smocohiba
Sun 2/5/06, 1:13PM
I don't know if this is embarrassing, scary or just ridiculous...probably all three.
It's true, a bicycle took badass me on the motorcycle down - here's how:
I went up Baldy Saturday morning because I had a little extra time and I wanted to break in my new leather pants which just came in the mail.
I took the left in the village from Baldy Road to Glendora Ridge Road (?). It was actually my first time there & it was awesome… About 15 minutes in there’s a right hand turn before there’s an intersection with the road towards Azusa Canyon & Glendora, (I think).
I was exiting the turn about 35-40 mph, on my side (right) of the road, when I see a bicyclist right in front of me coming at me fast – the road went uphill (downhill for him) and he was apparently really hauling ass. He saw me and screamed. I hit my brakes and swerved towards the middle of the road, because I was already pretty close to the right shoulder. Unfortunately he swerved towards the middle of the road too. By this time I had visually fixated on the guy (my big mistake) and we collided – he obviously was fixated on me too.
He apparently knocked me straight in the air because I hit the ground flat and didn’t slide. My bike was on its left side 25 feet away. There was actually a group of about 5 road cyclists hanging out about 50 yards away so they came to help out.
Well, here’s the damage: the cyclist had a broken collarbone and some minor rash. Not too bad – no shock, no blood, no head injury – and he wasn’t wearing a helmet!!!
Both of my quadriceps and knees were immediately in a lot of pain…but there was no rash, cuts or bruising (yet). I had a small raspberry on my left elbow and my right finger is swollen. The lack of external damage was obviously because I was wearing full leathers, sport boots and gloves. One of the cyclists who came to help out was apparently a doctor, and he checked both of us out. He told me the pain in my legs was most likely from the shock of my knees hitting the ground.
My bike had a broken shifter, bent right foot peg, and had a dent on the right side of the tank. The motoslider on the left side was ground down about halfway. The swingarm slider on the left was a little ground too. The other guy’s bike was toast. The frame looked like a pretzel. I think it was a really expensive bike, too…perhaps a Cervelo…
Not too worried about my tank…I’m already on the list for a new one because of the recall (thanks Rony)
Surprisingly the other cyclists were on my side in this situation. They said the guy was coming down the hill way fast, and he was actually looking to his left at them on the side of the road as he passed them. That naturally made him drift to the left into my lane as he approached the corner. They said I was in a perfectly reasonable spot and speed. They were very critical of him not wearing a helmet. His response was classic : “Yeah I broke my collarbone, but my head didn’t even get touched.” They started calling him a ‘moron’ and ‘asshole’ after that…
So that's it. I woke up this morning pretty sore all over. My legs are better but walking is still tough. Still no bruising but there's some minor swelling around both knees and lower quadriceps. My right hand is very tender and making a fist is difficult. I can't say enough about the gear I was wearing. There isn't even a scratch on the leathers and my gloves didn't bust. Very impressed.
I'm going to have to find a new shifter and footpeg. I'll probably try to drill out the remnants of the old shifter nub and stick a bolt in there for now. I called a couple places yesterday but no one's got a footpeg in stock, so I'll have to order and wait for it to come in, unless someone's got a suggestion for an aftermarket part...
It's true, a bicycle took badass me on the motorcycle down - here's how:
I went up Baldy Saturday morning because I had a little extra time and I wanted to break in my new leather pants which just came in the mail.
I took the left in the village from Baldy Road to Glendora Ridge Road (?). It was actually my first time there & it was awesome… About 15 minutes in there’s a right hand turn before there’s an intersection with the road towards Azusa Canyon & Glendora, (I think).
I was exiting the turn about 35-40 mph, on my side (right) of the road, when I see a bicyclist right in front of me coming at me fast – the road went uphill (downhill for him) and he was apparently really hauling ass. He saw me and screamed. I hit my brakes and swerved towards the middle of the road, because I was already pretty close to the right shoulder. Unfortunately he swerved towards the middle of the road too. By this time I had visually fixated on the guy (my big mistake) and we collided – he obviously was fixated on me too.
He apparently knocked me straight in the air because I hit the ground flat and didn’t slide. My bike was on its left side 25 feet away. There was actually a group of about 5 road cyclists hanging out about 50 yards away so they came to help out.
Well, here’s the damage: the cyclist had a broken collarbone and some minor rash. Not too bad – no shock, no blood, no head injury – and he wasn’t wearing a helmet!!!
Both of my quadriceps and knees were immediately in a lot of pain…but there was no rash, cuts or bruising (yet). I had a small raspberry on my left elbow and my right finger is swollen. The lack of external damage was obviously because I was wearing full leathers, sport boots and gloves. One of the cyclists who came to help out was apparently a doctor, and he checked both of us out. He told me the pain in my legs was most likely from the shock of my knees hitting the ground.
My bike had a broken shifter, bent right foot peg, and had a dent on the right side of the tank. The motoslider on the left side was ground down about halfway. The swingarm slider on the left was a little ground too. The other guy’s bike was toast. The frame looked like a pretzel. I think it was a really expensive bike, too…perhaps a Cervelo…
Not too worried about my tank…I’m already on the list for a new one because of the recall (thanks Rony)
Surprisingly the other cyclists were on my side in this situation. They said the guy was coming down the hill way fast, and he was actually looking to his left at them on the side of the road as he passed them. That naturally made him drift to the left into my lane as he approached the corner. They said I was in a perfectly reasonable spot and speed. They were very critical of him not wearing a helmet. His response was classic : “Yeah I broke my collarbone, but my head didn’t even get touched.” They started calling him a ‘moron’ and ‘asshole’ after that…
So that's it. I woke up this morning pretty sore all over. My legs are better but walking is still tough. Still no bruising but there's some minor swelling around both knees and lower quadriceps. My right hand is very tender and making a fist is difficult. I can't say enough about the gear I was wearing. There isn't even a scratch on the leathers and my gloves didn't bust. Very impressed.
I'm going to have to find a new shifter and footpeg. I'll probably try to drill out the remnants of the old shifter nub and stick a bolt in there for now. I called a couple places yesterday but no one's got a footpeg in stock, so I'll have to order and wait for it to come in, unless someone's got a suggestion for an aftermarket part...