So i got even more strange stares than usual at work as I had to explain not just a weekend spent on a bicycle (as usual) but also a fair bit of missing skin on my arms just south of the elbows.
The pretty road rash was the result of an accident on a group ride Saturday. The ride started out well; a 60 mile loop across the river out to Oriental and back. We had a good group of 5 riders including my normal training partner JE and several others who I have ridden with on many occasions. This was a pretty strong group, but the goal of the day was just a decent paced tempo ride nothing crazy.
All was good for the first 50 miles. We were on the home stretch coming down Hwy 55, which is a wide 4 lane highway with a turning lane in the center and generous shoulders on each side. We were riding in a pretty tight paceline running about 25 mph with a slight tailwind. I had just come off an extended pull at the front that ended with a slight uphill that raised my heartrate near threshhold as I worked to maintain the pace. So I was was recovering and starting to think about the final push up and over the bridge which was apt to turn into a sprint for the finish.
JE was at the front pulling hard as usual. The pace was probably a bit higher than what the other three were used to but no one was being squirrelly or obviously struggling (letting gaps open up, etc). Then with no warning, the guy right in front of me yelled and I saw his bike swerve hard to the right. I was on the brakes and moved left to go around him. Unfortunately, as his bike went right, his body went left, spinning until he landed with a loud crack on the back of his head. We had been riding about 1 foot into the shoulder so I was trapped. With no time to check behind for traffic I could not swerve any further to the left and ended up running over eith part of the guy or his bike, never figured out which.
Once over I swerved back to the right and crashed. I don't remember exactly how I went down, but based on the scraped up bits I landed on my rear pockets and my elbows and the bike went down on the right side so I must have low sided - like sliding into home plate with the bike in front of me. It was certainly better than the high side onto the back of the head that the other guy managed.
Not knowing if I was out in traffic or not, I jumped up and grabbed my bike and ran to the grass past the shoulder. Since I was up and running I knew I was ok. I set the bike down and turned back to the other guy. He was still down and out in the lane of traffic. Luckily several cars had stopped and were blocking both lanes. I ran over and checked on the guy. He was conscious but confused and after a few minutes was able to get up off the pavement on his own.
We then figured out that the guy in front of him had gotten a flat rear tire and had pulled out of the paceline to the right. No one can tell if he hit the brakes or just slowed because of the flat but as he moved right he clipped the front wheel of the guy behind him and that caused the crash. Could it have been avoided if the guy had been paying closer attention? hard to say.
After initially seeming ok, the guy started repeatedly asking "what happened?" Someone would explain and a few seconds later he would ask again. That coupled with the fact that his helmet had a big chunk broken out of the back meant it was time for a visit to the ER. JE and I road the few miles back to the start and I got my truck and headed back to pick the guy up. The other two riders had stayed with him while the one fixed his flat.
The trip to the hospital was a bit tense since my wife works registration in the ER. I knew that she would not be please to see me coming in the doors when it wasn't a planned visit. So I opted not to tel her about my involvement right away and since the scrapes were on the backs of my arms I got away with it.
The good news is that the guy got checked out and was ok. The bad news is that I am not sure I will be doing any more group rides any time soon.
