Yesterday, my GF joined me for a lovely bike ride of almost 20 miles. Unfortunately, at around the half-way point there's a railroad crossing at a very acute angle, about 30 degrees. It was very clearly marked, as we were riding along "New York Bicycle Route 5" which, as the name would indicate, is designed for long-distance riders.

Just before we reached the rails, I hollered out "Careful at the crossing!" to remind her what to do… but I had told her what to do at a non-perpendicular crossing a good six months ago, and she'd never had a chance to put the instructions into action and thus remember them. (For the record: turn into the rails so you cross them at close to a 90 degree angle). She thought I was warning her about some unusual traffic condition, she slowed down and looked around, then took a hard spill when her front wheel dropped into the crossing's flange slot. Once we picked her up, she soldiered on, declining my offer to race ahead and come back with a car. The damage was limited to quite a bit of surface bleeding: skinned elbow, skinned knee, and parallel scratches on one forearm. Her bike gloves saved the skin on her hands, which is their primary job! It's a good thing she was wearing them.

In a few days she should be healed up to go for another ride.

UPDATE: Here's a close-up of the damage to her arm!

Posted by: Boviate at 09:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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