My lovely wife wrecked today on the wod. (with pics)

[SteveTheTech]

Hey folks,

Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend.

Mine started out with dreams of a “relaxing” 20 mile ride west from rt.28 parking lot. The first nine and a half miles went by without an issue. We turned a little early as my wifes knee was starting to act up and we were about a few hundred feet from the underpass that no one ever dismounts at, I guess that is called the Leesburg Bypass.

A little more specifically-

We were coming back down the hill there heading east. Our speed was roughly 18 (we going downhill) but I was not watching speed so it might have been a little higher, but not too fast for the conditions. In any case she hit something on the trail and began what from behind looked like the longest second and a half of my adult life.

She leaned a little to the left, then to the right, then her handle bars twitched and down she went…She hit the ground using the right side of her head first, then rolled several times across the trail right to the bottom of the hill. Somewhere in the end over end trip she managed to release her cleats but the momentum kept her partnered with the bike through the next few revolutions end over end. She currently has no recollection of the accident and I vaguely remember how I avoided her or the fellow heading in the other direction. I remember ditching off to the side of the trail and heading towards her.When she went down she hit first with the right side of her head, she then grounded the handlebars and flipped her body over the bars and slid on her left side…to even out the damage. She was on her back in what could only be shock. (I know that from years of working under cars and abusing myself to varying degrees). My primary objective at that moment was to clear her from the path so we didn’t make a bad situation much worse. She was conscious, but pretty bloody and in utter disbelief.

We managed to get out of the path of traffic fairly quickly, in the little creek bed we were able to assess the situation slightly better. She was a mess but mostly functional. Her bike wasn’t able to ridden anymore getting the chain back on to unlock the rear wheel so we could head for a safe place for her to either wait for me to get the car or car for some help.

We headed up to the parking lot on Solitude ct. in Leesburg, took us about 20 minutes to make it the half mile up to the road. We sat there for a good 10 minutes while I was making the stay and call for help, or go and get the car call. There just happened to be two Leesburg police officers in the parking lot. I slowly approached and asked a few questions interesting enough to get them to come out and take a closer look.

The looked her over and agreed that since she didn’t remember the wreck it was time to call rescue. That was the point I headed back toward the car.

-tl;dr- (too long; didn’t read)

This helmet gave its’ life to save my wifes. I am sure almost all of the people here would wear a helmet when riding outdoors but if you do not…they work. She’s got a wicked shiner from where her sunglasses punched her in the face (I was told not to post pics of that though, yes I photographed her in the hospital) and the damage on her helmet would indicate the initial point of impact was about two inches above her right eye.

(more images in the next post)

Both of her arms looks like a mess currently but she’ll pull through…despite what she thinks currently.

Stay safe everyone

Topic

[SteveTheTech]

These are the pictures from the OP

[CCrew]

Ouch. Glad she’s ok (or at least nothing lasting – that road rash HURTS!) Bike is just a bike, she’s what’s important.

[KLizotte]

Oh my god! I’m so sorry that happened to her (and you). Thank goodness the injuries weren’t worse though I would HIGHLY recommend getting more head tests done (e.g., MRI or CAT scan) and watching her carefully for the next few days (no driving for her I’m afraid) because it is highly possible that she has a brain bruise caused by the impact of the brain sloshing about and hitting the inside of skull. You may already know this but our brains sit inside our skulls in a thin resevoir of fluid that resides between the skull and soft tissue. Neurosurgeons look mostly for pressure on the brain from this kind of injury (the bleeding itself isn’t usually a big deal, it’s the associated inflammation). If she experiences any headaches over the next couple of weeks (esp the next few days), take her to ER asap.

Sorry for the alarmist advice but my dad blacked out one day while doing yardwork and fell forward and hit his temple on a concrete apron that surrounds the house. Obviously his momentum was significantly less than your wife’s (and of course he wasn’t wearing a helmet) but he suffered a serious brain bruise and was in the hospital for quite some time as a result. His recovery took months and he permanently lost hearing in one ear. I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone.

Best to be on the safe side. A good reminder to all of us to keep it slow. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

P.S. Did anyone on the trail try to help? I’m rather alarmed you seemed to be on your own in dealing with the situation.

Kathy

[ShinyBiker]

Agree with Kathy. Watch her carefully. I read about someone who was roughly my age (early 40s) and worked at W Lee high school. He was involved in an accident with a car. I think he came home told his wife about it and went to bed. He went into a coma, did not come out of it and died. Similar to that Redgrave actress who hit something while skiing and also died.

[PotomacCyclist]

Good thing that the helmet took most of the damage. But I second the suggestion to continue monitoring her in case there are any complications from a brain injury. I hope she recovers quickly from this.

