The day after posting a missive on the need for people to take more care, I put my front wheel in a tram track and crash. How's that for irony?
Turning right from Little Bourke Street into Elizabeth Street this morning, I cut the corner a bit fine to avoid a truck double parked on my exit line. My front wheel went into the groove of the tram line. I managed to wrench it clear, but wobbled at about 20km/h into the side of the truck and went down like a big bag of shit on my lower back. My impact was so similar to the photo below that it's not funny. Actually, it's not funny anyway, unless you were watching my artless will-he won't-he progress through the intersection.
It's always the same old story when I have a stack. It always hurts a bit, so it's best to stay down for half a minute or so to assess the damage. Not this time. I lay curled up in a ball of pain in the middle of Elizabeth Street for a good three minutes. Thanks to the people who came to my aid.
About ten minutes later, when I could move without too much pain, I pedalled off and picked up Mrs Surly Dave's Xmas present and gingerly proceeded on to work, but the hurties were too much so I find myself at home for a couple of days of lying down. The bike is fine, and I don't have a mark on me, not even a bruise. Just a very sore lower back, like someone has hit me with a baseball bat across the kidneys.
They say you're due a crash a year when you ride any decent distance, at 590 days and 8,108km since the last one, I was obviously well overdue. Something to muse upon as I chew Nurofen tablets and surf the net from the bed in the spare room for the next two days.
Aiming for 6,500km by New Year's Day, so I'd better get well soon.
6,285km so far this year.
Turning right from Little Bourke Street into Elizabeth Street this morning, I cut the corner a bit fine to avoid a truck double parked on my exit line. My front wheel went into the groove of the tram line. I managed to wrench it clear, but wobbled at about 20km/h into the side of the truck and went down like a big bag of shit on my lower back. My impact was so similar to the photo below that it's not funny. Actually, it's not funny anyway, unless you were watching my artless will-he won't-he progress through the intersection.
It's always the same old story when I have a stack. It always hurts a bit, so it's best to stay down for half a minute or so to assess the damage. Not this time. I lay curled up in a ball of pain in the middle of Elizabeth Street for a good three minutes. Thanks to the people who came to my aid.
About ten minutes later, when I could move without too much pain, I pedalled off and picked up Mrs Surly Dave's Xmas present and gingerly proceeded on to work, but the hurties were too much so I find myself at home for a couple of days of lying down. The bike is fine, and I don't have a mark on me, not even a bruise. Just a very sore lower back, like someone has hit me with a baseball bat across the kidneys.
They say you're due a crash a year when you ride any decent distance, at 590 days and 8,108km since the last one, I was obviously well overdue. Something to muse upon as I chew Nurofen tablets and surf the net from the bed in the spare room for the next two days.
Aiming for 6,500km by New Year's Day, so I'd better get well soon.
6,285km so far this year.
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1 comment:
Oh jeez Dave, I hope you're back on two wheels by now.
There's something about tram tracks—they seem to get you eventually. My worry is the sort of thing you describe: having to unexpectedly shift line because of a parked truck or a swinging car door and ending up stuck in the groove.
It's been a few years since the tram tracks have got me, but I remember it well—every single time I cross a tram line! I guess I came off better than you, with only a few scratches and a nasty shock. I traded the lack of injury for a mangled front wheel. My guess is that you'd have preferred to make the same trade-off, even at the cost of a wheel rebuild.
I'm glad you got some help from passers by, because the most distinct memory I have of my tram line crash was that other cyclists silently rode around me while I lay on the ground. I'm still flabbergasted by that.
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