Okay, so here's what happened. I was riding one of my favorite loops yesterday, the American River Parkway around Natoma Lake. I got about 6 miles into it when I picked up a piece of glass in my rear tire that cut my tire and, obviously, flatted my tube. Luckily (or so I thought), I was a short walk from a bike shop in Folsom. I walked there and bought a replacement tire, which they mounted for me. I rode away from the shop, and decided that I should just ride back to the car and call it a day.
This is where it gets good.
As I was going downhill to a sweeping left-hand corner on the bike trail, my brand new rear tire blows up. LITERALLY. It explodes. At 25 mph. I tried to keep the bike upright, but everything was happening so fast...the rear wheel slides around to the right, and for a split second, I was drifting through the corner, my front wheel pointed in the direction that I wanted to go, my rear wheel sliding along to the right.
Here's the thing. The rear wheel was not sliding on rubber anymore...it was sliding on rim. and metal rims don't have good traction, usually. So, it kept sliding.
The bike slid out from under me completely, and I fall hard on my left side, sliding feet first after my bike for about 10 feet. Not an activity I would recommend to anyone.the brunt of the slide is caught on my left hip, followed closely by my shin, elbow, and ankle. My bike shoes protected my left foot mostly...I just have a scab on my ankle the size of a quarter. My shin has a 10' x 4' patch of road rash, and my left thigh is the worst. I have a serious road rash on it from the hip bone down the side of my leg to about 2 inches above my knee. It is so severe that there is little feeling in it...just numbness. And in places the skin is sagging. It's also quite a wide range of colors...I would dare say every shade of red is represented. I also thought I might have broken my right collarbone, as it was in alot of pain and i was having a hard time moving my right arm.
I didn't stay on the ground long. I got up immediately, venting my pain verbally, without intelligible words.
In about a minute, a VERY nice couple on a tandem comes along and helps me out. Unfortunately, I have forgotten their names...I believe I was in a mild state of shock. His wife pushes the tandem and he carries my bike back to the bike shop...about 200 yards away. I called Teresa during this time, so she is on her way to get me. I walk back into the shop...I hadn't even been gone long enough for there to be new customers. They all remembered me riding away. The shop manager was extremely apologetic, and took responsibility for what happened. While I was waiting for Teresa they gave me some electrolytes because I was starting to get light-headed. They took my bike to the back and assessed the damage...a minor nick on the seat and the rear rim is trashed. They are going to replace everything, obviously. At this point, I knew that my thigh was in bad shape, but it was covered by my bike shorts, which stayed completely intact, and I really didn't want to look.
Teresa shows up a few minutes later, and we decide that we should go to urgent care. By this point, my right shoulder was feeling better...it still throbbed, but i had good range of motion. Luckily, there was no one at urgent care except us, so I got immediate attention. That's when I first saw my thigh...disgusting. They cleaned everything up, did all they could to maintain my dignity, and Teresa and I went home.
So there ya go.
