Bike (e-Recumbent) Crash
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Left knee road rash !! Twisted Left knee, now swollen, twisted left ankle and also swollen !!
Was inspired to blog about my last bike (E-Recumbent) riding crash last Monday !! What inspired me ? My high school buddy Bob Gomes out in Tucson Az recently crashed riding his bike !! Bob has been blogging religiously every Sunday morning even longer than I have (~15 yrs), has’nt missed many blogs. Bob is ‘old school’, his blogs he emails to his group of friends.
Bob writes: Mornin’ Deahhs,
A little late on that advice by the way. So what’s it like to go ovah the handle bars on your bike when yer over 70 ??? Well it aint at all like when you was 10 years old I’ll tell ya that Mister Man right now. It were one of those things that when ya look back ya say why did I do that? Mother was downtown ( the center ) paintin’ the office window and she asked if I could bring her that little wood folding table for her paints. Sure, save a walk and take my bike. Hmm, this table is a bit gaumy, probably not a good idea but if I balance it on the handle bars should go pretty easy. It was going real good until a car come outta one of the side streets without stopping. I went to hit the brakes but my right hand was on the table so I hit the front brake, bike jack-knifed and ovah the handle bars I went. Luckily I did not land on my left hip or leg. I did land on my head and right knee. Hard head, just scratched up a bit and knee scraped pretty bad. About 6 people came running to help, “stay down, don’t try to get up” I heard one guy say. Nope, I’m good I said and slowly got up. My glasses took a beatin’, they are all bent up and my phone flew outta my shirt pocket and now it has a big crack across the face. Other than bein’ pretty sore for a few days no real damage. Ya sure don’t bounce like ya did as a kid do ya???
That was Bob's story, my story: Last Monday, I was riding close to edge of the pavement, about 14 mph, as I often do, I got distracted by looking at this awesome huge house, and the front wheel went off the pavement, about a six inch drop, and I could not recover. If you ride long enough, you will crash 💥, have crashed 4 times in 35 yrs, and over 120,000 miles of riding !!
See my knee in photos above !! Had to use two crutches for a couple of days, now I can use one crutch. YouTube videos makes it look easy to use 2 crutches, but it is not, you have to learn how to do. So I estimate about two weeks before I can ride again, I hope !!
This is what I ride, been riding it for 35 yrs !! A year ago i converted it to an E-Recumbent. Younger days Would do over 5000 miles per yr !! Now doing it again !!
Have done about 85 centuries (100 mi in one day), 6 double centuries (200 mi in one day),16 week long bike tours (ride for 6 days), New Zealand, Czech Republic, the French Alps, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, California, Maine, Georgia, Florida, and probably places I have forgotten !!