Everyone once in a while, something bizarre happens to me on my daily commute. I'd like to take this space to share some of my stories so you can laugh and cry along.

6 October 2000 - Crash!

I crashed my new bike this morning.  I was a little shaken up and I got some road rash, but otherwise intact.

I was going to work as usual, down 12th Ave, right by Seattle University.  I hit a bump or my front tire blew out, not sure which happened first, but my bike went down and I went over the handlebars.  I skidded to a stop on the white line and laid there for a brief second.  After determining that I was okay, I rolled into the gutter to avoid getting run over by any following cars. 

I laid there for a bit to collect myself.  By that time a number of people gathered around and asked me if I was alright.  I said I was, but I wanted them to call 911 anyway. I picked myself up and sat down on the curb, trying to assess my injuries. It looked like my left elbow was the major recipient of the road rash.  My right glove was totally shredded in the palm--good thing I always wear those when riding :)  My knee was a little scraped up, but I was wearing my tights, so it was pretty minor.  The only other road rash was on the side of my chest, which was pretty minor.

The Seattle Fire Department showed up after a few minutes and they took my vitals and dressed my elbow.  A gentleman in a Suburban threw the remains of my bike in his car and gave me a ride to work.

Although I faired pretty well, I'm afraid my bike did not.  The brake hood on the left handlebar is twisted to the side.  My front fender is toast, as well as the front innertube.  My light (homemade) sustained a little damage, but it was still on when I pulled my bike out of the Suburban.  My saddle is totally destroyed and the electric motor is a little scratched up, but still runs fine.

Update: Thumbnail pictures of the damage are now available:

Elbow	Headlight	Motor
A week after the crash	A few scratches, but still working	Even with a good ding in the upper left corner, it still runs.

30 Aug 1999 - Bike Towing

I was bicycle commuting back from work the other day with my new riding partner, Phil. It was his first trip back, and we had just reached the first of two very large hills. We both shifted down to start the climb but something happened to Phil's bike because he stopped. When I circled around, I saw what had caused the problems. The bike had wrenched his rear derailer and it twisted itself up and around until it was on top of the rear sprocket set. Oops. The derailer looked very much destroyed, so we unscrewed it from the bike. That's when the broken chain came off. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my chain tool, so we couldn't even take out a few links and make the bike a single speed. We eventually broke a pair of pliers (yes, it is possible--the metal simply broke) and a screwdriver trying to fix the chain before we gave up.

We finally decided that we would walk our bikes up the hill and find a pay phone (I usually bring my cell, but I had left it at home). As we crested the top, I noticed Phil's cable lock wrapped around the seat of his bike and an idea struck me. We looped the cable around the front tube of his bike and then around the seat post of mine. I towed him the rest of the way home (a few miles), unhooking while going downhill for safety. It was actually kind of fun because we got to talk and it wasn't too much work. We took a picture of our bikes hooked together, which is now available online.

July 1999 - Saddle bags and spokes -- not a good combo

While riding down Lake City Way (a busy 4 lane arterial) at about 25 mph when I got out of my saddle to sprint through a light. I heard a sudden *boom* and I thought my rear tire had blown out. I coasted to a stop and pulled up on to the sidewalk to check it out. To my surprise, the rear edge of my saddlebags had twisted itself into the rear spokes.

I was not carrying my lunch box like I usually do, having forgotten it at home. I think the lack of weight plus the jarring from getting out of the saddle caused the saddlebag to hit the spokes. The spokes carried the bag until the back corner was wedged between my rear rack and the rear wheel. As a result, one side of my saddlebag was pretty much torn up. There were three large holes and part of the zipper of the small pocket was ripped off completely.

July 1999 - Rear hub destroyed

Another strange experience has been with the hub on my rear wheel. I noticed it "clunking" non-rhythmically while riding down the trail. When I stopped the bike and picked the rear wheel off the ground I could wiggle the wheel laterally back and forth and make a small clunking. I immediately had it adjusted at the shop. Around 80 miles later, the clunking returned. Again, I took it to the shop and they adjusted it again, this time for free. This lasted about 100 more miles before I took it back to the shop to get the hub overhauled. I guess the hub was just getting more and more destroyed as it was ridden. Funny thing is, I had already put about 400 miles on it this year before I noticed any symptoms. In the future, at least I'll know what to check for.