August 28, 2016.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10761411

OK, I crashed riding my bike. Not good. It’s one of those things that can happen when you ride. The results are in the pictures.

The two left pictures show my right side elbow and back. The below picture, the bump, is my hip. Normally this part of my hip is flat but the swelling caused the bump, with a little road rash on top.

 

It was clear skies, low humidity, perfect 70-degree temperature. With eight riders in the group and just over 20 miles into a 54-mile ride, we were traveling aggressively down a flat, relatively smooth asphalt two-lane road, heading toward New Braunfels. I followed close behind three riders, the remaining riders were behind me.
Without warning, I hit something hard, but didn’t see exactly what it was. In an instant, the heavy thud knocked my hands from the handle bar. No hands on the handlebar; no control, so the front wheel jack knifed. I flew off the bike and hit the road, my body’s right side slamming into the asphalt. I remember my hip, arm, shoulder and head hitting all at the same time. I bounced a couple of times and then slid (better described scraped) to a stop.

A graph of my ride gives a better visual of the exact point of the  crash. Whatever I hit, I was traveling 24.2 mph based on the detailed data from my bike computer.

What Happened?
Okay, I’m alive; now can I think straight??, were my thoughts when my body finally came to a stop laying on my side in the street. Fortunately, the pain had not set in at this point as I lay there totally stunned. A car on the other side of the road stopped and a lady yelled to me asking if I needed help. I said no and waved her on, as I sat up to collect my thoughts and assess the damage to my body and bike. The rest of the riders gathered around and asked if anything felt broken and how I generally felt. I responded, nothing broken I think. I got up and started to walk around, going back about 20 feet to see what I’d hit — a true Texas size pothole. The other riders had missed it, but I unfortunately hit it just right (or wrong depending on how you think about it). We talked about our speed leading up to the crash and agreed we had been going above 20mph. Robert offered to stop the ride and head back. I said no, wanting to push forward the eight additional miles to the planned rest stop in New Braunfels. There, I would assess how I felt and decide to go straight to my house (a few miles down the road), or keep riding with the group to the finish (another 26 miles). The crash only detained our ride for seven and a half minutes before we were back on our bikes and riding again.

Thoughts As I rode, my mind returned to the crash. That pothole jolted my entire body, which gave me a real feeling of shock all over my body, and my brain. I held the image of me flying off my bike, feeling totally helpless, hitting the asphalt, bouncing on the asphalt like a deflated basketball, and then sliding while my skin peeled from my body, HURT! That feeling of helplessness gnawed at me. My head hit hard and cracked my helmet. If I hadn’t had my helmet on, my head, too, would be cracked, leaving me either dead or a vegetable. Not a good thought! That feeling of helpless really bothered me as I continued the ride.

Jeff, riding behind me said I looked graceful in my fall. Hmm, a graceful CRASH, I thought. I always wanted to look good as I slammed into the asphalt. The fact that I didn’t have any broken bones or torn ligaments/tendons surprised me. The thought of hitting asphalt at 24-mph made me cringe, but that is exactly what happened. All I can say is that I could have or should have been hurt much worse; luck or God’s grace was with me.

As we got closer to our rest stop in New Braunfels, I started thinking back to a 2011 Gonzales race where I was riding just behind a racer that crashed hard on rough asphalt, only to be hauled off in an ambulance. That was a bad fall. Then, that triggered my mind to think about other crashes. The most weird, happened in my second ever ride event — the 2010 Katy Flatland. After finishing the 100-mile ride, I slowly cruised (about 2mph) through a parking lot in a down pouring rain, looking for my car amidst hundreds of other vehicles. My front tire suddenly came across a wide and deep crack in the concrete causing my wheel and handlebars to instantly drop pulling me over the bike, head first into the concrete. That cracked helmet saved me from a cracked head and I believed saved my life.
Two years later, in the 2012 Katy Flatland, I crashed into a ditch injuring my shoulder. It hurt for months. Then there was Dave’s ride where I slipped on loose asphalt while taking a corner too fast. That crash hurt the most of all crashes. Finally, I remembered the fall (not crash) coming out of a convenience store parking lot after a brief rest stop with the group. Trying to clip in my pedals to start the ride, (meaning almost zero mph), I lost my balance and fell on my wrist. Not much of a fall but the residual pain in my wrist lasted for a month. Another pain was to my ego which lasted even longer as the group continued to give me grief for my not-so-graceful, zero mph fall.
Yet, my tumbles are not unique to me. Jeff in our riding group had a tough fall on one of our Leakey Challenge rides, but bounced back to beat us back to the finish. Toni fell and broke a bone, and Chet fell on a slick water crossing. Water crossing slips and crashes has happened to others as well. And Bill had a fall on a 100-mile ride to Austin and back. The fall we remember the most came from Hans. He had a crazy fall on slick oil that resulted in hours of hip reconstruction surgery. That one took a year of recovery, but he is back on the bike stronger than ever. At this point you may be thinking that cycling is dangerous. It’s not, as long as you don’t crash!

So What Caused My Crash?
After a little investigation, I discovered the mistake. Marcia admitted (confessed) later that evening that she had forgotten for the very first time to tell me before my ride to be safe. If she had said, “PLEASE, BE SAFE” this crash would have never happened. Case closed, lesson learned!

The Real Concern When You Crash
For all cyclists, the care and health of one’s bike is most important. As soon as I scraped myself off the pavement, I immediately looked for my bike. Fortunately for it, carbon fiber held up a bit better than my human skin. I, along with the other riders, examined the bike and was surprised that nothing was cracked or broken. With a little adjustment to the brakes, my bike was ready to ride again. Not only did we make it to the New Braunfels rest stop but my bike and I were able to finish off the remaining 26 miles with no problems.

 

Group Ride Done Right
For the last six miles down Smithson Valley road, several in the group took off to make a fast finish. Toni on her tri bike whizzed by, jumping way out into the lead. Robert could have none of that, so he took off to catch her. I then passed Robert and few minutes later Matt passed me in pursuit of Toni. Then we did it all over again, with Robert passing me and Matt, and then me jumping out in front as we all slowly started to inch up on Toni. As we neared the finish, Robert stomped on the gas and finally caught up to Toni with Matt just behind, and me not far behind them. Now that’s riding! We averaged just less than 22 mph over that hilly six miles of Smithson Valley road.

When I got home I looked at my bike and saw the scrape (bike lesion) from the crash. I cleaned it up and took care of the scrape.

After that, I let my bike rest and recover for a few days to see how it felt. I knew it was as eager to get back on the road and fly again, as I did.