A reason to be cautious of puddles
It finally happened! I finally fell off my road bike!
I’ve had my road bike since the end of summer in 2013 and have said multiple times that I’m surprised I haven’t fallen off it yet. I figured my first fall off would be a slow motion, coming to stop and not unclipping fast enough sort of thing – because that seems to be when most of the people I know fall off their bike.
No, mine was riding my bike through what looked like a long shallow puddle of water, only to find out that underneath the water was a layer of slimy mud.
It was a very fast skid and fall with no time to unclip. My ankles seemed to do that on their own when I hit the ground (ouch).
I immediately got up because I heard my dad fall behind me – he fell when he hit the brakes so he wouldn’t hit me! Ugh! Luckily, Will saw it all in time to put his feet down (he was on a recumbent) and get off his bike to walk it.
Then, just walking through the water was a challenge because of the slimy mud. Dad fell again! And ended up with the most impressive road rash:
You can barely see the scrapes on my shoulder – my shirt (and bra) got the worst of it (and I woke up sore from it, today):
(Funny thing – whenever I pick a jersey to ride I almost always think “I should wear something with sleeves because it provides more protection in case I fall!” But wanting to be comfortable (heat-wise) and not wanting a farmer’s tan always seems to win. So yeah, I had a tank on when I fell).
And this all happened less than a mile in to our ride! Ha!
We were saying there should have been a sign out – there are signs all over the rest of the trail for MUCH smaller puddles. And lots of signs to dismount, too.
But really, if I saw that sign, and saw how low the water was, I would have had no idea it had a layer of slimy mud underneath and still probably tried to ride through. But we all know I won’t ever do that again! Ha! I was very cautious of puddles after that!
We continued on with our ride. I noticed my left handle bar was crooked from where I landed it on it (the guys helped me push it back in place), but my tires were spinning evenly and the gearing was all working, so I wanted to keep going! My hometown has a great paved trail system that is fantastic for road biking and I had really been looking forward to riding with Dad and Will!
The rest of the twenty miles were mostly without incident. We did come across a tree that was down on the trail (they had a nasty storm last week), but it was timed perfectly for Will to put in a bid on eBay, ha!
And then there was an incident where a goose thought I was riding too close to him and his family and flew in front of my bike and was flapping his wings in mid-air while I tried to ride forward… silly goose.
It was a fun ride, despite it starting with our falls! I can’t wait to ride a day of RAGBRAI with Dad and Will (and Will’s sister Julie, and Gina). Two months to go!
Themocracy
Yikes! Glad you’re mostly okay and that is definitely some interesting road rash for your dad – hope he heals quickly! Glad the rest of the ride went okay!
Thanks! I hope he does too! The cuts were already looking better, later on in the day 🙂
I’m glad you’re all okay; that sounds like a nasty and scary fall for you and your dad.
Me too! It could have been a lot worse! I guess it’s good it happened right away since we were still so close to the house!
Oh no! Glad you are all okay. Biking accidents can be so nasty.
Thanks! And yes – it could have been much worse! My road rash is just itchy and burns in the shower. It doesn’t even compare to my dad’s!
Oh man That stinks! Glad you guys are ok though. I would have thought it looked like a shallow puddle too- but now I’ll know to be skeptical of puddles from now on. Your dads road rash is impressive! Did his leg hit the gears?
Yeah, a smarter rider probably would have known to check out a puddle this long before trying to ride through! Hopefully this post means others won’t be as dumb as me! Ha ha.
Yeah, the gears took a bite of out his leg 🙂
Ouch!! I am glad it was not worse. Scary…
I have slipped on slushy areas in the park this winter, it is a bad feeling when you know you can’t stop it.
Me too! It could have been bad!
Yeah! It’s like “Oh crap, I am going down and there is nothing I can do to stop it!!!” LOL
I’ve slipped a time or two while running through that kind of slime; I’m extra cautious now because I don’t want to fall down. Sorry you fell; amazing how you can rip your shirt and still be badass enough to continue with the ride! Glad it wasn’t worse.
Yes – you can’t even walk or run on it! It’s dangerous!
I’m happy it wasn’t worse, too! Although, my ankles are bruised from clipping out “on their own.” Ouch!