High-fiving a passing cyclist is a BAD idea!

[Mortal Coil]

Had my first proper crash yesterday! I was cruising along a bike path when a cyclist coming in the opposite direction gave me a thumbs up and held out his hand for a high five. Stupidly I took him up on it...

CRASH!!

I twisted, went down on one side, hit my head and then rolled. My wheel went end over end.

I would have been doing around 30-40kph

Miraculously I pretty much came away unharmed! I have a friction graze on one elbow and a minor bruise on my hip.

My wheel is another matter, the bodyguard saved the shell, but the trolley handle came unlatched and half extended and now won’t extend properly. The mudguard is half torn off  I’m going to have to see if I can source some replacement parts for my 16X

Going over my gear I was able to assess that my helmet first and foremost saved my life. There is a big scratch on the left side of the forehead. The visor is ruined, so the fact that it was a full face TSG Pass probably saved my face. The top side of my left flex meter wrist guard is badly scratched up, so it definitely saved my hand. The left hand dual-axis knee guard also has some minor scratching. The star of the show was my cordura motorcycle jacket! It protected my elbow as I landed and my shoulder as I rolled. I can see from the wear of the material that it stuck the pavement really hard yet yet the padding on the shoulders and elbow really did their job. I only have a bit of stiffness in my shoulder and a minor friction burn on my elbow.

All in all I was extremely fortunate, and I am glad that I invested in a decent amount of gear. I’m feeling very sheepish about the cause of the accident. An impromptu 50kph high-five on a unicycle with a stranger is a shockingly bad idea, and had I thought about it for a second I would have declined. But good manners is so ingrained that I reflexively took him up on it!

Edited February 12, 2020 by Mortal Coil

[Wazi Bat]

Ouch! Brutal... Just curious did the hi-five rotate you, or induce a wobble?  Glad you were kitted up!  I would totally go for a hi-five, that's good to know; only low speed fist bumps now. Hope everything works out with the wheel!        

[rainystateguy]

I am glad to hear that you survived relatively unscathed. I will remember not to high five anyone while I am riding.  In return let me pass on a bit of wisdom that I learned the hard way: When you are riding a motorcycle, and  find your right hand busy holding an object - DON'T reach across with your left hand to turn the throttle.  

Edited February 14, 2020 by rainystateguy
repair typo

[Mortal Coil]

27 minutes ago, Wazi Bat said:

Ouch! Brutal... Just curious did the hi-five rotate you, or induce a wobble?  Glad you were kitted up!  I would totally go for a hi-five, that's good to know; only low speed fist bumps now. Hope everything works out with the wheel!        

The high-five twisted me. I was expecting a light finger tip style high-five, but he gave me the full solid wrist...

[null]

You get twisted and you dont have much control in that direction. Two friends (just beginning) thought it would be a good idea to high-five (both on wheels) they did a symmetrical swirl fall, luckily at low speed.

Good to hear you made it fairly well in spite of the speed.

[Jonesq]

As someone who often gives/receives high-fives while riding, here's my tip:

If you ride in the U.S., chances are the person you are high-fiving will be on your left side. If you are on your EUC, then your high-five will be travelling at least as fast as you are moving. Therefore, I like to turn my left shoulder slightly forward in preparation as you will likely need to counter lean a bit towards the right to keep yourself from being knocked off balance.

It also helps to actively swing your arm forwards while keeping your hand limp. You want your hand limp to minimize the force of the impact. You want to swing your arm forwards because if you keep your arm extended to your side, you are already at the maximum range of movement of your arm which means that your body will turn to the left when make impact. If your arms are a bit forward with your hand limp, it allows more give so that your body doesn't absorb the force and turn.

I love high-fiving other people as it helps spread the stoke!

[Mortal Coil]

I have to say that I have significantly reassessed the risk/reward of high-fiving and I will not be attempting it again in the future.This is unfortunate, I agree as it is a good stoke spreading opportunity. However, if we are being wheel ambassadors, the last thing we want people to see is us going down in a spectacular heap from something as innocuous as a friendly high-five.

