Man Down!

[Mythste]

Went for a sunday afternoon Bimble last weekend following a hard day (within covid standards!) of riding the new gravel bike last saturday.

As is often the case with these things, I lost the rear end on a section of trail I've ridden a thousand times, planted the inside foot as I've done a thousand times (A dab, I believe you would refer to it as!)

What I didn't count on, was both wheels catching slick rocks at exactly the time when my dabbed foot found traction, causing the bike, with all my weight on, at speed, to rip the pedal (A Hope F20...) across my calf. Stung a little bit.

8 stitches and a lot of blood. I'm still hoping to get my BAM march in at the end of the month. I've been a week off the bike and I'm going mad already.

For anyone who takes joy in seeing gore (no shame, I know you're out there!) here is the picture. Please do not click if you don't want to see what a Hope F20 flat pedal can do to an unguarded calf!

https://imgur.com/3ENHyM6

[thenorthwind]

Yikes!

They're vicious bastards pedals aren't they. Ban 'em I say

Hope that heals up quick.

[Bearlegged]

Oof. That bottom one in particular...
Healing vibes to you >>>>>>

[lune ranger]

Nice. My mate managed to cut into his posterior tibial artery with a chainring once. Ended up being rushed to hospital in the back of a police dog van!

[The Cumbrian]

Oof.

I've got a very similar scar on the inside of my calf from when I was about 12. We were messing about on our BMXs on a homemade ramp when I did about the hundredth jump of the day and my crank snapped. I was really pissed off about it because I knew that it would be a struggle to afford the replacement when I noticed my mate pointing to my foot with a WTF? look on his face. My trainer was full of blood and I was leaving a trail of it behind me. There was no pain though, and it never really got sore thankfully. I should probably have had it stitched, but we didn't have a car and the West Cumberland Hospital was 8 miles away. It healed alright though, and I like the scar, even though it's really faded after almost 40 years.

[TheBrownDog]

Man, that bottom cut has to be the deepest pedal gash I've ever seen. Urgh. Hope it heals fast.

I've lost more blood and skin to pedals than to gravel, rocks, trees and the rest of my bike combined.

Does anyone remember the early BMX pedals? I've tried to find some photos but nothing I can see does justice to the ones I had on my Mongoose. They were practically chainsaws.

I cut half-way through my achilles tendon on one in around 1981. Because there wasn't much in the way of blood I just kept riding and when I got home showed my mother, who went a really interesting shade of puke, chucked me in the car and Sweenied it to the hospital, where I had a wee bit of surgery under local anaesthetic.

Pedals. Utter bastards.

[PaulB2]

My shins are like a lunar landscape from pedal impacts but nothing anywhere near as bad as that. Ouch.

[Mythste]

Thanks for all the sympathy!

It was, by all accounts, a freak accident with the mixture of sure footed traction under the offending foot and the lack of traction on the tyres. I too have had a few sweary moments with pedals to the shin but this was something else! I could see the yellow of my fat quite clearly.

I'm not one to get too queezy about these things usually but I very quickly slipped into sensible mode. Phoned Mrs Mythste, told her to expect me shortly, to have towels ready and be aware this might be a hospital trip. I was only 2 miles from home.

She's seasoned enough that she too was expecting a lump on my shin, and after welcoming me in by declaring "I can't even see anything!", her tone changed once she saw the pool of blood I was trailing behind me! I must have grossed out some drivers as I took the road route home!

The staff at A and E were utterlfy fantastic, by the way. We phoned 111, got an appt, and the nurse practitioner had me stitched up, tetanus jabbed, and on antibiotics in about 20 minutes.

[The Cumbrian]

Man, that bottom cut has to be the deepest pedal gash I've ever seen. Urgh. Hope it heals fast.

I've lost more blood and skin to pedals than to gravel, rocks, trees and the rest of my bike combined.

Does anyone remember the early BMX pedals? I've tried to find some photos but nothing I can see does justice to the ones I had on my Mongoose. They were practically chainsaws.

I cut half-way through my achilles tendon on one in around 1981. Because there wasn't much in the way of blood I just kept riding and when I got home showed my mother, who went a really interesting shade of puke, chucked me in the car and Sweenied it to the hospital, where I had a wee bit of surgery under local anaesthetic.

Pedals. Utter bastards.

I had those pedals on my Mongoose too. We used to call them Bear Traps but I can't remember their real names.

[lune ranger]

This is why god made clipless pedals

[fatbikephil]

And my Nuke proof electrons have bigger spikes than the Hopes. I'm with Lune Ranger, XT spuds only scrape off your leg hairs....

[Mythste]

And my Nuke proof electrons have bigger spikes than the Hopes. I'm with Lune Ranger, XT spuds only scrape off your leg hairs....

There’s perhaps some interference from the MTB gods here. I had only the evening before shaved my legs in anticipation of the road season!

[lune ranger]

No comment

[redefined_cycles]

I reckon you should email Hope to say you wants your money back...

[Mythste]

I reckon you should email Hope to say you wants your money back...

I hear only wonderful things about their warranty replacements. Can they replace my calf under warranty?

[redefined_cycles]

I reckon you should email Hope to say you wants your money back...

I hear only wonderful things about their warranty replacements. Can they replace my calf under warranty?

I doubt it but no harm giving it a try

[Alpinum]

Hope that heals up quick.

Pun intended?

[Alpinum]

This is why god made clipless pedals

If I look up who invented clipless pedals, I'll know who god is. Finally I'll get an answer

[lune ranger]

This is why god made clipless pedals

If I look up who invented clipless pedals, I'll know who god is. Finally I'll get an answer

Don’t do that, it was probably a Frenchman, you’ll only be disappointed
Wasn’t it Mr Look?

[boxelder]

Better the calf than your shin I reckon, looking at that?

[thenorthwind]

Hope that heals up quick.

Pun intended?

Sadly not!

[Jurassic]

This is why god made clipless pedals

Pretty sure it was the devil was it not?

[lune ranger]

This is why god made clipless pedals

Pretty sure it was the devil was it not?

Heresy

[Lazarus]

who invented clipless pedals,

Cinelli M71 was the first but it wa snot really clipless it was a cleat with holes that you pulled lever on the peedl and it bolted your foo tin -there was no way of unclipping without moving this lever- death shoes was their nickname

Look did the first turn and twist out ones so are really the inventors.popularisers

[BigdummySteve]

Pretty sure it was the devil was it not?

Back in the day I rode with clips and straps off-road, SPD was bliss. I do however miss the ‘art’ of flipping the pedal then catching the strap on the upstroke to tighten, kinda.