Report your MVT wooden-bridge accident here. Date, location, circumstances.

[NickBull]

I’ll start:
Three accidents on the Trollheim. Two were approximately a decade ago, both making the initial left turn too fast for the wet wood.

More recently: August 19th, southbound on main body of the Trollheim approx 8:45am. This was the morning after heavy rain so I knew the bridge would be slick so I was going at an OK pace. But then I was passed by a cyclist going faster who promptly wiped out directly in front of me. With a cyclist now splayed out, sliding sideways and decelerating rapidly in front of me, there was little prospect of turning more sharply on the wet wood to use the little bit of space to his right, and I did not want to be impaled on the pointy bits of metal on his bike, so I touched my rear brake and instantly went down. I hit hard, bruising my hip and shoulder, but at least just sliding on wet wood. Hip is OK; shoulder will heal, I think, but over a month later, it still hurts to pull my bike shirt off at the end of a damp ride.

By the way, there is a solution to this problem, it’s one that is used on wooden boat decks: paint with anti-fungal paint; after it dries, spray glue on it and sprinkle with sand. If there were repeated, cost-effectively preventable accidents on a section of the Parkway, the Park Service would fix the problem. Why doesn’t it fix them on the MVT?

[MFC]

I saw one guy who had taken a spill on the bridge just north of the power plant the morning of 9/21/16. He said he was okay, but was rotating his arm as if he had bruised his shoulder. Bridge was probably damp.

August 2016. Woman took a spill heading south on the wooden bridge just before the power plant on the S-curve in the morning. She was pretty shook up at first, but seemed okay after a few minutes.

In both cases, myself and other bikers stopped to make sure the person was okay.

[KLizotte]

June 2012 – Last southbound boardwalk was covered in mildew/algae from previous few days of rain. Wheels went out right from under me (I was heading southbound). I was the only one involved in crash. Injuries sustained: Broken thumb that required surgery, black eye, lots of bruises and road rash. The previous month I was at the top of the Mt. Vernon hill resting when a tourist on a Bike & Roll bike came up bleeding; he had slipped on the same boardwalk but had only sustained bruises and road rash.

[consularrider]

the only time I went down on one of the wooden walkways was during an afternoon snow storm about 6 years ago. I was heading south on Trollheim with about two inches of snow on top of a slushy base coating. As I took the left hand split to continue on the MVT I slid out landing on my hip and getting a good bruise. I was riding studded tires at the time.

[AlexandriaBiker]

@NickBull 146264 wrote:

I’ll start:

Three accidents on the Trollheim.

In the best Gary Johnson voice I can muster …

“What is Trollheim?”

[Steve O]

@AlexandriaBiker 146575 wrote:

In the best Gary Johnson voice I can muster …

“What is Trollheim?”

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2783-Forum-Dictionary&p=97265#post97265

[DrP]

Just missed seeing a fall yesterday (Monday, 10/3, while boards were still quite damp after the past week of rain) and since there is not another report of it, I figured I would report it. Southbound. Guy had passed me on the paved straight-away along the parking lot. When I got to the boards, I heard the fall and saw the cyclist on the ground. He was on the Roosevelt bridge exit, just after the split but still on the boards. Another cyclist had stopped, as did a jogger (possible he was attempting to pass the jogger). Took a while to get up. Possibly injured his shoulder as each time he tried to get up using that arm, he winced and stopped. After several minutes, he got up, then held on to the bike a while (likely taking stock of himself) and then walked the bike back towards the parking lot. He didn’t say a whole lot. I think he had come down the hill from Rosslyn (rather than having parked in the lot), so perhaps he was close to home? No apparent damage to him and bike, aside from the aforementioned possible shoulder injury, but hard to know for sure.

Addition: should have stated that the location was Trollheim and at about 7:35am.

