Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Ouch. (ouch.)

Sprained and/or broken and/or cracked wrists really hurt. Some of the time at least.

Still mystified as to the exact sequence of events which lead to my severe crash on Monday morning. It happened so fast and was so strange that I guess I will never really know the exact cause.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Sidewalk Pavement Is Hard

Major wipeout today on the Segster. Complete driver error.

On my commute to work today, there is this one spot where a little drainage ditch right beside the road does not have a sidewalk across it. To get onto the sidewalk on the other side, you are required as a pedestrian or biker or Segger to Leave the sidewalk, go briefly onto the shoulder of the road, and then cross a little asphalt "bump" back onto the sidewalk where the sidewalk starts again. That "little bump" really is not so little - I usually catch a little air everytime I got over it.

Today I caught TOO MUCH air, and the result was getting to eat some sidewalk. (oops)

It happened really fast and I was not EXACTLY sure what happened to cause the crash at the time. After thinking about it for almost two hours now I think I know mostly what happened after reconstructing it in my mind.

I must have accelerated a little too much on my approach to the bump. That was Problem One. When I hit the bump, I think I must have been leaning forward too much - Problem Two. Once I was over the bump and the Segway started accelerating and leaning forward too far, I should have either leaned back more in an attempt to slow it or else should have jumped off and let it go down - Problem Three. Once I was into the fall with no way to get out of the crash, I should have tucked my head and done a front roll, letting my helmet protect me and not trying to catch myself - Problem Four.

So the Segway went down forward, I went down with it, and was thrown to the front left. Like I knew better than to do, I tried to catch myself with my left wrist and ended up smacking the left side of my face on the sidewalk. When my cheekbone hit the pavement I saw stars and knew I had scraped my skin off. The unsuspecting part was that I had not only a small strawberry on my upper cheekbone, but also a larger one down on my cheek right to the left of my chin and up on my face a little bit. And my left wrist was sprained from the ill-conceived and failed "catch myself" effort.

I got to work and cleaned my wounds and Jerry recommended a wrist wrap to immobilize the wrist. I noticed a little "double-strawberry" on my left knee also. I think I must have been going between 8 and 10 miles per hour at the time, because it was a pretty significant bang to the ground. The Segway, thanks to the handlebar guard and the front bag, was fine; just a little dirt on the front cargo bag.

So, lesson learned: keep your speed down and senses with you when going over a known bump - too much air can lead to too much sidewalk in the facial area.