OK...in case you may not have noticed, there have been a few crashes lately. Some people think it's bad ju-ju to talk about crashing but I say BRING IT ON!

Post about your crashes. Most of us have had a couple...I would like to hear your story.

Let's get it out of our systems (you know you want to)

Then we can move on to something else, less scary (hopefully)...;):)

Who would like to start?

Not me, the carnage of last 14 month is still too fresh in my mind. :(

Not me, the carnage of last 14 month is still too fresh in my mind. :(



Aw...I'm sorry..:(

I'll bite (I thought it was just bad luck to talk about it before a ride/race anyway)

My first crash was at age 13. I had hit a rock or something in the road 2 blocks from home while sprinting against my dad for the finish (home), which had apparently unseated my tires. As I leaned into the last turn onto my street, the tires rolled off the rim and I washed out. A good patch of road rash on my hip and torn gloves were my prize.

At age 17 I went mountainbiking with my coworkers (bike shop) and they decided to try the horse trails in West Hills. Coming down a steep but short descent, I panicked and locked up my brakes. I went over the bars and landed hard (manager claims he felt the earth shake) in a bunch of rocks. Cracked helmet, scraped knee, sore hamstring, a couple of cracked ribs, and the sole tore clear off my shoe because the pedal didn't disengage.

2 years ago, my front wheel failed, sending me over the bars so quickly I didn't know what happened until I had already completed a full flip and was sitting on the ground with my bike in front of me. A helmet once again had sacrificed itself for me, road rash and sore muscles on the back of my shoulder, and both wheels were toast. It was a nice walk home.

oh man oh man...two helmets retired...:(

Once upon a Christmas Eve morning, Brandy was stoopid. She tried to give directions from behind and then ran into Gretzky when he turned HERE when she meant the other HERE. ;) All of this took place coming down the hill into Main Beach in Laguna in front of a huge picture window at what was then Deidrichs.

Apparently I was out of Windex at the time and had a very dirty bathroom mirror. :o

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/334536741_19c057c2bc.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/334536575_e9a1cc77c7.jpg

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1. About 2004, bombing down a residential street in Carmel Valley I swerved into the gutter to go around a speed bump. I hit a trickle of slime-laden water, flipped sideways and had some nice still-clipped-in airtime before slamming down on my left hip and shoulder. Not much road rash but my entire hip turned black and blue and I still have a spot of nerve damage.

2. February 2007. SocalBF MTB ride at Aliso Wood. I hadn't been on a MTB in 2 years, and had never ridden offroad with clipless pedals. I thought I was doing great until I stalled out on a steep switchback and fell down on to the end of my handlebars. Two broken ribs. Ouchies. Drew12 and Grumpy Pig saved the day by getting me back to the parking lot.

3. October 2007. Not a crash as such but a spectacularly stupid accident. Trying to brush debris of my front tire, I reached down behind the fork rather than in front of it. My hand got caught up between the fork and the spokes, shredding a sizable portion of my right ring finger. 12 stitches, now mostly healed, with a scar I plan to attribute to something more dignified like a shark bite.

Some have heard of these before...

1. 2006 Endo'ed in a beginner's mtb clinic while going down a hill. Lack of skills, and next thing I know I'm resting sideways on the hill still with the bike under me. Bike pointing uphill at 45deg angle. No major injuries; just a 2" scar on my right arm and a few cuts on the legs from hitting the fd.

2. 2007 First Palomar climb, a little reckless on the downhill and wiped out on the 2nd switchback on the way down. Bike computer registered 35mph at the time, but actual impact speed is prob much lower because I slid on both wheels and the bottom of 1 pedal sideways before I hit the ground. Road rash on leg the size of a palm, scar on left arm/shoulder, dented bike top tube, a little cracked helmet, and my camelback took a lot of impact since I rolled onto my back. Luckily the BF SoCal jersey I was wearing at the time didn't get scratched.

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/4348/thepretty3.jpg

Leaned to turn sharply while front braking in a puddle. Skidded the wheel, down I went.

Besides the ones on my bikes as a kid, the first one, circa 1969, on a road bike was bombing up Bristol St. (after just having had a bomber:o) in Santa Ana and as I was checking out the cheerleaders practicing in the Mater Dei feild I didn't notice the street cut in about 4'. I ran right up against the curb and went down hard (I didn't feel a thing:D) on my right side and scraped up my new U08 Peugeot. I continued on to my night job. No helmets back then.

