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Phil (ascentale)ascentale@sfba.social
Oct 30, 2026, 11:32 PM
@cainmark asks:
I saw a narrow strip of mud, and confidently avoided it and bicycled over to the side on the dry spot. Which was just a thin layer of dry, with a lot of wet mud underneath. Slid and crashed.
A much better bicyclist than me had his worst crash turning right on the white paint of a crosswalk after a rain.
Q5. Ever had a fall from a bicycle that you knew could be avoided if you'd just remembered why you shouldn't do something?
#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes #BikeNite44_2026 cc @bikenite
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Replies

Phil (ascentale)ascentale@sfba.social
Oct 31, 2026, 6:15 AM
@cainmark @bikenite A5. Last big fall I had was while trying to mountain bike, and not doing a great job navigating.
But prior to that, I was checking something on my watch and I think pressing a button. I let my handlebar turn too much and crashed. I probably should have stopped! But maybe I was going too slow and wouldn't have had an issue if I was going faster?
#BikeNite
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ajft [SEC=4]ajft@aus.social
Oct 30, 2026, 11:34 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite #bikeNite a5 too many times! Tram tracks, sand, "I'll just cut across there"
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AI6YR Benai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
Oct 30, 2026, 11:34 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite #BikeNite A5. The only crash I have had since getting on the bike, was when I was stationary next to a curb.... and was about to get back on the bike, somehow managed to lock the front wheel and tip over on my head (slowly, no damage, thankfully). I KNEW it was going to happen. I should have just rolled the bike out to the street.
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Megan Lynchml@eldritch.cafe
Oct 30, 2026, 11:35 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5. Learned my lesson the first time I ever turned my wheel on a thick mass of street paint in the rain. I didn't "know better" the first time.
I took a corner fast recently because I was on a street with heavy traffic and the driver behind me was giving me grief. Sharp right turn and faster than I usually take it. Because it's a trike, I ended up on two wheels taking a turn that fast. First time that's ever happened to me, but I had been warned about it. I guess I thought I was immune.
Anyway, hopefully I've learned the lesson that the driver can wait.
#BikeNite
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wav3ydavewav3ydave@mas.to
Oct 30, 2026, 11:37 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite went on a Giant MTB launch outside Madrid and the first thing they said was, "If you're from the UK, don't forget the brakes are the other way round"...
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Jon RoachFourT4
Oct 31, 2026, 11:05 AM
@wav3ydave @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite ... and was there a giant MTB launch? 😃
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wav3ydavewav3ydave@mas.to
Oct 31, 2026, 3:28 PM
@FourT4 @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite enormous it was. Huge
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Axel 🚴😷🐧🐪⌨ | #WeAreNatenomxtaran@chaos.social
Oct 30, 2026, 11:41 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite #BikeNite A5: On a former railway track that had been converted to a bicycle path, they had crowd control barriers before former railway crossings. I tried to ride around them on the outer side and slipped off the tarmac, fell and bend my handlebar.
Still was able to finish the cycling tour and by chance at the LBS we figured out that my bike didn't have the original handlebar anyways.
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E r o qonuSBonus@infosec.exchange
Oct 30, 2026, 11:45 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
Ugh, I once led my former girlfriend into the LA River, under the former 6th street aqueduct, she turned behind me to head up parallel to the channel, in very shallow water, hit some algae slick, slammed her whole side into the concrete, proceeded to get more bruised trying to stand up. It was at this point the squatters started appearing out of the tubes, like some scene out of the Warriors. We fled. A mere 3 blocks from our house.
That was only the 2nd time I convinced her to get on her beautiful vintage Bianchi and go for a ride. Never again for her.
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Demiandgodon@mastodon.online
Oct 31, 2026, 3:24 AM
@onuSBonus is that why she’s a former girlfriend? 😉
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
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E r o qonuSBonus@infosec.exchange
Oct 31, 2026, 3:59 AM
@dgodon @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
It was like an ice slick. She's from Alaska. She didn't take it personally but it was so gross. I made it up to her a thousand times. In other words, yes. Yes, it is.
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Marty CormackMartyCormack@urbanists.social
Oct 30, 2026, 11:48 PM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
#BikeNite44_2026 A5:
After one crash I learned that you don't try to quickly pull back onto pavement if your front tire wandered off the pavement.
After another crash I learned to always slow down approaching a blind corner even if it's 5:45 am and you hadn't seen another cyclist or pedestrian for the previous 15 minutes.
