Good morning,
I had a minor crash this morning while riding my Motobecane into Morgantown in the dark and it was a reminder to me about a simple, but profoundly helpful, riding habit. I was coming down a slight hill on an alley with speed bumps. The speed bumps weren't marked in any way so I didn't see this one and hit it with my hands lightly on the bars, and holding the brake levers. My immediate instinct was to grip the bars to keep from slipping off forward - when I did so I pulled the front brake, throwing me over the handlebars. I was mostly uninjured because I kept my arms out in front of me, Superman style, and landed on the (smooth, paved) ground impacting my elbow, hands and thigh.
The habit I would recommend is that you don't put your hand on the front brake unless you plan on using it. Some of you 24hr MTB riders might have additional advice on this. I also plan to do the following to prevent other incidents.
- Get a better light
- Ask the property owner to paint the speedbump
- Ride my recumbent more.
- Practice riding down bumpy descents
It was also a reminder that 80% of crashes don't involve any other vehicle, that means the prevention is completely within our control by learning to ride safer.
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