Oops! Ouch! Tam's first high speed crash...

Morning ladies, gents and cyclists. I had my first high-speed stack
today, in the wet. How exciting! As usual, I flew down my hill at
60km/h. As usual, I braked
lightly as I rolled up to the corner, down to 40-45-ish. As
usual, I turned into the corner, along the edge of the slip lane, and
onto the road shoulder up the hill. Oh wait, I didn't make it that far.
Think Jan's ITT slip as featured in Hell on Wheels. I came down like a
tonne of shit (which I've been informed is a lot like a tonne of
anything) and landed in the lane. The guy xriving behind was nice enough
to slow down and not hit me, he even swung around me, isn't that nice?
No one stopped. I think I hit my head but I forgot to check my helmet
until I was at uni. I got my bike off the road in about 5 seconds from
impact.

Most importantly - the bike is okay! (Oh yeah, I'm fine too.) Ergos need
straightening and I'll go see the uni bike shop guys today. Levers look
really nasty. Shifting etc all fine as landed on my left hand side.

As always seems to happen when I gumby stack at low speed, my hip took
most of the impact. I blame this on having a large arse. The good thing
about stacking in the wet is that you slide across the ground with less
friction, therefore (I guess) less skin loss. So now my left arse cheek
is about six times the size of my right one, it's pretty scary. Blood
was showing through my knicks but they weren't torn through, and the
wound looked bright and clean. This morning when I got dressed, I
thought, maybe I shouldn't wear my fave knicks in this weather?
Interesting.

My right wrist was really sore (I still haven't figured this one out,
and gut instinct has me thinking there's a greenstick fracture in there
somewhere) in fact it still is sore, and my hand a bit too. I ripped
through my left glove, but it's on the palm, I think I'll iron-on tape
it shut. Found some skin on the inside of my arm warmers around the
elbows but not too much.

Compounding factors were the bottle of wine, bottle of toffee apple
liquer, and bottle of conditioner in my bag. None of which were damaged.
Decided not to climb Mt Gravatt after all, lest I was concussed. Fear of
concussion is also why I stayed on my bike rather than get my car. I
rode to the city with Paul and stayed the hell away from the bike paths.

The small amount of blood was a mystery, but when I jumped in the shower
at uni I figured it out quickly - most of the blood never got to the
surface. The bruising is going to be horrific though. So it'll be really
ugly for a while, but at least I won't be sticking to the sheets.
Currently I have 2 water ice blocks in my pocket and one strapped around
my jeans, it's the closest I can get to an ice pack and may offer a
yummy snack later. I'm pretty stiff right now, hope I can loosen up by
Saturday or that 24km trail run is going to feel like a very, very long
way! (And no,
not just because of my poor navigation.)

Tam

 

ouch, always ouch.
Get the wrist looked at, heard about scaphoid fractures?? about 10 days it
takes to be obvious so get a GP to look it over & get some hirudoid or
leeches for the bruising then drink the grog.
Jock


"Tamyka Bell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
| Morning ladies, gents and cyclists. I had my first high-speed stack
| today, in the wet. How exciting! As usual, I flew down my hill at
| 60km/h. As usual, I braked
| lightly as I rolled up to the corner, down to 40-45-ish. As
| usual, I turned into the corner, along the edge of the slip lane, and
| onto the road shoulder up the hill. Oh wait, I didn't make it that far.
| Think Jan's ITT slip as featured in Hell on Wheels. I came down like a
| tonne of shit (which I've been informed is a lot like a tonne of
| anything) and landed in the lane. The guy xriving behind was nice enough
| to slow down and not hit me, he even swung around me, isn't that nice?
| No one stopped. I think I hit my head but I forgot to check my helmet
| until I was at uni. I got my bike off the road in about 5 seconds from
| impact.
|
| Most importantly - the bike is okay! (Oh yeah, I'm fine too.) Ergos need
| straightening and I'll go see the uni bike shop guys today. Levers look
| really nasty. Shifting etc all fine as landed on my left hand side.
|
| As always seems to happen when I gumby stack at low speed, my hip took
| most of the impact. I blame this on having a large arse. The good thing
| about stacking in the wet is that you slide across the ground with less
| friction, therefore (I guess) less skin loss. So now my left arse cheek
| is about six times the size of my right one, it's pretty scary. Blood
| was showing through my knicks but they weren't torn through, and the
| wound looked bright and clean. This morning when I got dressed, I
| thought, maybe I shouldn't wear my fave knicks in this weather?
| Interesting.
|
| My right wrist was really sore (I still haven't figured this one out,
| and gut instinct has me thinking there's a greenstick fracture in there
| somewhere) in fact it still is sore, and my hand a bit too. I ripped
| through my left glove, but it's on the palm, I think I'll iron-on tape
| it shut. Found some skin on the inside of my arm warmers around the
| elbows but not too much.
|
| Compounding factors were the bottle of wine, bottle of toffee apple
| liquer, and bottle of conditioner in my bag. None of which were damaged.
| Decided not to climb Mt Gravatt after all, lest I was concussed. Fear of
| concussion is also why I stayed on my bike rather than get my car. I
| rode to the city with Paul and stayed the hell away from the bike paths.
|
| The small amount of blood was a mystery, but when I jumped in the shower
| at uni I figured it out quickly - most of the blood never got to the
| surface. The bruising is going to be horrific though. So it'll be really
| ugly for a while, but at least I won't be sticking to the sheets.
| Currently I have 2 water ice blocks in my pocket and one strapped around
| my jeans, it's the closest I can get to an ice pack and may offer a
| yummy snack later. I'm pretty stiff right now, hope I can loosen up by
| Saturday or that 24km trail run is going to feel like a very, very long
| way! (And no,
| not just because of my poor navigation.)
|
| Tam

