Feeling really really guilty now!

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Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
My 11 year old twins had been badgering me to let them cycle to school, and I had promised to follow them down on my bike and then set off to work after I'd seen them safely into the bike sheds. The journey is only about a mile, but it's all downhill, and although they seem perfectly safe out on the road with me, I was a bit cautious about letting them go without me. I had to get to a meeting this morning, so I compromised and decided to follow them down in the car. I made sure they had new lights on, both were wearing helmets, and reflective slap-wraps on wrists and ankles. Young Cubette rode in front, with young Cubester close behind. It was frosty, but the roads had been gritted.

Halfway down the first really steep hill (about 1:5 in old money) there's a sharp right hand bend. Despite my telling them to take it easy on the steepest bits, Cubette was going too fast and ran wide, into the leaves and snot on the verge. She braked and lost it competely, and in horror I watched her hit the chevron sign on the bend and hit the wall headfirst, flipping upside down and landing in a big untidy heap on the tarmac. Cubester locked up both wheels and cartwheeled into the drystone wall, landing pretty close to his sister.

You can imagine how I was feeling, having watched both my kids have what I can only describe as an horrific crash on their first school run. I put on the hazards and jumped out, amazed to see them both stand up and try to get their bikes back upright. Cubette's face was badly scraped on her cheek and chin, and she had all sorts of vegetation in her hair and visor. She was however insisting that she was unhurt, and wanted to carry on to school. Cubester was also claiming to be injury free, but he too had obvious facial grazes and his visor had been knocked off.

The handlebars of Cubette's GT were jammed backwards over the crossbar, but it only took a sharp wrench to get them back the right way. The chain had come off Cubester's Cube, and that was sooon put back on. They insisted on riding onto school, another half a mile, so I made sure neither had buckled wheels, and that their brakes still worked, and followed them on to the village. Once in the bikesheds I found them telling a mate about what had happened. Cubette looked a real mess, but she then rolled up her trouser leg and saw a deep 4" gash in her shin.

Needless to say A&E staff were awesome, and we're all back home. Cubester has since discovered livid bruising on both legs, and has very sore tackle. Cubette has ten stitches in her leg, and grazes all over.

As a final note, I have examined both their helmets. Cubette's crackles around the temple area, where there are obvious signs of impact, and Cubester's has several areas of denting in the outer shell. It is obvious that both hit the drystone wall headfirst. Both helmets will be binned and replaced before they ride again. Please don't ask me to join in any helmet debates. I have all the evidence I need to thank God that I bought them quality kit and insisted they wear them. No one will persuade me that the helmets did not save them both from serious injury in this instance.

I now face several days of "I told you so!" from Mrs Cube, but hey, I bet they both respect steep hills and bends from now on!
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
I think you need a different route. Glad they are all right.
 
You must feel awful Mr. Cubist.

Thanks for sharing your story. They went to extreme lengths to avoid riding back up the hill home from school.

I hope both cubic's make a full recovery.
 
OP
OP
Cubist

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
marinyork said:
I think you need a different route. Glad they are all right.


As we live on the top of a 1400 ft hill, and the village is 700 ft below us we're struggling a bit for alternatives! I'm sure they'll be fine, they're busy arguing over the Wii right now, so they must be tougher than I thought!
 

Maizie

Guru
Location
NE Hertfordshire
Well, they've got a GREAT story to mortify their father with.
They've got some cool injuries - which may lead to the ability to say 'Look at my SCAR'.
They've had time being fussed over in A&E.
All relatives / teachers / adults-that-can-be-persuaded are going to be giving them treats, fuss, etc.
Tonight they'll probably be able to wangle a later bedtime, or extra time on the Wii, or something like that, because of the guilty parents.

Quite frankly, as a kid days don't get much better than this :tongue:
 
Don't feel guilty. Unfortunately some lessons are learned the hard way despite our best efforts to pass on our own certain knowledge. My kids have certainly been no strangers to stitches and glue.

I am impressed though. Were they going to cycle back up the hill at the end of their school day, accident notwhithstanding?
 

mr Mag00

rising member
Location
Deepest Dorset
respect to your cubes for getting back on and riding to school! it is awful when you see it happen.

my son had a great accident his second day without stabilisers. riding up and down the quiet road in the village and was turninga round on a neighbours drive. he must have tried to drive on to the drive at to shallow an angle and the wheels carried on as if on a rail whilst he was obviously leaning to go on the drive down he went and caught his knee btween 2 curbs stone i assume as the lump of flesh hanging off his knee has got a lovely right angle to it, beauty scar now! i was in the garage and heard the wails, he was with a group of frineds and one parent came and scooped him up, but i knew as soon as i heard the wail something had gone wrong. despite the nurse telling him to keep it still for a couple of days and time to knit, that evening bouncing on a trampoline!! kids!
 
OP
OP
Cubist

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Maizie said:
Well, they've got a GREAT story to mortify their father with.
They've got some cool injuries - which may lead to the ability to say 'Look at my SCAR'.
They've had time being fussed over in A&E.
All relatives / teachers / adults-that-can-be-persuaded are going to be giving them treats, fuss, etc.
Tonight they'll probably be able to wangle a later bedtime, or extra time on the Wii, or something like that, because of the guilty parents.

Quite frankly, as a kid days don't get much better than this :tongue:


Maizie, how very perceptive you are! They've already been allowed chocolate by their Mum which is rare on a weekday, and Cubette used the words "Cool, how many stitches will that take?" to the A&E staff!!

I get the day off work too, but will have to catch up tomorrow!
 
OP
OP
Cubist

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Crackle said:
Don't feel guilty. Unfortunately some lessons are learned the hard way despite our best efforts to pass on our own certain knowledge. My kids have certainly been no strangers to stitches and glue.

I am impressed though. Were they going to cycle back up the hill at the end of their school day, accident notwhithstanding?

I try to take that angle myself, but Mrs Cube is an expert at insisting guilt should be at the forefornt of every time I get my own way........

We live in a very hilly part of Yorkshire, so they are no strangers to hills, and being twins are more competitive than a very very competitive thing. They delight in climbing hills and then mocking each other at the top if one of them has to pause or (God forbid) get off and push. Takes the spotlight of their poor old dad on his 1980s relic! (Hurry up Santa!)
 
OP
OP
Cubist

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
marinyork said:
At an average slope of about 13% I'm sure they'll get very fit from the ride!


Whoops, looks like I was exagerating a bit. Mapmyride shows the journey to be a drop of 650 feet in 1.38 miles.
 
Maizie said:
Well, they've got a GREAT story to mortify their father with.
They've got some cool injuries - which may lead to the ability to say 'Look at my SCAR'.
They've had time being fussed over in A&E.
All relatives / teachers / adults-that-can-be-persuaded are going to be giving them treats, fuss, etc.
Tonight they'll probably be able to wangle a later bedtime, or extra time on the Wii, or something like that, because of the guilty parents.

Quite frankly, as a kid days don't get much better than this :smile:
+1 .. being able to tell the story to their friends will be the best thing ever. Sounds horrific but I'm glad they're OK. They're obviously made of tough stuff: send that story into the next "kids today just sit around watching telly debate" on Have Your Say. :biggrin:

Sometimes you just have to learn lessons the hard way .. I kept on at Little-LC not to overuse her front brake, but she'd discovered she liked doing little stoppies so daddy's words were ignored. Until the day she locked the front up on a slippy downhill bit and slid off.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
Sounds like you everything right and they're going to learn quick about controlling their speed on hills

If they got back on finished the ride then they were none the worse I suggest, barring stitches and stuff
 
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