I crash into religion

wrote:
Subdural haematomas can occur some time after a crash but they're
slowing building up. Easy to deal with if diagnosed. Rare in younger
people. A MRI scan can exclude them with confidence.

I was warned by the physician of the signs. She (the MD) advised me to
get an MRI, but I declined. The impact was all facial with the greatest
injury the eyeglass lens embedding into my cheek. Most of the primary
impact was to my right arm, shoulder and hand (tuck and roll).
Comparatively little impact to my face, but the damage there is most
apparent.

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:


Get rid of those visors, they do nothing but....they are held on with
what, little velcro things or something? I doubt you would have gotten
'serious neck injuries' because of this little piece of plastic. I am
not a helmet nazi but ya know, helmets never hurt, 'may' help. If ths
is a troll, I'll know soon enough.

Troll in what way? Anyway, I thought the visors were part of the hat
(molded in) rather than attached. You and others set me straight. I
have a bid in for a Giro now.

On Sat, 06 May 2006 15:38:26 -0600, Paul Cassel wrote:

Evaluating the crash, I figure that I may have been more badly hurt
wearing a helmet, but ironically, I’ll will buy and from now on wear a
helmet when riding. This sounds paradoxical, but here is my logic. The
only place I hit was my face from the cheek down. I hit the glasses very
hard, scraped away a lot of skin from my face, nose, upper lip and chin.
There are other lower body injuries as well including a badly hurt right
arm and leg. I would guess that had I hit just that way with a hat on,
the visor would have exerted rotational force on my neck making for,
perhaps, much more serious injuries.

Well, you can get helmets without visors. It might also have kept your
glasses from grinding into your face.

Helmet advocates tend to exaggerate their ability to "save your life",
which is bull, since the sort of accident that will kill a cyclist, say a
head-on with a semi, would not be affected at all by a helmet. But for
this sort of fall, having a helmet can lessen the damage to the face, and
can cut down on the concussion. I wear one all the time, and I wear
gloves. Both offer the same sort of protection against common minor
injuries resulting from falls.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | The lottery is a tax on those who fail to understand
_`\(,_ | mathematics.
(_)/ (_) |

Paul Cassel wrote in
:

Today I fell down hard on my road bike. I figure I was going about 25
mph when I hit new paint at the end of a wooden bridge I’ve been over
dozens of times never finding any traction issues. However, sometime
recently, the City decided to put new wood and paint on the bridge. Add
some dew at 0600h and it made for a slippery surface. I skidded sideways
and then, when I hit the tarmac again, I high sided. I was not wearing a
helmet, but have good reflexes in the curl and roll. I ended up with a
terrible case of road rash, my eyeglasses embedded in my cheek (the lens
came out and stuck into my cheek right at the cheekbone) and a lot of
debris embedded into my muscles plus other injuries.


.....


Yes, I’m still opposed to mandatory helmet laws, but I doubt you’ll be
seeing me ride without one from now on.

I became pretty religous about wearing a helmet that would keep my
eyeglasses from getting stuffed into my face after I evened up the stitch-
count on my left and right eyebrows.

Whenever I look at the glass lenses from the two 'incidents' I'm always
reminded of what your knuclkes look like after you try to get that last
pass on the grater but lose grip on the the piece of cheese you used to be
grating.

David L. Johnson wrote:

Helmet advocates tend to exaggerate their ability to "save your life",
which is bull, since the sort of accident that will kill a cyclist, say a
head-on with a semi, would not be affected at all by a helmet. But for
this sort of fall, having a helmet can lessen the damage to the face, and
can cut down on the concussion. I wear one all the time, and I wear
gloves. Both offer the same sort of protection against common minor
injuries resulting from falls.


Didn't mention it, but my gloves are totaled. The right one is in shreds.

Paul Cassel wrote:
wrote:
On Sun, 07 May 2006 07:23:42 -0400, Peter Cole
wrote:

landotter wrote:
Wooden bridges are deathtraps. The slime that builds up on them
can be a terror as well. Last fall I took a spill on one due to
similar loss of traction. One second I was spinning nicely, the
next I was laying on my hip going WTF?? I got a hip bruise and
lost a couple nice old Cinelli end plugs. Damn you bridge!

Now I slow down and only coast across wooden bridges unless I'm
positively sure they're dry.

