When Good Bicycles go Bad
Posted on November 2, 2009 by Jesse O'Brien in On the Road
It’s a nice day, I think I’ll ride my bike…
The winding steel rails that run through the road seemed less challenging to bike across after the first few tries. I was lulled into a false sense of security, and the next time I crossed to the other side of the tracks my Bianchi stopped the front wheel and hit the eject button.
Damage assessment
After I got back up and verified that the bike was still straight and in one piece, I realized I was bleeding all over the place. I had to do something about it, quick!
… so I rode to a diner and ate lunch. Not my best decision ever.
After that, I proceeded to the hospital, where they took some x-rays and I found that I had a hairline fracture in my patella (kneecap, to those of us who haven’t already gone through this) and all the bones that meet at my wrist were bruised. By the time I got out of the hospital, my knee and wrist were about double their usual size and I finished off my ride for the day by heading home.
A month later, I’m pretty much healed and back to riding the bike every day. I guess the moral of the story is that no matter where you are or how safe you feel, operating a vehicle still demands your full attention. All this was caused by a small patch of sand next to the railroad track that my wheel sunk into and gripped hard.
Be careful out there, kids.
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