Monday night I was on my way home from work, getting frustrated with my headlights. They're a good set, but I have been spolled by lower-powered, largert-lensed lights. In any event. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn't see the hole in the rode that got me.

I woke up in an ambulance with a concussion and my jaw broken in two places. I did get to vote by absentee ballot (yea, Wisconsin).

Make sure you have good lights, and ride carefully. I'm taking 5-6 weeks off the bike.

Andy, so sorry to see your situation! Hope your recovery goes well and quickly. Are you drinking through a straw (broken jaw!)? Good way to lose weight! :)

I only dumped like that once (lights not strong enough to show me the hole) but I was fortunate that the hole was hidden by snow and so I went down into a relatively soft situation. Made a mess but no injuries. When it comes to commuting/riding in the dark and wet, your lights can't be too good.

Nice pic. I'm not sure the second one was necessary, though. Sorry you'll be off the bike for so long. Good lights only get you so far, though. You have to remember to look for the potholes, as the shadows, craters, bumps and jumps all look different at night. I've seen dark spots from 20-30 yards away, and wondered what the hell was that. Scramble to avoid it, turns out it's just a dark spot. Ride on, friend.

Sorry to hear about the crash. Get well. If you've got be off the bike. 4-6 weeks in a Wisconsin November sounds like at least a little bit of the a bright side. ;)

Awwwww, you look so peaceful lying there....good drugs?
Hope you're feeling better!

Ah Andy, that sucks. Sorry to hear about your accident and I hope you're back in the saddle on schedule. I'm going light shopping on my lunch break today.

Youch...

Monday night I was on my way home from work, getting frustrated with my headlights. They're a good set, but I have been spolled by lower-powered, largert-lensed lights. In any event. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn't see the hole in the rode that got me.

I woke up in an ambulance with a concussion and my jaw broken in two places. I did get to vote by absentee ballot (yea, Wisconsin).

Make sure you have good lights, and ride carefully. I'm taking 5-6 weeks off the bike.

Speaking of which, if anyone has been contemplating going HID, but you want to spend as little money as possible then the best deal out there right now is happening at Alfred E. Bike. They have Cygolite HIDs going for as little as $208. Yes, that's still a lot of money for a light, but I think most people would agree that it's worth it and it's certainly better then dropping $400 on a comparable HID.

Get Well. I'm not the sharpest knife in the draw, so I know everybody must do this. I use the cars that past me from behind, lights to pick out a line to ride, then follow it. That way I can see up the road a little then use my lights as a guide for the small stuff I might have missed. That got me thru some dark October mornings commutes without a scratch. The downside is you need a car to pass you about every minute.
Monday night I was on my way home from work, getting frustrated with my headlights. They're a good set, but I have been spolled by lower-powered, largert-lensed lights. In any event. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn't see the hole in the rode that got me.

I woke up in an ambulance with a concussion and my jaw broken in two places. I did get to vote by absentee ballot (yea, Wisconsin).

Make sure you have good lights, and ride carefully. I'm taking 5-6 weeks off the bike.

Get well soon so you can get back on the road.

I use the passing car lights to pick out a line to ride, then follow it. That way I can see up the road a little then use my lights as a guide for the small stuff I might have missed.

The converse is that on-coming cars are blinding. It took a spill on a quiet country road during a brevet to teach me that lesson. Guard your eyes from bright on-coming lights so you don't lose your eyes' adaptation to the background dark.

Sorry it was at your expense. Get well soon!

had the same in April - didn't see a big piece of metal on the side of the road. Tried to be superman, flying was ok but landing was poorly done and ended bloody (I've already posted the picture below...)

Now I just got the best of the best, the Niterider Flamethrower. A couple weeks ago, at Performance with 20% coupon and 10% team discount, it came up to $250 including tax. Highly recommended.





Monday night I was on my way home from work, getting frustrated with my headlights. They're a good set, but I have been spolled by lower-powered, largert-lensed lights. In any event. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn't see the hole in the rode that got me.

I woke up in an ambulance with a concussion and my jaw broken in two places. I did get to vote by absentee ballot (yea, Wisconsin).

Make sure you have good lights, and ride carefully. I'm taking 5-6 weeks off the bike.

Monday night I was on my way home from work, getting frustrated with my headlights. They're a good set, but I have been spolled by lower-powered, largert-lensed lights. In any event. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn't see the hole in the rode that got me.

I woke up in an ambulance with a concussion and my jaw broken in two places. I did get to vote by absentee ballot (yea, Wisconsin).

Make sure you have good lights, and ride carefully. I'm taking 5-6 weeks off the bike.

Sorry to hear it. I hope you heal soon - that's a tough looking scar there.

I had a close call when I was commuting using my commuter ride (my old
hardtail MTB with slicks) with two Cateye EL300s. They're bright but not
super bright. Great for the Cedar Lake trail in the dark but in sparsely lit
outskirts of Minneapolis.....not bright enough.

The batteries were getting a little low and I was on the outskirts of downtown
and running late. I decided to cut thru a parking lot. BAD MISTAKE.

I saw at the last second a metal wire between two posts that was keeping
drivers from entering this abandoned parking lot.

At the absolute last second before I even knew what to think I bunny hopped
the bike and landed with the wire just in back of my rear tire and scraping the
downtube. I went from 15 mph to 0 in 1 second.

Some guy walking by was like "are you all right?" That's a pretty close call..
I might not be so lucky next time.

Maybe we should all get some better lights?

Be careful out there!

Awwwww, you look so peaceful lying there....good drugs?
Hope you're feeling better!

Lortab (I think). It's like nitrous oxide--you feel the pain, you just don't remember it.

Ugh.

Actually, everything still hurts, but I WILL ride again. Just not until I can open my mouth again!