=> wear your helmets! 

It seems that while riding down 257 area above the Troutdale outlets store
I went down on gravel at speed.

There was no one around, neither cars nor bikes.
The bike ahead was about 150 yards ahead and riding in the car travel lane.

I was in the car travel lane, due to the high speed, downhill right bend,
and decided to move into the bike lane.

Next thing I know I am in OHSU  emergency room with road rash on my right side.
No memory of anything.

I broke about 3 ribs and by clavicle... no biking for 4 -6 weeks (ugh).

Good thing I was wearing my helmet as my glasses and helmet hit the ground.
(glasses right ear peace bent, helmet right front foam crushed, plastic crunched).

 Susan Corwin

 woah - glad it wasn't any worse!  Take it easy while you heal up!

Ouch!  Susan, I hope you heal up quickly.  Helmets are always a good idea, regardless of speed.  This is the reason PV requires helmets on all of its rides, and OBRA requires racers to wear the helmet all the time when on the bike (even when riding around the parking lot).

I cringed at the number of people at the bridge pedal that weren't wearing helmets, or even better.. had their helmets attached to their backpack.

WOW....hope the healing process goes well and you are back on the bike in the "Planned" 4-6 weeks. The lesson I guess, is always stay on your toes and never take anything for granted.

Boy Scout Motto: Always be prepared!

I agree with Matt, I always just have to shake my head at people that have their helmets with them but never wear them. I've ween them on the stem of the bike, as well as other places other than the head. I guess making sure the helmet absorbs the impact of the bikes fall is more important that some peoples heads (?)

Heal quick and heal well.

Susan,

Sorry to hear about your crash.  Maybe that loss of memory is a good thing since you don't remember the impact, though it would probably be helpful to know what happened.  Take it easy & heal quickly. Broken ribs & road rash can't be any fun!

Linda

Amen to that!

Hope you heal soon. Broken ribs are no fun and I'm sure broken clavicle is worse.

I have been hit twice by cars, the last at 50mph from the rear. I was launched into the air, landed on my side and flipped multiple times across the pavement (smashing my head on the macadam as I did so) and ending up on the shoulder. 

Helmet was cracked almost in two, body cut, bruised and scraped, broken bones,bike rear wheel taco'ed almost with sides together, but the brain was functioning well enough to demand that the paramedic NOT CUT OFF my $100 Assos cycling shorts with his handy EMT scissors!

Both times, my helmet saved me from ending up in the garden next to the other vegetables. This happending in CA, so you would not have read the marvelous details in the Oregonian.

Absolutely, positively wear that helmet. Every ride, every speed.

p.s. The helmet that saved me last time was a Costco cheapy Bell. As long as the helmet meets CPSC standards, it will work fine if it fits properly. Of course, Costco helmets don't have the sharp looks, ventilation, fly-weight and the cache' of the $150 ones, but if you are a car magnet, they are the way to go! :-)

More helmet info from www.helmets.org

 Oh my, broken ribs and clavicle that sounds absolutely horrible!!!  I hope they gave you some good drugs.

I hope you heal fast and are back on a bike soon

Susan, I am sorry to hear about your crash and your rib, clavicle & rr injuries but appreciate your starting a thread reminding us about the value of wearing a helmet to help prevent traumatic brain injuries.

Those injuries sound miserable. I hope that you heal quickly and are riding again soon!

How's your bike?

Ow!  Hope you heal fast, and don't stint on the painkillers!

 Thanks for the well wishes!

 The bike needed $2.00 end caps for the areo bars (which obviously ended up down on the rt. side into pavement).

I clearly took the blunt od the fall onto my right side.

Wear helmets!
my head is still sore and my black eye looks much better than my helmet does!

Susan

Last August is when I crashed on U.S. 30, going about 25 mph, and broke my left collarbone as well as taking a big shot to the head. My helmet saved my life. I have no memory of the accident or about half an hour afterward. The helmet foam was cracked all the way through in about six places, absorbing most of the impact, just as it was designed to do. End result was no concussion, just a minor bump on the noggin. I did get an MRI and an ECG as well to be sure there was nothing worse. I learned that having no memory of the event or some period after it is not uncommon when the blow is to the temporal region of the brain, where short-term memory is formed. "Post-traumatic amnesia" is somewhat common in football players and such who get their bells rung. The brain also does not take kindly to deceleration and torsional stress (twisting around a bit inside the cranium) which is what happens when you go suddenly from high speed to zero with some change in direction thrown in for good measure. As for your clavicle, "four to six weeks" is on the optimistic side. Three months is more like it. Let's hope your outcome is better than mine; my fracture never healed and five months later I had surgery and a steel plate put in to fix it. I'd say the psychological damage of not riding for eight months was worse than the physical pain, which I still have. Besides painkillers I recommend frequent use of one of those big flexible freezer packs, the kind sold by physical therapists. Hope you have a speedy recovery. Every time I see one of the thousands of bareheaded riders in Portland, I think "no helmet, no brain."

Could someone please tell me how to get the forum not to merge all my paragraphs into one paragraph?

Hi Keith,

It might have to do with pressing carriage return/enter after the end of each paragraph. You can check your posting in HTML mode by selecting clicking the "HTML" menu item next to spell check. Each paragraph should begin with HTML code  "<P mce_keep="true"> and end with HTML code"</P>".

 Your first paragraph (for example) should look like this:

 <P mce_keep="true"> Last August is when I crashed on U.S. 30, going about 25 mph, and broke my left collarbone as well as taking a big shot to the head. My helmet saved my life.</P>

Don't know if that is the problem, but check it out.

-- Marc

 

Keith do you use Firefox?  Traci uses it at home and it sometimes eats her carrige returns.

No, Safari, which apparently does the same thing. But I can write HTML so will check it. Thanks for the tips guys.