The second one was just off of the SART when the underpass was closed at Glassell St., my buddy slowed just as I was asking some guys who were working on a bike by the side of the road. When I looked up my front wheel was even with his back wheel, I tried to stop in time but kind of pivoted over his back wheel and was lifted up and slammed into the street on my side breaking my pelvic bone in a few places. Helmet not scratched and bike unhurt.

The last on was also on the SART when I just had to take one more little glance at this tall gorgeous runner (yes, it was a girl) just off the trail. Well, like the moron I am, I ran right off of the trail myself and then misjudged how much the distance was between the dirt and the trail getting back on it, plus there was some ice plants and I when straight on my shoulder and head at about 15mph. Luckily my helmet and shoulder broke my fall and I slid on my head for about 10' ruining my Giro and my brand new Amtrak Century jersey. One helmet trashed and one more Amtrak jersey with a hole in it (When I broke my pelvic, I was wearing the Amtrak jersey from the year before).




I gotta stop looking at gurls when I'm riding.:rolleyes:

I gotta stop looking at gurls when I'm riding.:rolleyes:



...or else stop wearing Amtrak jerseys...:p

...or else stop wearing Amtrak jerseys...:p

I must admit to having a bit of worry every time I put one on.:)

[Edit] The jerseys, not girls.

I have been over the handlebars of the mtb too many times to count-worst one was when I dislocated my thumb. I remember landing on rocks on my butt, having flipped completely over, and trying to scramble out of the way of my bike as it followed me down. I crashed on Saturday in fact, in a rocky section and was very glad I was wearing knee pads.

I haven't had any bad wrecks on the road bike (knock on wood).

Excluding minor falls on the mountain bike, which don't really count:

1. Early 1990s, had just made the right turn from Jamboree to Santiago Canyon on a night ride (this was before the 241 toll road interchange was built). Less than a half mile in, right where there is currently a small driveway headed up to something on a hill, I had to pull over to adjust something on the bike. Little did I know that they had just built a curb for that driveway and I hit it dead on at speed. I didn't go down, but my left hand was on the bars and my left wrist took the impact. I had a sprained wrist, which took a couple of months to heal.

2. January 1996, bicycle touring in Australia, came up to some diagonal railroad tracks. I turned so that my front wheel crossed perpendicular to the tracks, but then straightened the bike out too soon and got the rear wheel caught, which threw me down instantly. A couple of scrapes and bruises, nothing serious.

3. June (?) 2007, the day of the freak thunderstorms, although it didn't rain on me during the ride, and the roads didn't look visibly wet, it had rained enough in places to bring the oil to the surface. I took the right turn from Portola to Jamboree with my usual amount of lean and the bike went out from under me. Nothing hurt except my pride - and a little sore the next day.

"There are two kinds of riders, those that have gone down..and those that are going down" John Howard

Unfortunately I've been on the bottom end of crashes too many times. It's just part of riding I guess.

My most spectacular crash happened on the Rose Bowl Ride about 6 or 7 years ago. We were going past the clubhouse on the downhill side of the loop, when I saw a rider get a bit sketched when the pack compressed in on itself, when it hit the small bump past the clubhouse. I saw him get a bit woobly when the pack got close to him and I said to myself, "oh man, there's someone I need to look out for" At the time I was taking a drink from my waterbottle and was out in the wind. I thought I had enough of a buffer between me and him..but when I went to put my bottle back in it's cage, I looked up and there he was..right in front of me, getting all woobly and stuff...and BLAM he went down right in front of me, doing 35 mph. Well I hit him instantly and went OTB (over the bars) in a full front layout position. Now considering I'm 6'3" with kind of long arms..my friends said it was quite the sight to behold. I did a full front flip and landed on the pavement with a SLAP. I didn't tumble..roll...slide or skid, but pancaked on my ass and back. Luckily no one else went down. The meat wagon was called and I got a speedy trip to the ER. As a result of the crash, I got my 3rd AC shoulder separation and a huge hematoma on my left ass cheek. It was about 2 weeks before I was on the bike again. Oh well, such is the fate of anyone who rides in pack rides..sooner or later we all go down..and some with more authority then others

cheers
Pat

i got these last tuesday, along with the darkest bruise i've ever had on my hip. it goes from black to purple to yellow.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2184/2211270752_3547920637.jpg?v=0 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2210479285_175d5c93f6.jpg

nice anniversary shirt, goober.

the last time i crashed i was 14 and i snapped a bmx frame in half. i knocked out two teeth and i broke my hand.