 

On 2005-07-20, Tamyka Bell (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> My right wrist was really sore (I still haven't figured this one out,
> and gut instinct has me thinking there's a greenstick fracture in there
> somewhere) in fact it still is sore, and my hand a bit too. I ripped
> through my left glove, but it's on the palm, I think I'll iron-on tape
> it shut. Found some skin on the inside of my arm warmers around the
> elbows but not too much.

Ouchies.

> Compounding factors were the bottle of wine, bottle of toffee apple
> liquer, and bottle of conditioner in my bag.

OH NO!!!

> None of which were damaged.

Phew!

--
TimC
GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY (#7): April 2, 1751
Isaac Newton becomes discouraged when he falls up a flight of stairs.

 

Bugger Tam! Hope it's not too sore. I saw you go past the other way on the bikeway this morning but you were past before i recognised you. Look on the bright side - at least you saved the booze, it'll come in handy! It sucks crashing in your favourite gear too.

Adam

 

Jock wrote:
> ouch, always ouch.
> Get the wrist looked at, heard about scaphoid fractures?? about 10 days it
> takes to be obvious so get a GP to look it over & get some hirudoid or
> leeches for the bruising then drink the grog.
> Jock

yep I'll second that. When I had a fall last year the x-ray guy reckoned
there was no way there was any break in one scaphoid because I was
carrying my backpack in that hand (because the other hand was completely
stuffed). Turned out it had a fracture.

DaveB "still cringing from your post"

 

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:12:55 +1000, Tamyka Bell <[email protected]>
wrote:


>somewhere) in fact it still is sore, and my hand a bit too. I ripped
>through my left glove, but it's on the palm, I think I'll iron-on tape
>it shut.


Aren't you glad you were wearing gloves now?

Heal quickly!

 

Tamyka Bell wrote:
>
> <snip gory details>
> Tam

Good to hear you are in one piece (and the bike and the booze), i guess
thanks to the guy who didn't hit you.

jh

 

adam85 wrote:
<snip Tam's sob story>
>
> Bugger Tam! Hope it's not too sore. I saw you go past the other way on
> the bikeway this morning but you were past before i recognised you.
> Look on the bright side - at least you saved the booze, it'll come in
> handy! It sucks crashing in your favourite gear too.
>
> Adam
>
> --
> adam85

Oh, I should've said g'day but I was completely out of it. I was only
looking for cars! I think that, for the first time this year, my average
commute speed was below 25 km/h, I was a bit shaken, then I started to
stiffen up. My fave gear is not destroyed, so it's all good.

Bike is currently in the care of uni bike shop, who are checking my
Dozer over. They commented on my new ugly colour scheme, and pointed out
that yellow tyres in the wet aren't as good as black ones. Yeah, that's
true, but the fact is, I didn't have any probs in the wet last night,
this stack was all my own fault, I was an idiot.

Tam

 

Carl Brewer wrote:
>
> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:12:55 +1000, Tamyka Bell <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >somewhere) in fact it still is sore, and my hand a bit too. I ripped
> >through my left glove, but it's on the palm, I think I'll iron-on tape
> >it shut.
>
> Aren't you glad you were wearing gloves now?
>
> Heal quickly!

