A really stupid thing happened to me!
My chain jumped off the cog when i tried to stop, there was a huge lorry passing on the road . i was going to stop at the junction but
because the chain jumped i ended up heading straight into this Articulated Lorry! There was nowhere to go because the truck was so long, I remember hoping it would speed up so that i could dive under after the last set of wheels ..it didnt .. I flew into it at the rear wheel’s,, managed to push my head and torso away but the last wheel went over my foot and ankle!
I thought No way ! that truck is soo big i’ll probably have to have my foot amputated or something . I was 
taken to hospital and x-rayed but nothing was broken .. a bit squashed and tissue damage so they gave me crutches and a cast which i had on for a week, it was painful for another 2 weeks but i could use it an by the 3rd week i could ride my bike again which was amazing because i thought i was gonna be crippled all summer. I was very lucky!
I later realised that my shoe had saved my foot , there is a huge crack across the solid nylon/ plastic sole which took the force instead of my bones , and the strong suede material held my foot together so that it didnt get all twisted and mashed. I think that if i had been wearing regular trainers that day i wouldnt have much of a foot left.
Thanks to Specialized for making this tough shoe it was the Womens Riata Mtnbike shoe they are seriously good!
The Yellow line is where the crack is .
By the way ! the reason my chain jumped off my cog was because my wheel had been kicked in and was warped , I wouldnt advise riding a fixie with a bent rear wheel and no brakes , deadly combo!
I had some gorey pictures of my foot but lost the memory card : (
7 responses so far ↓
1 Renee-Boston // Jul 20, 2010 at 8:20 am
Oy! Glad you are OK! That could have been nasty!
2 Ray // Jul 20, 2010 at 9:43 am
No brakes.
You’re obviously too stupid to be on the road, so get off it before you endanger someone else
3 jason // Jul 20, 2010 at 1:57 pm
why didn’t you just use your brakes?
4 Samantha - Chicago // Jul 21, 2010 at 2:20 am
Wow glad you’re ok!!!
5 Meg - Sydney // Jul 21, 2010 at 8:15 am
Yikes! That could have been nasty. Glad you had your super shoes on and you’re OK
6 thom // Jul 22, 2010 at 7:35 am
This was an inspiring article, and I posted about it to our SF-based site here:
http://teamlopetyreclubbe.com/2010/07/21/another-testament-to-clip-in-shoes/
I’ve long been an advocate of road clip-ins, and wear them fixed as well, but this was a great reminder to some of my readership who resist in favor of tow-straps…
Glad you’ll be back at it soon!
7 Jenaye - Glasgow // Jul 22, 2010 at 9:10 am
Thanks Ray …There is are thousands of people riding brakeless so i thought this would be a good example of what may happen .
anyways i still ride brakeless on a fixed gear, i like it, i wouldnt do it if i didnt feel i was in control ( my wheel had been vandalised and i hadnt realised the full extent, everyone has bad days!)
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