You'll heal up fine. I've taken a couple to the face, including
going headfirst into a snowbank at night, losing my glasses in the
snow, and having to ride home, one-handed to keep the blood from
gushing out my eyebrow. Fun for all! Commuting as extreme sport!
w00t!
It shouldn't be a blood sport. Not every accident is avoidable, but
most are, including this one. Bike paths often have unique hazards,
traps for the unwary. How many more crashes will be caused by this
particular situation? I hope the OP reports this.

Dear Peter,

(AP-Pueblo, CO)

"Authorities were informed of a recent 6 a.m. bicycle crash
involving a rider who slipped and fell at 25 mph on a
dew-covered wooden bridge that had recently been
re-painted."

"Signs, warning that any surface may be slippery when
covered with early morning dew, are being posted at 100-foot
intervals along the 20-mile ride."

"In related news, Carl Fogel announced that he was damned
glad that Paul Cassel wasn't hurt worse."

"Mr. Fogel added something incoherent about being up at an
ungodly hour himself, having been struck by a thought about
hanging a biccycle wheel from its upper spoke in an
unrelated spoke-testing thread, stated that the accident
confirmed his long-held opinions about early rising, and
went back to bed at 5:52 a.m. MST."

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Thanks for all the good wishes on this thread. I also appreciate the
info that the visor will break off rather than kill me. I currently am
bidding on a Giro Atmos hat on eBay and will surely get something
soon.
I had a good laugh at your post, Carl.

There is a bit of a postscript here. I found myself having nightmares
about that bridge last night so today I (perhaps stupidly) went out on
the single speed to ride the bridge again on the theory of getting
back on the horse. In the end, it was a beautiful day, I was happy to
be alive, I crossed the bridge and went on to finish up a pleasant 40
mile single speed ride. I'm feeling fine except for being wracked by
pain (I expect that makes sense to all of you here).

Just to make it perfectly clear (to coin a phrase) I consider the
crash to be 100% my fault and none of it the City's. It is my duty to
watch where I'm going as well as assess the surfaces I'm riding on. I
did check the surface today and was astonished at just how slippery
it is. I will advise the City about using sand in its paint to make
it a better grip.

Looking at my clothes, I'm amazed at the damage. For example, my heavy
duty gloves are all but gone. Well, lesson learned and I guess all
people who ride need to take that spill sometime. I've been riding a
year now; my time was ripe.

Taking responsibility for one's actions and decisions?!? Pretty radical,
doncha think?

Glad you're already riding again. Keep healing!

Bill S.

wrote:
Paul Cassel wrote:

(snip)
Yes, I'm still opposed to mandatory helmet laws, but I doubt you'll
be seeing me ride without one from now on.

Glad that you are okay. I had never wore a helmet in many years of
bicycling. A couple of years ago I was propelling my then 55 year old
body along on my road bike @ about 20 mph doing my Walter Mitty
imitation of Eddy Merckx. I went into a patch of sand on the road that
was deeper then it first appeared. My front tire grabbed and down I
went. I landed on my left shoulder breaking my collarbone and
separating my AC joint. When I hit I saw the asphalt coming to the
side of my head and in that tenth of a second tried to hold my neck
muscles to keep from hitting my head without success. I heard that
sickening popping sound you describe as the side of my head hit the
pavement. I am not sure if I was knocked unconscious. I think I may
have been for a short time. One way or the other I had one hell of a
head ache. I lost five weeks work and five days off the road. Got a
stationary trainer after the first week to maintain some semblance of
condition. Once I was able to get back on the road I have never
ridden without a helmet again and never will. An ounce of prevention.

Sadly, some on here will flame you (or would like to) for that well-reasoned
decision.

On Sun, 07 May 2006 11:16:33 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

wrote:
Subdural haematomas can occur some time after a crash but they're
slowing building up. Easy to deal with if diagnosed. Rare in younger
people. A MRI scan can exclude them with confidence.

I was warned by the physician of the signs. She (the MD) advised me to
get an MRI, but I declined. The impact was all facial with the greatest
injury the eyeglass lens embedding into my cheek. Most of the primary
impact was to my right arm, shoulder and hand (tuck and roll).
Comparatively little impact to my face, but the damage there is most
apparent.

Dear Paul,

To be fair to those concerned enough to advise an MRI, you
can suffer the internal injuries that they mention without
any exterior injury.

