W&W London Bridge Pointless Prize Log

[consularrider]

“This icy winter snowstorm offers an opportunity to announce another of the several pointless prizes I plan to award: the prize for the most crashes. We can call it the London Bridge prize, or… for any Bruce fans, the “I’m goin’ down” prize. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fdZWbIsrFk

Initially I wanted to offer this prize last winter, but it became painfully apparent that I’d have to award it to myself… how dorky is that?

The thing I’m not sure of is how we’ll know who the winner is this year. What is the best way to keep track of how many times we go down? I don’t know if we’d need a separate thread or if it’s better to add a specific keyword to ride titles… or if we should just rely on self-reporting at the end of the season – crashes are generally engraved quite powerfully in the memory, so I don’t expect anyone will forget.

Be safe, everyone. w&w”

Think you might be in the running for Wheels & Wings PP? Since this isn’t something that can be pulled off your Stave ride reports, here is a thread where you can either brag or complain about your accomplishments.

Declared falls (as of date/time of last edit):

consularrider: 6
kitty: 4
Steve O: 1
DCV: 3?
Subby: 4
Mikey: 1
J Wetzel: 1
Teresa A: 1
vvill: 2
Amalitza: 1
Boomer2U: 2
Dickie: 3
jlevine: 1
Jon Robot: 3
Steve O: 2
DrP: 2
BTC_DC: 1
LeprosyStudyGroup: 2
Vicegrip: 2
jonathankrall: 1
hozn: 1 (does he count as a slacker?)
wheels&wings: 1
JonRobot: 1
Boomer2U: 1

Anyone else playing? If you have already post elsewhere, please repost here so you can get credit.

Topic

[Dachs6]

@rcannon100 186351 wrote:

Pictures or it didnt happen!

Pictures? No time, it was a rapid remount and ride off, llest I let the myths be shattered. Or something like that…

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[Bob James]

On Jan 13th, riding in Woodbridge VA after the snow storm I fell 3 times on different roads. There were minor falls where I was going pretty slow and fell over into the snow on the road. Today (Jan 26th), riding in Michigan, on Michigan Day, I had my 2nd worse fall ever. It was after 30 miles of riding tensely and nervously on mostly untreated icy gravel, that I fell hard. I could feel it happening as the back tire slid out, so I tried to soften the blow by putting my arms out. Unfortunately, my hands only slipped on the ice and I still came down hard on my chest, knee and hip. My handlebar bike mirror was shattered and my chain came totally off. Other than the mirror, no permanent damage, I hope. Tomorrow I’ll know if my chest and wrists feel worse.

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[streetsmarts]

@Bob James 186548 wrote:

On Jan 13th, riding in Woodbridge VA after the snow storm I fell 3 times on different roads. There were minor falls where I was going pretty slow and fell over into the snow on the road. Today (Jan 26th), riding in Michigan, on Michigan Day, I had my 2nd worse fall ever. It was after 30 miles of riding tensely and nervously on mostly untreated icy gravel, that I fell hard. I could feel it happening as the back tire slid out, so I tried to soften the blow by putting my arms out. Unfortunately, my hands only slipped on the ice and I still came down hard on my chest, knee and hip. My handlebar bike mirror was shattered and my chain came totally off. Other than the mirror, no permanent damage, I hope. Tomorrow I’ll know if my chest and wrists feel worse.

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Ouch. Hope you’re not hurting too badly Bob!

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[Boomer Cycles]

@Bob James 186548 wrote:

On Jan 13th, riding in Woodbridge VA after the snow storm I fell 3 times on different roads. There were minor falls where I was going pretty slow and fell over into the snow on the road. Today (Jan 26th), riding in Michigan, on Michigan Day, I had my 2nd worse fall ever. It was after 30 miles of riding tensely and nervously on mostly untreated icy gravel, that I fell hard. I could feel it happening as the back tire slid out, so I tried to soften the blow by putting my arms out. Unfortunately, my hands only slipped on the ice and I still came down hard on my chest, knee and hip. My handlebar bike mirror was shattered and my chain came totally off. Other than the mirror, no permanent damage, I hope. Tomorrow I’ll know if my chest and wrists feel worse.

