Road Cycling - Who has NOT crashed?

I've only been cycling for a few weeks, and I have to say that the one thing that scares the hell out of me is crashing. There are so many things that can cause a crash: cars, flat tyres, slippery roads, potholes, rocks, pedestrians, open car doors ... the list is endless.

Motorcyclists deal with this by wearing full face helmets, leather gloves, leather jackets, leather pants and leather boots. The may get injured, but they're unlikely to leave as much skin on the road as cyclists. And cyclists are not that much slower than motorcyclists. When we go on the road, we just wear a skimpy jersey, a pair of shorts so thin that nothing is left to the imagination, and a polystyrene hat, all while riding something about as sturdy as a paperclip at upwards of 60 km/hour.

What I'd really like is some reassurance from people who have been riding for years without going down. Is there anyone who does lots of road riding who can say that in many years of cycling they have never hit something, been hit by something, or in any other way come off their bike at speed?

I don't think you'll find anyone who's foolish enough to jinx themselves by saying "I've never crashed before, blah blah blah." :D

I wouldn't worry about it Ross....So many things can happen in any situation on any given day...On a bike or not. I have wiped out before on my MTB and it's not that bad...Sure it hurts, but you heal up just fine. As for being hit by other things, just be fully aware of your surroundings and make sure you have a good fitting helmet.

Asking to find people that have never gone down after years of constant riding is like finding someone that has driven for 10 - 15 years that has never been in any accident or put and dings in their car. It usually happens at some point in time.

Teski

Teski

I have crashed. To be honest I can't remember a five year stretch where I haven't crashed at least once. I am including running off the road and falling but not clippless pedal incidents.

As a kid I wrecked every few months, but I was a kid and didn't care. The only bone I have every broken was from a bike fall. But my crashes have become less dangerous since then. Now I skin my hands, dent my helmet or whatever.

I wouldn't worry about it. Most crashes are benign, not too dangerous. The ones involving cars are the bad ones. If you fall on the roadway, then I would worry.

You will be alright if you are careful but not too fearful.
-Duncan

I started riding around March of this year and have not had any wrecks until this past Friday afternoon. Want to guess why??? My first set of clipless pedals and shoes. Unclipped one side and leaned toward the other. Luckily no one was watching :D I have to admit once you go clipless you will never go back.

Just clipless incidents -- but at least I was slowing down some right before the falls (about 7 :eek: ). :D

Wear gloves. Road rash is unpleasant in most places, but dissabling on the palms of your hands.
Crashes happen, you can watch out for all the sources of danger, but sometimes you get unlucky, and too many things happen at once. Ive had 2 crashes, one due to a badly mounted bar bag falling off, and one caused by a car, both low speed with very minor grazing.
Im a bit concerned by the large number of crashes caused by clipless pedals. Users claim they are safer than old fashioned toe clips, but I dont regularly hear of crashes caused by **loose** toe clips. IMHO, clipless systes should only be used by riders who are competant on the bike, and not by newbie riders. Competance means more than Just Riding Along. You should be able to do track-stands, bunny hops, hard emergency turns, and generally have some experience under your belt before clipping in.

Originally posted by MichaelW
IMHO, clipless systes should only be used by riders who are competant on the bike, and not by newbie riders. Competance means more than Just Riding Along. You should be able to do track-stands, bunny hops, hard emergency turns, and generally have some experience under your belt before clipping in.

Exactly. People who've ridden nothing more than the ol' 10 speed around the block and who've decided to upgrade to a "real" bike should stick to old fashioned clips and maybe cleats.

Maybe I'm just lucky but I never had a single incident when I transitioned to clipless pedals. Then again, I spent a couple years with clips.

Ive had a pedal incident,,,,,, :(. :D I also had a car turn in front of me, after signaling that he had seen me. That one was a bit worse. I didnt suffer any injuries, but the crash knocked my rear derailler out of alignment, causing an adjustment to be needed. I mostly watch for loose gravel and sand on fast, or curvy pavement. Well, and the dumbass drivers around here.

I would say that every biker will eventually crash once, just like the motorcycle riders. You can only hope its not a bad crash. I'm hoping I have my one and only crash under my belt. My crash was not too bad, I cracked 3 ribs, had a stiff neck and a sore wrist. It was only a few weeks ago....And believe me, I still feel the ribs every day, but hey, I'm still riding 6 days a week :D .

You ride enough you'll probably crash. You race enough you will definately crash.

man, even LOOKING at this thread is just bad juju... now i'm going down for sure.

