Ouch

[D.M. Procida]

I've just had my first non-pratfall accident (not ever, but in years).

I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout with a
nice clear sweep to go straight on. I think I must have misjudged my
line, but at any rate once into it I realised I wasn't quite going to
make it. I was angled over so far that my knee was almost touching the
ground (according to my companion who was following) and I felt I
couldn't turn any sharper.

So I tried to shed some speed using the brakes, which was probably a bad
mistake, as I lost even more of my turn, and it just didn't feel
sustainable. The last thing I wanted to do was hit the kerb a glancing
blow at that speed with my feet locked in, so I straightened up and went
for it.

I went flying, almost right over the pavement into the ditch.
Fortunately my shoes disengaged quite early on, so I wasn't tangled up
with the bike. I have a rather nasty scrape along my elbow from the
concrete pavement, and a couple of other small grazes on that side, but
nothing really worth writing about other than on Usenet. The bike is
almost unscathed, apart from some torn bar tape. I was expecting the
front wheel to be bent in half.

The actual fall was, in the circumstances, a very neat Aikido-style
breakfall, and I am sure it saved me a great deal of injury. I felt
quite in control.

Three or four car drivers went past before anyone stopped to see if we
needed help.

Daniele

 

[[email protected]]

On Fri, 1 Sep 2006 13:11:58 +0100,
[email protected] (D.M. Procida) wrote:

>I've just had my first non-pratfall accident (not ever, but in years).
>
>I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout with a
>nice clear sweep to go straight on. I think I must have misjudged my
>line, but at any rate once into it I realised I wasn't quite going to
>make it. I was angled over so far that my knee was almost touching the
>ground (according to my companion who was following) and I felt I
>couldn't turn any sharper.
>
>So I tried to shed some speed using the brakes, which was probably a bad
>mistake, as I lost even more of my turn, and it just didn't feel
>sustainable. The last thing I wanted to do was hit the kerb a glancing
>blow at that speed with my feet locked in, so I straightened up and went
>for it.
>
>I went flying, almost right over the pavement into the ditch.
>Fortunately my shoes disengaged quite early on, so I wasn't tangled up
>with the bike. I have a rather nasty scrape along my elbow from the
>concrete pavement, and a couple of other small grazes on that side, but
>nothing really worth writing about other than on Usenet. The bike is
>almost unscathed, apart from some torn bar tape. I was expecting the
>front wheel to be bent in half.
>
>The actual fall was, in the circumstances, a very neat Aikido-style
>breakfall, and I am sure it saved me a great deal of injury. I felt
>quite in control.
>
>Three or four car drivers went past before anyone stopped to see if we
>needed help.
>
>Daniele

Did your helmet save your life?

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message
<1hkzku1.cn1efh1itxf0sN%[email protected]>,
D.M. Procida ('[email protected]') wrote:

> I've just had my first non-pratfall accident (not ever, but in years).
>
> I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout with a
> nice clear sweep to go straight on. I think I must have misjudged my
> line, but at any rate once into it I realised I wasn't quite going to
> make it. I was angled over so far that my knee was almost touching the
> ground (according to my companion who was following) and I felt I
> couldn't turn any sharper.

Much sympathy. Sounds very much like my crash last year. Thing is, when
you overcook a bend, there really isn't anything else to blame.

Hope you feel better soon!

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Semper in faecibus sumus, sole profundum variat.

 

[D.M. Procida]

Simon Brooke <[email protected]> wrote:

> > I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout with a
> > nice clear sweep to go straight on. I think I must have misjudged my
> > line, but at any rate once into it I realised I wasn't quite going to
> > make it. I was angled over so far that my knee was almost touching the
> > ground (according to my companion who was following) and I felt I
> > couldn't turn any sharper.
>
> Much sympathy. Sounds very much like my crash last year. Thing is, when
> you overcook a bend, there really isn't anything else to blame.
>
> Hope you feel better soon!

Better? I felt *fantastic*!

As soon as I got back on I cycled up a hill (admittedly not a terribly
steep one) at the same speed I came down the other side. I could win
races like that.

