Riding on sheet ice

[StuartG]

The thing about a serious head or hip injury is that you could write about it on a forum afterwards when breaking a hip, but get a serious head injury, and you may never have that option again...even if you live.

Or not! I write and ride reasonably competently having had two head fractures - one as a baby when I fell out of a tin bath on a table onto the floor and the second as a kid falling off a wall. My skull is now an interesting shape if you would like a quick feel

Head injuries can be serious - or not. Skulls and contents can withstand great damage and deformation. Or you can just be unlucky and a small bump (with/without helmet) may lead to life changing or terminating trauma. This issue is compounded by the fact that superficial cuts usually generate great outpourings of blood because of the way our circulations work. This can make many head injuries look a great deal worse than they really are.

 

[theclaud]

FTFY

The whole point about an accident is that loss of control means exactly that. You rarely get a choice in how you land when going over on ice (or diesel). I've managed to damage crash helmets on every fall I've had on a motorbike....yes that one in my avatar on both the track and the road.
The thing about a serious head or hip injury is that you could write about it on a forum afterwards when breaking a hip, but get a serious head injury, and you may never have that option again...even if you live.

Of course the converse applies - I never said it didn't. It's also true that you go down very fast on ice and don't have any time to think about falling in clever ways. That doesn't make it especially likely that you will hit your head, or get a serious head injury. I've fallen on ice several times, and sustained mostly minor limb injuries, plus one rather nasty ankle sprain.

 

[black'n'yellow]

Nonsense.

My friends son was killed in India 2 weeks ago riding a moped...no crash helmet, skull broken in 3 places, and face unrecognisable...killed instantly

You recall the crash I witnessed of another friend a few years ago. His first point of contact was his head when he hit the road, He suffered no head or neck injuries, but broke his hip and femur. The hip was put right that night and has not bothered him since.

Amazing - two different types of injury in two differnt types of accident. Quick, someone tell the ONS....

Incidentally - 'compacted snow' is not 'sheet ice' - so the thread is pointless.

 

[Rob3rt]

"Some old bunkum"

Lolford strikes again!

 

[snorri]

Of course the converse applies - I never said it didn't.

Thoroughly exasperating innit?

 

[Linford]

Amazing - two different types of injury in two differnt types of accident. Quick, someone tell the ONS....

Incidentally - 'compacted snow' is not 'sheet ice' - so the thread is pointless.

So what do you call it when it goes opaque from the freeze, thaw, refereeze which we get in the UK ?

Oh yes....Ice

Funny enough, the guy who broke his hip on my bike works for the ONS as a data analyst

 

[Linford]

Lolford strikes again!

I spy a twat...have the courtesy to intruduce yourself before you start...you have no class

 

[theclaud]

I spy a twat...have the courtesy to intruduce yourself before you start...you have no class

Eh? He's an established member of the forum, with the best part of 4,000 posts. Are you some kind of V.I.P. or something? Be so good as to let us know the protocols for addressing you, before we think of our own...

 

[jefmcg]

I was thinking almost the opposite of this this morning. I normally cycle without a helmet (for good reasons I won't go into here). Today I caught public transport, dealing with slippery snow on the footpath, ice as I crossed the roads, wet floors in the train station, up and down stairs in thick boots. I was much more of risk of a head injury this morning than I am on a dry commute, but I didn't wear a helmet.

Nor did any other commuters I saw. When will they legislate to protect us from ourselves, and make helmets compulsory in icy conditions?

 

[Linford]

Eh? He's an established member of the forum, with the best part of 4,000 posts. Are you some kind of V.I.P. or something? Be so good as to let us know the protocols for addressing you, before we think of our own...

I've no doubt he is capable of responding without you having to fight his battles for him Claudine.

 

[theclaud]

I've no doubt he is capable of responding without you having to fight his battles for him Claudine.

I don't doubt it. But it's a bit rich to accuse someone of discourtesy and call them a twat in the same breath, is it not?

 

[srw]

I was out on saturday on the MTB

Sod the question. What about this, eh? A whole year of mild weather, and no bike action. The first snowy weekend in months and he's straight out there on a bike. Talk about bad timing.

 

[Linford]

Sod the question. What about this, eh? A whole year of mild weather, and no bike action. The first snowy weekend in months and he's straight out there on a bike. Talk about bad timing.

I only got it on the thursday evening before. The rest of the weekend was taken ferrying people around the hills in the 4x4. The BB on my own bike is buggered , and so hateful to ride, I was happy to not bother.

 

[I like Skol]

Lolford strikes again!

I think what Rob3rt meant (and I have met him, quite an amiable chap) is, Isn't this a very thinly veiled attempt at reopening the helmet discussion/debate that has been done to death over and over and over and over and over and............

 

[ColinJ]

You recall the crash I witnessed of another friend a few years ago. His first point of contact was his head when he hit the road, He suffered no head or neck injuries, but broke his hip and femur. The hip was put right that night and has not bothered him since.

Whereas my brother-in-law fell off a ladder, broke his hip, had it pinned back together, didn't recover properly from the operation, had the blood supply to the head of the femur fail to reestablish itself causing the bone to go necrotic (?), had hip replacement surgery with the new long-lasting type of hip joint, which turns out not to be, with particles of metal coming off and potentially poisoning him, and is now having 3-monthly check-ups and has been told that he will probably need a second hip replacement in his early 50s which will also probably fail at some point and might not be replaceable again ...

All of which tells me that breaking a hip is not something to take lightly, so, having had 3 falls on sheet ice in one hour in the past, I do my best to avoid cycling (or walking) on it now!