|
Early summer, dirty back road. I was riding at a decent pace on Farm Loop road, roughly a mile north of Palmer, cranked over in a 90º right hander turn when the front wheel hit dirt or sand and went out from under me so quickly that I had no time to react. One moment I was upright, the next moment I was sliding on the ground and the bike was sliding away from me. The loudest sound I remember was the sound a helmet makes scraping over the pavement.  I went down fairly hard on my right side and I cought my elbow between ground and ribs, probably cracked a couple. They sure did hurt, dammit. I ran over to the bike, hit the kill switch, picked the bike up while the adreneline was still flowing. I did ride it home, on the way home I detoured towards Palmer intending to go to the ER and have my ribs checked out but decided not to. Went home, looked up the treatment for broken or cracked ribs and found that unless they were poking through the lungs, the treatment was basically tough it out and try to breath deeply so you don't get pneumonia. Took some ibuprofen, straightened the forks, then rode to the local pre Dust to Dawson BBQ at the Abbey, where I had to endure the ribbing of those who had managed not to crash that morning. Lesson learned-you can't always see dirt on the pavement, and dragging pegs is best reserved for a controlled environment. No doubt my decision to skip the trip to the ER will be questioned by many. I'm not going to recommend it for others, but I was able to ride home and to the BBQ, and home again, and given that there isn't much to be done for cracked ribs I figured I was safe. I had longer discomfort from landing on my shoulder in a very low speed off road tipover than the lowside.
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2009 06:43
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 6, 2024 05:09 |
|