I have to work backwards on this thread, but too many crashes on my MTB to tell all if them

Summer 06' doing a Super D race down the side of Big Bear Mt (last one of the series). Was on a steep trail called Fall Line, was going about 30mph, a guy behind me cuts me off in a turn, forces me off my line I crash and roll longas ways (wearing elbow, shins, knee pads) went through 3 bushes and stopped 5 ft shy of a HUGE pine tree. Nothing hurt was just PISSED. I finish the race on my $250 POS hardtail, placed 5th, that guy placed 2nd but wasn't there at the medals. At the finish I ghost rided my bike off a cliff and left the bike there for a long while. I lost my 3rd place postion is series by 5 points..

Summer 06, crashed my MTB, front tire washed out in a hard turn/berm led to 4 stiches on my left Elbow

Feb on 05' first day on my new road bike, friends broke me in w/ a 55 mile ride, 44 miles into the ride, I couldn't unclip as we rode up a walkway, tipped over, big chain ring tore into my skin above the ankle, 4 teeth got in, 1 hit an artiery. Bleed into my shoes the remaining 11 miles to the car, two hours later was still bleeding when I got into the Urgent Care, 3 stiches and 4 scars.

June of 02' Crashed my BMX , tire hit a groove on the lip of the dirt jump, bike went one way, I went the other, landed and impacted on my left side and crunched as I slid into the second jump. Cut open my spline, internal bleeding, Hurt like HELL. 9 hrs later they told me I had internal bleeding and rushed my to a trama care in SD. Was in ICU for 4 days and moved to the genral floor for another 5 days. No operation, he healed on its own. Bought my first MTB 3 months later, family and GF wasn't happy

Summer of 99, dislocated my elbow jumped off a 9 ft wall on my rollerblades, leaned back int eh air BAM had to have surgery FUN STUFF, was back on the ramp 3 days later

Apri of 99, fractured my right elbow skating a half pipe, tripped up in the railing, landed head first, klnocked out for iduno how long, woke up in the office with ramp burn on my face FUN stuff

Every yr from 94-99 I've broken my wrist in the summer skating, falling off a ramp or hand rail or something stupid like that

Hi,

I'll bite...

Here's a link to my crash in December (my first in over 20 years):

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=373099&highlight=

What was my crash before that? Tuesday night race at El Dorado Park during the summer of 1987. I was on the back straight (north side of the park) and decided to attack up the right side of the pack from about halfway back. Unfortunately, someone else (a Paramount guy whose name I can't remember) pulled out right in front of me. Blammo! :eek:

The worst thing that happened to me was I tore some of the connective tissue between my ribs (or so my doctor thought). This was literally a few days before the Mammoth Mountain stage race that year so no racing for me. I went up there since I'd already paid for my space in a condo and watched my good friend crash on the last stage (Whiskey Creek criterium) and break his collarbone. :(

My ribs hurt for months but I think I was back on the bike after a couple of weeks. Better than my friend.

BTW, I never went back to Mammoth to race after that -- marriage, kids, etc. :o

Fail Dave, Fail...

Oh, if I only had pictures. My crash resulted in a "Third Breast"! Oh yea!

Simple really. Go up a really steep single track at "0 MPH" and spin, spin, spin. Try and balance between weighting the rear wheel and keeping the front on the ground and get ready for fun.

As the rear wheel began to spin I slid back to weight it. Man what a mistake. The front wheel rose immediately. So what is one to do! UN Clip! Some how I ended up horizontal directly above the bike ten to twelve feet below me. A witness says it was like slow motion. In keeping with the law of gravity I fell straight down in the prone position. Unfortunately, the handle bar had stuck in the dirt on one side and was sticking straight towards the sky on the other. What a wonderful target! Bulls Eye! I impaled myself on the end of the handlebar, which resulted in: Shattered Sternum and 1 x 3 inch hole through the abdominal muscles.

One of the guys I was riding with was a Paramedic. His solution: Call in a helicopter as we were 4.5 miles off the trail head. No, even with insurance the co-pay would kill me and would amount to the price of a new carbon frame bike. No way. Walk out? It hurt to walk. Solution: It was down hill just about all the way out so I decided to ride out. On the way out all I could discuss with Al was what I should report to the Triage Nurse at the ER to reduce my wait time: Pulse thin and thready, difficulty breathing, heart beat bouncing between tachycardia and zero. That should work.

The miracle of a third breast materialized immediately!

We got back to the trail head and my buddy volunteered to drive me to the ER. I got to the ER and when asked why I was there simply raised my riding jersey. The third breast was immediately recognized as "NOT GOOD" and I was rushed into the ER and spared the long weight sitting in the waiting room.

