THE FLIP SIDE

Gloves lend help to hands when pedaling bike

Falls inevitable as miles pass add up

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Misty Murphy wears cycling gloves and a helmet during a November ride around Lincoln Lake.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Misty Murphy wears cycling gloves and a helmet during a November ride around Lincoln Lake.

Take a fall on your bicycle and a helmet will protect your head, but it's your hands that will go crashing to the ground first.

That's why a pair of cycling gloves is important, in addition to a helmet. Gloves can save your hide, literally, said Misty Murphy, a bike rider and racer who is also regional trails coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Council.

"Eventually, if you ride a bike long enough you're going to fall," Murphy said. "The first thing you're going to do when you fall is put your hands out to save yourself."

Murphy speaks from experience after a nasty spill on the Slaughter Pen bike trail in Bentonville. It happened some time ago, but she remembers well heading down a hill when her front tire blew. Over the handlebars she went, head and hands first.

"I did the whole Superman Slide," Murphy said of the crash.

Gloves saved her hands from major carnage. Murphy was naturally wearing a helmet. Still, she suffered a mild concussion.

"There's no telling how much worse it would have been if I hadn't had my helmet on. I might not be talking about it right now," she said.

It's a battle story Murphy can tell when she promotes biking and bicycle safety as part of her job with the council.

Pedal along the Razorback Greenway or a mountain bike trail and it seems most riders wear helmets. Gloves, on the other hand, aren't as common. Take a spill and cycling gloves will be worth way more than the $10 or $20 you'll fork over for a pair.

Gloves are padded in the palms and protect the meaty part of your hand.

"Particularly on a mountain bike trail, if you fall you don't want to end up with pieces of gravel sticking out from your hands. On a road bike, there's nothing worse than the road rash you'll get if you fall and aren't wearing gloves," Murphy said.

The padding in gloves also absorbs vibration from the handlebars as you ride, she added. Gloves can fend off a case of tingling hands during a lengthy ride.

Riders can trade stories all night about spills they've taken or seen. The most wicked fall I've seen in awhile happened last May. Some pals from college and I were on a charity bike ride in Kansas City. Part of the route wound through a warehouse district where old street car tracks remain in parts of the road.

The front wheel of the rider in front of me slipped into one of the street car tracks and over he went, hard sideways. On this crash, it wasn't his hands that hit first, but his head. His helmet hit the pavement so hard I could hear the thud, loud like he'd been hit with a hammer, mere feet in front of me.

The fall could have been serious trouble if he wasn't wearing a helmet. The guy shook it off, hopped back on his bike and pedaled away.

Murphy speaks the truth when she says ride a bike long enough and it's going to happen. You are going to fall. And you're hopefully going to be OK, thanks to your gloves and helmet.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip

Sports on 09/03/2015

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