#BikeNite
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ajft [SEC=4]ajft@aus.social
Oct 30, 2026, 11:54 PM
@MartyCormack @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite I learnt to not ride into puddles if you can't see the bottom. 30cm wide, maybe 50cm long, a rich coffee-brown in colour, who would have guessed it was also 20-30cm deep, not the 3-5cm that the road surface indicated. Splash. Thump. Crunch
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isolisol@mastodon.au
Oct 30, 2026, 11:48 PM
@ascentale @bikenite
A5: my only crash was when I avoided the "Watch out for cyclists" mobile trailer-mounted sign which was parked blocking the cycle lane 😡, and forced me into a trench cut for new curb work.
I should have watched out for "Watch out" signs 🤔
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TheAntLadytheantlady@flipping.rocks
Oct 31, 2026, 12:15 AM
@isol @ascentale @bikenite
That's the worst!!
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:15 PM
@isol @ascentale @bikenite
I hate when they put put signs like that in the bicycle lane.
#BikeNite
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EQeq@mas.to
Oct 31, 2026, 12:05 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5: First day with fresh 15 cm snow smoothly covering everything. Happily out biking with the fatbike over untouched streets. Suddenly the front wheel just flips away to the left and I feel myself slowly leaning to the right and there is nothing I can do about it. So I decide to just hold onto the handles and follow along. The snow is nicely cushioning me and my helmet and all I have is a slightly stiff neck for a few days.
The thing that hit the front wheel was of course the completely invisible 10 cm high curb where I was expecting smooth road up to the bike path at the end of a road with a turning circle. I hit it at about 10 degree angle. Been biking there 50 times at least but never thought about the curb there.
I did something similar when I was still in school so should know better. Never hit a curb at an angle, especially not when snow or ice covered...
#Bikenite
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:16 PM
@eq @ascentale @bikenite
Oof. Good lesson about snow.
#BikeNite
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JF :debian: :verbike:jfparis@rouge.eu.org
Oct 31, 2026, 12:35 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
A5: Fell when I skidded on loose gravel, taking a turn.
Nothing broken, bike was ok, just needed a new bib short.
I should have seen it coming. Learnt my lesson.
#BikeNite
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DavidSPionir@mastodon.online
Oct 31, 2026, 12:47 AM
@jfparis @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite ah yes, I've had a couple of falls due to dry rutted tracks.
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DavidSPionir@mastodon.online
Oct 31, 2026, 12:43 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite braking on a wet manhole cover while cornering has done for me, as has the same, but in the office garage with wet tyres. Both at under 10kph and rather embarrassing.
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 9:33 AM
@Pionir @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
On one of my first ever commutes I was chatting to an old hand at lights and when he realised I had been doing urban riding for a couple of weeks said "always remember white lines and manhole covers in the rain are like black ice".
I try to change my style of riding in the wet - I say to myself regularly "wet weather protocols apply" in my best Murray Walker voice to keep my mind on it.
#BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes
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Megan Lynchml@eldritch.cafe
Oct 31, 2026, 9:35 AM
@MatthewNewell @bikenite Yup. This is why it's among my first advice to new cyclists asking. Along with: ride across grates and tram tracks, not parallel to them.
#BikeNite
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Jon RoachFourT4
Oct 31, 2026, 11:05 AM
@ml @MatthewNewell @bikenite cattle grids likewise 😬 although by design they're laid in the right orientation.
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Megan Lynchml@eldritch.cafe
Oct 31, 2026, 11:06 AM
@FourT4 @MatthewNewell @bikenite In car-centric cities, they can put so little thought into these things that they're basically creating death traps for cyclists.
They end up being just the right width to catch a cycle tire. #BikeNite
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DavidSPionir@mastodon.online
Oct 31, 2026, 1:16 PM
@MatthewNewell @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
Yeah, it was a moment of distraction turning right around a mini roundabout by the Barbican with a zebra on the exit. I noticed a pedestrian waiting to cross so missed the manhole cover. A nice taxi driver behind me stopped to make sure I was OK. Then I walked the 50m to my office garage entrance completely embarassed
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 1:54 PM
@Pionir @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
That horrible instant when one can feel the wheel going but nothing can be done
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AlexanderBongoTwisty@vivaldi.net
Oct 31, 2026, 4:59 PM
@MatthewNewell @Pionir @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite black ice has done that to me a good few times.
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:17 PM
@MatthewNewell @Pionir @ascentale @bikenite
Yup.
#BikeNite
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kimukimu@wandering.shop
Oct 31, 2026, 12:49 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5. LOL, hasn’t everyone?? I once fell because I went parallelish across railroad tracks instead of perpendicular (*facepalm*). My dumbest fall was actually deciding to try to get across some ice (assuming it was melting & breaking up) instead of just getting off and walking over it. #BikeNite
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Jack Coates 🐀puercomal@sfba.social
Oct 31, 2026, 1:25 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
A5. train tracks, gravel, curbs, potholes, I’ve gone down on all of the above. Most avoidable and embarrassing was just a steep downhill curve that my brakes weren’t up to, crashed into some trash cans.