Originally posted by Chi
I don't think you'll find anyone who's foolish enough to jinx themselves by saying "I've never crashed before, blah blah blah." :D

two and a half months on a road bike, and "i've never crashed before". not even as a result of my clipless pedals. :) as you can see, i'm not superstitious.

however, i'm not unbreakable. i DO know i will crash one day. almost bought it last weekend on a bike path when i started to pass a Just Riding Along cyclist who decided to do a sudden U-turn without looking.

Originally posted by MichaelW
IMHO, clipless systes should only be used by riders who are competant on the bike, and not by newbie riders. Competance means more than Just Riding Along. You should be able to do track-stands, bunny hops, hard emergency turns, and generally have some experience under your belt before clipping in.

Gee, I wish someone had told me that. The people I talked to said - No, just start with the clipless pedals and it will be easier... I've fallen twice because of those pedals. It does get easier, but I still get nervous on roads with lots of cars (try to stay on roads with fewer cars, but that doesn't always work in suburbia.

I consider myself remarkably blessed that I haven't once had a serious incident in 6+ years of 3500 miles/per year commuting, and untold zillions of other miles ever since I was a teenager.

Sure, I've had the clipless incidents, but that was years ago. No harm done, except for my ego!! Once, during a commute a couple years back in the rainy season I fell as I was doing loops waiting for a traffic light. I was going, maybe, 2 MPH (that's TWO MPH!!) away from the traffic lanes and the wheels went out b/c the surface was covered with algae. (It had rained a whole lot that year.) Algae of all things!! It was like a sheet of black ice -- I had no chance whatsoever. I later learned that I broke my elbow as a result.

I never have had any contact with a vehicle though there have been a few close calls.

I ride very alertly, never ride without a helmet, have unspeakably gawdy clothing that illuminates me, and ride with flashing lights, front and back (NiteRider Digital). I'm aggressive when necessary. I ride in very crowded conditions and oftentimes with terrible road surfaces.

So far, it's all worked.

my un-crashed streak just ended on the side of a Lexus this weekend...stitches from going through the window and my shoulders a tad funky but overall I consider myself lucky (if you want a funny sight picture a 19 year old flailing his bleeding arms about spattering a car worth more than his tuition with blood, I apparently scared a LOT of people).

The best thing to do is not to worry about it, otherwise you will crash. My theiry is that biking is about 60% mental and only 40% physical (putting on my Nomex now). So if you think you can do it, you will; but if you don't think you're gonna make it, you won't. It's probably more true for MTBing, so maybe road biking is 40% mental...anyway you get the idea.

As for me crahing, I've went down four times in the last month. The most recent was yesterday, crashing twice within a quarter mile, that was MTBing though.

Anyway, good luck and DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!

Well this is what happened i was ridding the bike on the street and i was passing an interseption in sandy springs(suburb of atlanta) and then this volvo didnt stop in a red light hit another car that was in the other line but this is the part a Truck about 27 ft try to turn right around the accident and didnt see me in the blind spot.Since i saw that truck coming to me the only time to react was to jump of the bike.That was the scariest thing ever happened to me the only thing i could recover from the crash was the front wheel.I had some minors scrashes but i'm fine .I will post later the picks about all the cuts and scrashes that i have in my legs, arms and the back.Now i received the call from the truck insurance company and told everything is gonna be fine;they get a new bike and aks me if i needed to go to the hospital but i told them i'm fine.i havent ride the other bike since the accident. i then i will take a week off !!!!this accident was so quick in just matters of seconds. I guest it was not my time yet to die!!!

this happened yesterday about 11:00Am

Well, there are crashes, and there are crashes. So far, in the last 36,000 miles of commuting and recreational riding I have had two of the former, both my fault, both under 15 mph, and both resulting in nothing more than a few aches for a few days. That said, I ride defensively, wear bright clothing, take the lane where appropriate, follow traffic laws, and use a mirror along with a swivel neck.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I have to say that I'm still scared of ploughing head first into a truck at 40 mph. But I guess that a lot of it is to do with confidence and experience, and the less confident you are on a bike, the more likely you are to crash. I also suspect that riding safely is somewhere on that fine line between confidence and over-confidence.

