Do as I say, not as I do!  
>> To: "NY/NJ/CT/PA Metro Area Recumbent Society \(MARS\)"	<bent at list.marsride.org>
>>
>>   Do as I say, not as I do!
>>
>>    
>>
>>   On Monday 9/11, I was about a mile plus into my late
>>   afternoon ride and as usual I was going down
>>   Snowbird hill.  Snowbird hill is rather steep,
>>   although not too long and at the bottom it forms a Y
>>   in the road.  The road I normally take turns left
>>   and continues down, the other branch of the Y turns
>>   right and goes up a rather short steep hill.  At the
>>   center of this intersection there is an area of
>>   pavement that fills up with gravel and sand as the
>>   cars don't normally traverse this part of the
>>   intersection.  This triangular area is well out of
>>   my normal route and I never give it a second
>>   thought.  Now you must understand that I've gone
>>   through this intersection at least a thousand times,
>>   so I know it well.  The intersection is a bit scary
>>   because you've gathered up a good head of steam
>>   coming down Snowbird hill and you must break
>>   strongly before entering the curve to the left.  Not
>>   only does the road curve to the left but the surface
>>   is banked a slight bit in the wrong direction so
>>   this necessitates a fairly good lean to the left as
>>   you go round the curve.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   I normally go through this intersection at between
>>   28 - 30 mph.  On this particular afternoon I was
>>   doing probably close to 30 and started to lean left
>>   as I entered the turn.  All of a sudden I hit big
>>   pieces of gravel and lots of sand.  Initially my
>>   bike started to bounce from the gravel and the bike
>>   became airborne and that is all it took, down I
>>   went.  I went down so fast that I never even had
>>   time to let go of the handlebars (I ride a Wishbone
>>   with under seat steering).  The first thing I
>>   remember (I never hit my head and never lost
>>   consciousness) is being in the air in a crouched
>>   position.  I remember thinking tuck into a ball and
>>   roll, which is exactly what I did.  I must've rolled
>>   about three or four times before I came to a stop. 
>>   I quickly got up and said to myself get out of the
>>   middle of the road.  So I picked the bike up and
>>   moved it and myself to the side of the road. 
>>
>>    
>>
>>   I then began to do a check to see what was wrong. 
>>   My arms and legs all seemed to work okay, my left
>>   hand however was quite a mess and even though I was
>>   wearing full fingered gloves my fingers were full of
>>   road rash as the glove was shredded away.  I must've
>>   been still holding the handlebars when I hit the
>>   ground so the force of impact was taken by the back
>>   of my left hand.  Then I looked at my lower left leg
>>   and it also was full of road rash.  After standing
>>   there for a few more minutes collecting my wits,
>>   which were pretty well scattered about, I decided
>>   that I better make my way home.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   But before heading home I needed to know, why was
>>   their gravel in the middle of the road?  Then I saw
>>   this skid mark, left by a spinning tire, in the
>>   middle of the gravel area at the center of the Y.  A
>>   car or truck must have missed the initial turn going
>>   to the right of the Y and then turned late going
>>   through the sandy gravel area.  As they tried to
>>   accelerate going up the hill the wheels must of
>>   spun, spewing gravel and sand into the center of the
>>   curve - this is what I must've gone over.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   Then I noticed that my water bottle had fallen out
>>   of the bike and I went to pick it up.  As I picked
>>   up the water bottle with my right hand I remember
>>   thinking "why is the water bottle soft?"  My water
>>   bottle is made from Lexan and is rigid not
>>   flexible.  But I could distinctly feel my thumb
>>   pressing against the bottle and the bottle feeling
>>   soft.  Then I looked at the bottle as I pressed it,
>>   my thumb was not indenting the bottle.  This puzzled
>>   me but I had to get home so I walked up the steepest
>>   part of Snowbird hill as I didn't feel in good
>>   enough condition to ride up.  After walking up the
>>   hill I got on the bike and started to ride home.  On
>>   the way there I met up with Carole, who was riding
>>   her Greenspeed, and told her I think I needed to go
>>   to the emergency room.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   When we got home I took off my gloves and looked at
>>   my right hand and could see that the thumb was very
>>   swollen.  The right glove was in perfect condition
>>   and I was sure that my right hand had never impacted
>>   against the road, so why was my thumb so swollen?
>>
>>    
>>
>>   The visit to the emergency room was a positive one. 
>>   The emergency room doctor was a very upbeat and
>>   energetic positive person who made the whole
>>   experience pleasant despite the pain I was in.  The
>>   x-rays were inconclusive as to what was wrong with
>>   my right thumb, my left hand and left lower leg had
>>   serious road rash but no other injuries.  When I
>>   left the emergency room my left hand and fingers
>>   were wrapped in a series of bandages, my left lower
>>   leg was totally wrapped in bandage and my right
>>   thumb was in a splint that had my hand and arm
>>   wrapped in bandage.  When I got home I couldn't do
>>   anything because both hands were essentially totally
>>   wrapped in bandage, it was like wearing boxing
>>   gloves so poor Carole had to do everything for me. 
>>   The next day I went to the orthopedic doctor and
>>   subsequently learned after an MRI that I had
>>   ruptured the volar plate, which is the ligament at
>>   the base of the second joint of the thumb.  The
>>   doctor said he sees a lot of injuries like this
>>   because it is known as "skiers thumb", in the case
>>   of skiers thumb the ski pole bends the thumb way
>>   back rupturing the volar plate.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   In talking with the doctor and reconstructing my
>>   fall we came to the conclusion that I was holding on
>>   to the handlebar with my right hand when the bike
>>   hit the ground, the bike stopped and I didn't.  This
>>   caused my thumb to be pushed back by the handlebar
>>   rupturing the ligament.  The doctor said that if
>>   you're going to injure a ligament the volar plate is
>>   a good one to injure because it will repair itself
>>   without surgical intervention.  All I have to do is
>>   wear a splint which prevents the thumb from being
>>   bent backwards and within eight weeks all will be as
>>   it was, or at the very least nearly so.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   I have just come back from seeing the doctor and he
>>   said that I am healing faster than normal.  He
>>   attributed the quick recovery to being in excellent
>>   aerobic condition, however Carole would say it is
>>   partly due to the Co Q10 and Vitamin C supplements
>>   that she has been giving me to aid healing plus
>>   Carole’s Reiki treatments.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   Considering I hit the ground doing 30 mph I walked
>>   away relatively unscathed from the accident.  I was
>>   extremely lucky.  So what did I learn from this
>>   experience - to slow down! 
>>
>>    
>>
>>   Even though I had been down this stretch of road
>>   more than a thousand times you can never be sure
>>   that it is going to be exactly the way it was the
>>   last time you rode it.
>>
>>    
>>
>>   Dick Ludwig
>>     
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bent mailing list
>> Bent at list.marsride.org
>> http://list.marsride.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/bent
>>     

--