First big fall… lessons learned

(M, 30) I just had my first fall during a gravel ride, and I wanted to share some of my lessons learned
I was in Austria, coming back to the train after reaching my destination, with about 50–60 km still to go. I was going downhill, being cautious with my speed (because gravel, duh) at around 25 km/h, since there were some curves with not-so-great visibility.
After one curve, heading into another one, a couple of cyclists appeared riding side by side and taking up a bit more than half of the road. With the speed I was going, I thought, no problem, I just need to move a bit to the side (where there was more gravel) and brake a little.
However, since I was already turning slightly to avoid hitting the wall on the curve, the moment I braked, my wheel just slid on the gravel and I ended up on the floor. I slid for a couple of meters.
I had to stay on the ground in pain for a couple of minutes, and thankfully the couple stopped and helped me out. The palm of my left hand lost a lot of skin, and my leg and arm also took some of the impact. Somehow, my bike was completely fine.
It’s not my first time falling, but this was definitely the hardest I’ve fallen.
I still had to bike for about 20 minutes until reaching a town, since I was in the middle of a gravel road, so I could clean the wound and put a bandage on my hand. Then I had another 2 hours to the train station to get home. I didn’t feel that bad, to be honest. I guess I could have called emergency services or something, but apart from my completely fucked-up hand and the pain of riding over a bumpy road, I felt okay.
Thankfully, nothing was broken. But I still wanted to share some of my lessons learned.

First: WEAR CYCLING GLOVES.
Apart from using a helmet, I now think gloves are a necessary layer of protection, especially for gravel. This whole adventure would have been MUCH less painful if I had been wearing gloves.
I was lucky enough that my right hand was barely scratched, so I could put more weight on it while riding back. But my left hand was basically just an open wound, and every bump hurt like hell.

Second: Just because you feel confident riding bikes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious.
As I said, I had to move to the side of the gravel path because there was a couple riding side by side and taking up quite a bit of the road.
Of course, ideally, when you’re going uphill on a narrow road, you probably shouldn’t be riding side by side, especially when there are people coming downhill. But common sense also comes with experience, and anyone with a bike should be able to use it and learn as they go.
As the more experienced person in this situation, I should have been more cautious.
Even at a reasonable speed, you can still fall. And if you’re picking up speed, you should always be aware that you’re sharing the road with both experienced and inexperienced cyclists.
I have this reflex on the road already. I usually take extra care on curves because you never know when some inexperienced driver might decide to overtake on a blind curve. I know it’s illegal, but idiots are everywhere, so better safe than sorry.

Last but not least: accidents happen, be prepared
Thankfully, at 25 km/h the risks are not that big. I was able to get back on my bike, ride to the train and go home. Even though the injuries look pretty bad, I mostly just feel super sore now.
I’m really glad I was being a bit cautious and didn’t speed up too much. If I had been going 40–50 km/h, I’m honestly not sure the outcome would have been the same.
I’ll definitely try to be more cautious in some aspects in the future, wear gloves, and probably bring a small first-aid kit from now on.
But overall, I’m just glad my body handled the fall pretty well. Now, I’m just looking forward to when the doctor tells me I can ride again

Ride on safely guys 🫡