10 Reasons Not to Crash Your Bike
After a few seconds gathering my thoughts, I checked the bike out, got back on and finished in 35:50, AVG MPH 20.6. and was only stopped to recover for 51-seconds. Emily patched me up afterwards
So here, almost 5-weeks after my first crash, and three weeks after my second are my top-10 reasons not to crash again.
10. - Lets get this out the way from the start. It hurts like hell. Even a small amount of road rash hurts, forget the pain from a dislocated SC joint and a separated AC joint.
9. - It's time consuming. The amount of time I've spent cleaning and dressing the road rash alone stretches into hours. It's messy, and it stinks if you don't change the dressing at least every 36-hours.
8. - It ruins your new bike shorts. I'd only worn my 2010 Team Dell shorts once…
7. - The US medical system, while full of great Doc's and Nurses, is possibly the worst administration and least efficient "service" on the Planet. Every new "provider" that you see requires a 5-page form to be completed consisting mostly overlapping and repetitive questions.
6. - It's expensive! The Tegaderm patches alone cost $48 for a pack of ten 6x8; add in other dressings and I'm easily in over $120 for all the other plasters, cleaners, etc. Then start adding all the co-pays, its easily run to $400.
5. - It's the dumbest reason to buy new parts for your bike. I need to fix up brake levers, re-tape the bars; fix-up the rear bottle cage and more. Time for the 2011 rebuild methinks.
4. - It ruins your training schedule. Having thought I'd become a runner who swims and bikes from time to time. Now I have. While I can bike short distances, swimming is definitely out until at least Mid-May. I did the LDCTTT last Thursday and came in a full 90-seconds slower than the day I crashed.
3. - The last thing you want to do is bang your hip when you have not changed the Tegaderm for about 18-hours, the reservoir of brown smelly fluid makes a disgusting mess on your clothes. Tegaderm is a truly great invention by 3M, its really little more than cling film for your body with a lot more stick.
2. - Having to explain to people what you've done, gets old after a while. I felt stupid enough crashing twice in such a short period, don't make me relive it all the time.
1. - It still hurts weeks later ...