I've done it (not 40mph - more like 35plus) and survived. Second bike in a 12 bike pace line coming down Tropicana Blvd. in Las Vegas. A lady pulled out in a car and stopped then pulled ahead a few feet to see around a tumbleweed. First bike off the front and me into a solid chrome bumper and hood. Three broken ribs a fourth crushed and a collapsed lung. This all happened some 15 years ago but did not stop me from racing. In fact, you haven't lived until you spend the evening after a race picking asphalt out of your leg or arm with a tweeser. If you race, or practice with those who do, you can expect some bumps and bruises - it's all part of the game (maybe even the thrill). Don't dwell on crashing just the fun and rush of speed and the energy it takes to make it happen. Good Luck and more importantly have FUN!!

It's bound to happen and chances are you will have little control over it. I find Mtn biking and cycle cross help me with my bike handling, but that is no guarantee. It's gotten me out of some tight spots, but other times it did not matter. Just ride and enjoy. Always wear your helmet and gloves. And don't pull stupid stunts. If something does not feel right like charging through an intersection on yellow or trusting the car if front of you not to cut you off chances are your instincts are right. Always be looking for an out if you see a tight situation ahead. Oh and don't go all ridged before you hit the ground. Things tend to break when you do that. I forgot to mention I practice most of my falls mtn biking or cycle crossing. :D

So far not this year, knock wood. Just once, falling over at a stop-sign. THose don't count.
At this time of year I worry, becuase late in the day the sun can really get in your eyes and make it hard to see, also the shadows cover the road earlier, masking things like manhole covers and other obstacles.

Originally posted by Chi
I don't think you'll find anyone who's foolish enough to jinx themselves by saying "I've never crashed before, blah blah blah." :D

That's funny, until recently I was thinking exactly that I didn't want to jinx myself by saying "I've never crashed on the road." Well, I'm not in that club anymore 'cause I had a road bike crash in July.

RossB, you're not going to stop riding because of fear of crashing right?? So don't worry about it. :D

"I've never crashed before, blah blah blah." ;)

Actually, on my mtb, I've crashed a few times. never on my roadie. Then again, I just made the transition to clipless... *knock on wood*

The main key to not crashing is pay attention to your bike, the road and other drivers. A weel-maintained bike on a reasonable road guided by an aware cyclist eliminates 99.9% of all wrecks...

I have minor, low speed, spills during training rides. I race too and, so far after 9th races, I have not have a single crash. Many near misses though, the faults of other riders.

Unclipped one side and leaned toward the other

LOL ive done that exact thing more than once.

Crashing/near experiences are basically every day occurances for me. It doesnt bother me in the slightest, cycling is a dangerous hobby, but in my head, life is too short not to do the things you love just to feel a bit safer. To me a short exciting life, is way better than a long boring monotonous school-work-die type existence.

Just as long as i dont take out anyone else in my crashes im happy MTB/Roading :D

dont think about that kinda stuff, and if all else fails, ride at the back of the group :D Seriously though, i would get caught up in it.

I have not crashed, but I have fallen twice.

First time: I was at a four way stop. A car to the left was there first, but did not want to go. Just as I committed, and clipped in, the car gunned it. My brakes worked better than my un-clipping ability, and I went down. A little scratch on my elbow, but all was good.

Second time: I was at a stop sign, trying to turn left onto a busy street. Cars coming from the right and making left turns were getting closer to me than I liked, so I tried to move a little (with one foot still clipped in). Just then, a car got a little too close, and I went down. No real damage done.

I let out some pretty colorful language both times, which seemed to help my anger/embarrassment.

As best I recall, I have had a crash about every 15,000 miles. All were minor except this past crash, last April.. Boy, the last one was a duzy. A pretty significant injury..
Been off the bike three months.. Just got off the traiiner. Once every 15,000 miles. Knock on wood.. A good goal would be to up that mileage to 25,000. I think I can remember each crash, I ever had..
Can't do without it.. Miss it very much for the last 3 months. I see cyclists going down the road, I get green.. Just figure out what I did and be careful...
Set your priorities.. I would rather slow down and get in my next 60,000 miles; over take it for granted and miss out on another 3 months..

As a utilitarian cyclist, i never went to clipless simply for cost reasons. I like my alloy platform pedals with clips. I do wear cycling shoes, MTBs.

I've gone over many times in 40-some years of riding, all but twice in low-speed situations - sport/racing bikes can be tricky to maneuver at slow speeds. Have never gone down riding my Puch tourer. Never anything more than a slight hand scrape & never a helmet impact.

If i were commuting in traffic or doing big-city riding i'd want to wear a full-face helmet + MTB arm, leg, & hand protection. It might start a new trend in gear too, Urban Bike-Warrior chic.:->

Ebro.. Maybe that is the irony of speed and stability. Greater momentium, greater stablility. Forward motion is what keeps the bike upright? So if you crash at lower speeds with which I have a had a couple, the damage is less.
Now a high speed crash is another matter. The first high speed crash I had took quite a wallop to my shoulder. How many here would consider their average crash to have occurred at high speeds.?

