Bike Crash near Mile .5 on MVT, Wed 26 APR @ ~4:15

[ChampionTier]

A buddy of mine wound up in the hospital today after wrecking his bike during his evening commute. He was heading south on the MVT. A friend of ours saw the pool of blood from the wreck about 1/2 mile from the beginning of the trail and we assume this is where he wrecked. Based on when he typically leaves work, we believe the wreck occurred between 4-4:30.

The good news: He is able to speak, and will likely only require stitches. We expect he’ll be released from the hospital tonight.
The bad news: He doesn’t remember the wreck. At the time of this post he cannot locate his bike or backpack.

A shot in the dark but did anyone happen to see this? PM me if you have any ideas on where to find his stuff. Thanks!

-CT

Topic

[anomad]

Where is mile .5 on the Mount Vernon Trail? I am not totally familiar with the mile marker start and end points.

Bummer for your friend. Be safe out there.

[ChampionTier]

@anomad 159129 wrote:

Where is mile .5 on the Mount Vernon Trail? I am not totally familiar with the mile marker start and end points.

Bummer for your friend. Be safe out there.

Right near the actual Mount Vernon — southernmost part of the trail. From the initial [second-hand] reports he’ll be okay — does not appear to be concussed or show signs of TBI…which is pretty awesome news. Now just trying to piece together the wreck and where his stuff is….

[bobco85]

Was he running Strava at the time? There’s a chance you could find potential leads via the Flyby feature.

[ChampionTier]

@bobco85 159134 wrote:

Was he running Strava at the time? There’s a chance you could find potential leads via the Flyby feature.

Unfortunately he doesn’t use Strava — good call on the Flyby though!

[Sunyata]

@ChampionTier 159131 wrote:

Right near the actual Mount Vernon — southernmost part of the trail. From the initial [second-hand] reports he’ll be okay — does not appear to be concussed or show signs of TBI…which is pretty awesome news. Now just trying to piece together the wreck and where his stuff is….

How did your friend get to the hospital? If medics were called, I would contact Fairfax Co. Fire Dept and find out who responded. They should be able to give an idea of what happened to your friend’s personal items.

[ChampionTier]

@Sunyata 159140 wrote:

How did your friend get to the hospital? If medics were called, I would contact Fairfax Co. Fire Dept and find out who responded. They should be able to give an idea of what happened to your friend’s personal items.

So that’s what his wife wound up doing. Looks like all his stuff is at a fire station and will be recovered today.

Thanks for all the inputs! I’m not sure if he’ll ever recall what caused the accident or if anyone was around to see it. The good news is he’s back home and keeping a sense of humor about it all!

-CT

[MFC]

I’m not sure if this is where your friend crashed, but the trail gets really curvy and slick at the bottom of the hill as you are heading away from Mt. Vernon. Its also shading, so it tends not to dry out.

[ChampionTier]

@MFC 159144 wrote:

I’m not sure if this is where your friend crashed, but the trail gets really curvy and slick at the bottom of the hill as you are heading away from Mt. Vernon. Its also shading, so it tends not to dry out.

Interesting you mention that. I was just talking to my friend who first saw Ed’s pool of blood. Not too far from there they saw a guy with a banged up leg that was bleeding a little who said the pool of blood wasn’t his. I wonder if that section claimed two victims yesterday…

[KLizotte]

The very last wooden bridge before heading up the hill to Mt. Vernon is especially slippery year round and very treacherous. It’s always highly shaded and you hit it at a curve from either direction. I wiped out on it years ago and broke my thumb and got a black eye. If you look carefully, you can see a lot of skid marks into the railing, esp if you are heading south. I’ve seen tourists on non-Cabi rental bikes wipe out there. I really wish the NPS would replace that little bridge with a concrete one.

It’s also possible your friend wiped out on a hill due to a slippery trail. We’ve had a lot of rain and damp so some shaded areas get slick from algae and muck. After my spill, I now treat the MVT with a heck of a lot more caution, esp the southern end.

It’s quite possible that your friend will regain his memory of the event in time. Glad to hear he wasn’t too badly hurt.

[Rootchopper]

I also wiped out on this bridge years ago. Tore my left arm to the bone and dislocated my left knee. As bad as this section of the trail is, it used to be much worse with an additional switchback bridge closer to the start/end of the trail. Rumor is that a Sen. Howard Metzenbaum’s wife crashed on this bridge and funds were earmarked to re-design the trail. I agree that this bridge needs to be replaced. The chicane should be removed as well.

[Author]

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