My companion was rhapsodising about the crash; he said it was the best
he'd ever seen.

Daniele

 

[Geraint Jones]

[email protected] (D.M. Procida) wrote:
> I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout ...

I don't understand: "51km/hr" doesn't seem to be a nice round speed in
imperial units. What sort of "about" was that, or do you have your speedo
calibrated in foreign and were you watching that when you should have been
not misjudging the line?

I've stopped carrying a speedo since I realised it was making me come down
Cumnor Hill more slowly than I could. Perhaps I should carry it, but tape
over the display.

(Now, "about 51.5 km/hr" I could understand, because that's a power of two.)

 

[D.M. Procida]

Geraint Jones <[email protected]>
wrote:

> > I was coming down a hill at about 51km/hr, towards a roundabout ...
>
> I don't understand: "51km/hr" doesn't seem to be a nice round speed in
> imperial units. What sort of "about" was that, or do you have your speedo
> calibrated in foreign and were you watching that when you should have been
> not misjudging the line?

I glanced at it while descending the hill a moment or two before the
roundabout. It said 51km/h. I continued descending. Therefore I inferred
(from the available evidence, certain assumptions about the equipment,
and some basic principles of physics) that I was doing about 51km/h.

Daniele

 

[Danny Colyer]

Geraint Jones wrote:
> I've stopped carrying a speedo since I realised it was making me come down
> Cumnor Hill more slowly than I could. Perhaps I should carry it, but tape
> over the display.

Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
look at your max speed.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

 

[Stevie D]

Geraint Jones wrote:

> I've stopped carrying a speedo since I realised it was making me come
> down Cumnor Hill more slowly than I could. Perhaps I should carry it,
> but tape over the display.

When I'm roaring down a hill (particularly on narrow lanes or in urban
areas) I don't look at the speedo, because there's just too much else
to concentrate on. When I've slowed down in the following valley, I
have a look and see if I hit a new vMax but staying on the bike is
always the first priority!

--
Stevie D
\\\\\ ///// Bringing dating agencies to the
\\\\\\\__X__/////// common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs"
___\\\\\\\'/ \'///////_____________________________________________

 

[Stevie D]

Danny Colyer wrote:

> Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
> look at your max speed.

Sound advice - unless you've been down a better hill earlier in the
ride...

--
Stevie D
\\\\\ ///// Bringing dating agencies to the
\\\\\\\__X__/////// common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs"
___\\\\\\\'/ \'///////_____________________________________________

 

[Clive George]

"Stevie D" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Danny Colyer wrote:
>
>> Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
>> look at your max speed.
>
> Sound advice - unless you've been down a better hill earlier in the
> ride...

It's why I want a speedo with a resettable max. Unfortunately nobody seems
have thought that this might be a good thing.

cheers,
clive

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Clive George wrote:
> "Stevie D" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Danny Colyer wrote:
>>
>>> Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
>>> look at your max speed.
>>
>> Sound advice - unless you've been down a better hill earlier in the
>> ride...
>
> It's why I want a speedo with a resettable max. Unfortunately nobody
> seems have thought that this might be a good thing.

The sigma sport BC1600 has this feature. Now I must remember to use it!

--chris

 

[Call me Bob]

On Sun, 3 Sep 2006 20:53:43 +0100, "Clive George"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>It's why I want a speedo with a resettable max. Unfortunately nobody seems
>have thought that this might be a good thing.

Errrr.... what?

Every bike computer I've ever used has had a resettable max speed.
Cateye Astrales and Mity's do, the cheapy ones from Lidl do, Sigma
Sport BC1600 etc etc. I think you'll find most behave this way. You
can reset all the functions (average speed, distance, time, max speed
and the like) whenever you want, but the total mileage count persists.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

 

[Danny Colyer]

Call me Bob wrote:
> Every bike computer I've ever used has had a resettable max speed.
> Cateye Astrales and Mity's do, the cheapy ones from Lidl do, Sigma
> Sport BC1600 etc etc. I think you'll find most behave this way. You
> can reset all the functions (average speed, distance, time, max speed
> and the like) whenever you want, but the total mileage count persists.

