Crash!
I took the 36er out on Saturday evening with the intent to go 10 miles. I was riding on the Jordan River Parkway trail, which is a paved trail that runs for many many miles along the river. It is used by pedestrians, bicyclists, roller-bladers, and lots of families, people walking dogs, etc. I have ridden it several times and my snow video in January is on this trail.
At about 7.5 miles into my ride something very strange happened very suddenly. I must have leaned forward quite a bit and tried to pedal to bring the uni back under me. This is quite easy on a small wheel but on the big wheel it can be harder and it produces significant speed. After my second attempt it became clear that I was still forward of the upright position and I did not know how to get out of the predicament. I did not know how to arrest my speed but I did not dare make another attempt at pedaling the uni under me, so I made a split-second decision that I had to jump off.
The problem was that I was traveling so fast that there was no way I could run it out, so I was going to hit the ground. All of this flashed through my head as I bailed out, but I could not figure out what else to do. So after two steps down I went, primarily on my left side. I was wearing my wrist guards and helmet but I had chosen not to wear my knee or elbow pads on this ride thinking that I had made enough progress and that the risk of crashing was very low. Wrong!!
The wrist guards and helmet have always been mandatory, and I am so glad to have been wearing them. I think my hands hit the ground just before my left knee and they took most of the shock. And the wrist guards did their job! My knee contacted the ground but not with a lot of shock so there is no bone or structural damage. There is a big patch of road rash. My left hip and shoulder also hit the ground though I did not realize it until later. I think I even hit my helmet on the ground slightly but I cannot see any mark on the helmet. So I must have been moving faster than 10 mph. I would guess it was between 12-15 mph.
After walking it off for a couple minutes I picked up the uni and walked back toward my starting point for a while before I felt like I could try to ride again. My second freemount attempt succeeded and I was able to ride the 1.5 miles back to my truck without further incident. So I only completed 9 of my intended 10 miles.
It has been an interesting couple days since then. I am trying to decide whether I am going to continue to try to master the 36er or not. I have had 2 pretty bad crashes so far. Riding the big wheel is very different than the other uni’s I ride. The speed, weight and inertia of the wheel/tire, and the height from the ground are all big factors. I hate letting things beat me, but I have a lot of important responsibilities to consider and getting hurt in crashes is not helping!
For now I am very grateful that I was not injured badly. Both collar bones are tender, as is my whole left shoulder system. But nothing is broken. So I will give it some time before I decide whether or not to continue the 36er. Needless to say it will be a few days before I am back on any unicycle. I am moving around pretty slowly and gingerly to say the least :o Band Aid makes some nice big bandages and with the help of Neosporin I think the knee, hip, and shoulder abrasions will heal pretty quickly. The knee is the worst. I can post a photo that I took just after I got home before cleaning and bandaging if anyone requests it
Funny anectode: Early in the ride I got my very first “Hey, you’re missing a wheel” from a guy out on the trail. So I can now feel like a real unicyclist :). There were lots of other comments, and several surprised people. Several “hey, look at the guy on the unicycle” being yelled by children or teens. And one guy fishing on the bank;
Guy: “Is that hard to learn?”
Me: “It takes a while”
Guy: “Is it harder to learn on the big wheel or a small one?”
Me: “Definitely harder on the big wheel”
I also got a nice compliment from a road cyclist saying that I “look really good on that thing”.
On my way back to the truck I passed a couple and the lady noticed my knee and was pretty shocked as I passed her–she said “OUCH!”
Sorry for such a long post again. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did crashing .
Key Learnings:
- Crazy things happen suddenly on a 36er just like on a smaller wheel, but the effect is greatly magnified
- Wrist guards are a must on the 36er or anytime you are pushing yourself hard on any size wheel. In both my bad crashes the wrist guards took most of the impact which reduced the damage elsewhere, and they saved my wrists and hands from severe damage both times.
- A Helmet only needs to save your head one time to be worth wearing everytime.
- The other safety gear is also important, and I am lucky that my knee did not hit the ground with more impact or it would have been much worse. I will be wearing knee and elbow guards on future 36er rides!