I'm writing this with my one good hand...

Ghost Rider

Was knocked off my bike this morning by some door-opening, non-checking-first dunderhead. I ended up having to go to a GP and then to the Mater to get my finger x-rayed. Luckily there's no fracture but my finger is bruised, quite swollen and pretty much immobile.

Thing is, out of the four times I've come off the bike, I've fractured or badly bruised a finger three of those times. |(I think it's because my fingers have gotten crushed between the brake levers and the road.) So my question is this: would gel padded gloves make any difference to the likelihood of injury if I fall again?

(BTW, FYI: it takes ages to type stuff with only one hand...)

DITTKD

Nah, they'd only stop cuts or getting your hand skint if you fall, and they prevent blisters while you ride. They're actually very handy (ho ho ho), you feel like you've got a much better grip of the bike, so I'd recommend them regardless.

But it's gel, not chainmail like. Though, you can buy chainmail gloves from any butchers supplier.

I would suspect that there's something about the way you have your hands on the handlebars that's causing you to injure the same hand repeatedly, but I'm sure you've thought of that yourself.

geth vell suun.

Ghost Rider

Cheers. Yeah, I use gel gloves on me racer for preventing numbness and such. I just wondered if there was any sense in using them commuting too.

Can't imagine what could be wrong with my grip on the handlebars, by the way. Any ideas?

DITTKD wrote: »

Nah, they'd only stop cuts or getting your hand skint if you fall, and they prevent blisters while you ride. They're actually very handy (ho ho ho), you feel like you've got a much better grip of the bike, so I'd recommend them regardless.

But it's gel, not chainmail like. Though, you can buy chainmail gloves from any butchers supplier.

I would suspect that there's something about the way you have your hands on the handlebars that's causing you to injure the same hand repeatedly, but I'm sure you've thought of that yourself.

geth vell suun.

unionman

Sorry to hear about the fall Ghost Rider. Speedy recovery to you. And death by a thousand rebounding doors to your assailant.

Ghost Rider

Appreciate the medieval sentiment!

unionman wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the fall Ghost Rider. Speedy recovery to you. And death by a thousand rebounding doors to your assailant.

rubadub

Sorry to hear that. I think they would offer more protection than just cuts and "topical" damage. Any barrier between skin and objects will help. Depending on the thickness it will absorb some of the shock, and can disperse the impace force- i.e. it spreads the force over a wider area, like the difference between a man standing on your hand in boots, and a woman in stilletoes.

I use gloves in my work and am sure it has prevented bruise type injuries. I also wear full finger gloves lifting weights, when shifting around weights they sometimes knock together, I have had bruises when ungloved, never when gloved.

pete4130

Thats sucks about being knocked off the bike. Fingers take a good while to heal too. I've wrecked them a good few times riding BMX. Unexpected door openers are possibly the most dreaded thing on the bike, right up there with people popping out from in front of stationary buses, cars not indicating to turn left....but thats way off topic.
As for gloves, I find that when I ride gel gloves that my thumbs start to spasm or cramp up a little, so I don't bother wearing them.

Ghost Rider

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, if not quite in those terms...

rubadub wrote: »

Depending on the thickness it will absorb some of the shock, and can disperse the impace force- i.e. it spreads the force over a wider area, like the difference between a man standing on your hand in boots, and a woman in stilletoes.

blorg

As rubadub says, I think they would provide an element of protection. I've come off the bike quite dramatically while gloved and I'm pretty sure my hands would have suffered more damage ungloved.

Brings home the point that you just have to stay far enough out of the door zone so that this can't happen. Often this means not using a mandatory cycle lane immediately adjacent to parked cars!

Raam

blorg wrote: »

Brings home the point that you just have to stay far enough out of the door zone so that this can't happen.

..and then getting beeped by kn0bheads who say you are "out too far".

Driver: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?
Me: Avoiding the car that's pulling out in front of me, now **** off.

beans

right up there with people popping out from in front of stationary buses...

Can't decide which is worse... you can't kill a door, but then a person is less likely to puncture your lung...

niceonetom

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Was knocked off my bike this morning by some door-opening, non-checking-first dunderhead. I ended up having to go to a GP and then to the Mater to get my finger x-rayed. Luckily there's no fracture but my finger is bruised, quite swollen and pretty much immobile.

Thing is, out of the four times I've come off the bike, I've fractured or badly bruised a finger three of those times. |(I think it's because my fingers have gotten crushed between the brake levers and the road.) So my question is this: would gel padded gloves make any difference to the likelihood of injury if I fall again?

(BTW, FYI: it takes ages to type stuff with only one hand...)

commiserations on the digit.
what about these?
possibly in combination with this? tis a bloody jungle out there.

Ghost Rider

Holy crud. If they cycled bikes in "Battlestar Galactica", I bet they'd have those jackets.

niceonetom wrote: »

commiserations on the digit.
what about these?
possibly in combination with this? tis a bloody jungle out there.

Ghost Rider

I'm pretty careful about leaving space for car doors. This happened on Capel Street, where there is in fact no space to leave.

blorg wrote: »

Brings home the point that you just have to stay far enough out of the door zone so that this can't happen. Often this means not using a mandatory cycle lane immediately adjacent to parked cars!

Membrane

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you heal soon (and that the bike is ok).