Yeah, but usually when you reset the max you will also reset the trip
speed, the trip time and the trip average. I have never come across a
computer where you could reset the former without resetting the three
latter. I use a Cateye Astrale every day and I have Mitys on two of my
unicycles, none of them has this feature.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

 

[Stevie D]

Call me Bob wrote:

> Every bike computer I've ever used has had a resettable max speed.
> Cateye Astrales and Mity's do, the cheapy ones from Lidl do, Sigma
> Sport BC1600 etc etc. I think you'll find most behave this way. You
> can reset all the functions (average speed, distance, time, max speed
> and the like) whenever you want, but the total mileage count persists.

On all bike computers I've owned, you can only reset all functions at
once (except, as you say, total distance). So if you want to measure
the distance you cycled on one day, your time, average speed etc, it's
no use resetting the computer after each good hill just to check your
vMax on the next hill.

--
Stevie D
\\\\\ ///// Bringing dating agencies to the
\\\\\\\__X__/////// common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs"
___\\\\\\\'/ \'///////_____________________________________________

 

[D.M. Procida]

Danny Colyer <[email protected]> wrote:

> > Every bike computer I've ever used has had a resettable max speed.
> > Cateye Astrales and Mity's do, the cheapy ones from Lidl do, Sigma
> > Sport BC1600 etc etc. I think you'll find most behave this way. You
> > can reset all the functions (average speed, distance, time, max speed
> > and the like) whenever you want, but the total mileage count persists.
>
> Yeah, but usually when you reset the max you will also reset the trip
> speed, the trip time and the trip average. I have never come across a
> computer where you could reset the former without resetting the three
> latter. I use a Cateye Astrale every day and I have Mitys on two of my
> unicycles, none of them has this feature.

I have a Sigma Sport BC1600 (I think it is) and I can reset any of its
records without resetting them all (you hold down the reset button;
after a moment it warns that the particular function will be reset, and
if you keep holding it down it will reset it, and then it repeats that
for a wider reset).

Daniele

 

[druidh]

Stevie D wrote:
> Call me Bob wrote:
>
>> Every bike computer I've ever used has had a resettable max speed.
>> Cateye Astrales and Mity's do, the cheapy ones from Lidl do, Sigma
>> Sport BC1600 etc etc. I think you'll find most behave this way. You
>> can reset all the functions (average speed, distance, time, max speed
>> and the like) whenever you want, but the total mileage count persists.
>
> On all bike computers I've owned, you can only reset all functions at
> once (except, as you say, total distance). So if you want to measure
> the distance you cycled on one day, your time, average speed etc, it's
> no use resetting the computer after each good hill just to check your
> vMax on the next hill.
>
Sigma BC1200 also allows you to reset any field without affecting the rest.



druidh

 

[Call me Bob]

On Sun, 03 Sep 2006 22:41:23 +0100, Stevie D
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On all bike computers I've owned, you can only reset all functions at
>once (except, as you say, total distance). So if you want to measure
>the distance you cycled on one day, your time, average speed etc, it's
>no use resetting the computer after each good hill just to check your
>vMax on the next hill.

As a couple of others have pointed out, the Sigma BC models allow this
(my BC1600 does at least).

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

 

[POHB]

Clive George wrote:
> It's why I want a speedo with a resettable max. Unfortunately nobody seems
> have thought that this might be a good thing.

My YPK computer lets you reset the max.
Unfortunately it usually invents ludicrously high max speeds so I never
believe it anyway and have to look at the current speed when I think
I'm going as fast as I'm going to get.

 

[David Damerell]

Quoting Danny Colyer <[email protected]>:
>Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
>look at your max speed.

Or get the stoker to remember the max speed.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Kill the tomato!
Today is Second Saturday, August - a weekend.

 

[Clive George]

"David Damerell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:-4e*[email protected]...
> Quoting Danny Colyer <[email protected]>:
>>Don't look at it on the way down. When you get to the bottom, take a
>>look at your max speed.
>
> Or get the stoker to remember the max speed.

Trouble is she's normally got her eyes shut at that point

cheers,
clive