Protip: Always watch where you are going! Also, wrist guards are pretty neat and knee guards might be nice to have too...

[meepmeepmayer]

Thanks! The stuff that hurts (some bruises) is getting better day by day, so I should be good soon.

Yea, I've heard Florida has no helmet laws. Though maybe better than overregulation  (though simple helmet-required laws aren't that imho).

This vest may be a little overkill for EUCs, but you could probably make up a situation where it would help. Like with any other piece of protective gear.

[WARPed1701D]

7 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Yea, I've heard Florida has no helmet laws. Though maybe better than overregulation  (though simple helmet-required laws aren't that imho). 

Coming from riding motorcycles in the UK I was shocked at how many people didn't wear helmets (or any gear in fact) in FL. It used to upset me...make me angry even. Eventually I realized I had to change my mindset. After all their lack of protection does not and will not harm me in any way. The only person who will suffer is them. I decided to view it as an extension of Darwinism and any fatal accident cleans the pool up a bit. I feel sad to have taken this view but it is what it is. Now we just need to institute a 3 strikes rule for patching people up. Be stupid once and hurt yourself, OK we patch you up. Do it again and we patch you up with a warning. Come back a third time and you are on your own and Darwin gets a shot at you. Modern medicine interferes with Darwinism (by stupidity) too much. Stupid recurring accidents also should affect health insurance costs for the patient so the rest of us don't pay for the stupidity of other. I'll happily contribute extra while I'm healthy to cover the costs of the genuinely sick....but not the persistently stupid.

[novazeus]

looking better.

https://www.amazon.com/Rubies-Costume-Inflatable-Full-Body/dp/B008M631IM

[Marty Backe]

On 11/9/2017 at 6:07 AM, meepmeepmayer said:

Had a little crash today. Nothing big, but still it happened and could easily have been worse.

Was riding my ACM on a nice, wide, straight bike path and fixing my jacket's annoying hood (to help against the wind) aka not looking where I was going for a few moments (and especially not checking the ground ahead). What can happen on such a neat open path, right?

Boom, a rock in the middle of the road! Most likely from a guy mowing the grass with a vehicle there a few moments earlier, and kicking the mower-endangering thing from the grass out of the way (= onto the middle of the paved path). And I went right across it. Here's the asshole rock from the inconsiderate mowing guy. Not that big, but unfortunately big enough. Took it home on the way back from the doctor, it was right along the way, that's why there are pictures.

Not sure how exactly the crash happened, but I felt neither a big bump nor the pedals of my ACM dipping, nor any sideways tumbling. I believe the wheel simply stopped going as fast as I did (25km/h), so I was thrown forward, landed on my hands (wrist guards, thankfully, but that was all the protection I had) and slid to a stop. Basically like driving against a surprise curb.

Results:

• Bloody knee with a deep-ish wound. But nothing worse than that.
• The road grated through my jeans (knee and pocket), as well as through my wind jacket, two layers of sweater and a tiny bit of my arm's skin (thankfully it was so cold today, this would have been an unpleasantly bloody matter in summer without the layers, now the arm is good). My clothing, decimated! Actually, much more than decimated, really have to go shopping now.
• Bruised (a little) shoulder. Again, not bad at all, but can take some weeks to heal (aka not feel it a little).
• Some bruising on my leg where my phone was.

In the end, basically nothing happened injury-wise (though I went to a doctor just to be sure), and I got my apparently overdue tetanus immunization up to date this way

Lessons learned:

• Look where you are going, really! EUC safety tip #1!
  Just because there's a nice wide track before you, does not mean it's safe, even if someone is riding/driving in front of you quite fast.
• Damn, wrist guards are really the most important safety gear everyone should wear! Without them cushioning the fall and the hard plastic preventing grating my hand, I might very well have the same kind of horrible hand injury @Jason McNeil was showing photos of a few years ago (don't look them up if you don't like injury photos). Now my hands are fine. No bruise, no nothing.
• Don't have ANY hard stuff in your pants pockets. That's in a place where your body lands on the ground, and anything hard will ram right into your leg muscles and give you a nice bruise in the shape of the very thing, or worse (keys would probably ram right into the flesh). No going up stairs for 2 weeks then (I had this earier, this time it was almost nothing).
  Same applies to any other pockets. Hard stuff in your jacket inside pocket would probably break your ribs (!), jacket outside pocket is right above the hip bone, etc. Don't have anyhing hard in your pockets when riding! Maybe back pockets are fine, unless you fall on your behind. The only other hole in my jeans except the knee is where I had hard stuff in my pant pocket.
• Knee guards are more or less the second most likely piece of protection you'll ever be glad about. Had two smaller crashes now (the first one, a low speed uphill cut-out, convinced me to get wrist guards), and it was wrists and knees under attack both times.
• Guess I should get a helmet before I have a third crash with "minor" injuries on the head making me wear one
• I never expected EUCs to be fast enough (when around 25-30 km/h) so that the pavement (potentially) ripping your skin away would be an issue (like it is for motorbikers). But in a crash where you don't hit anything, this may be a more considerable thing than impact protection!
  I don't like elbow guards or crazy full body armor, but I'm seriously thinking about some abrasion-resistant jacket, ideally padded (most of all on the shoulder, maybe elbow too). Easy and fast to take on and off. Maybe a motorcycle jacket? Again, if this had happened in summer, no idea how my arm would look now.
  Also, never expected to ever think about shoulder protection, but you'll always fall a bit sideways and then that's where you hit the ground, too.

[These are in imho order of importance]

TLDR: Look where you are going and always check the ground before you, also protective clothing works (you wouldn't believe it), and consider abrasion, not just absolute worst cases (cut-out, rammed by car) when thinking about protection.

Hoping this helps someone, or at least offers some entertainment.

(Any ideas what to do with the rock?)

Wow @meepmeepmayer, somehow I missed this post. Good lessons learned.

Knowing that you are not damaged, is it OK for me to laugh at your statement about the rock; "Not that big". Are you insane? It looks like a boulder. It's huge. I would have the fear of God in me if I saw my wheel heading towards that 

I've had enough falls from hitting things that I now always ride like a Cylon in Battlestar Galactica - snanning the way in front of me continuously 

Wise works regarding objects in your pockets. I still do it, but I've gotten some good bruising from those objects.

I assume the wheel weathered the fall A-OK. Glad you're doing fine.

[meepmeepmayer]

7 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I've had enough falls from hitting things that I now always ride like a Cylon in Battlestar Galactica - snanning the way in front of me continuously 

Haha, that's a great description!

Crash happened the one time I didn't do that for 3 seconds, as I expected to be safe (someone was riding a bike quite quickly in front of me). Lessons learned  Therefore, "Watch where you are going!"

7 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I assume the wheel weathered the fall A-OK. Glad you're doing fine.

Haven't really had a look at the ACM, but after the crash I turned around and went home with it (was close) perfectly fine. So it shouldn't be too bad. I dont think there's any damage beside some standard light scratches. It simply went against a bump and then the rider was gone, and it stopped somehow (wish I had a video). No wheel-endangering situation.