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Ouch!!! Sending healing vibes from afar

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[drevil]

@Bob James 186548 wrote:

On Jan 13th, riding in Woodbridge VA after the snow storm I fell 3 times on different roads. There were minor falls where I was going pretty slow and fell over into the snow on the road. Today (Jan 26th), riding in Michigan, on Michigan Day, I had my 2nd worse fall ever. It was after 30 miles of riding tensely and nervously on mostly untreated icy gravel, that I fell hard. I could feel it happening as the back tire slid out, so I tried to soften the blow by putting my arms out. Unfortunately, my hands only slipped on the ice and I still came down hard on my chest, knee and hip. My handlebar bike mirror was shattered and my chain came totally off. Other than the mirror, no permanent damage, I hope. Tomorrow I’ll know if my chest and wrists feel worse.

Bummer, Bob. Hope this doesn’t keep you off the bike.

If you plan to ride those kind of icy conditions more/regularly, possibly invest in fat bike studded tires? Yes, they’re really expensive, but they’ll give you a lot more confidence. Besides, what’s $300-$470 anyway, the cost of your deductible if you got really hurt? You can order them at REI and get your dividend: https://www.rei.com/search?q=studded+tire

I don’t have studded fat bike tires myself, but I did get some Kold Kutter screws if the mood hit me to stud my own older fat bike tires. It’s cheaper, but I’ve read (since I’ve yet to do it) that they may possible rip out of the tire and leave a gaping hole not easily fixable with plugs. This will get you started: https://www.mtbr.com/search.html?q=kold+kutter&x=0&y=0 (Click on the “Forum” results to see more threads.)

A third alternative is Grip Studs, but they’re pretty expensive ($1/stud, and you’ll need hundreds for both tires, depending on how grippy you want to get). I’d probably just get the pre-made ones myself.

The alternative to studded tires is to armor up with knee, elbow, and even hip pads… but I’d totes do the studded tires instead

[consularrider]

@drevil 186563 wrote:

Bummer, Bob. Hope this doesn’t keep you off the bike.

If you plan to ride those kind of icy conditions more/regularly, possibly invest in fat bike studded tires? Yes, they’re really expensive, but they’ll give you a lot more confidence. Besides, what’s $300-$470 anyway, the cost of your deductible if you got really hurt? You can order them at REI and get your dividend: https://www.rei.com/search?q=studded+tire

I don’t have studded fat bike tires myself, but I did get some Kold Kutter screws if the mood hit me to stud my own older fat bike tires. It’s cheaper, but I’ve read (since I’ve yet to do it) that they may possible rip out of the tire and leave a gaping hole not easily fixable with plugs. This will get you started: https://www.mtbr.com/search.html?q=kold+kutter&x=0&y=0 (Click on the “Forum” results to see more threads.)

A third alternative is Grip Studs, but they’re pretty expensive ($1/stud, and you’ll need hundreds for both tires, depending on how grippy you want to get). I’d probably just get the pre-made ones myself.

The alternative to studded tires is to armor up with knee, elbow, and even hip pads… but I’d totes do the studded tires instead

Just go with the 49 Nrth studded Dillingers. Mine are on the Pugsley until March. Check with KWL who runs the same setup in VA.

[drevil]

@consularrider 186564 wrote:

Just go with the 49 N
rth studded Dillingers. Mine are on the Pugsley until March. Check with KWL who runs the same setup in VA.

Do you have the 60 or 120 tpi? Also, do you have issues with studs falling out much?

I might as well just bite the bullet and get some, but I was thinking of the chunkier Wrathchilds.

