One of those things that just happen
 

Somehow a lone cobblestone found its way onto the paved MUT I have ridden 1000 times. Commuting home from work in the late afternoon shadows, I was clever enough to find it and clear it from the trail - shortly after it bounced me into a hard crash and a 5 hour visit to the ER. No one to blame but myself.

Wave cell helmet is toast, but it worked. Major bruise on my left temple but no TBI. Assortment of other bruises that are going to take a bit to resolve.

My friends are sending me pictures of e-trikes. Maybe they have a point.

glad you lived to tell the tale. you were not as lucky as me and my recent adventure involved a driver.

your helmet did it's job.

Ouch! Those shadowed times can be the most dangerous. Lights aren't much help then.

What point is that?

hope you weren't on the very green bike

Yikes! Glad you got through this with just bruises. Nice to hear the Wave cell worked, I've been looking at those.

Mark

I'll never know for sure (TBI and lost about 1 hour of my memory), but the guy that brought me to the ER after my last crash thought I might have run over a fist sized rock. I have no clue how I could have missed something that big, but I guess it happens to the best of us.

Glad it's mostly bruises. Heal up fast!

Good to hear that the helmet did its job and saved your gray matter. Hope the rest of you heals quickly.

Whew, glad you weren’t hurt any worse. I had been thinking about you the last month or so, must have been the worry vibes trying to wake me up and PM you.

Stay safe and ride when you feel ready.👍

Bill

Glad you’re ok and yes, helmets work. Don’t ask me how I know. I have a feeling several of us have tested our helmet’s integrity! Get better and back to pedaling.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure.

Thx. This crash is tilting me toward more gravel riding. There, you are expecting rocks and bounces.

Sadly I was. Fortunately, after straightening out the handle bars and left brake lever the only damage appears to be some chips in the paint on the left hand chain stay - because I leaned it against a rock while I was assessing whether to call my wife or 911. With the damage on my helmet, I knew that I was headed in to the ER regardless.

Glad it wasn't worse.

Glad it wasn't worse! I'm at the point now where the pavement exists solely to get me to and from the "gravel" (in my area it's dirt fire roads and singletrack). Aside from how bad people drive these days, I've always said I'd rather hit something mother nature created than pavement if I crash (which certainly has happened on occasion, usually because I'm trying to "send it"). Except for the really big rocks of course. But as you say, you're just more prepared for bumps out there - you're in that zone.

You got unlucky
 

Get back in the saddle, a little bit wiser. Shadows are tough. Maybe go slower until you regain confidence. I go fairly slow and stay off paved roads once fall comes and the light is constantly changing with the shadows. You got unlucky, but thats part of life. Only you can tell if you feel safe enough to try again.

How big was the cobblestone?

Ouch. Sorry to hear that, & glad the damage is manageable.

Geez. Sorry to hear about the spill.. Those darn things can be a real menace for sure. I hit one on a group ride that no one ahead of me pointed out. Went airborne, landed on my hip and the next day I had a total hip replacement. Other than flatting both tires the bike fared a whole heck of a lot better than me.

Helmets do work!!!

Irregular shape, 3 to 4 inch diameter.

Thanks for all the well wishes.

Short update. Felt much better by Friday, and by Saturday I had ditched the crutch and was handling stairs and a 2 mile walk.

Then came my COVID booster, previously scheduled for Saturday late afternoon. I had no adverse reaction to the first two shots, so what the heck.

By Sunday morning every bump, bruise and muscle pull had been exaggerated to the point of torture. Lost the whole day lying on the couch mindlessly watching football.

Then it passed. Thinking a light round on the trainer tonight is in order.

:thumb: sounds good. I don't understand how you cleared it from the trail & then it caused you to fall. did someone else put it back on the trail?

Let’s hope that’s just an indication of numerous antibodies being formed! The booster hit me the same way but I haven’t noticed any other effects a week or two later. At least not things that I can’t blame on anything other than getting older!!

Second Update: By the end of week 1, I was back out riding - both gravel and road - or on the trainer almost daily. Two weeks ago, about five weeks in, my range of motion in my left leg, which had taken a deep thigh bruise, started a steady decline and the pain was back with a vengeance. By the end of the week, I couldn't complete a pedal stroke, even in a controlled environment like the trainer, and was taking stairs one step at a time.

Nice to live next door to a top notch orthopedic surgeon. Knocked on his door. Within about 5 minutes, he suggested that I might be experiencing the growth of some bone tissue inside my left quad. Apparently it's a thing and even has a fancy Latin name - myositis ossificans. X-rays at his office Monday confirmed the diagnosis.

Who knew?

Ultimately there may be a surgical remedy, but for now its just stretch and bear it.

glad you are not injured and happy your were wearing a helmet.

And I have bone growing in my lungs! We need to get this bone growing thing stopped. My fancy name is dendriform pulmonary ossification.

Bike is fine -phew!

Reminds me of an incident many years ago sans two wheels. I was an avid runner and cyclist but was out for a run in the late Fall when the sun was setting around 4:45. I was running a road I had run 100s of times before and knew the curbs and irregularities by memory. But I got a late start and dusk was transitioning to night and I could just make out the major features when suddenly my left foot hit an object in the road and down I went impacting my left knee and then completely hitting the asphalt. My knee fortunately was not broken but severely bruised. I limped the mile and a half home, unable to run. It took about 3 months before the bruising and swelling receded enough to start running again.

I did go back after that incident the next day to see a truck had lost a piece of broken asphalt curbing.

Glad it wasn't worse. Good vibes your way!

One (More) of Those Things That Just Happen
 

Good News. Somewhat inexplicably, a few weeks after the X-rays confirmed bone growth in the middle of my quad (myositis ossificans), I started regaining range of motion and the pain subsided. Managed a full season of coaching Special Olympics ski racing and was able to keep a planned appointment to ski with some high school friends in Utah in early March. One of them was a teammate on my 1974 State Championship team, and he can still turn them both ways. Between my empty sleeve flapping around and the two of us ripping pretty impressive carves on the steeps, it was a bit of a throwback moment to our annual western swings 45 years ago. At 65, I must admit, it felt pretty good to to have people stop just to watch and approach us in the lift lines to say wow, the same as it was 4 decades ago.


Bad News. The unexpected healing of my thigh apparently was a bit of a Karmic setup. Either that, or the pridefullness displayed above was destined to come back and bite me in the behind. Skiing powder on the last day, I sunk a pole plant in a steep section of trees. My arm ripped back, and I felt a pop. Didn't fall, but hung it up five runs later with some serious pain and lack of movement. Although it took a bit to pin down the diagnosis, largely because my one arm has recruited muscles all over the place and functionally it is still working for the most part, when my bicep rode up toward my shoulder and then tumbled off to the side and took on all of the attributes of belly fat, we ordered an MRI. Reattachment surgery for my severed distal bicep tendon next week.


Welcome to the rehab rodeo, again.