The Art of the Crash

I have been lucky. In the 5.5 years, or so, that I have been cycling with any regularity, I have only suffered 2 crashes. The first one was caused by a driver cutting me off... intentionally, I might add. That incident was rather minor, as all it really entailed was me standing on my brakes so hard I popped up out of my seat and landed on my handlebars, bending the right side downward far enough that I had to replace them.

This past weekend was a much more serious accident in that I was hurt, but fortunately my bike was not. As you shall read in my previous post, I was riding in a parking lot with my sons. My older son challenged me to a race, across the parking lot and my brakes failed.

Now, here is what I call the art of the fall. I had only a few moments in between realizing I would crash and the event horizon. I knew that if I turned away from the curb too sharply I would fall over immediately and get a face full of an asphalt sandwich. This was the least preferred option.

I could hit the curb straight on and do a swan dive over my handlebars, but ruin my rim and wheel. Granted, it would look pretty cool, but it could still hurt, and would ruin part of my bike.

Fortunately, I realized there was a third option... and I went for it!

I turned slightly to the left, so that my wheel hit the curb at an angle. This made it turn sideways and sling me over onto the grass at a similar angle. By so doing, I was able to turn enough to land on my right shoulder and roll after landing. This was the best option, and (as planned) it didn't ruin my bike or wheel.

What it did, however, sling my head directly into the ground when my shoulder hit. This was a most unpleasant experience, and one that left me with a nasty headache for a couple of hours afterward, but given the options, it was the best and the one to leave me with the least amount of pain and damage.

Crashes happen very quickly, and we never know what will happen or when they will occur. Perhaps that's why we call it an "accident" and not an "I-meant-to."

Goodbye. Boodbye, my friend...

The weather has been unseasonably warm, and my sons wanted to go to practice riding their bikes. So, I took them up to the local tech school's parking lot. Son #1 was doing quite well, and I will be taking his training wheels off when I get the chance. (Honestly, I should have done it by now, but that just hasn't happened yet.) Son #2 is slow, but getting the hang of it.


Well, Son #1 decided to challenge me to a race across the parking lot. This really wasn't fair as I am older, faster, and was on my Puch. So, we agreed to give him a head start. I waited until he was about 2/3 the way across and then I got down on it. I hit about 21mph bolting across the parking lot and almost caught up (I was planning on letting him win anyway... it's what dads do) when I needed to hit the brakes in order to slow down, when...

TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE!

I don't know what happened, but the calipers would not clamp down hard enough to stop me! I knew immediately that I was going to crash since I was going too fast to turn away without eating asphalt. So I quickly chose to hit the curb. I will talk about the art of the fall in my next post (which you likely read first since this shows most recent posts first). Long story short, I hit the ground... HARD.

I've been in a couple of crashes over the years, but this was easily the hardest one I've ever had. I landed on my right shoulder, and my head hit the ground hardest. This is precisely why I always wear a helmet!! No matter what, always wear a helmet. Honestly, I was only doing this to set an example for my sons, because I never imagined that I would have a crash simply riding in circles around a parking lot while my boys cruised around on their bikes.

So now I have to bid farewell to my helmet of the past 4.5 years. It's been a good run, and probably 1,000 miles. I know that's not a lot in the long run, but it was a good helmet. Granted, the dark blue totally clashed with silver and coffee colored Trek. I will particularly miss the stickers. Seriously, I don't know what "Calvin's Dog Biscuits" are or how I acquired the sticker, but anything that says, "Life is Short, Eat Biscuits" is a winner in my book.

So I have taken a photo to remember it before throwing it away. I now have a new silver one that will match my Trek, and will last through my next crash. I hope that is many, MANY miles from now.