unfamiliar bike + unfamiliar road = not a good idea…
was riding my friends bike around the area where we did the safety course in taichung before… lotsa empty roads there…
came up over a crest, to find that there was no road ahead… just gravel, an inch lower than the road… then a fence after that… luckily I had seen the fence, and was already slowed down a fair bit ready to turn… but the drop in height from the road had hidden the gravel from my sight until it was too late…
panic hit… down I went~ stupidly, I wasn’t wearing my jacket or gloves… though I did have my (proper) riding pants, boots and helmet on… I had thought it was just gunna be a minute, and didn’t bother putting the former on, as I had taken them off while taking a break…
result: one of the bones in my left thumb shattered into 4 pieces, and a little gravel rash (though no major rash - I rolled when I went down), pants are ruined, and the helmet didn’t even touch the ground…
the bike: (Honda x4) clocks smashed, headlight and 1 mirror damaged, left exhaust damaged… less than 20,000NT damage… kinda shows I wasn’t goin’ too fast (for all those anti-speeding advocates who know how I ride occasionally)
i was lucky to avoid the same in a bike race last year near FuLong: 50kmh through a wide four lane tunnel, out the other side to a blind corner corkscrewing downhill into a barely one-and-a-half lane goat track, big dropoff and nasty concrete block barrier on shoulder. two bikes went over the edge: broken arm and collar bones. and no warning signs!!! bastards.
i hope your thumb isn’t too badly broken, and that you got it properly pinned. now you’ll remember that road forever!
glad to see you are still around and warning us of that piece of road. hope you’ll be better soon and up and riding again (your bike this time). did you have to give your bike to your friend?
well… the pins come out in 6 weeks-ish… so I’d say about 2 months till I can ride again… 3 in a worst case scenario~ it’s not too painful atm, though the scar is somewhat itchy (healing) and my thumb can’t move at all because of the pins… so I’ve got that horrid ache you get when you haven’t moved a joint for too long - and I’m gunna have 6 weeks of it or so~
no, didn’t have to give my bike to my friend… he was good about it… a) the damage was not too extensive, and got ridden to the mechanics shop, b) I am paying for all repairs (I’m an honourable man), and c) his bike is plateless~
I felt really bad, because I always consider myself a careful and considerate person when riding other people’s bikes… especially my best friend’s…
but all’s good, he visited me every day in the hospital, and like a true friend was more worried about me than his bike (while I was vice-versa)…
my ‘student’ on the other hand, was forced as a result to ride my bike home (my friend had taken me on the scooter to the hospital) on the road - which he didn’t feel ready for… and to make it worse, both my front tire and front brakes NEED replacing~ but he got home without any hassles and I think he’s a very fast learner on the bike…
Bad luck mate, it happens to us all.
Sorry about he thumb. I think I broke mine, but the doctors over-looked it. It was stiff for a good 6 weeks and even now it still don’t have the full movement range it used to have. make sure you exercise it as much as you can when the pins come out.
[quote=“urodacus”]i was lucky to avoid the same in a bike race last year near FuLong: 50kmh through a wide four lane tunnel, out the other side to a blind corner corkscrewing downhill into a barely one-and-a-half lane goat track, big dropoff and nasty concrete block barrier on shoulder. two bikes went over the edge: broken arm and collar bones. and no warning signs!!! bastards.
i hope your thumb isn’t too badly broken, and that you got it properly pinned. now you’ll remember that road forever![/quote]
I so know that exact spot…And if you feel any better, cars, buses and many speeding scooters have met a similar fate in that same location.
Sorry to hear about that, x08. Hope your thumb heals up soon.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]Bad luck mate, it happens to us all.
Sorry about he thumb. I think I broke mine, but the doctors over-looked it. It was stiff for a good 6 weeks and even now it still don’t have the full movement range it used to have. make sure you exercise it as much as you can when the pins come out.[/quote]Right. You can also get some good physio treatment here, which might be worth considering. Not sure where you are in Taichung, but I know a clinic out in Taiping if you’re interested. Still, there must be loads of physio clinics in Taichungt.
[quote=“x08”]joe… where is this physio place? I live right on the corner of taping, Taichung and da-li~[/quote]It’s a regular doctor’s clinic, but my friends Victor and Paula (who studied at Tai-Da and know what they’re doing) have a small physio clinic inside there. They’ve got various machines for TENS, electro-massage-type stuff, ultrasound treatment and traction. But of course before giving you any treatment they’ll conduct a proper examination.
The way it works is that you register at the counter at the entrance, then see the doctor and explain what happened and that you’d like some physical therapy. He should then give you a physical therapy card which you take through to the back room where the physio clinic is. You give it to whoever’s there (probably Paula) and it’s good for six visits without registering to see the doctor again. The initial registration fee is 100 or 150NT – I can’t remember. The subsequent five visits on the physio card cost 50NT each – you pay Paula directly for those.
I guess your Chinese is pretty good, but in any case, Victor and Paula speak good English. It’s also fine to communicate with the regular doctors in English.
The street address is this:
台中市東區十甲東路768號 (Shijia East Rd, No. 768).
Probably the best way to find it the first time is to go along Zhongshan Rd heading east. Go past the petrol station on your right, then past the MacDonald’s on your left. Shortly after that you’ll see a small consumer electronics/electric store on the corner on your right – I can’t remember the name but I think it’s 全國 (Quanguo), or anyway Quan- something. Turn right down that road, and at the next junction, the clinic’s on your left.