My first fall...

Idioteque

So I had my first fall earlier today. Was out enjoy a sunny(ish) ride when the rain came down. Only getting in to cycling and was on about my 10th ever ride on a road bike (Focus Cayo 105 Ltd 2011). It was my 4th ride ever clipped into pedals.
I was turning Right at a junction and being aware of holding traffic up behind I took it too fast given the wet conditions – completely my own stupidity. Landed on my right side, but luckily not too bad. Cut one of my fingers open which wouldn’t stop bleeding so had to use some trusty blue and white jay cloth wrapped around it (new fashion trend maybe?!), cut my Right knee but nothing major and then finally saw the worst damage when I got home and took off shorts – see attached pic of my new badge for newbie mistake

Bike seems ok but will clean it tomorrow and finely inspect the carbon to make sure nothing nasty happened. Need new cleats and one of them is shredded.
Had about 5km left to cycle home, was going like one of those people you see on an ice rink holding onto the sides for dear life – petrified of falling again when cars zooming beside me – gradually got some confidence back though.

Things I learned:

1. Never ever worry about holding up traffic when it comes to safety
2. I need not worry about clipping out of my pedal’s in time (which I had worried about a little) as I didn’t even have time to think about it…and they unclipped anyway.
3. Remember to avoid that instinct to immediately ring the girlfriend at work like a 10 yr old boy looking for sympathy – it will only lead to future “I don’t think it’s safe you cycling today…etc” and add flames to the fire of the whole argument of “you pay more attention to that bloody bike than me!”
4. Stock up on those large medical plasters that cover a huge area – saves having to walk down to chemist as your boxers rub against the scrape.
5. It’s ok to fall sometimes– it doesn’t always lead to some fatal injury (My sympathy’s to anyone who has had a particular nasty one though!)

Hope that was food for thought and provided a little entertainment to people! All in all, was lucky and only a few scrapes and cuts thankfully.
Now all I need to do is get back up on the horse/bike and get going again!

Ultegra

Need som Cicatrin Powder on that to speed up the healing - Chemist should have it

daragh_

Glad you are ok. Will hurt tomorrow I think.

Worth giving the bike a good going over. I crashed a couple of times last year and very slightly damaged my rear derailleur. Didn't notice it at all until much later when it failed dramatically at the beginning of a spin.

Captain Havoc

Glad you're OK, something though you forgot on the list: give your phone to someone so they can take a photo of you for the "hard man" look.

seamus

Idioteque wrote: »

3. Remember to avoid that instinct to immediately ring the girlfriend at work like a 10 yr old boy looking for sympathy – it will only lead to future “I don’t think it’s safe you cycling today…etc” and add flames to the fire of the whole argument of “you pay more attention to that bloody bike than me!”

You're better off never saying anything unless she asks "what did you do to your hip?" (or unless you end up in hospital I suppose).

It downplays the whole thing if you make her think that you just got up and went on your merry way without giving it a second thought.

Tomorrow will be the sorest day. Your right hip and arm will keep touching off things and make you grimace. It gets better after that though.

fat bloke

+1 on checking derailleur. If it got a knock it could go into the rear wheel next time you change into 1st gear. Happened to me and cost me a new derailleur, new wheel & a new frame!

Idioteque

fat bloke wrote: »

+1 on checking derailleur. If it got a knock it could go into the rear wheel next time you change into 1st gear. Happened to me and cost me a new derailleur, new wheel & a new frame!

Thanks (Daragh also) will check it out properly tomorrow after I've given it a clean, hopefully not too much damage. At the moment looks like the right drop came off the worst.

cdaly_

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Glad you're OK, something though you forgot on the list: give your phone to someone so they can take a photo of you for the "hard man" look.

And remember to get your phone back...

t'bear

I was out for a spin last week and thankfully had the "you can just wait for me to take this turn" attitude to a car coming behind me. Rain had just started and was aware of the potentially slippy service, so slowed to a crawl and didn't lean over too much. Made it around safely. Also helps to know how your bike reacts in all conditions

RacoonQueen

Least you can blame the wet road for your crash and not bad bike skills.

The best ones are the epically slow ones when you're coming up to traffic lights and can't unclip.

Enjoy tomorrow. Savlon is my lifesaver, I'd be using about 3 tubes of it on that. Nasty. Hope you/your bike are ok.

Make sure you clean that road rash thoroughly. Take a few painkillers, wait for them to kick in, and then give it a good cleaning with dilute anti septic solution. Then use something like sudocreme or savlon on it for a few days.

Infected road rash is no fun, I speak from experience.

Mycroft H

Germolene cream is a lifesaver here.

Idioteque

Deleted User wrote: »

Make sure you clean that road rash thoroughly. Take a few painkillers, wait for them to kick in, and then give it a good cleaning with dilute anti septic solution. Then use something like sudocreme or savlon on it for a few days.

Infected road rash is no fun, I speak from experience.

Yeah used some TCP on it yesterday after a shower - had never thought of taking pain killers before the pain - will remember that next time...although then I wouldn't have my John McClane Die hard grimace as that TCP stung the f*ck out of me!

Rofo

This is an interesting article on treating road rash. I was always raised with the "let the air at it" approach. Apparently it's best to do the opposite and get some kind of semi-permeable dressing to keep the wound moist but protected.

Idioteque

Idioteque wrote: »

Yeah used some TCP on it yesterday after a shower - had never thought of taking pain killers before the pain - will remember that next time...although then I wouldn't have my John McClane Die hard grimace as that TCP stung the f*ck out of me!

I crashed in a crit last year. The St. John's ambulance crew that were there had the great idea to clean my extensive road rash with 100% alcohol. My god, the pain. Didn't work either, still got infected! That was back in the days when you could get nurofen plus over the counter, I kept myself doped up on it for the next week! Ah, the joys of cycling!:D

cdaly_

Rofo wrote: »

This is an interesting article on treating road rash. I was always raised with the "let the air at it" approach. Apparently it's best to do the opposite and get some kind of semi-permeable dressing to keep the wound moist but protected.

Yup. I had a fairly deep road rash a couple of years ago. Treatment was some kind of 'second skin' mesh directly applied with gauze and bandage over that. Change every second day for about a month...

Cork24

Once your ok thats all the matters..

You learn Quick when in wet roads to give your self some stopping time, Almost came off my bike once when i light turned red i hit the brakes and i had a speed wobble but was fast enough to unclip my left leg and lean more onto the left side to stop myself from fallen, This was all so on wet roads. in heavy traffic area.