Near Miss - how to recover and carry on

[GrumpyGregry]

Yesterday I met the geriatric Mr Smidsy Day-Spoiler in his Merc on a narrow country lane east of Devizes on NCN 4. Luckily I missed him, came off and rolled / slid across the verge into the hedge. Only damage; a broken pair of cycling glasses some bruises and a few nettle stings.

After a brief and frank discussion with Mr Day-Spoiler, who was, fair play, very apologetic, I got back on the bike and carried on but soon felt felt weak, sick, shakey and altogether out of sorts. A few miles later Pewsey railway station called my name and this combined with some dreadful route planning finding earlier in the day was the last straw so I abandoned my ride to from the Severn Bridge to Reading and trained it home.

Could/should I have carried on? What tactics/strategies work when you get a strong physical reaction to a nasty scare? Thoughts, ideas of a practical nature, comments please....

 

[HLaB]

Unfortunately I've had a few close shaves but the best thing I've found is pause for a few minutes collect my self and carry on.

 

[Young Un]

When three of us feel off on ice last winter we couldn't face getting back on the bikes. We all ended up walking down the road for about 10 minutes until we reached a main rode where we were no longer at a risk of falling off. All of us felt very saw and achey but we new the only way to get home was to ride and so we just started off very slowly - I was wobbling all over the place so I had to ride at the back, but after about 3 or 4 miles we were all fine again, and by the time I got back home I had almost forgotten that we had fallen off. Unfortunately when I woke up the next morning the ache was back with avengense.

I just woffled, what I am trying to say is, if you can, get back on the bike - you will wobble and stuff at first but you will soon recover.

 

[swee'pea99]

I agree that 'getting straight back in the water' is best, if you can, but it sounds to me like that wouldn't have been the best for you in that situation. Only you know how you felt, and there's no benefit in masochism. Glad you're basically ok - take it easy at first next time you ride and like young'un says, pretty soon you'll have forgotten all about it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I got 'straight back on the horse' and did about 5 or 6 miles to Pewsey but my legs were just switched off and became deader than dead and my heart was racing (I wear an HRM) even though I was just twiddling along at 20- 25kph.

Was fine this morning on a little loop round the town, though riding sans glasses is hard, eye watering, work.

 

[house_trained]

I get that feeling in my legs and belly after a very near miss, but you actually got hit. I think it's the adrenaline comedown. Makes me feel terrible, but I usually ride through it and it goes after a while. If you were'nt enjoying the ride, you probably did the best thing by getting the train.

 

[Joe24]

Best thing to do is get back on the bike and ride. Try and forget about it.
With me, cycling is different to what i used to do, canoeing.
I fell off back when i started, must be 2 or 3 years ago now, and it didnt bother me. Also had accidents with car drivers and its never bothered me, always just got back on and rode, and not thought about it.

When i was canoeing, i had an accident where i was trapped in the boat. I lay on the bank by the white water course when i finally got out(was upside down in the boat for a while) and relaxed. Went to walk down the course, and just couldnt bare to get back in the boat.
I did get back in, but it didnt last long.
Even after about 4 years after it had happened i still get abit nervous going into a C1, bit after a break did go back into the boat and onto the white water course, even improved my freestyle!
The reason i got back into it was because i couldnt sell the boat, so decided i might aswell go for it, and really wanted to do it.
I didnt stop canoeing in the time, went back to open boats, which was more of an escape route instead of just getting back into the boat and doing what i loved doing!
Dont let yourself give up! Go back out for a nice ride, down a road you like, and you will soon forget about it and be back to normal
Although, a little eye watery until you get new glasses

 

[eddiemee]

Sorry to hear your day went south. As others have said, couple of deep breaths, get to where you need to be and have a rest. I've had two danger close near misses and one moderate 'off' which was down to my own clumsiness and misjudgement and didn't involved any other traffic. All left me shaken, but after a half hour of plodding along swearing under my breath (or our loud!) I found the fear of another incident passed. Once you've got a clear head again, think about the incident to see if there's anything to learn from it, but don't dwell on it, as then you risk becoming hesitant in your riding which could be counter-productive in terms of safety.

 

[Globalti]

Take up mountain biking and you'll get used to falling off your bike.

 

[Mr Pig]

Usually, when I fall off I just get on with it and don't realise how much it hurts until the next day! I still have sharp pains in my wrists from a fall two-years ago!

 

[Jonathan M]

I get that feeling in my legs and belly after a very near miss, but you actually got hit. I think it's the adrenaline comedown. Makes me feel terrible, but I usually ride through it and it goes after a while. If you were'nt enjoying the ride, you probably did the best thing by getting the train.

Spot on, the shock produces such a surge in stress chemicals that the come down is really unpleasant. I've had this happen a couple of times, really, really unpleasant.

If given a few minutes the symptoms settle, leaving just the psychological "shoot, that wsa close" feelings to overcome.

I've done the opposite to house_trained, rather than ride through it I've usually rested until symptoms have mostly settled, and then made a decision to continue or cut a ride short. The jelly legs feeling can be really bad, so sitting down removes a lot of the shakiness that only seems to make things worse. Eating & drinking won't help, it isn't a bonk thats occuring (qalthough there is an adrenaline response during hypo), indeed stuffing food & drink in at this point will probably only nake the sick feeling worse as the adrenaline is encouraging blood away from the gut to the muscles in a classic "fight or flight" effect.

In fact you may have felt better if you had tw@tted the guy and let the adrenaline do its job!!! OK, maybe not physical violence but making it clear what he'd donein very clear language!

I got knocked off my MTB years ago, close to home, by a car pulling out on me. I skidded, took the bike sideways and hit the drivers door, hard. Fell over and immediatly let the adrenaline take over, called the driver every name under the sun, really thought he was going to drive off too, but he didn't, got out, really apologetic, and in the end I just let things slide. Wish I hadn't as I later found damage to the bike, so should have been more sensible and got details from him to ensure any damage was paid for. I'll not forget drivers details again in a hurry!

 

[Mr Pig]

On the way home last night I had a woman pull out of a parking space right in front of me forcing me to stop. Even when I was stopped right next to her back door she still didn't see me! As she drove off I shot after her hoping to have a quiet chat as she waited to get out at the end of the road, but I missed her. Stupid bint!

 

[MartinC]

1. Give yourself a pat on the back for having the courage to get back on and ride again.

2. Recognise that your riding skills worked. It was a bad situation but you managed it without any drastic consequences.

3. Analyse, briefly, what happened and if there's more you can sensibly do to avoid or mitigate the same situation. Do this from now on. You are now a better rider.

4. Ride. In time the episode will fade into it's proper perspective.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Take up mountain biking and you'll get used to falling off your bike.

LOL! I MTB a lot and am used to falling off it was more the millimetres from death / serious injury that broke my will to continue....