[acc]

I am so sorry she was injured, it could happen to any of us. How is she doing today? Can you get the bike fixed quickly? I know from two crashes that I needed to get back on Spartacus as soon as he was fixed, otherwise I’d lose my nerve. Nothing shakes me up more than a nasty crash. Flowers, and plenty of TLC for her until then.

ann

[StopMeansStop]

Very scary. Keep a close eye on her and get lots of ice packs.

[SteveTheTech]

Thanks for the advice and inspiration, everyone y’all rock.

We are no strangers to mris as she gets at least one a year. The ER doc that read her CT was a little bothered by the spots in the white matter but they were already there. She typically has some minor balance issues, as well as tingling and numbness so she is very keen to anything that would be out of the ordinary. She has a standing order for an mri and we might bump up the date if any odd symptoms arise but it really seems like the helmet did it’s job perfectly. She never had a headache following the crash.

Now we are in the market for some fancy bandages, and to pick out some new handlebar wrap. She liked the green in the store but not on the bike, and now she gets to pick a new one

She’s trying to say that she will not get back on there for a while but I think once the bruises and swelling fade we will be back out there.

As for repairing the bike I plan to water sand the shifters and to see if I can smooth their finish a little. The detents, pull and brackets seem to be intact currently. But I plan to take it to my shop for a much more thorough investigation. I also fear her front rim and rear derailer might be bent. The most important thing is her safety and staving infection…then I get to go shopping.

[KLizotte]

Glad to hear she got a CT scan while at the ER; ERs always seem to be a crap shoot – you never know what you’re gonna get. Check her pupils frequently since an unusual size indicates inflammation. She’s probably fine given that the CT scan looked ok. This case certainly makes a strong argument for helmets. I went on a group ride Thursday night thru DC and was rather surprised by how many people were not wearing them (or any sort of blinky lights for that matter – grrrrr).

I understand a lot of helmet companies will send you a new one for free if you send them the damaged one. I suspect they do this in order to get a collection of crashed helmets for research purposes. I’d send mine in just for that purpose.

For road rash I highly recommend the hydrocollodial (spelling?) bandages. They work as a second skin and they work extremely well. I don’t know if they come large enough for your missus since I haven’t had road rash that big (yet).

[eminva]

Glad to hear the damage was minimal, but how frightening. Best wishes for her continued speedy recovery.

Liz

[Greenbelt]

Best wishes for fast recovery!

…I understand a lot of helmet companies will send you a new one for free if you send them the damaged one.

I’m going to try this today. I could use an extra helmet and I saved my mashed one from when I crashed a couple months ago.

[SteveTheTech]

I looked at the Bell website and they indeed do off crash replacement. I however paid cash, and no longer have original store receipt and am not a member at the store they were purchased at. Next time however I will add that to the collection. Interesting info thanks.

As for bandages she was way ahead of me on that one. She has been shopping the 3M (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MSWC/Skin-Wound-Care/BrandsDirectory/Tegaderm/) bandages and they have something very close at CVS. Since this is a long weekend we have picked these up and order others online.

I took a look at her jersey today and it actually held up very well. Her gloves and sunglasses were left at the park in Leesburg I think. They did not crash that well but her Voler (http://www.voler.com/) jersey held kept her shoulder and back from being sanded off. It was about a fairly pricey (custom printed) but it looks like it worked very well too. We will be getting more from them.

[Joe Chapline]

Thanks for sharing the story. Best wishes to your lovely wife, I hope she recovers quickly.

[CCrew]

@SteveTheTech 5276 wrote:

As for bandages she was way ahead of me on that one. She has been shopping the 3M (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MSWC/Skin-Wound-Care/BrandsDirectory/Tegaderm/) bandages and they have something very close at CVS. Since this is a long weekend we have picked these up and order others online.

Tegaderm is good stuff. Best thing out there for road rash.

Glad to hear she’s doing better!

[PotomacCyclist]

Re the balance issues, is it related to any physical condition? If not, she could do some balance exercises to help improve in that area. A very basic exercise is the one-leg stand. Just stand near a wall and lift one leg up. Hold for 30 seconds if possible, then rest. Then shift to the other leg. The wall is only there in case she loses her balance. As she improves, she can add a 2nd set on each leg and/or extend the time of the exercise.

After a month or two, she could move onto more complicated and advanced exercises, such as one-leg bodyweight strength exercises, such as lunges, Swiss ball leg curls and eventually one-leg/pistol squats (but those can be tough for many people). Frequent balance and strength work, along with core exercises, can improve her balance on the bike. She will have better body control and a sense of equilibrium, on the ground and on the bike. That can help to avoid future bike accidents.

[Author]

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