"A7N8X-X" wrote in message
...
I was riding my usual ride last Friday evening when I saw an ambulance
unit
and a fire truck on the trail! Seems a 62 year old ran into a metal post
that divides the trail. The post is meant to prevent cars from riding onto
the trail from the nearby drag strip. He hit the post dead on! He kept
fading in and out of consciousness and could not remember what had
happened,
had a six inch gash on his face! The bike was thirty feet from where he
impacted. I must tell you that it gets your attention! People keep telling
me that you'll crash at least once, but I've been lucky so far. I did put
the bike down once but I was drunk and deserved it.
"psycholist" wrote in message
...
I'll be interested in your comments on this story about an incident that
befell a member of our local club -- a very dedicated rider maintains
his
equipment.
"You asked how this could have happened. I would have
never thought a chain could snap, but I guess they
can. No, his chain did not get caught in the wheel.
What happened was, we came to small hill and he stood
up on the pedals to speed up the hill. As he applied
force and all of his weight to the pedal, the chain
broke. The chain whipped up in the air and wrapped
itself around his rear light near the seat. Gail, Liz
and I think Sally, were with Steve, saw the chain whip
up in the air. I was a few bike lengths behind him and
saw his front wheel suddenly turn 180 degrees. His
body flipped up in the air. I think that as he was
applying force to the pedal and had most of his weight
on one pedal, the chain broke, the pedal dropped
forward and his body went forward. His hands must have
slipped off the handlebars and he flipped, like doing
a handstand in the air. When he flipped his head was a
few feet from the pavement and he came down hard on
his right shoulder and left hand. The bike also
flipped and at some point the chain ring came into
contact with his left ankle and sliced into it. He
hit on the pavement but somehow ended up in the grass
on the side of the road, where he waited calmly and
patiently for the car to take him to the hospital.
I have really thought all about how a chain can break
suddenly. Having a chain break was strange to me,
until a couple of people have mentioned that they know
people who have had chains break. Steve's chain is not
old or worn. It looks as if one plate came off the pin
and the chain pulled apart. No metal actually snapped.
His chain is not one of the newer lightweight chains
that are marketed these days, those with drilled or
thinner plates and/or hollow pins that reduce weight.
Also, a lot of the chains these days have one link
that can be moved or taken apart along side the road.
I would think these chains are weaker then the old
conventional chains where the pin is forced into place
with a tool. I looked up the technical information on
Steve's particular chain. It is one of their strongest
chains. They make his chain with and without a "quick
link" that can be adjusted by hand without a tool. I
do not know if he had a "quick link". If he did, it is
along side the road in Six Mile. I suspect his chain
had all pins that are forced into place with pressure.
You have to have two pins break in order to lose a
link of chain. It appears the chain only came apart in
one place and no links are missing. It is just one of
those things that happens, I suppose.
So, that is what happened."
This poor guy had his shoulder and collar bone shattered. Ugh.
Bob C.
In a decade of serious cycling I've had:
A shattered kneecap
broken pelvis
broken hip (now has 3 titanium screws holding it together)
broken ankle (now has 2 titanium screws)
fractured spine
accompanying road rash
two bikes totalled
That's from two encounters with cars and one paceline mishap. I had a car
pass me, then make a right turn into a driveway directly in front of me. I
had a teenager on a cell phone make a left in an oncoming car and hit me
head-on. And, I was in a pileup on some wet RR tracks while riding in a
fast paceline. Of course, I was the only one who didn't ride away.
I've survived all of it and love cycling just as much today as I ever did!
Bob C.
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