The Chainlink

Painful Lakefront Crash and Thank You to Good Bike Samaritans!

Wow. What a bad bike day. Around the Oak Street Beach, I was riding with a friend of mine. There was a group of about 10 boys running in a group, and two were in the "opposite" lane. Upon approaching at about 13~mph, we shouted "on your left!" The two boys frantically curved left (maybe because I shouted "left" who knows), so I started braking and went to their right, and of course they hooked right and I crashed right into one of them. Thankfully, he was okay, but I landed on my elbow and hip, and now I've got scrapes, bruises, and a light limp. Their supervisor just said to me "if you're okay we're gonna keep on going." Really?? I asked for her contact info and just got her email and the name "Catherine Cook School". Wouldn't give me her name or a phone number. Thanks for the apology...

Later on, I got a flat. Yay. Then I got another flat. No more tubes. But then someone named Laura? or Lauren? (I apologize!!) from Tuxedo Thunder saw me walking and she gave me her extra tube! THANK YOU! If you're on here, please let me repay you with a free tune-up or something! Somebody else also stopped about 5min after her to ask if I needed help. Thank you fellow bikers! You saved the day :)

After I ice up, should I email the supervisor? Do nothing? 

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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on April 29, 2015 at 7:06pm

Lauren (Tuxedo Thunder). That team is awesome. Really nice peeps. http://www.tuxedothunder.com/

Sorry to hear about the crash and the flats! Hope you feel/walk better soon!

In my opinion, the lakefront path is designed very badly - should be wider, should have bike and running/walking sectioned with lines. It has neither. It's narrow and super crowded. I go very slowly on my bike over there, not expecting to do anything except avoid crashing into pedestrians. If that happened to me, while I'd be frustrated, I think I'd let it go rather than contact the supervisor. It's hard to manage kids so I imagine it would be even harder on that path. 

Permalink Reply by Alex on April 29, 2015 at 8:15pm

Indeed--what would really come out of it? Thanks for the input. 

Permalink Reply by Jose A. Terrazas on April 29, 2015 at 7:52pm
Sorry to hear about your misadventure. Glad to hear you're on the mend. +1 on the Lake Path, could be better. Especially around Oak Street Beach and a bit north. Props to Lauren! If it was me, I would let it go if there was no major pains later. Rest up.
Permalink Reply by Alex on April 29, 2015 at 8:25pm

Thanks for the input guys! Emailing tuxedo thunder to thank Lauren again! Much love to fellow cyclists. Maybe I'll start carrying 4 tubes now.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on April 30, 2015 at 10:42am

As much as I pathologically hate anyone that takes up the entire path and wish I could knock them aside like ten-pins you could have slowed down a bit. You can't trust anyone oblivious enough to block the trail to move out of your way.

Definitely complain to the school; there's never an excuse to clog up the trail.

Permalink Reply by Alex on May 2, 2015 at 1:42pm

Oh I definitely slowed down! Guess I should have gotten off my bike completely. and walked away from the path and ridden somewhere else completely.

Permalink Reply by V W on May 3, 2015 at 10:51am
What frustrates me about the lake front path is you have all this wonderful grass and dirt on the sides of the pavement (except for some stretches near downtown) yet 99 percent of people insist on jogging on the pavement.

Call me crazy, but when I go for a jog and I have the choice of hard pavement and natural earth I'm gonna run on the grass/sand/dirt every time. I'd rather it be harder on my muscles and easier on my joints and bones than vice versa. But that's just me I guess.
Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 3, 2015 at 1:05pm

If it were a smooth dirt track I'd be with you, but I always get a little nervous running on grass because I'm worried there's going to be a weird divot and I'll twist an ankle. Dunno if that's just me or if others feel the same.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on May 3, 2015 at 2:32pm
Most runners choose to train on paved surfaces because most organized running events are on paved surfaces.
Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on May 3, 2015 at 3:23pm

It might be impolite but it might be better to not say anything if there is enough room to pass. SO many times I get the wrong reaction when yelling out directions.

If there is no room then I slow to match their pace and then just say "pardon me", etc. and if they don't move then just hang until I can pass on the grass or whatever.

Permalink Reply by Alex on May 4, 2015 at 10:01am
Is that fast? In the end I don't know--I wasn't using a computer and I'm not good at gauging that kind of thing. I did slow down significantly but it just clearly wasn't enough for all the factors at play.
Permalink Reply by Alex on May 4, 2015 at 10:53am
Yeah I just looked up avg speed of runners--wide results but still much much slower than most bikers, at least on the path. Regardless of what my speed really was, I feel like my crash was just a stupid situation due to the setting, the position of the runners, and perhaps my speed. (However I really feel I was going slowly and gave fair warning, but I might be biased :-) ). There are so many different ways to handle passing anyone on the path, none of which are both foolproof and convenient. So far, what I'm most upset about is how their supervisor chose to handle the situation.

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