[bentbike33]

@DrP 146866 wrote:

Just missed seeing a fall yesterday (Monday, 10/3, while boards were still quite damp after the past week of rain) and since there is not another report of it, I figured I would report it. Southbound. Guy had passed me on the paved straight-away along the parking lot. When I got to the boards, I heard the fall and saw the cyclist on the ground. He was on the Roosevelt bridge exit, just after the split but still on the boards. Another cyclist had stopped, as did a jogger (possible he was attempting to pass the jogger). Took a while to get up. Possibly injured his shoulder as each time he tried to get up using that arm, he winced and stopped. After several minutes, he got up, then held on to the bike a while (likely taking stock of himself) and then walked the bike back towards the parking lot. He didn’t say a whole lot. I think he had come down the hill from Rosslyn (rather than having parked in the lot), so perhaps he was close to home? No apparent damage to him and bike, aside from the aforementioned possible shoulder injury, but hard to know for sure.

I thought maybe this was the same guy I saw, but wrong location. So tally another Trollheim victim on Monday. This one was on the big curve under the first (as you go south) TR bridge overpass about 7:00 am. I did not see or hear him fall. He was on his feet inspecting his bike as I very slowly passed. His chartreuse shirt, across his right shoulder and right side of his chest, had picked up a lot of black slime (I assume) from the surface of the Trollheim. I asked if he was OK, and he said yes.

[huskerdont]

Friday afternoon, approximately 4:15, September 29th, actually heard a cyclist wipe out on Trollheim. I was approaching from the TR bridge and heard it below on the MVT section; could briefly see the downed cyclist with a person next to her through the trees. Opposite direction to mine and since someone was with her, I didn’t investigate, but I don’t see it reported here so….

[consularrider]

@bentbike33 146870 wrote:

I thought maybe this was the same guy I saw, but wrong location. So tally another Trollheim victim on Monday. This one was on the big curve under the first (as you go south) TR bridge overpass about 7:00 am. I did not see or hear him fall. He was on his feet inspecting his bike as I very slowly passed. His chartreuse shirt, across his right shoulder and right side of his chest, had picked up a lot of black slime (I assume) from the surface of the Trollheim. I asked if he was OK, and he said yes.

There was also someone down by the curb cut near the TR parking lot exit. I was in a cab on the Parkway, but could see a motorcycle officer there with the rider and a couple other people. This was Monday, 7:15 am. Tough day on that stretch.

[bentbike33]

@consularrider 146905 wrote:

This was Monday, 7:15 am. Tough day on that stretch.

The odd thing I noticed was that the ends of the Trollheim were dry on Monday providing a false sense of safety, but the curvy places were still wet. The Trollheim is truly strong with the Dark Side of the Force.

[Kitty]

@NickBull 146264 wrote:

I’ll start:
Three accidents on the Trollheim. Two were approximately a decade ago, both making the initial left turn too fast for the wet wood.

That was approximately what happened to me coming back from my volunteer shift at Tour de Fat this past May. It had been raining all day and was still coming down in buckets on my return home. I knew it was going to be slick to I checked my speed more than I usually do on Trollheim (I’m never very fast on planks) but I’m not sure if it was me checking for traffic coming down from Roosevelt or trying to give space to the jogger checking her phone, but the next thing I know I’m on my side at in the middle of the “zig-zag intersection” with the jogger asking if I was okay.

I was pretty scraped up and my leg was black and blue for a few weeks but nothing broken…

[baiskeli]

About two years ago. Went down at the curve. There was a small layer of frost. As soon as I picked myself up and moved on, two more cyclists went down right behind me at the same spot.

Yes, they can sprinkle sand, or even paint with grit already mixed into the paint. They put that stupid mold paint down already (which is pointless since it’s not just about mold or algae), so why don’t they just put some grit paint down? Easy, cheap and effective, and a great boon to safety.

[baiskeli]

@AlexandriaBiker 146575 wrote:

In the best Gary Johnson voice I can muster …

“What is Trollheim?”

There’s our Trollheim, and then there is theTrollheim:

https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/discover-trollheimen/11753/

[bentbike33]

@baiskeli 147332 wrote:

There’s our Trollheim, and then there is the Trollheim:

https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/discover-trollheimen/11753/

Looks beautiful, but I did not see any pictures of hazardous wooden bridges.

[Author]

Posts