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

[GreyBear]

Hope the Mrs. is feeling better and back on the bike soon.

[SteveTheTech]

@PotomacCyclist 5287 wrote:

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.

That is a great post thanks for that.

Actually she has a touch of the Multiple Sclerosis. The not only effects her bodies ability to regulate it’s core temperature and heart rate but her balance and depth perception are a bit off after sustained physical activity. She is an avid yoga participant (I think that is how that is supposed to sound) and is a stubborn as an ox so she will be back once her bike gets a clean bill of health and her arms heal. I think this type of fall (retrospectively of course) will help her in the long run gain some confidence and experience that can only be gained from an experience like that. Having a phyiscally demanding career I know that from my personal experiences what does not kill you tends to make you more cautious in the future.

The forum members here are great, next happy hour first pitcher is on me. Enjoy the short week everyone

[KLizotte]

Hi Steve,

I suspected your wife had MS given the symptoms. My sister has MS too; fortunately my sis has been on some sort of medication that seems to have lessened the symptoms and stopped the attacks but regulating body temp is always a difficulty.

Too bad you will never know exactly what caused the bike to veer out of control. I hate not knowing things like that! Crashes make me more cautious but also a little more confident knowing that most of them entail little more than scratches and bumps.

Kathy

[SteveTheTech]

So I am now hunting for a shop to give her bike a good once over. Contes has a two week back log… And she actually wants to try again ( on the indoor trainer of course). But id really like to have the pros look it over. Being in the mechanical repair service industry I understand how a back log during the busy season goes but…..two weeks is a little longer than I was hoping for.

There are a couple of decent guys over at the bike pro shop on Duke st but I was less than pleased on my last trip there with their summer crew.

Big wheel is where it came from but I haven’t been back there.(another thread)

So I guess my next question is…if your significant other were in this situation would you wait for the pros or try somewhere else?

[baiskeli]

Glad to hear she’s okay; give her our best wishes.

[eminva]

No recommendations for a particular shop, but I would go with your gut and wait for a mechanic you trust. BTW, it was Contes that discovered my frame was cracked this past winter, while it was in for some maintenance.

Liz

[KLizotte]

I always go to Spokes on Quaker Lane, Alexandria. Haven’t been in since the warm weather started so am not sure how backlogged they might be. The techs have always seemed good.

[SteveTheTech]

So I took my lunch today and went to talk typo some of the service staffers at a few of the shops in Alexandria. I still have the bike sitting in my shop if that means anything. Contes is the only place in the area with a back log. Everyone else can have my bike back by Thursday. At this point I’m about 30% frustrated with the situation. At least in the car works there are actual dealers too take up issues like this. The bike world its a little different.

I’m tempted to wait but I am reeeaaallliyy impatient.

How about Papullion? Anyone have good dealings with their service crew?

I am a nut for service I do not mind paying but I am a perfectionist. I’m sure many of you can relate. Is it were my bike our would be a different story but the mrs bike….

[SteveTheTech]

@KLizotte 5302 wrote:

I suspected your wife had MS given the symptoms. My sister has MS too; fortunately my sis has been on some sort of medication that seems to have lessened the symptoms and stopped the attacks but regulating body temp is always a difficulty.

Too bad you will never know exactly what caused the bike to veer out of control. I hate not knowing things like that! Crashes make me more cautious but also a little more confident knowing that most of them entail little more than scratches and bumps.

Kathy,

She hates when I tell people about that, but it really goes a long way when describing the situation. You or I may approach this type of situation differently but if your vision is getting fuzzy there is not a whole lot you can do. She is a trooper though and has come a long long way in the last few years. She too is on a new fancy medicine (Gelenia, the “pill”) but there was a long time were she had daily injections and that really did a number on her quality of life. This new medication effects her heart rate a little but it really has very little in the way of side effects. Fingers crossed some of the new treatments on the horizon will improve many of the others out there with MS QoL. In the DC metro area we are fortunate to have some amazing Neurologists, there are also some real clowns out there. I guess we are fortunate to have options.

As far as what she hit. She says the last thing she remembers is hitting something like a rock. It would fit what happened but she over compensated and had to turn it was pretty much a done deal.

[Mark Blacknell]

Steve – first, give my props to your wife. I hope the recovery is coming along well.

As to getting it looked over, Papillion can definitely do it (while Conte’s is my go-to shop, I’m a big fan of Papillion and its approach to customers). It doesn’t look like any carbon is involved in the bike, so it’s a pretty straightforward inspection/adjustment process. If you end up doing it yourself, and have any questions, just drop me a line.

Cheers,

Mark

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