We naturally expect a brain injury to involve a dramatic
caved-in skull fracture or a bashed-in face, but it's quite
common for the injury to be what's called rotational--in an
abrupt spin of the head, the soft brain lags behind the hard
skull, not a direct impact, much less a fracture or
penetrating wound.

By coincidence, here's a comment from Friday's short piece
by a reference librarian gone mad about how easy it is to
knock someone out:

"A few basics: First, sudden acceleration or deceleration of
the head seems to be essential. If somebody clouts you from
above, so that your head remains stationary, you may suffer
other injuries but probably no knockout. Second, strong
evidence suggests that a KO requires twisting or rotational
motion--one reason woodpeckers don't beat themselves silly,
it's thought, is that their bills travel straight back and
forth, like a jackhammer. In contrast, a boxer loses
consciousness when a blow causes his brain to slosh and spin
inside the skull."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060505.html

Glad you're feeling better.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

wrote:

Dear Paul,

To be fair to those concerned enough to advise an MRI, you
can suffer the internal injuries that they mention without
any exterior injury.

We naturally expect a brain injury to involve a dramatic
caved-in skull fracture or a bashed-in face, but it's quite
common for the injury to be what's called rotational--in an
abrupt spin of the head, the soft brain lags behind the hard
skull, not a direct impact, much less a fracture or
penetrating wound.

By coincidence, here's a comment from Friday's short piece
by a reference librarian gone mad about how easy it is to
knock someone out:

"A few basics: First, sudden acceleration or deceleration of
the head seems to be essential. If somebody clouts you from
above, so that your head remains stationary, you may suffer
other injuries but probably no knockout. Second, strong
evidence suggests that a KO requires twisting or rotational
motion--one reason woodpeckers don't beat themselves silly,
it's thought, is that their bills travel straight back and
forth, like a jackhammer. In contrast, a boxer loses
consciousness when a blow causes his brain to slosh and spin
inside the skull."

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060505.html

Glad you're feeling better.


Thanks. As a note, I have been told on many occasions that the reason
that boxers lose consciousness (get knocked out) is when,

1. They have a sudden head twist (as in left hook to the chin) which
causes an interruption of blood flow to the brain.

2. Their head hits the canvas hard enough to knock them out. That is,
they are knocked down, by a punch, but the impact of their heads on the
floor causes the knockout.

Both scenarios involved acceleration lending credence to your
librarian's research.

I understand the danger of lurking blood leakage problems, but when I
demurred the suggestion to get an MRI, the physician didn't push it
either. I think it was more SOP than her thinking I really needed it. I
did get a rather full body scan via Doppler / ultrasound due to fear of
thrombosis. The reason she did that was due to the incredible amount of
edema due to broken blood vessels. My right arm makes Popeye's look small.

Me. I'm strangely cheerful and no, it isn't the Percosets. I haven't had
one in over 24 hours

-paul

wrote:
wrote:
(snip)
I lost
five weeks work and five days off the road. Got a stationary trainer
after the first week to maintain some semblance of condition. Once I
was able to get back on the road I have never ridden without a helmet
again and never will. An ounce of prevention.

Good day to all,

Jimmy

FWIW, I should have said I lost five weeks off the road and five days
off the bike. Incidentally, I found that using the stationary trainer
an hour a day left me in better condition five weeks later when I was
able to get back on the road then I had been in before the accident. It
also helped my morale a great deal as during my early recovery I was
not a happy camper.

Jimmy

Glad to hear that you are ok after all. It seems that I can ride again
right off as I did so today, but in a lot of pain when I hit a bump.
Looking backward, I have no idea why I didn't wear a helmet in the past.
Perhaps I just didn't think the likelihood of a crash high enough to
merit one. Or more likely, I dismissed the impact potential of a bicycle
crash.

I had two things to wonder about when I woke up there on the trail. The
first was that awful noise which you had too. Is that really the noise
we make or is it some artifact of our heads becoming an echo chamber for
our hearing sensors? It was sickening.

The second thing was my wonder at how hard I hit. I've been down dozens
of times on the dirt on a bicycle w/o a problem, but this one was like
getting hit by a truck.

I bid too low for that one helmet, but I'll keep at it until I get one.
If I get desperate, I may just hit my LBS and BUY one like a human does g.

-paul