I was referred to my primary care physician - who by the way is one of the neatest Doc's I have met - Thanks Dr. Berman - Good Doc, Great Sense of Humor and even willing to write me a prescription for a Kilt when I told him that I thought if I could "Air Things Out" it might help me overcome the dramatic and potentially fatal side effects of a "anti - seizure drug". Brain lesions suck! He pulled through: Kilt and all. As a result I did to.

After visiting with two surgeons who were fascinated by the third breast and measured it and palpated it I was finally scheduled for surgery to repair the hole and clean up the bone fragments floating around.

Prior to surgery I visited my Primary Care Physician for a Sinus Infection. Dr. B was not in the house and I got to see a brand new Doc on staff. He went through the usual examination and I asked him if he knew a good Plastic Surgeon. He asked what I was concerned about and pulled up my shirt to reveal the "Third Breast". He was amazed, shocked and extremely curious about the origin of the third breast and it's impact on my standard of living. Well, I couldn't lift heavy objects, work out, safely ride a bike for fear of suffering an additional impact in the same area, BUT I had a plan. Recommend a Plastic Surgeon to help me out. He stated he didn't know of one, but was sure that the practice had contacts and he would look for me. As an after thought: "Why do you want an Plastic Surgeon?" My response was simple and with a straight face: "I would like to have a nipple put on it so i could get it pierced. Don't you think that would be cool?" He was speechless.

I had to go to Dr. Berman for the pre-surgery blood work and physical and he asked me if I had seen Dr. So and So. Sure, why? Dr. Berman told me that the young Doctor had come into their break room and stated that he had just examined the weirdest patient. "Really! said Dr. Berman "What was so strange?"
"Well, the patient said he wanted to find a Plastic Surgeon to put a nipple on a giant growth that looked like a third breast." Dr. Berman looked at him (from what he told me) and said: "His name wouldn't be fthomas would it?" "Why yes, how did you know?" He said it wasn't nice to confound the new doctors and had a good laugh along with me.

Surgery was successful and the "Third Breast" is only a memory. Sometimes I wish I had kept it. It would make for good discussion amongst friends and strangers alike.

lol @ fthomas's story.

Wish I had more spectacular crashes to report (wait, no, I don't), but the only crash I've ever had was riding my bro's three week old, faulty piece of crap walmart mtb. I was going down a steep-ish hill near an intersection and the brakes just outright failed on me. I had to bail before I ran into traffic, then hit my chin on some pylons at the side of the road and rolled the rest of the way. All in all, not so bad, but since I bruise sooooo easily, I came out of that crash looking like someone battered me.

sort of like thomas' story, i fell on my brake lever after trying to do some stupid flatland tricks and ruptured my spleen. i have a nice scar on my side from it.

My biggest, fattest, dumbest crash was when I was up in Oakland with the Ridazz and I stupidly entered a skid competition (for you true roadies, that's when you deliberately skid the back wheel of a fixed gear bike for as long as you can with your weight forward) on somebody else's bike. Unfamiliar with the bike and the terrain, I overcompensated by coming out of the gate way too fast. As soon as I locked up the rear wheel, I lost control and unwittingly executed a high-speed bike cartwheel, eventually landing on the back of my head. This incident was immediately dubbed the "skull skid."

http://midnightridazz.com/images/gallery/large/P1030484-100_1191364391.jpg

OK...so I started this thread last week in the "secret women's forum" mostly because a couple of people I know injured themselves recently, and I wondered how many times "most riders" crash. I usually only hear about injured riders, not the "fell and got a bruise" type falls. I have to say that I am a huge dork on the bike and I fall down every couple of months. That seems to be a lot...:o Most of the time I have no more injuries than some bruises and scrapes, maybe a little blood. MOST of the time. Maybe that's because some of that time I'm on the dirt? Riders who stay on the road seem to fall less.

Now a friend called me last night about riding this weekend. He has only been riding for a year but he's pretty ambitious. He went out and bought a new road bike and everything else to go with it. I asked him if he has crashed yet and he said "NO...and don't talk to me about it it's bad luck" I told him I started a thread on a bike forum about crashing and he was appalled. OK...I guess some people think of the "domino effect", one cyclist goes down followed by everybody else, but I'm not convinced that having crashes on the mind could actually cause you to crash. It might make you ride less. I know some days I just get a "bad feeling" about riding, so I don't. It's hard to explain.

Knock on wood I have never been hit by a car, crashed at speed, or broken a bone. I consider myself very lucky since I have been riding a long time. I did have two falls that resulted in fairly serious injuries. Both were knee injuries. One fall was on dirt and one was on the street. They both put me on crutches and in physical therapy. Each one took a hella long time to recover from. Knee injuries are like that.