Who has not crashed? . . . those that will.

I've never been seriously injured in a crash, nor have I totalled out a bike, but my last crash was both dramatic and avoidable. While changing lanes I glanced back without sufficiently checking out the road surface, and hit a killer sewer grate. Went endo and took the skin off my forearms. Lookied around and the bike was standing upright wedged into the grate. Embarrassing too, as this was directly in from of the sidewalk seating of a row of restaurants.

The city replaced the grate a few months later.

The best advice is the obvious advice. Learn to properly ride in traffic (both the laws and good technique) , learn to identify potential hazards on the road, learn to respond and recover quickly when their is a mishap, and relax and enjoy cycling.

yea had a few falls, plus a couple of low speed bails, mainly due to pedals.

one fall i took a left turn on an off-camber corner at the speed I would normally take in the dry, but the road was wet, and got about halfway round and then the front wheel hit some paint. BAM! lucky no cars goin the other way...........

also split my chin open while riding beside a van that hadn't seen me come up behind it, then they decided to make a left turn.

Well I'm young and stupid, what more can I say, I'm always having close calls because I can't stand going slow, I'm always gunning it whenever I can. Just remember to wear a correct fitting helmet, gloves, and take it easy. Remember, you only need to go fast in a race, even then you gotta' watch out. Don't do what I do and leave home and the last minute, and use the commute to school as sprint training on busy suburban roads.............

I've had nine mishaps in 30 years and consider myself very lucky for the following reasons.

1. Since 1982 I've been car free and ride year round, night and day.

2. I've put in no less then 9,000 miles a year for those 30 years; And have put in a 19,776 mile year 22 years ago.

3. The nine mishaps broken down, Four times hit by car, three mountain biking, two clipless. I'm sure number ten will rear it's ugly head in the next thirty years. The more you ride the more the odds are against you, and I don't mind the odds one little bit.

Very true FELTF10, I would rather ride all I want and except the odds. Life's too short and we must take every day to its fullest!

i haven't fallen in 2 years.

last time i fell, i was taking my bike out for the first spring ride, and got my front wheel caught in some train tracks at high speed and fell HARD. ripped the skin off of my palm, bruised and scarred my back and shoulder really bad. damage to the front wheel and frame. :(

i'm not afraid of falling anymore, probably because i'm a better rider.. i feel much more confident on the bike and i find myself pulling maneuvers i would have never dared to do a couple of years ago. oh, and i do have a train track phobia now; i avoid riding alongside them as much as i can.

Riding a bike is kinda like life. You live, you love, you get hurt, and life goes on. You ride, you fall down, you get up and ride some more.

Learn how to ride right & safe. Maintain you bike. Keep you head up. Having said that, my last fall was when the bar binder bolt on my stem snapped, leaving me holding bars no longer attached to the bike as I started to sprint across traffic.

Please welcome me to the club!

It finally happened. I crashed fast but thankfully not too hard. I was doing my Joseba Beloki imitiation and flying downhill at about 65 kmh (I'm sure he was going faster) and that corner came up way too fast so I got on the binders and started doing the fishtail thing and when I realizied I was not going to stop before the rock filled ditch I just prepared myself for landing as best I could. When I hit the shoulder of the road I did the over the handlebars flip and landed on my back in the ditch with quite a hard knock to the helmet but the rest of me was unscathed other than a few minor scrapes and a real scare. The helmet although appearing to be only lightly scarred will be replaced to be on the safe side.

Then my thoughts turned to my beautiful Marinoni and thankfully it did not end up in the ditch with me and the rocks but went tumbling further down the shoulder of the road and appears to be fine. The right breakhood was twisted inwards a little but that was an easy fix. The gears and breaks are all working well. The wheels did not get dinged and none of the carbon forks or rear end seemed to incur any damage. There is a very, very slight creak when I yank on the bars but I think it is just the stem and bars which I will look over more closely later. I don't think the headset was damaged but I might take it into the shop to have them inspect it.

I think this was a good eye opener for me and am thankful that I came away ready to ride again. It could easily have been a really bad scenario.

Everybody ride safe out there and keep the rubber on the road!