#BikeNite #BikeNite44_2026
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rollover country 🗾🚴‍♀️🇯🇵💨fgbjr@indieweb.social
Oct 31, 2026, 1:46 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5: Wet steel grates and covers. I've had a bike go suddenly horizontal on me a couple of times when changing direction over steel fixtures during or just after a rain. Doesn't take much, and small wheels (once was on 16" wheels) seem a little more slippery.
#bikeNite
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Ryanfullywoolly@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 2:44 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
#BikeNite A5 Went down in some train tracks I was crossing not quite perpendicular, because of how this track cut across the road. A car was coming toward me and I angled back, the rear tire got sucked in and down I went.
Wouldn't realize my derailleur hanger bent until I tried riding again after walking for a bit and having my whole derailleur get sucked into my spokes.
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Demiandgodon@mastodon.online
Oct 31, 2026, 3:31 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite a5. Made the mistake of holding something in one hand leaving me with limited braking ability for “just a short errand.” Rear-ended a car. I was a bit dazed (possibly a minor concussion) for a few minutes but quickly ok. Definitely a lesson learned.
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:33 PM
@dgodon @ascentale @bikenite
Hard lesson to learn.
#BikeNite
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Eclectic HumanEclecticHuman@zirk.us
Oct 31, 2026, 4:02 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
I carry scars from a few cycling mistakes:
- Crossing train tracks at the wrong angle (twice! 2nd time I cracked my helmet)
- Making a sharp turn too fast onto loose gravel.
- Cycling across rutted ice instead of dismounting and walking.
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Bob Jonkmanbobjonkman@mastodon.sdf.org
Oct 31, 2026, 5:21 AM
#BikeNite A5: I got too close to the edge of a forest trail, and my front wheel went off the groomed path down into the brushy growth. I know to make a sharp, quick turn so the wheel climbs back up on the path. But I didn't. I lost speed, and slowly, very slowly, toppled over and landed in the brush.
Nothing hurt but my ego.
@ascentale
@cainmark @bikenite
#BikeNite44_2026
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LovesTha🥧LovesTha@floss.social
Oct 31, 2026, 6:03 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite a5 #bikeNite
Two that stick out:
First time clipless, didn't succeed in getting foot out when my slow u turn in the work carpark failed. It was Saturday so no witnesses. No injury.
6 weeks before my wedding the front wheel popped. The rim brakes had been pressing on the sidewall...... The gravel rash on my knee healed just in time to get proper use out of the last dance classes the week of the wedding.
I like disc brakes :)
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 9:37 AM
@LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
#BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes
I still shudder and give thanks to nameless deities that this happened whilst the wheel was warming up in my office - rather than on Etape de Dales a few days previously
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Mark ChickDurableAce@vivaldi.net
Oct 31, 2026, 10:15 AM
@MatthewNewell @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite Plenty of life left in that.
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Jon RoachFourT4
Oct 31, 2026, 10:52 AM
@DurableAce @MatthewNewell @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite The rest of the rim is fine. Haven't you heard of half-wheeling?
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 11:48 AM
@FourT4 @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
But isn't half wheeling practically a capital offence in group riding?
I think I still have the hub and spokes laced to another rim so I suppose I am still half using it.
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 11:46 AM
@DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
🤪

When I measured the rear was even worse! Not sure why the front went first.
The noise was stupendous. I work opposite the Home Office (as was, now Ministry of Justice) and we have bomb drills and special anti explosive shard film on windows etc - I was convinced something was going on like that. Literally hid under my desk till I was calmed down
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Lukewlukewindsor@c.im
Oct 31, 2026, 11:52 AM
@MatthewNewell @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite I had a similar explosion a few years ago: pumped up my tyre and went into another room and sat down - the bang was loud enough through the wall to nearly send my through the ceiling!
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 12:03 PM
@wlukewindsor @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
I was sitting 2 metres away, writing up my notes on a prior conversation, concentrating with a closed door to keep the noise of the office out, and completely terrified.
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Horst Storkebaumhorststorkebaum@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 7:10 PM
@MatthewNewell
The front breaking first is unusual if both wheels have the same mileage. If someone let's it get so far the rear rim exploding is the warning sign that you should replace the front rim as well. That happening on the front during a ride is scary.
But the alloy Mavic used for a long time is problematic as its overload behavior is brittle. It breaks without prior warning.
@DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
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Danieldan@axillae.telent.net
Oct 31, 2026, 7:31 PM
@horststorkebaum @MatthewNewell @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite that seems quite unintuitive if the bike has rim brakes, most of the braking effort will be on the front so the front rim will get thinner sooner?
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Horst Storkebaumhorststorkebaum@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 7:42 PM
@dan
Because the rear wheel is much dirtier from all the water the front wheel sprays onto it.
@MatthewNewell @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
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Matthew NewellMatthewNewell@mastodon.social
Oct 31, 2026, 8:00 PM
@dan @horststorkebaum @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
I agree with your intuition but agree with Horst's reasoning. When I looked at my own use of brakes, because of said unequal wear, I realised that although front was for stopping and with shifting mass on bike has much more friction - I used the back a lot in commuting for the periodic slowing needed to stay in traffic. And that slowing is deliberately dragging back brake for longer periods than sharper front usage
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LovesTha🥧LovesTha@floss.social
Oct 31, 2026, 9:22 PM
@MatthewNewell @dan @horststorkebaum @DurableAce @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite while the back might get those longer slow grind uses that thin it out more, the front has the intense uses that thermal cycle it more, possibly weakening the metal allowing it to break first?
Or just the front had a minor defect that was a weak point.
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Horst Storkebaumhorststorkebaum@mastodon.social
Nov 1, 2026, 11:36 AM
@LovesTha
The temperatures reached in braking with a rim brake are not affecting the aluminum alloy at all.
If you want to go for a deterministic reason why Matthew's front rim broke before the rear I'd offer that the wall thickness is not uniform. Those rims were welded and then machined. The rim often is not flat after welding, but is machined flat. Which removes more material than intended from the brake track in some places.
@MatthewNewell @dan @DurableAce @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite
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LovesTha🥧LovesTha@floss.social
Nov 1, 2026, 10:27 PM
@horststorkebaum @MatthewNewell @dan @DurableAce @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite most probably.
But that recall of titanium Lacrosse poles in the 90s that would shatter after thermal cycling in a car keeps me skeptical of just how reliable these things are.
Outliers exist.
But you are probably right. Inconsistent thickness after milling is a very likely manufacturing inconsistency.
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:35 PM
@MatthewNewell @DurableAce @LovesTha @ascentale @bikenite
Scary.
#BikeNite
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Lukewlukewindsor@c.im
Oct 31, 2026, 10:15 AM
@MatthewNewell @LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite 😮😮😮
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AlexanderBongoTwisty@vivaldi.net
Oct 31, 2026, 5:02 PM
@LovesTha @ascentale @cainmark @bikenite Clipless shamed cutting through the middle of stationary traffic. Fell into the back of a custom van. No damage done but the driver was properly pissed off with me.
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rand ⛵️🥾🚴‍♂️🧗‍♂️ ❌👑rand@sfba.social
Oct 31, 2026, 6:04 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5. “They” are building apartments/condominiums around here like crazy. One day riding to a physical therapy appointment,taking my usual circuitous route to avoid wait at the light on our 8 lane expressway, the construction site was trying to do the right thing and keep the street clean. Running a street sweeper around to pick up the dirt. Of course dirt is dusty, so they were spraying to keep that down. I can around the corner and mud… everywhere! So I thought, just coast through it, no sudden movements, no braking or turning.
Then I was down (I have no recollection of what happened). I got up, rode to pt, my therapist noticed the blood on my leg, through the holes in my new leggings (not a lot though). X-rays the following day confirmed a broken wrist. (It healed enough correctly, so no surgery). Road rash was well a pain. I avoided that route for like a year! #BikeNite
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Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲cainmark@mstdn.social
Nov 1, 2026, 5:37 PM
@rand @ascentale @bikenite
I understand why you'd avoid that route for a while. Hope you healed well.
#BikeNite
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rand ⛵️🥾🚴‍♂️🧗‍♂️ ❌👑rand@sfba.social
Nov 1, 2026, 7:06 PM
@cainmark @ascentale @bikenite I did, it took a few months before my wrist felt back to normal, but the bone was knitted back up in about a month.
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SimplicatorSimplicator@federate.social
Oct 31, 2026, 6:47 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite Nearly lost it when I took a turn across one of those orange bumpy street corner patches meant to help disabled folks. Poor design that it has lower traction! (& yes it was a sidewalk & bike path combo, not just a sidewalk)
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markn🚲markn
Oct 31, 2026, 6:52 AM
@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A5. On the mountain bike I repeatedly fail to learn that going straight through or over something with a bit of commitment is generally better than the hesitant go round the side and fall off option.
Now I'm older and less invincible this happens more. Ironically - now I'm more worried about falling off - I fall off more.
Fortunately it's usually low drama stuff.
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