Been racing for about 5-6 years total. Never crashed in a race...oops..just once. Guy in front goes down, I manage to slow enough to only hit his wheel with my front wheel, I go over the handlebars, but stop myself with my hands. Looked interesting with me doing a handstand bent over my bars with my feet still clipped in my pedals.:rolleyes:

Hit by a car twice. Once recently...didn't go down. One other time back circa '87-'88. Two lanes turning left. I was in the right one as I wanted to be in the right hand side after the turn. Car comes up behind me in the left lane (to turn left), but decides she wants to go straight instead. I actually turned into the passenger door of her car and tumbled in the intersection. She was frantic. I still hollared at her, though. Kinda funny, now.

I hit a speed bump once, it took me down. A little road rash. Speed bumps in New York are smaller than here in CA, but have the same vertical height. And it was in shadows on an extremely bright summer day...I never saw it and it torqued my front wheel. Honest.

That's it. Thank God.

15 years ago, bombing down Dixie Canyon on my mountain bike. I go to take the turn on to Valley View, but didn't see the gravel on the road. The bike slides out from under me and I slide across two lanes of blacktop on my right side. Road rash from my ankle to my shoulder.

I actually rode the three miles home and stopped at a Rite Aid on the way back to buy really big bandages. They just stared at me as I stood there torn, bleeding and fishing for my wallet.

15 years ago, bombing down Dixie Canyon on my mountain bike. I go to take the turn on to Valley View, but didn't see the gravel on the road. The bike slides out from under me and I slide across two lanes of blacktop on my right side. Road rash from my ankle to my shoulder.

I actually rode the three miles home and stopped at a Rite Aid on the way back to buy really big bandages. They just stared at me as I stood there torn, bleeding and fishing for my wallet.

I'd love to have seen their faces :D Hope you weren't hurt too bad.

I'd love to have seen their faces :D Hope you weren't hurt too bad.

I was fine. Nothing broken, except some skin and my ego.

I could go through the details of all my crashes, but I won't since it would get repetitive and boring and you'd stop readying anyway.
I got hurt so many times racing BMX that my wife made me quit.
Both collar bones have been broken twice.
2006 was a paticularly bad year with six major crashes, twice ending in the ER.
2007 was good! No crashes at all . . . zero!
My wife wants me to repeat that for 2008. So that's my goal.
Rick / OCRR

PS: Hit bya car only once, in '74. Worst damage was the cuts on my back from scraping across the windshield wipers as I slid across the hood and up the windshield!

I could go through the details of all my crashes, but I won't since it would get repetitive and boring and you'd stop readying anyway.
I got hurt so many times racing BMX that my wife made me quit.
Both collar bones have been broken twice.
2006 was a paticularly bad year with six major crashes, twice ending in the ER.
2007 was good! No crashes at all . . . zero!
My wife wants me to repeat that for 2008. So that's my goal.
Rick / OCRR

PS: Hit bya car only once, in '74. Worst damage was the cuts on my back from scraping across the windshield wipers as I slid across the hood and up the windshield!

Collar bone breaks are really common, aren't they? Almost like the shoulder is like the head of a hammer...

I have several friends who have been hit by a car and were lucky, like you...very minor injuries.

Collar bone breaks are really common, aren't they? Almost like the shoulder is like the head of a hammer...

I have several friends who have been hit by a car and were lucky, like you...very minor injuries.

Yes, too common for my liking! I also broke a shoulder but that was '97. Last collar bone break was 2004.

Rick / OCRR

T-boned by an SUV in April of 06. Blew my lower right leg into pieces. 3 surgeries, 18" titanium rod through the center of my leg, 6" plate on the front of my leg, 12 screws, bone graft out of my femur, spinal compression, nerve damage, bone bruise on right shoulder, crutches for 9 months, and cane for 2 months. Thank God I am alive.

T-boned by an SUV in April of 06. Blew my lower right leg into pieces. 3 surgeries, 18" titanium rod through the center of my leg, 6" plate on the front of my leg, 12 screws, bone graft out of my femur, spinal compression, nerve damage, bone bruise on right shoulder, crutches for 9 months, and cane for 2 months. Thank God I am alive.

Gee whiz loke, that is brutal. If it is any consolation to you, that is the ugliest leg I have even seen.

T-boned by an SUV in April of 06. Blew my lower right leg into pieces. 3 surgeries, 18" titanium rod through the center of my leg, 6" plate on the front of my leg, 12 screws, bone graft out of my femur, spinal compression, nerve damage, bone bruise on right shoulder, crutches for 9 months, and cane for 2 months. Thank God I am alive.


:eek:

I am glad I am not you! You really are lucky to be alive.

East Hill