First crash today

first crash today since I was seven .

coming up to the red light at the intersection of Tooley St. and
Borough High St, right at London Bridge. sharing lane with black car.
black car seems to nudge a little to the left. nudges handlebars.
luigi goes sailing over the bars.

observation: time really does slow down when you're falling. i felt
like i was in the air forever. i see my arms come clean off the bars,
and go over my head.

I land on my elbow, not my forehead. I'm not wearing a h*****.

roll around in the gutter, dazed.

passers-by ask if I'm okay. I get up, i pick up my bike, i'm dizzy.
someone helps me to a nearby wall. black car driver comes out to see
if I'm okay. I am unhurt, or at least not badly hurt.

passerby asks if I'm okay, if there was a crash, was he--pointing at
car--involved? absently i wonder if I have to do anything. i'm more
concerned with getting myself looked-at and getting to school.

i try to explain what happened to driver, who either cannot hear or
understand me. it doesn't matter. i'm not thinking straight either.

i cross the street to Guy's Hospital, ask for the Minor Injuries unit.
after some waiting,during which i see someone wheeled out, presumably
towards the 'Tis-but-a-flesh-wound Unit, and several people who are
very calmly dressed and not outwardly injured go before me, a nurse
calls my name and I sit down. she cleans up the road rash, such as it
is (small patch on elbow where I landed), has me test my range of
motion (complete. nothing broken) and cleans the blood off my toes
(was wearing sandals. stubbed two smallest toes on right foot, on
landing).

I get out, pull out an allen key, fix my stem so that I can steer, and
ride the rest of the way towards school, from which I write this
report.

so i'm waiting for the blame. go ahead and shout at my lane placement.
i was where everybody else rides, out of the gutter, clear of the
doorzone, not in the full lane. I've taken that intersection many
times before. I crashed today.

i'm lucky to have gotten off so lightly. no head injuries, no broken
limbs. no ugliness--and to have crashed across the street from Guy's
Hospital. Otherwise.

mind how you go out there.

-Luigi

"Luigi de Guzman" wrote in message
om...
first crash today since I was seven .

coming up to the red light at the intersection of Tooley St. and
Borough High St, right at London Bridge. sharing lane with black car.
black car seems to nudge a little to the left. nudges handlebars.
luigi goes sailing over the bars.

observation: time really does slow down when you're falling. i felt
like i was in the air forever. i see my arms come clean off the bars,
and go over my head.

I land on my elbow, not my forehead. I'm not wearing a h*****.


I would suggest you go home past Waterloo and call in on Mr Evans to buy a
helmet - even Guys Hospital will struggle to repair broken brains!

RG





roll around in the gutter, dazed.

passers-by ask if I'm okay. I get up, i pick up my bike, i'm dizzy.
someone helps me to a nearby wall. black car driver comes out to see
if I'm okay. I am unhurt, or at least not badly hurt.

passerby asks if I'm okay, if there was a crash, was he--pointing at
car--involved? absently i wonder if I have to do anything. i'm more
concerned with getting myself looked-at and getting to school.

i try to explain what happened to driver, who either cannot hear or
understand me. it doesn't matter. i'm not thinking straight either.

i cross the street to Guy's Hospital, ask for the Minor Injuries unit.
after some waiting,during which i see someone wheeled out, presumably
towards the 'Tis-but-a-flesh-wound Unit, and several people who are
very calmly dressed and not outwardly injured go before me, a nurse
calls my name and I sit down. she cleans up the road rash, such as it
is (small patch on elbow where I landed), has me test my range of
motion (complete. nothing broken) and cleans the blood off my toes
(was wearing sandals. stubbed two smallest toes on right foot, on
landing).

I get out, pull out an allen key, fix my stem so that I can steer, and
ride the rest of the way towards school, from which I write this
report.

so i'm waiting for the blame. go ahead and shout at my lane placement.
i was where everybody else rides, out of the gutter, clear of the
doorzone, not in the full lane. I've taken that intersection many
times before. I crashed today.

i'm lucky to have gotten off so lightly. no head injuries, no broken
limbs. no ugliness--and to have crashed across the street from Guy's
Hospital. Otherwise.

mind how you go out there.

-Luigi

"RG" wrote in message
...

"Luigi de Guzman" wrote in message
om...
first crash today since I was seven .

coming up to the red light at the intersection of Tooley St. and
Borough High St, right at London Bridge. sharing lane with black car.
black car seems to nudge a little to the left. nudges handlebars.
luigi goes sailing over the bars.

observation: time really does slow down when you're falling. i felt
like i was in the air forever. i see my arms come clean off the bars,
and go over my head.

I land on my elbow, not my forehead. I'm not wearing a h*****.


I would suggest you go home past Waterloo and call in on Mr Evans to buy a
helmet - even Guys Hospital will struggle to repair broken brains!

RG

Helmet thread!!!



--
Robin Hubert

In article ,
(Luigi de Guzman) writes:
first crash today since I was seven .

coming up to the red light at the intersection of Tooley St. and
Borough High St, right at London Bridge. sharing lane with black car.
black car seems to nudge a little to the left. nudges handlebars.
luigi goes sailing over the bars.