[consularrider]

@drevil 186565 wrote:

Do you have the 60 or 120 tpi? Also, do you have issues with studs falling out much?

I might as well just bite the bullet and get some, but I was thinking of the chunkier Wrathchilds.

Actually I have 30 tpi (no longer offered) and haven’t lost any studs in the three winters I have had them.

[Bob James]

@drevil 186563 wrote:

Bummer, Bob. Hope this doesn’t keep you off the bike.
If you plan to ride those kind of icy conditions more/regularly, possibly invest in fat bike studded tires?

Thanks Ricky. My wrists feel the worst, but I rode today and mostly stayed on the roads to avoid bumps. I ordered the Cake Eaters studded tires 26 x 4’8″ ($200 ea). I did like the wrathchild’s with the
longer and sidewall studs, but I generally only buy from Amazon. I think the cake eaters being lighter (120tpi), shorter studs and less aggressive treads will be a good balance for me between lower rolling resistance
and ice gripping. I generally ride on pavement when I can and would generally avoid any all ice dirt roads. So I primarily only need the studs when I can’t avoid short segments of ice.

[Bob James]

Fall #5, (but 3 falls for log, since 3 were on same ride in VA snow with only 1 face plant in snow) today after 8-10 inches of snow. I installed new studded cake eater 26 x4.6″ tires on my fatboy. They worked well on plowed streets with underlying ice, but when I went to check on my mother-in-law her street had not been plowed. I tried to follow a car track, but I was not coordinated enough to keep inside the track. The advantage of the cake eaters is they are light and fast, so I was going more than 10mph when I went outside the car track and the bike slid out from under me. Fortunately, I fell into the soft snow and did not do any more damage to myself or bike. Even my handlebar mirror didn’t break.

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[Birru]

If you’re going to fall, fall in the deep, fluffy stuff. I heard it’s like lying in a pile of kittens.

[drevil]

@Bob James 186678 wrote:

Fall #5 (3 VA, 2 MI) today after 8-10 inches of snow. I installed new studded cake eater 26 x4.6″ tires on my fatboy. They worked well on plowed streets with underlying ice, but when I went to check on my mother-in-law her street had not been plowed.
I tried to follow a car track, but I was not coordinated enough to keep inside the track. The advantage of the cake eaters is they are light and fast, so I was going more than 10mph when I went outside the car track and the bike slid out from under me.
Fortunately, I fell into the soft snow and did not do any more damage to myself or bike. Even my handlebar mirror didn’t break.

I love fat biking in the snow (preferably in the woods), and right now I’m super jelly of your conditions. How do you like it?

That said, you may have discovered that there’s a limit to how high and/or powdery the snow can be before it becomes extremely difficult to ride. You face those conditions yet?

[Steve O]

@Birru 186679 wrote:

If you’re going to fall, fall in the deep, fluffy stuff. I heard it’s like lying in a pile of kittens.

That sounds awful.

[Bob James]

@drevil 186686 wrote:

I love fat biking in the snow (preferably in the woods), and right now I’m super jelly of your conditions. How do you like it?
That said, you may have discovered that there’s a limit to how high and/or powdery the snow can be before it becomes extremely difficult to ride. You face those conditions yet?

Yes, I think I reach limit today with 8″ powdery snow. I could have managed better if I was as coordinated as you and able to ride in car tracks. I’m not confident sliding around, go slow and quickly put my
feet down at the hint of a fall.

[Dachs6]

Had a fall on Tuesday. Stupid rookie move. All was fine on the paved path through the woods. Then I decided to stop and get a picture of the moon. Instead I just laid down and took a break on the pavement. No pictures. I’m not proud of these things. Since January 3, 2015 when I decided to dislocate my right shoulder and break my humerus, I hadn’t had so much as a close call- let’s chalk it up to making bike handling skills and utilizing a healthy caution for doing dumb stuff…now I’ve had 3 since January 1 this year. I guess I need to just ride more…

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