Chutzpah
Über Member
- Location
- Somerset, UK
Just thought I'd post my story on here.
Out on Sunday with a few friends that I met on this forum. Pleasant ride until I'm descending a hill. For some reason I wasn't too sure of it, so was feathering the rear brake to lose a bit of speed. I saw some crap on the road ahead, so shifted my weight slightly to go around it.
Next thing I know, the bike was violently fishtailing all over the place. I managed to unclip and just as I thought I might have it under control I feel myself barrel rolling across the road before smacking up against a wall. Ouch. My GPS last registered a speed of just over 30mph, although I had been slowly reducing that up to the incident.
I didn't lose consciousness, and sat straight up to find myself dripping blood all over the road. I shuffled myself back against the wall. Luckily all the traffic had stopped, and one of my friends was already calling 999.
A first responder arrived on the scene a few minutes later, he made me lie down and took a few of my vitals. By now the adrenaline was beginning to wear off and I could feel my body complaining. He confirmed that I had a nasty laceration to my head that would require stitches, and was a bit concerned about the pain I was reporting in my kidneys.
The ambulance took over an hour to arrive, as it was diverted to a 'category A' call (I can only guess that because I hadn't lost consciousness I wasn't such a concern). They checked out my neck, eyes and kidneys and said that there were no concerns there. They were amazed to report that I had appeared to got off very lightly. I was able to walk to the ambulance where they bandaged me up and gave me some paracetamol and ibuprofen, as well as checking my resting heart rate, blood pressure and bloody oxygen levels. I'm pleased to report that my results showed that I was "very fit", although I can confirm that there are better ways to find this information out
In fact, they weren't sure whether to trust the oximeter they put on my finger for the blood oxygen levels, so took a blood sample from my finger - same result.
After transferring the hospital I was told to have a shower (not great fun) before a healthcare assistant cleaned out as much gravel and mud from my road rash wounds as possible (even worse). A doctor checked me out and told me that due to the position and depth of the laceration on my head, I would require a face specialist to do the work. He came pretty quickly and did a great job - the wound required dissolvable stitches on the tissue and then normal stitches for the skin. All in all I was in hospital for about eight hours.
As it was, I was sent home with no pain relief. Big mistake - I returned at 4am that night in agony, the doctors there were amazed that I was told that paracetamol and ibuprofen would be fine.
Here's my little photo journal - warning, all photos are a little graphic if you don't like the sight of road rash, scabs and blood:
In hospital - http://a.yfrog.com/img878/1384/78syc.jpg
Next morning - http://a.yfrog.com/img875/6025/61htl.jpg
Tuesday - http://a.yfrog.com/img619/9367/73573325.jpg
Wednesday - http://a.yfrog.com/img878/9066/8oxwe.jpg
Thursday - http://a.yfrog.com/img877/8761/vcjer.jpg
Finally, my eye is open again and I'm out of bed.
One of the scariest things is my prescription cycling glasses - I think it's not too extreme to say they saved my eye - http://a.yfrog.com/img875/3711/uaspwa.jpg Those aren't mud marks, those are scour marks from the road
I've just bought another pair.
My top didn't do too well - http://a.yfrog.com/img616/7341/g6gxc.jpg and my wife was unable to get the blood out of the front, although it does smell nice now http://a.yfrog.com/img864/4172/hxrze.jpg
Amazingly my legs were unharmed, although I have road rash on both arms, my next, my ear and my face.
Helmet
OK, let's get it out of the way, I wasn't wearing a helmet. I generally don't when cycling, personal choice. Has this encouraged me to wear one? Possibly on routes that I don't know very well. I don't want this to turn into a pro/anti thread, but if I'm pootling around town I still doubt I'll wear one. Country roads with dodgy descents, maybe. All I know is that a lot of the injuries I have I'd still have had if I was wearing a helmet, although I might have got away without the cut to the head. Maybe I would have snapped my neck worse though... who knows?