The gel in cycling gloves is typically only placed in the palm area to protect the [forgot the name] nerve that can take a battering from shocks through the bars. I'd say that in a fall gloves provide some protection against skin abbrasion damage, but not much else.

In my off in January I was wearing full winter gloves, not much damage to my skin (gloves were a write off) but I did damage 2 joints, one of them still hasn't returned to full functionality. No broken bones, I think that the damage was done by twisting the joint. Gloves aren't going to protect against that sort of thing.

Ghost Rider

Cheers. My guess is that anything that absorbs shock should help somewhat, so padded gloves might not prevent injury but they might minimise the severity of it.

Membrane wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you heal soon (and that the bike is ok).

The gel in cycling gloves is typically only placed in the palm area to protect the [forgot the name] nerve that can take a battering from shocks through the bars. I'd say that in a fall gloves provide some protection against skin abbrasion damage, but not much else. In my off in January I was wearing full winter gloves, not much damage to my skin (gloves were a write off) but I did damage 2 joints, one of them still hasn't returned to full mobility. No broken bones, I think that the damage was done by twisting the joint. Gloves aren't going to protect against that sort of thing.

niceonetom

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360017181&n=Specialized%20Specialized%20BG%20Fortress%20Long%20Finger%20Gloves ?

Ghost Rider

Could be useful. Reckon I'll put them on the long finger for a while, though...

niceonetom wrote: »

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360017181&n=Specialized%20Specialized%20BG%20Fortress%20Long%20Finger%20Gloves ?

niceonetom

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Could be useful. Reckon I'll put them on the long finger for a while, though...

boom boom.

Ghost Rider

I blame the Difene.

niceonetom wrote: »

boom boom.

flickerx

Ghost Rider wrote: »

then to the Mater to get my finger x-rayed.

dont go there if you got an injury again, go to jcm blanch, so much nicer and less waiting times, lucky you you got nothing broken, my thumb is still nowhere near healing, although it doesnt look like i have to get the steel pin put in now.

(BTW, FYI: it takes ages to type stuff with only one hand...)

had a long discussion about using your left hand for various activities with a bunch of drunken male friends in the pub last weekend. much hilarity.

(sigh) still another ~4 weeks to go before i can get back on a bike again.

blorg

King Raam wrote: »

..and then getting beeped by kn0bheads who say you are "out too far".

Ha, as a careful avoider of the door-zone myself (I too have been doored in the past) I am well aware that some may beep you, although it's not _that_ common. Just have to develop a hard skin and ignore it.

What Membrane says makes sense- gloves can provide mostly skin/bruising protection, wouldn't expect protection against twisting etc.

fish-head

I hope you ****ed their door up good and proper anyway.

Sean02

Sorry to hear of your mishap. don't know about gel gloves particuarly for City cycling. When its cold I prefer lighter nylon gloves, much quicker and comfortable to use brakes and gears. you were so lucky this type of bike accident has unthinkable potential consequences for the cyclist.

NewDubliner

When the DTO published its design guidelines back in 1996, they included that there should be a safety margin between parked cars and adjacent cycle tracks.

The councils generally ignored that guideline.

As a rule, I treat any cycle track running beside a line of parked cars as being the necessary safety margin to avoid being 'doored'.

SerialComplaint

So what happened with the offending driver? Is he paying up? Are you reporting him to the guards?

DavyD_83

DITTKD wrote: »

But it's gel, not chainmail like. Though, you can buy chainmail gloves from any butchers supplier.

I reckon chainmail is the way forward alright, you should get yourself one of these badboys as well.:p

http://www.cfswords.com/medievaltimesjoustinglance.html

DITTKD

DavyD_83 wrote: »

I reckon chainmail is the way forward alright, you should get yourself one of these badboys as well.:p

http://www.cfswords.com/medievaltimesjoustinglance.html

I'll send an email to the DIT Larping Society, they might know where we can get some quality medieval personal protective equipment.

Ghost Rider

It was actually the passenger who opened the door. Anyway, both he and the driver promptly jumped out and apologised profusely. The driver gave me his insurance details and so on, although when I asked him to hang around until the Gardai showed up, he said he couldn't stay.

I reported it at the Bridewell anyway and made a statement (the next day, as there were no interview rooms available). As soon as I find out the driver's address, I'll be contacting him about covering the cost of the GP consultation. If he refuses (which I doubt he will) then I can use the statement I made to the Gardai to claim against his insurance.

After going to the Bridewell Garda station to report the accident, I went to A&E in the Mater. I was struck by the similarity between the two places: clear evidence of under-funding and over-crowding.

SerialComplaint wrote: »

So what happened with the offending driver? Is he paying up? Are you reporting him to the guards?

DITTKD

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Can't imagine what could be wrong with my grip on the handlebars, by the way. Any ideas?

When you asked this, I didn’t really know how to respond, but I had some sort of a vague notion about how people fall and roll and stuff.

Then, lo and behold this thread appeared:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055178027

Dunno if it’s any use to you, but it illustrates what I was thinking.

Ghost Rider

Interesting...

(By the way, I nearly didn't recognise you there in your martial arts gear.)

DITTKD wrote: »

When you asked this, I didn’t really know how to respond, but I had some sort of a vague notion about how people fall and roll and stuff.

Then, lo and behold this thread appeared:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055178027

Dunno if it’s any use to you, but it illustrates what I was thinking.