a head injury report

General
1

Two years back on the inspection lap for a 24 hour race , Claire Gibbs
chose not to ride with a helmet ( they were complusary for the
race). Riding her coker along a smooth section of tarmac she decided to
go a little faster and then a little faster again. Claire ended up
unable to control her speed and fell off her Coker . I would estimate
she was doing 12-15 mph. Although she initally landed on her feet she was
moving too fast to stay up-right and ended up hitting the ground head
first.
result- blood, lots of blood, concusion, a very stiff neck, shock and
having to with draw from the race. Helmet wearing would have prevented
the blood and may have prevented the concusion.

Sarah

Union of UK Unicyclists
By and for UK riders

2

Re: a head injury report

sarah@vimes.u-net.com writes:
>Two years back on the inspection lap for a 24 hour race , Claire Gibbs
>chose not to ride with a helmet ( they were complusary for the
>race). Riding her coker along a smooth section of tarmac she decided to
>go a little faster and then a little faster again. Claire ended up
>unable to control her speed and fell off her Coker . I would estimate
>she was doing 12-15 mph. Although she initally landed on her feet she was
>moving too fast to stay up-right and ended up hitting the ground head
>first.
> result- blood, lots of blood, concusion, a very stiff neck, shock and
>having to with draw from the race. Helmet wearing would have prevented
>the blood and may have prevented the concusion.
Thanks for that report. I hope it inspires someone to wear a helmet.

I wear a helmet while riding my Coker EXCEPT when I’m in the park or on a
bike path for more than 90% of a given ride. The other 1-10% of the time,
I ride on sidewalks to avoid the most dangerous aspect of city unicycling,
viz, the cars.

As for the ‘safer’ part of my ride, obviously the same thing could happen
to me as happened to Claire. In fact, it has, tho with a much slower fall.
I was riding up a ramped curb (not even a bump!) and missed seeing a
slight depression in the sidewalk. I fell forward awkwardly, skinning my
knees and hands. I kept my chin off the ground (and the rest of my face
and head) but may have had a tougher time of it had I been going faster.

Here are some factors which could make a Coker (or other uni) ride unsafe.
Some may have applied to Claire:
1A. Unfamiliarity with a Coker
1B. …with new cranks (changing to shorter cranks is tricky at first)
1C. …with new pedals
2. Fatigue
3. Dehydration
4. Loss of focus (I’m reminded of when my brother was ‘flashed’ by an
attractive woman and nearly lost balance)
5. Moment of klutziness (such as losing your footing not due to
externals). MOKs are responsible for many UPDs.
6. Inability to control speed (similar to #2 or #5).
7. Externals (such as errant dogs, kids, cars; road imperfections; litter)

As a matter of course, when I ride helmetlessly, I ride slower than usual.
And on the long, smooth, car-free downhill leading to my house, I ride no
faster than 17mph, which is about as fast as I can sprint for a few
seconds.

In Claire’s case, she was unable to handle the sprinting part and may not
have had lots of experience with Coker UPDs.

I hope this helps explain a few things about UPDs on Cokers.

David

3

No mention of cell phones and riding into traffic on one way streets?

4

Re: a head injury report

Greetings

In message “Re: a head injury report”,
David Stone wrote…
>sarah@vimes.u-net.com writes:

Thanks for this report – it inspires me to wear helmets at all times.

>>Two years back on the inspection lap for a 24 hour race , Claire Gibbs
>>chose not to ride with a helmet ( they were complusary for the
>>race). Riding her coker along a smooth section of tarmac she decided to
>>go a little faster and then a little faster again. Claire ended up
>>unable to control her speed and fell off her Coker . I would estimate
>>she was doing 12-15 mph. Although she initally landed on her feet she was
>>moving too fast to stay up-right and ended up hitting the ground head
>>first.
>> result- blood, lots of blood, concusion, a very stiff neck, shock and
>>having to with draw from the race. Helmet wearing would have prevented
>>the blood and may have prevented the concusion.
>Thanks for that report. I hope it inspires someone to wear a helmet.
>
>I wear a helmet while riding my Coker EXCEPT when I’m in the park or on a
>bike path for more than 90% of a given ride. The other 1-10% of the time,
>I ride on sidewalks to avoid the most dangerous aspect of city unicycling,
>viz, the cars.
>
>As for the ‘safer’ part of my ride, obviously the same thing could happen
>to me as happened to Claire. In fact, it has, tho with a much slower fall.
>I was riding up a ramped curb (not even a bump!) and missed seeing a
>slight depression in the sidewalk. I fell forward awkwardly, skinning my
>knees and hands. I kept my chin off the ground (and the rest of my face
>and head) but may have had a tougher time of it had I been going faster.
>
>Here are some factors which could make a Coker (or other uni) ride unsafe.
>Some may have applied to Claire:
>1A. Unfamiliarity with a Coker
>1B. …with new cranks (changing to shorter cranks is tricky at first)
>1C. …with new pedals
>2. Fatigue
>3. Dehydration
>4. Loss of focus (I’m reminded of when my brother was ‘flashed’ by an
>attractive woman and nearly lost balance)
>5. Moment of klutziness (such as losing your footing not due to
>externals). MOKs are responsible for many UPDs.
>6. Inability to control speed (similar to #2 or #5).
>7. Externals (such as errant dogs, kids, cars; road imperfections; litter)
>
>As a matter of course, when I ride helmetlessly, I ride slower than usual.
>And on the long, smooth, car-free downhill leading to my house, I ride no
>faster than 17mph, which is about as fast as I can sprint for a few
>seconds.
>
>In Claire’s case, she was unable to handle the sprinting part and may not
>have had lots of experience with Coker UPDs.
>
>I hope this helps explain a few things about UPDs on Cokers.
>
>David
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
>rec.sport.unicycling mailing list - www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
>

Regards, Jack Halpern
President, The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.
http://www.cjk.org Phone: +81-48-473-3508

5

Cheers Sarah,

that’s highly relevant to the ‘head injuries’ thread and good reason to wear a helmet.

6

the day that i first learned to freemount a girrafe:

after practice me and the jugglers went to the pub, we stayed their untill closing time, upon leaving i decided in my drunken stupor that it realy like to show my (non-juggler) friends dave and lesly what i’d leaned today, so i attempted in outside the pub, to my supprise i managed it first time, so i started to ride off in the general direction of the party we were going to, however i didn’t see the canopy of the flower shop next to the pub, and i smacked my head on it, casting me off my girrafe and onto the pavement, luckily i didn’t nurt myself but my ego was slightly damaged by the roar of laughter from my watching friends.

this would have been prevented by not unicycling under the influence of alcahol and it wouldnt have hurt if i was wearing a helmet.

helmets are a good idea