What I didn't appreciate was the attitudes of some of the medical staff, who tried to make me feel that the accident was actually caused by me not wearing a helmet. The worst was a nurse who, just as I arrived in pain and covered in mud and blood, YELLED across A&E "I cannot stand cyclists who don't wear helmets. You should always wear a helmet, you could have died"
a) I didn't die
b) I didn't know who she was, as far as I know she wasn't involved in treating me
c) yelling about me across A&E is grossly unprofessional
d) it actually made me temporarily worried that I might receive a different standard of care, as silly as that may sound
Another nurse did say that I should put in a complaint when I told her, unfortunately as I'm so short sighted and didn't have my glasses on I couldn't describe her (other than tubby with blonde hair).
One doctor said "maybe you should consider if it's a little selfish doing something as dangerous as cycling with a young family". Not in reference to lack of helmet, but in reference to cycling in general. Codswallop. I've lost nearly three stone since taking up cycling and did over 1300 miles last year with no incidents. I read today that obesity is costing the NHS £5bn a year. And they would rather I jack it in? Up until Sunday I'd never been to A&E in my life, I know this escapade cost the taxpayer money, but I think I'm not as bad as most people :-)
One of the paramedics did ask me politely why I didn't wear a helmet. It turns out that she's cycles as well and doesn't always wear one, although she feels guilty when she doesn't. She wanted to understand my rationale.
To be clear, I didn't have an issue with any of them confronting me about my lack of helmet in a polite line of questioning, just that there's a time and a place for it. Screaming at me across a packed A&E definitely isn't it. Making me feel like I wouldn't have had the accident if I was wearing one ("you could have avoided this if you were wearing a helmet") isn't it either.
Cause
At the scene I was wondering if I'd tapped the brakes as I manoeuvred around the crap I saw in the road. I couldn't think why I would have done this, but at the time it seemed the only potential reason for the sudden loss of control.
Looking at the bike though, the rear tyre has a huge hole in it and damage to the rim next to it. I'm now wondering if I had a rear tyre blowout. I guess I'll never know.
Damage
The bike is damaged, but the frame got away with a lot by the looks of it. Front wheel need truing at least, possibly replacing. Rear definitely needs replacing, but the chainset looks OK. Bar tape needs replacing and the saddle which I only got new a couple of weeks ago will need replacing. But all in all it's repairable and I'm alive.
Out on Sunday with a few friends that I met on this forum. Pleasant ride until I'm descending a hill. For some reason I wasn't too sure of it, so was feathering the rear brake to lose a bit of speed. I saw some crap on the road ahead, so shifted my weight slightly to go around it.
Next thing I know, the bike was violently fishtailing all over the place. I managed to unclip and just as I thought I might have it under control I feel myself barrel rolling across the road before smacking up against a wall. Ouch. My GPS last registered a speed of just over 30mph, although I had been slowly reducing that up to the incident.
I didn't lose consciousness, and sat straight up to find myself dripping blood all over the road. I shuffled myself back against the wall. Luckily all the traffic had stopped, and one of my friends was already calling 999.
A first responder arrived on the scene a few minutes later, he made me lie down and took a few of my vitals. By now the adrenaline was beginning to wear off and I could feel my body complaining. He confirmed that I had a nasty laceration to my head that would require stitches, and was a bit concerned about the pain I was reporting in my kidneys.
The ambulance took over an hour to arrive, as it was diverted to a 'category A' call (I can only guess that because I hadn't lost consciousness I wasn't such a concern). They checked out my neck, eyes and kidneys and said that there were no concerns there. They were amazed to report that I had appeared to got off very lightly. I was able to walk to the ambulance where they bandaged me up and gave me some paracetamol and ibuprofen, as well as checking my resting heart rate, blood pressure and bloody oxygen levels. I'm pleased to report that my results showed that I was "very fit", although I can confirm that there are better ways to find this information out
In fact, they weren't sure whether to trust the oximeter they put on my finger for the blood oxygen levels, so took a blood sample from my finger - same result.After transferring the hospital I was told to have a shower (not great fun) before a healthcare assistant cleaned out as much gravel and mud from my road rash wounds as possible (even worse). A doctor checked me out and told me that due to the position and depth of the laceration on my head, I would require a face specialist to do the work. He came pretty quickly and did a great job - the wound required dissolvable stitches on the tissue and then normal stitches for the skin. All in all I was in hospital for about eight hours.
