A Good Bash Spoiled
And how. Deep Dish, a member of Tucson’s bike hash, took a serious spill on trail today. She went down so hard she knocked herself out and very likely separated her right shoulder (see the updates, below). We called 911 and stayed with her until the paramedics took her away in an ambulance.
Following up on an earlier entry, here’s the current scorecard: thirteen total bike hashes, four seriously injured hashers. How seriously? All four – Plush Toy, Kiwi Herman, Dirty Sanchez, and now Deep Dish – went directly to the hospital. Kiwi and Deep went by ambulance. That’s a dismal record.
In my 19+ years of hashing - plunging off cliffs, wading through raw sewage, running from attack dogs and outraged citizens with shotguns, nearly getting hit by cars and trains, ripping shorts (and flesh) going over barbed wire fences - I’ve never been afraid of anything the hares could throw at me. But when it comes to hashing on bicycles, may G forgive me, I’ve got the willies.
Deep Dish’s chain came off and wedged itself between the gears and the frame, locking the rear wheel and throwing her. It could have happened any time. But it happened on a hash trail, and, as we all know, the hash is a drinking club with a running riding problem.
I don’t worry much about people drinking before and during a regular hash. Bicycling, however, requires judgement and coordination. The more I bash, the more I think there shouldn’t be any drinking until trail’s over and the circle is formed. But that’s not how we do things.
Our bashes always start at bars. Hashers, being hashers, step inside for pre-bash drinks. And that’s not all . . . we drink on trail too. Until recently, hares set a bar check in the middle of the trail. Then, at September’s bash, the hare set two bar checks. In November, when the GM and I hared, we felt compelled to set two bar checks as well. Today’s hares set three. How quickly we’ve raised the bar (so to speak)!
I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I don’t know if alcohol was a factor in any of our four accidents. In two of them, honestly, I don’t think the hashers who crashed had anything to drink beforehand. But today’s accident happened after our second bar check (counting the bar at the start, our third round of drinking) . . . and we were heading for another bar en route back to the first bar. I didn’t see today’s victim drink, and as far as I know she didn’t. But three bars? With another bar check and on-after drinking to follow?
As the kids say, give me a fucking break. There’s a connection here somewhere.
Even if Deep Dish . . . or any of our other injured hashers . . . didn’t have a drop, my gut tells me the presence of so much alcohol, of so many opportunities to drink, of riding with other hashers who have been drinking, makes bicycle hashing much more dangerous than it needs to be.
After the accident I talked to the GM, and she plans to tell future hares to set only one bar check per trail. Personally, I’m not going to mix alcohol and bicycling (I don’t drink anyway, so that’s an easy promise for me to make). I hope other hashers will consider not drinking before or during trail, but I know most will carry on as usual . . . it’s the hash, damn it, and drinking’s very engrained.
Update (7:00 PM): Deep Dish is spending the night in the hospital, and has a broken elbow.
Update (11/19/07): And a dislocated thumb.
Update (11/21/07): I edited the entry for clarity.
Index of bash spillage entries (earliest to latest):
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About Flying Booger Hash House Harrier, man about town. 
Comment from Bimbo by Day, GM of the Pedalfiles HHH (posted to the Pedalfiles e-mail list; I’m cross-posting it here – FB):
I think your blog is a bit harsh here Booger. Nina’s accident yesterday was going to happen to her regardless of what she was doing. Not to mention, I’ve been part of other bike hashes and they have not had a fraction of the injuries that we’ve had. We typically have one barcheck and no drinking or very little before hand. I haven’t seen anybody hammered at the checks either so I don’t think that is the real issue. I think perhaps inexperience in group riding may be it, not sure though. Bad luck is part of it. Spills like Sanchez and Kiwi were total flukes. Sanchez was right in front of me not riding fast and just went over for no real reason. That type of think cannot be tied to anything. Kiwi, well all the other rides went over those grates without any problems. I don’t want to see our great little group fizzle out.
I do think we need to just have one barcheck unless its a special event, anniversary, red dress, holiday or something like that and start reasonably on time. People are leaving because its going to late in the day.
Yoda had told me he’d volunteer to fix or repair bikes for riders, perhaps we can take him up on his offer. Nina’s accident was absolutely a maintenance issue. Maybe for the next ride or so we can put on the list that he’ll check bikes over for basic. The chain issue she had may have not happened if looked at before the ride.
BBD
Comment from Casual Friday, co-founder & GM of the Pedalfiles HHH (e-mailed directly to me; I’m cross-posting it here – FB):
Booger, you’re turning into a grandma…don’t make me spank you.
Sh*t happens; you know that when you show up for a hash–any hash.
On-On!
Casual Friday
Okay, some clarification is in order:
I love the bash. It’s a ton of fun, and I want the group to keep going and going and going. The accident rate, though, is way higher than any of us expected it to be. I’ve never seen so many hashers get hurt, and I’ve been hashing for a long time. It scares me.
It could be lack of experience in group riding, it could be bicycle maintenance, but I can’t help thinking alcohol has something to do with it, even if the hashers who crashed weren’t drinking themselves.
Whatever is contributing to our accident rate, I hope other members of the bash are thinking about how to reduce it, not just Bimbo and me.
My personal solution is not to drink before or during a ride. I want my wits about me when I’m mixing it up with Tucson drivers.
On On,
Flying Booger
I know that in some localities, one can be cited for a DUI on a bicycle… Something to look up.