Problem here is that the two of you were too close. Overtaking vehicles have
to give adequate clearance regardless of vehicle mass. Who was overtaking
whom? If you were both going the same speed, why "share" the lane? Hard to
place blame on either operator without knowing more, but is blame really what
you want to assess? You got through it with only a minor owie. The driver
apparently did not get his paint scratched. Chalk it up to experience and be
sure to give adequate clearance when passing, and demand it when being passed,
but don't share a lane with a car.


David L. Johnson
Department of Mathematics
Lehigh University

(Luigi de Guzman) wrote in
om:

first crash today since I was seven .

coming up to the red light at the intersection of Tooley St. and
Borough High St, right at London Bridge. sharing lane with black car.
black car seems to nudge a little to the left. nudges handlebars.
luigi goes sailing over the bars.
snip
so i'm waiting for the blame. go ahead and shout at my lane placement.
snip
-Luigi

No one in internet land can tell you if anything you did lead to the
accident, mull over in your mind if YOU think you were in the wrong. If
you were not then don't beat yourself up! Even if you could have done it
different then don't beat yourself up, just think "next time I will
do...."

I would also try and cycle in quite areas for a few days, build your
confidence back up.

being hit is nasty, but not the end of the world

Also if you have not read "cyclecraft" I think it is worth a read.
http://www.pickabook.co.uk//cgi-bin/...sbn=0117020516

Fragg

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:49:04 GMT, "Sorni"
wrote:

"RG" wrote in message
...

"Luigi de Guzman" wrote in message
om...
first crash today since I was seven .

I land on my elbow, not my forehead. I'm not wearing a h*****.

I would suggest you go home past Waterloo and call in on Mr Evans to buy a
helmet - even Guys Hospital will struggle to repair broken brains!

(was wearing sandals. stubbed two smallest toes on right foot, on
landing).

And some shoes!

Bill "sandal thread! for Robin" S.


http://softline-online.com/english/airbag/airbag.htm

"STRUCTURE OF OUR SAFETY AIRBAG JACKET
Our airbag system consists of jacket and airbag vest:
- Jacket:
The motorcycle jacket is attached by an airbag system in the type of
vest, removable easily from the jacket.
The jacket is wearable without air bag system but installed by
optional CE certified protectors
- Air bag vest:
Our jacket consists of liner-type vest and the vest contains the air
bag so that it is very easy and quick to assemble or dismantle.
This liner-type vest is installed with air bag system, easily attached
and removable, in order to protect neck, body, and hip.

FUNCTION
As soon as a rider wearing a jacket equipped with airbag being thrown
away from a motorcycle by the impact of a sudden accident, the trigger
in the key box hits the gas cartridge pulled by a coil wire fixed to
the motorcycle, to release the CO2 gas into airbags installed in the
vest within 0.5 second like the air bag in a car working by impact
sensor.
The swollen airbag protects a rider's neck, body and hip by buffering
from the impact of crash, and the swollen airbag becomes deflated
through gas release valve, to make a rider feel comfortable.
One of the features is that another airbag runs beneath the gas
distributing compartment in order to protect the rider's breast from
the projecting objects in case of an accident.
The swollen airbag becomes deflated gradually through gas release
valve within 10 seconds, to make a rider feel comfortable. In case of
difficulty in tightness or in breathing, unfasten the front zipper of
your jacket. "

11 Aug 2003 06:24:45 -0700,
,
(Luigi de Guzman) wrote:

first crash today since I was seven .

Let's just hope it's not the start of a trend.

Glad to hear you're okay.
--
zk

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:49:04 GMT, Sorni wrote:
I would suggest you go home past Waterloo and call in on Mr Evans to buy
helmet - even Guys Hospital will struggle to repair broken brains!

(was wearing sandals. stubbed two smallest toes on right foot, on
landing).

And some shoes!

My feet are damn tired of being in shoes. I want sandals!

My ingrown toenail has gotten much better, you can't even
tell now, since I started wearing sandals whenever I could.

I will now proceed to acquire SPD sandals.

Bill "sandal thread! for Robin" S.
--
Rick Onanian

Luigi de Guzman wrote:

first crash today since I was seven .
...

-Luigi

So did I this last week.


I am 51 and took up cycling for health reasons on doctors orders. (I can not
jog or walk due to knee problems)

Here in Orlando it has been raining for about three months. We have ten
thousand darn Oak trees --- many in my yard. Well, they give off some darn
black stuff that collects on the street and is pure oil when it is wet.

I hit a patch and then the road. Damn well surprised an old fella.

Nothing in life is totally safe. I will tell the Doc that his cure may yet
kill me! :-) But, I find that I love to cycle. Shoot, I now have bikes all
over my garage.


--
Regards, Joe

On 11 Aug 2003 18:44:48 GMT, Fraggle wrote:
No one in internet land can tell you if anything you did lead to the
accident, mull over in your mind if YOU think you were in the wrong. If
you were not then don't beat yourself up! Even if you could have done it

Whether or not you were in the wrong, you should still
try to think of ways you could have avoided it.

Fault doesn't matter in the end; you're just as dead /
broken / whatever injury, regardless of whose fault it
is, when it has happened.

Fault is good for determining who pays the bills.

However, as another poster said...the odds catch up
to you, no matter how careful you are, if you ride
enough. Sooner or later the odds will catch up with
me, and I can only hope it's as minor.

Fragg
--
Rick Onanian