On 2018-10-30 15:48, wrote:
Last Sunday I was riding down the road nearing the suburb of Fremont
called "Niles". This is where Charley Chaplin made most if not all of
his movies. In any even I had missed my medication the morning before
and had to take a double dose that evening. So this morning when I
took my medication I was still a bit overdosed.

I was riding along and perhaps not paying a great deal of attention
as I approached a new overpass with a good bike lane on it. The
section I was on was rough road but not horrible. Suddenly I was
thrown up in the air and my main concern was not hitting my head on
the curb. I managed to fall on my entire right side.

I was totally confused, I had struck my head but lightly since my
body absorbed most of the impact and my head just slapped down on the
asphalt. But there hadn't been anything in the road to do that!


Knowing how to fall and instinctively controlling a fall is an art.
Normally only martial arts people and parachutists develop that kind of
"muscle memory".


I was trying to get up and some driver stopped and was helping me up.
He must have been a cyclist because he was putting the chain back on
the crankset since it had fallen off.

I said something along the lines of "What in the hell did I hit."


Happens a lot to mountain bikers. Now how did THAT happen? Then you turn
around and find that what looked like a smooth clay trail surface had
caved in.


... And
he said that a pine cone had fallen out of a tree and bounced from my
right side under the front wheel. I hope I thanked him for his help
but I was too confused to remember. I immediately turned around and
came back before the pain set in.

That was a completely new one on me. I can't remember ever having a
pine cone fall near me in all my years of riding. Though that might
be lost in my concussion memory.


In my area I heard of several cyclists who had squirrels run into the
front wheel spokes, half a rotation, full stop, OTB. Squirrels must be
the animals with the second-lowest IQ. Only turkeys are lower, they run
parallel to the singletrack, look at you, and then smack dab into the trail.


In any case my right side is REALLY sore. My right hip sustained some
road rash but just barely and the Pearl Izumi's didn't get any
visible damage. Good thing since they are top of the line and my
favorites. After I get back from a ride I can sit down for awhile
without getting sweat buildup and sores in my crotch before a shower.
None of the others will do that, it's straight into the shower no
matter how hard you've ridden.

Now I can't sleep well since I normally lay on my right side. And I
managed to hurt my shoulder a little more from the bad sleep. I'll
sure be glad when this heals up.

It reminds me of that insurance commercial where the squirrel is
throwing pine cones at someone's car.


A riding buddy hit a large pine cone with his MTB and had an instant
"involuntary dismount" like you did. The cone hadn't been there on the
way up, and then it was there.

I've had my cone comeuppance a different way. During a long desert drive
it got late. Aahhh, some trees, lets overnight there so we can sleep in
and won't be pelted by the morning sun. No tent needed, just roll out
the mats and the sleeping bags and the doze off. Shortly thereafter
phsss ... BUMPH. One of these had landed just a foot from my head:

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--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/