Actually, they were my cheap cold-weather gloves. They ripped because
they're really, really thin. They ripped enough that my palm would've
been on the ground, but it didn't rip. I think they're just shit
gloves. I reckon my MTB gloves would've barely been scratched! Yes, I
was glad I was wearing them, or my hands would've been cold.

Tam

 

Tam,

Really go get the wrist looked at - My partner had a similar injury (satcked the motorbike) and has 2 stuffed wrists due to a lack of understanding about the need to get things looked at.
Really if they are still sore in a few days get down to the doctor - make them refer you to a specialist - and get it seen to. These things may not show on an Xray, so its useless for diagnostics - _Make_ them give you a refferal for a Cat scan on your wrists - the CAT gives real good info on these things.

If you dont fix your wrist you may be forced into recumbency - and we all know thats a fate worse than death!!

Tom

 

owww.... maybe you have been watching too much of the tour... there were a couple of good ones again last night...

hope you get better very soon

agree with all the other info about the wrist, suffered similar problems with a wrist injury from another sport (NO THAT SPORT) and they just take ages to heal!

 

Look on the bright side, Dutchy can feel safer now that someone has taken over the crash bandicoot mantle.

Can't believe no one stopped.

Be glad that you didn't break the alcohol, sticky liqueur through your bag would have been horrendous.

 

PiledHigher wrote:
>
> adam85 Wrote:
> > Bugger Tam! Hope it's not too sore. I saw you go past the other way on
> > the bikeway this morning but you were past before i recognised you.
> > Look on the bright side - at least you saved the booze, it'll come in
> > handy! It sucks crashing in your favourite gear too.
> >
> > Adam
>
> Look on the bright side, Dutchy can feel safer now that someone has
> taken over the crash bandicoot mantle.
>
> Can't believe no one stopped.
>
> Be glad that you didn't break the alcohol, sticky liqueur through your
> bag would have been horrendous.
>
> --
> PiledHigher

I was more worried about the glass...

Tam

 

I had an awesome commute this morning.

Cruising up along hills, and no "Harder b*tch, if you downshift you
DIE!!!!" coming from Tam!!

The most relaxed commute in for a long time... *laughing*

Abby (who's glad that Tam's OK... but worried about that wrist thing)

 

"Oh brave warrior. Kneel before thee and receive this crown and wear it with pride. ARISE SIR* TAM" <trumpeting, fanfare, roar of crowd>

*Sir? Ms?? Miss??

F "Ex-world-champ-bandicoot" Dutch

 

Hi Tam,

Good to hear you're mostly okay. This sort of crash is pretty benign - the best sort to have, I reckon (if you're going to prang, that is). I bet you'll be a little more delicate going into corners for a while

I nearly pranged in exactly the same way on the weekend, on the descent into Bobbin Head (3km at 5%). The very last hairpin is a 35km/h one, which I usually do at 45 odd. On the weekend though, the road was a bit damp, and both wheels started to slide half way through the corner. Lucky for me though, I managed (somehow!) to keep my ample bottom off the ground and keep going.

Hope you heal up well.

Cheers,

Suzy

 

Bugger.... pretty bad luck...

Sounded like it could have been much worse, at that speed.
Hope u get well soon and like the others, I'd
have the wrist checked out...

AC
ps
have been told if you hav never fallen before, then
you havent really been riding.

 

Tam,


sorry to hear about the horizontal cornering you tried this morning, but it is good to hear that you came out of it relatively unscathed.

SteveA

 

Absent Husband wrote:
>
> I had an awesome commute this morning.
>
> Cruising up along hills, and no "Harder b*tch, if you downshift you
> DIE!!!!" coming from Tam!!
>
> The most relaxed commute in for a long time... *laughing*
>
> Abby (who's glad that Tam's OK... but worried about that wrist thing)

The morning's email session is already making my wrist feel better

Tam

 

flyingdutch wrote:
>
> PiledHigher Wrote:
> > Look on the bright side, Dutchy can feel safer now that someone has
> > taken over the crash bandicoot mantle.
> >
> > Can't believe no one stopped.
> >
> > Be glad that you didn't break the alcohol, sticky liqueur through your
> > bag would have been horrendous.
>
> "Oh brave warrior. Kneel before thee and receive this crown and wear it
> with pride. ARISE SIR* TAM" <trumpeting, fanfare, roar of crowd>
>
> *Sir? Ms?? Miss??
>
> F "Ex-world-champ-bandicoot" Dutch
>
> --
> flyingdutch

Thanks, dude!

Everyone from now on can can call me Sir.

Tam