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."