Practice and technique could minimise the risk, at the very least I would recommend slowing right down. The combined speeds that I was high-fiving at would have been 50kph+ You wouldn't high five a standing pedestrian through your car window as you drove past at 50kph!

[meepmeepmayer]

It's not high-fiving, but touching a passing leaf or running your fingertips along a metal fence quickly teaches you to keep your hands off everything that may come your way.

Here's a nice (harmless) example:

Stuff comes at you fast and hard, even the things you don't expect to be much.

[Marty Backe]

4 hours ago, Jonesq said:

As someone who often gives/receives high-fives while riding, here's my tip:

If you ride in the U.S., chances are the person you are high-fiving will be on your left side. If you are on your EUC, then your high-five will be travelling at least as fast as you are moving. Therefore, I like to turn my left shoulder slightly forward in preparation as you will likely need to counter lean a bit towards the right to keep yourself from being knocked off balance.

It also helps to actively swing your arm forwards while keeping your hand limp. You want your hand limp to minimize the force of the impact. You want to swing your arm forwards because if you keep your arm extended to your side, you are already at the maximum range of movement of your arm which means that your body will turn to the left when make impact. If your arms are a bit forward with your hand limp, it allows more give so that your body doesn't absorb the force and turn.

I love high-fiving other people as it helps spread the stoke!

Just don't do it. The last time I returned a high-five he clearly attempted to cause me to lose balance, and I almost did. Scared the crap out of me. Never gain. I usually just give a thumbs up or a virtual high-five.

[Rehab1]

There is one guy we know that high fives regularly.....Alex Segmuller 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Rehab1

[Marty Backe]

3 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

There is one guy we know that high fives regularly.....Alex Segmuller 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, but he's not going 15+ mph at the time

[Rehab1]

Just now, Marty Backe said:

Yeah, but he's not going 15+ mph at the time

No but he is fun to watch. 

[Unventor]

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

It's not high-fiving, but touching a passing leaf or running your fingertips along a metal fence quickly teaches you to keep your hands off everything that may come your way.

Here's a nice (harmless) example:

Stuff comes at you fast and hard, even the things you don't expect to be much.

Nice recall @meepmeepmayer.

I recall viewing this back in my early days on the EUC community. 

[AtlasP]

I wouldn't high-five anyone riding anything towards me, but I will slow down and fist-bump pedestrians when they want to high-five/instead of high-fiving. High-fives can have a wide range of amount of force which is hard to predict due to how fast it happens, and you're already committed to how much force you put in before you get feedback of how much they're putting in. By contrast most people fist-bump much lighter and slower, and if they try to push through hard to mess with you you can just go limp in the elbow and they get nothing.

I figured this out after one or two slightly scary high-fives (although I never went down from it), but after making the switch I've never had any sort of danger/problem fist-bumping people.

Edited February 18, 2020 by AtlasP

[Daley1]

Glad ur ok and go,s to again show the beauty of having high quality safety gear for those little unexpected moments we kiss the Asphalt God.A good note for younger riders to not skimp on safety gear!

Is ur euc still ridable for the March 8 ride?

[Mortal Coil]

7 minutes ago, Daley1 said:

Glad ur ok and go,s to again show the beauty of having high quality safety gear for those little unexpected moments we kiss the Asphalt God.A good note for younger riders to not skimp on safety gear!

Is ur euc still ridable for the March 8 ride?

Thanks @Daley1. My wheel is still ridable, so March 8 is definitely still on!

The trolley handle can only be extended halfway and the mudguard is hanging from a thread of rubber, but I'm still riding to work every day.

[Unventor]

@Mortal Coil thanks for sharing your experience. It is not that I enjoy hearing of people crashing or them getting injured. But...

I think it keep us reminded that things can go tits up very fast. 

I like the fact that you were more or less fully geared up. And since I use a TSG Pass helmet too it is great to hear it did its job. 

