OW!

Part 1:
I've had some other posts in mind for the blog, but circumstances have intervened... Had a mishap while riding in Ann Arbor this evening.  Going down a hill trail on the north side of the river, came upon some steps made of railroad ties, secured by rebar pounded in the front.  Was slowing down to dismount and walk down (was steep and curving), when I lost my balance and my leg happened to land on some rebar sticking up past the step... the result is above. 

On the plus side it is basically a flesh wound, and while painful, should be fine.  Think it was 15 stitches.  Hadn't been sure of my plans tomorrow, looks like I am out for a few days at least.


Part 2:
Thinking about the accident some more, I fell on my right side, still clipped in... my leg scraped across the rebar piece in a downhill direction... when it hit the soft tissue went from scrape to laceration.  It didn't hurt a huge amount after all motion stopped, it had been more of a bright stinging sensation.  After I extricated myself from the rebar, it was pretty easy to tell it was a serious injury.  I was in the area of the Ann Arbor downhill trails, which are across the Huron River from the U of M hospital, so I rode my bike up to the emergency room.  There was bleeding, but it wasn't gushing...

My shoe had some splatter.  

There was an Ann Arbor Public Safety officer in the entrance of the emergency room directing the human traffic, he asked my business and I pointed at my leg, he let out some exclamation and immediately got a wheel chair for me.  He also retrieved my seat bag which had my driver's licence in it, and also made sure my bike was taken  care of, thanks Officer!!  After actually getting into the treatment area, things did take some time to develop, but generally speaking things happened pretty quickly.  They took 2 x-rays to make sure no large debris was stuck in the large part of the wound.  After that I waited again, then they used a water gun and 2 liters of saline to clean the wound.  Then the stitches and a tetanus shot.

No contest in an encounter with rebar.  

I was definitely satisfied with the care I received, considering how busy the place was, but on the other hand my injury also needed to be taken care of sooner than later.  Not the outcome I was looking for on a relatively casual Ann Arbor trail exploration ride, but also could have been much worse.  Hopefully can get out for a ride this week and do the Mad Anthony CX race on 10/23.

Actually, looks like 16 stitches.  

Part 3:
I went back to the crash site on Monday 10/18 and took some pictures.  It was pretty easy to tell which piece or rebar I landed on.  One detail I missed is the steps were logs rather than railroad ties, wooden steps either way.

Rebar my leg landed on.

Crash rebar compared to another random piece or rebar in the same area.
Note the dark color on the crash rebar...

Too much rebar above the step...

Not sure a high speed crash would have been anymore favorable... I was basically at a standstill when I lost my balance and fell over.  My lower leg just happened to score a direct hit on that piece of rebar (the start of the scrape is literally in the middle of my leg).  Just one of those weird things.  A few more pics to wrap this up...

I fell on the left side of the step immediately above the angled step.

Steps below crash area.

U of M hospital.  Across the river from the area where I got hurt.