As it was, I was sent home with no pain relief. Big mistake - I returned at 4am that night in agony, the doctors there were amazed that I was told that paracetamol and ibuprofen would be fine.
Here's my little photo journal - warning, all photos are a little graphic if you don't like the sight of road rash, scabs and blood:
In hospital - http://a.yfrog.com/img878/1384/78syc.jpg
Next morning - http://a.yfrog.com/img875/6025/61htl.jpg
Tuesday - http://a.yfrog.com/img619/9367/73573325.jpg
Wednesday - http://a.yfrog.com/img878/9066/8oxwe.jpg
Thursday - http://a.yfrog.com/img877/8761/vcjer.jpg
Finally, my eye is open again and I'm out of bed.
One of the scariest things is my prescription cycling glasses - I think it's not too extreme to say they saved my eye - http://a.yfrog.com/img875/3711/uaspwa.jpg Those aren't mud marks, those are scour marks from the road
I've just bought another pair.My top didn't do too well - http://a.yfrog.com/img616/7341/g6gxc.jpg and my wife was unable to get the blood out of the front, although it does smell nice now http://a.yfrog.com/img864/4172/hxrze.jpg
Amazingly my legs were unharmed, although I have road rash on both arms, my next, my ear and my face.
Helmet
OK, let's get it out of the way, I wasn't wearing a helmet. I generally don't when cycling, personal choice. Has this encouraged me to wear one? Possibly on routes that I don't know very well. I don't want this to turn into a pro/anti thread, but if I'm pootling around town I still doubt I'll wear one. Country roads with dodgy descents, maybe. All I know is that a lot of the injuries I have I'd still have had if I was wearing a helmet, although I might have got away without the cut to the head. Maybe I would have snapped my neck worse though... who knows?
What I didn't appreciate was the attitudes of some of the medical staff, who tried to make me feel that the accident was actually caused by me not wearing a helmet. The worst was a nurse who, just as I arrived in pain and covered in mud and blood, YELLED across A&E "I cannot stand cyclists who don't wear helmets. You should always wear a helmet, you could have died"
a) I didn't die
b) I didn't know who she was, as far as I know she wasn't involved in treating me
c) yelling about me across A&E is grossly unprofessional
d) it actually made me temporarily worried that I might receive a different standard of care, as silly as that may sound
Another nurse did say that I should put in a complaint when I told her, unfortunately as I'm so short sighted and didn't have my glasses on I couldn't describe her (other than tubby with blonde hair).
One doctor said "maybe you should consider if it's a little selfish doing something as dangerous as cycling with a young family". Not in reference to lack of helmet, but in reference to cycling in general. Codswallop. I've lost nearly three stone since taking up cycling and did over 1300 miles last year with no incidents. I read today that obesity is costing the NHS £5bn a year. And they would rather I jack it in? Up until Sunday I'd never been to A&E in my life, I know this escapade cost the taxpayer money, but I think I'm not as bad as most people :-)
One of the paramedics did ask me politely why I didn't wear a helmet. It turns out that she's cycles as well and doesn't always wear one, although she feels guilty when she doesn't. She wanted to understand my rationale.
To be clear, I didn't have an issue with any of them confronting me about my lack of helmet in a polite line of questioning, just that there's a time and a place for it. Screaming at me across a packed A&E definitely isn't it. Making me feel like I wouldn't have had the accident if I was wearing one ("you could have avoided this if you were wearing a helmet") isn't it either.
Cause
At the scene I was wondering if I'd tapped the brakes as I manoeuvred around the crap I saw in the road. I couldn't think why I would have done this, but at the time it seemed the only potential reason for the sudden loss of control.
Looking at the bike though, the rear tyre has a huge hole in it and damage to the rim next to it. I'm now wondering if I had a rear tyre blowout. I guess I'll never know.
Damage
The bike is damaged, but the frame got away with a lot by the looks of it. Front wheel need truing at least, possibly replacing. Rear definitely needs replacing, but the chainset looks OK. Bar tape needs replacing and the saddle which I only got new a couple of weeks ago will need replacing. But all in all it's repairable and I'm alive.
