Drat

[lethargic_man]

Came off my bike again this morning: was coming up to a roundabout, and a car came up behind me. Since I got knocked off by a hit-and-run driver cutting me off turning left, I've been leery of such circumstances; so I looked over my shoulder to check he wasn't indicating left, and when I looked back ahead, I was no longer running parallel to the kerb, but drifting towards it. You'd have thought I'd have known how to cycle by now. Anyhow, I skittered along against the kerb for about half a second, trying to regain control, and then my left handlebar hit a lamppost, and that was that.

I've escaped with just cuts and bruises myself, and my bike's undamaged bar a few scratches. Last time this kind of thing happened, I ended up with a massive bruise and the advice from my father not to cycle until it had gone down. This time I popped a Nurofen, applied an ice-pack, and the bruise is much smaller.

Unfortunately, I'm now sitting in a puddle of meltwater. You can't win.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

<Hugs>;

I like those packs you pop into the freezer which don't melt. Once things go down, I also admit to liberally swiping cooling gel from my horse's supplies - there don't seem to be human equivalents, and the stuff works.

Hope you'll feel better soon.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I work tomorrow in your area. I have some ice boxes that do not melt. You just need to put in a towl that it is not too cold too touch. I could bring it to you after work. I should work till 6 but sometimes they release me earlier. It will be 9 hours work tomorrow not including the break. I also worked at the same place today but I did not know about your accident.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I am unable to get it out of the freezer. It is now even useless for me. I guess I need to melt the freezer first but I don't wan the fish to go off. Sorry, no ice box. I thought I had a second but I can't find it.

[grumpyolddog.livejournal.com]

Frozen peas 4tw. They don't melt and when they're very cheap.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

That's what I did last time. This time I was at work, and had to content myself with what frost I could scrape from the inside of the freezer compartments of the fridges, and a plastic bag to put it in.

[bluepork.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed that all the people who have commented on this so far have been discussing different forms of ice pack, rather than the fact that you have a seeming propensity for bike crashes!

(For the record though, I have one of those refreezable gel ice packs. In a bizarre twist Emma inherited it from her Nana when she died and its one of the most useful things she's ever given us. I recommend them - sold by boots, made by 3M I think.)

Anyway, good to hear that you are in one piece.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed that all the people who have commented on this so far have been discussing different forms of ice pack, rather than the fact that you have a seeming propensity for bike crashes!

Well, the total number of times I have ever come off my bike, that I remember, breaks down as follows:

Learning experiences—i.e., causes of coming off I now know better about, so they won't happen again:

• Thrown over the handlebars in Exhibition Park, aged in single digits: learned the hard way not to brake sharply with the front brake only.
• Came off twice in Edinburgh due to going around a bend too sharply at the bottom of a hill. (Both times was able to make a soft landing onto grass, which is presumably why it took me two times to learn that lesson.)
• Fell over twice after getting my clip-on pedals, due to not being able to get my feet unclipped after having to stop quickly. (I'm now better at unclipping.)

Bad luck incidents not involving anyone else:

• Came off twice due to foot slipping off the pedal, whilst moving too slowly to have sufficient gyroscopic force to keep me upright. (Once in Kenton circa 1989 (you were with me at the time), once in Temple Fortune in 2000.)
• The incident at the top of this thread.

Incidents involving other people (in all cases, not my fault):

• Stephen Cahill attempting to pass a skateboard between my front and rear wheels, in the late eighties.
• A pedestrian stepping out onto the road without looking, circa 2002. (I'm now more wary of pedestrians...)
• A hit-and-run driver cutting me off to turn left, when there was absolutely no way there was room for him to do it, in 2003.
• Passing a street-cleaner walking down the road, and having my handlebars snagged by a bin-liner he was carrying, which the wind suddenly blew out as I was passing him.
• Being reversed into by a van with no rear view, who failed to hear me yelling at him beforehand. (He stopped once he hit me, and there was no damage to either me or (bar a minor adjustment) the bike; indeed I did not even get knocked off.)

All in all, I don't think that's too bad a record for 14,000 miles and twenty-five years (of which eleven years commuting to work). Mum sent me an article a few months ago of someone she thought just like me; he was cycle crazy, and had continued cycling after suffering broken bones and the like. I've never suffered any injury worse from cycling, barring one lost fingernail, than bruises and skin abrasions.