I hate bikes (PS: Ouch!)

[lethargic_man]

I'm having a bad bike day. My front mudguard has been coming into contact with the wheel recently, and the problem's been getting worse. (Can't figure out why; it's not as if the wheel's off true) Halfway home it got so bad I got off, turned the bike upside-down and attempted to bend the mudguard supports to get the mudguard away from the wheel, but all I could do is make it worse, so the wheel was rubbing against the mudguard all the time. Worse, in attempting to get the front light off so I could see what I was doing, I managed to snap the lug which keeps the light secured in place.

I continued cycling home like that, then suddenly, without warning, the front wheel seized altogether and I went flying head over handlebars. I've now a large bruise on my hip which, frozen vegetables notwithstanding, is probably going to keep me from cycling for at least the rest of the week once it swells up; and several square centimetres of skin missing from my elbow. My front light also went flying (remember that broken lug?), and got run over before I had a chance to retrieve it. (Astonishingly, despite most of the plastic casing being reduced to small fragments, it still works.)

The worst is that I can't figure out what sent me flying. I thought I must have hit a pothole, but I couldn't see one. I can't see how it could be related to the rubbing mudguard... but OTOH I can't see how it could not be related. (I think it must have been the front wheel, as if the rear wheel had seized, surely I wouldn't have gone over the handbars like that.) I cycled home the rest of the way very slowly, afraid it was going to happen again.

I hate bikes. (Love cycling, but hate bikes.)

Question: how important is it to keep a wound dry? One always hears that one needs to do this, but it's a nuisance. Does anybody know what, really, is the risk of sepsis from just taking a shower?

Comments

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I guess being a real stunt man would be less dangerous.

I am surprised you did not end up in hospitals after so many accidents.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

When I went flying (off my feet, not my bike) in Edinburgh, I did actually think at the time "That was pretty spectacular; what a pity there were no spectators." And then, later, "Ow! I don't know how stuntmen put up with so many bruises all the time."

Given that this is only the fifth time I've come off my bike in my ten years in London (and the seventh in my fourteen years commuting), and that only once was I hurt more than just having cuts and bruises (and that three of those times I didn't even suffer broken skin), I don't think I'm doing too badly.

A guy came up to me after I came off, and was cursing loudly at the side of the road. "Are you okay; do you need help?" he said. "No, I'm mostly just angry," I replied.

I did go flying over the handlebars like that once before. It was when I was seven or so, and had just got my first bike with front and rear brakes. That was how I learned the hard way not to brake with the front brakes only when going fast down a hill...

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Not a doctor, but... when I lose skin playing soccer ("several square centimetres" is not unusual playing on astroturf), I'll still shower every day. If it stings, I'll shower with the dressing on and then change the dressing.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't changing the dressing just tear off the developing scab? (Well, it certainly would for me, whose dressing is a mess of overlapping elastoplasts.)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Not that I've noticed. I use proper conformable dressings though. I don't know if it's actually okay to leave them on after a shower, but the wound seems pretty dry underneath.

[bluepork.livejournal.com]

Can't believe you're still peddling this nonsense about not being prone to bicycle accidents.

(See what I did there? Peddling? Ach, nevermind!)

Sounds like something got wedged in either your spokes or your brakes. More likely it was the spokes, as only that would stop the wheel dead. Agreed that it was probably the mudguard. Maybe you need to do routine maintainance more frequently than you do atm?

You don't need to worry about sepsis from a skin graze. You would have to be very unlucky indeed, and if you do get it infected, just go to a doctor. Cross that bridge etc. In the meantime, maybe you should avoid showering in dirty water, but why would you do that anyway?!

Agree also with Khiemtran that you should change the dressing regularly, and use a proper one. Expensive, but worth it.

Anyway, I'm pleased it was only your light that got run over...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Sounds like something got wedged in either your spokes or your brakes. More likely it was the spokes, as only that would stop the wheel dead. Agreed that it was probably the mudguard.

Well, I've now moved the mudguard further away from the wheel, and it's spinning freely... but there's a crackling noise as the wheel spins, as if sand grains had got into the bearings. I don't know if that could be bad enough to seize the wheel up completely. I'll take it to the Cycle Surgery on my way home tomorrow... but I'm going to be very nervous cycling it between now and then.

Maybe you need to do routine maintainance more frequently than you do atm?

I had the bike in for a full service at the Cycle Surgery just over a month ago!