Mike:) :beer:

I love my cycling and I will soon ride again. But 45 mph down hills;never happen again with me. Speed. No way . My Dr. said, I re-injure my shoulder again, he doubts it is repairable. And the pain I have been through. Stretching out the muscles- you think your arm will break.
Just all I suggest - ride safe, take no foolish chances. Watch the road. Luckily, I ride mostly in areas where traffic is not so bad, so I can watch what is in the road, I think... Maintain the bike.
Slow down. Being off the road three-four months is not worth racing. Maybe racers can be super attentive and watch what is in the road. As for me, I love my cycling too much to take risks.
With caution, I hope to top off my cycling career with another 100.000 miles..

What's more risky? Crashing on your bike or living a sedentary, non-biking lifestyle leading to heart disease? Life is a risk. I think driving in a car can be just as, if not more, risky.

What I'd really like is some reassurance from people who have been riding for years without going down. Is there anyone who does lots of road riding who can say that in many years of cycling they have never hit something, been hit by something, or in any other way come off their bike at speed?

I haven't crashed since I started riding "road" bikes. (Generally because I don't totally disregard to the rules of the road like a stubborn 20-something male anymore.)

I've crashed, but I've never crash - crashed....i.e. went off at 15+ mph. Everytime I went off it was because of some operator error on my part.

I did almost have a near fatality a few months ago on my mtb. I had a slow flat and was heading home with about half the air in my rear tire. I went down the road when a truck pulled out of thier driveway fast. It was like he just started the car, hit reverse and floored it without looking. I swerved out of the way, but my back (flatted wheel) just moved off to the side and my bike went under me. I was in the path of the truck on the ground. The truck hit the brakes after 2 girls saw what was going on and screamed. Since I slid out, I was in a good position to pop up (imagine when people slide out on dirt bikes) I quickly got up and barely moved out of the way. The truck took off without an apology. Since then I only ride with a fully compressed tube.

It's odd that someone has resurrected this thread which I started nearly three years ago when I was a new and slightly paranoid cyclist. In the interim, I have had a few minor spills and one major crash in January of this year (details of which, with some gruesome pictures of the injuries, were posted in this forum), and thus have satisfactorily answered my own question.

I'm a fairly new rider, and when I first got my clip-in pedals, I had several "0mph" crashes where I failed to unclip at a stop. More embarassing than anything else, although in one case, I had to ride about 15 miles back to my car bleeding all the way.

Plenty of clipless accidents, of course (more embarassing than physically painful :D). I had one crash earlier this month where I took a turn at speed trying to outrun two dogs and ended up wiping out on the curb. Bent both of my rims.. sigh.

Don't get out there and ride while worrying about a crash. As long as you're careful (as opposed to paranoid), you will be just fine. If you would be able to say that you did everything possible to avoid a crash (safety gear, obeying laws, etc) then you really have nothing to worry about. Just do your part and ride.

Aside from the few 0 mph incidents that went along with learning to ride clipless pedals, I haven't crashed since I was about 9 and was talking to my friend while coasting down a hill on my new Raleigh Fireball (single speed, coaster brakes, sting ray bars). Wasn't looking where I was going at all and ran smack into the back of a parked car at about 12 mph. I haven't had a car accident either since a little fender-bender when I was a novice driver. I guess you can tell I don't exactly live on the edge. :o

It's bound to happen and chances are you will have little control over it ....

I think you can summarize crashes into three groups:

- Awwww man .... I ripped my new shorts ! :mad:

- Awwww man .... I hope I can ______ tomorrow ! (fill in the blank) :(

- Awwww man .... tell me again, what happened??? :eek:

The first happens slowly, you know you're going down, you fight going down, but down you go anyway. Pain in minimal, no big deal (except your new shorts).

Number two happens quickly enough that you know you're going down (somehow) but you have no control ... this one hurts, but you'll get over it after a few sleepless nights. You'll tell anyone who will listen your story over and over.

Three is the bad one, but you have no idea what happened. All you know is that you're in the emergency room and strangers are going things to you and you don't care, you're glad you're there.

From my experience, 98% are number one, 1.9% are number two, and 0.1% are number three.

So, have I crashed? ... uh, yeah.

Am I still riding .... uh, YEAH ! :D

Don't sweat it.

jw

I've crashed a couple times at speed. Both times would have been easier on me if I didn't have clipless.

That's the one thing I hate about having your feet stuck to the pedals- it lowers your options in an emergency.

I think Ive had my serious crash when I was around 6-7, a fair bit of blood and one seriously grazed knee.
Im always on the look out for my next bad accident, so I can avoid it. *knocks on wood HARD*