I actually had a cyclist doing something similar to me today as I went shopping going home from work. 

I suspect you only in a few days will find how hard an impact you have had. I find it takes a few days before the bruising and stiffness settles. 

As for the figh five and speed. I think it take a mid high accident for many to realise that forces are involved riding and that we are limited protected. I have had 2 accidents at 25-30kmh. Let's not repost the pictures from those, but going twice that speed would 4x the forces a body needs to handle. That is why my cruising speed have dropped a bit from 40-45ish kmh to 30-35ish kmh on open roads and 20-25ish kmh in city centers/congested areas. 

Wish you a speedy recovery. 

[mrelwood]

5 minutes ago, Unventor said:

going twice that speed would 4x the forces a body needs to handle.

When high-fiveing yes, but not in a fall though. The vertical speed you'd hit the pavement at doesn't directly increase from riding faster. Someone even mentioned recently that his high-speed fall was less harmful than a mid-speed one, since the fast one turned into a slide easier. Not saying I'd rather fall at a higher speed, just that the difference may not necessarily be that huge.

22 minutes ago, Unventor said:

I think it keep us reminded that things can go tits up very fast. 

Absolutely! And that's exactly why I read every crash story, even ones with the nastiest photos. I'm hoping it could help me avoid a crash some day.

[Unventor]

2 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

When high-fiveing yes, but not in a fall though. The vertical speed you'd hit the pavement at doesn't directly increase from riding faster. Someone even mentioned recently that his high-speed fall was less harmful than a mid-speed one, since the fast one turned into a slide easier. Not saying I'd rather fall at a higher speed, just that the difference may not necessarily be that huge.

Each accident has its own circumstances. That have also impact on the mechanics of an impact. If you recall the accident I had clipping a curb avoiding a skateboarder using my bike lane (and his going in S curves) that had no sliding option no matter the speed. My other of gravel planning/skid on asphalt was at 30kmh but that one I slide on my back and elbows. But a 1.5ish meter fall flat on my back did some amazing bruising.....nope no reposition if pictures... 

But simple physics still dictates 2x speed equals 4x force, how that force is dispersed may differ. 

But the short point here, ride with respect of speed and be smart about what you do. 

[mrelwood]

7 minutes ago, Unventor said:

But simple physics still dictates 2x speed equals 4x force, how that force is dispersed may differ. 

But the short point here, ride with respect of speed and be smart about what you do. 

Absolutely! I wish it wouldn't require a bad crash for some riders to learn those words of wisdom.

[Mortal Coil]

It rained heavily after lunch today. I needed to do something about the torn mudguard for the trip home. So I took a leaf out of the JDM racers book and did some cable tie cross stitching.

I'm quite happy with the result!

[rainystateguy]

5 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

It's not high-fiving, but touching a passing leaf or running your fingertips along a metal fence quickly teaches you to keep your hands off everything that may come your way.

It is funny, but the two videos I have just finished watching this evening were the one you posted which TheTopher made shortly after he began riding, and then this one he made two years later.  It answered the question I had, which was "I wonder if he is he still riding without any protection?"

I bet that he gave up on grabbing random leaves too. 

[meepmeepmayer]

47 minutes ago, rainystateguy said:

It answered the question I had, which was "I wonder if he is he still riding without any protection?"

I didn't think about it when watching the video back then, but today I just wondered how he could wear no protection (at least he had wrist guards).

I guess we all learn from our mistakes

Edited February 14, 2020 by meepmeepmayer
missing word

[Chaindrop]

On 2/13/2020 at 7:06 PM, Marty Backe said:

Just don't do it. The last time I returned a high-five he clearly attempted to cause me to lose balance, and I almost did. Scared the crap out of me. Never gain. I usually just give a thumbs up or a virtual high-five.

If you see that person again, accelerate to 50+ kph and Falcon Punch him.

[Daley1]

Is a Falcon punch the same as a Superman punch?lol