Commuting - I ate it on the way to work today

In 7 years of cycling I've never had a crash...until this morning. I decided to change things up a little and ride my tri bike in, which I just finished upgraded from 105 9 speed to DA 9 speed. I'm cruising along like normal, then out of nowhere my front wheel just pulls hard to the right. I hit the curb like a ramp and cleared the 3' sidewalk and landed right-shoulder-first about 4' into the soft dirt there, then head-first into a wood fence (finally got some use from my helmet!). I was doing about 18mph at the time, but somehow there seems to be no damage. The bike all looks good, just one little scuff that will come off, and I feel like nothing ever happened.

The thing that concerns me is that I have no idea what caused it. I wasn't turning, wasn't braking, wasn't shifting...just pedaling along in a straight line. I never saw anything in the road that would have done anything. Looking at the bike afterward, the wheels look completely normal, tires are just as they were before, chain stayed on the cog in the back and the chainring in the front...I'm stumped. So I don't know if it's something with the bike that I somehow overlooked or if there was something in the road that I didn't see (hopefully the latter).

Invisible berm - those things are deadly. Glad to hear you're okay...

Wait a second. You did have both hands on the handlebar, correct? If so, maybe you twitched a little?

Anyway, I assume there's no damage to you or the bike because it happened too fast for you to react.

The body does weird things sometimes. I remember once I was walking along and all of a sudden one leg was, like, not there at all. I fell flat on the ground, thinking OMG I've got some kind of fatal nerve disease... freaked me out, you know? I can still remember it clear as day 30 years later. But it hasn't happened again, so I guess I'm in the clear.

I'm glad you were not injured.

There is a possibility that you hit some kind of small rock which deflected your wheel, then bounced away such as a Tiddlewink would.

Wait a second. You did have both hands on the handlebar, correct? If so, maybe you twitched a little?

Yup, both hands on the bar. I certainly won't rule out operator error, but it was weird, felt almost like I was grabbed and pulled to the side. Who knows, maybe I've got a deadly nerve disease that caused a monster twitch. :twitchy:

something similar happened to me once. I was riding with traffic at 35 down a long gradual hill and all of a sudden I was over the bars and landed on my chin. Never had any idea what happened.

http://images.entertainmentearth.com/%5CAUTOIMAGES%5CNC30630lg.jpg

Groove in the road? Edge trap? How far from the curb were you when this happened?

Groove in the road? Edge trap? How far from the curb were you when this happened?

I was just about in the middle of the lane, probably 4 or 5 feet from the curb (I prefer to stay in the middle of the lane as opposed to the right side). Maybe there was some sort of groove or something that I never noticed. I'm making a mental note to look closer on my way in tomorrow. I'll know the spot since you can see the indention I left on the ground!

I took some trolley tracks (embedded in the road) at a bad angle once, and I felt a sudden jerk to the right sort of what I think you're describing. The bike went down, but I somehow managed to clip out and land on both feet :) Not really sure how I pulled that one off. It just sort of happened.

Weird things can happen. I've had two similar incidents, one of which could have been fatal. My headset bearing seized on one of my bikes, locking the wheel in a turn (it happened on a 1 year old bike, bearing was defective). My rear wheel locked up suddenly once when one of the locknuts came loose on the axle and seized the bearings on one side of the hub. Fortunately I wasn't going fast and didn't go down, but it caused a long walk home. That one was my error, I'd packed too much grease in the hub.

I went out riding on Tuesday on a bike I hadn't ridden for about 8 months. It was shifting a little sluggishly and I was looking down at the rear cassette and watching it shift and ran into a dumpster. I managed to get out of my clips and land on my feet. I looked around to see who saw my stupidity and was glad that I couldn't see anybody.

The dumpster was in front of a house and they had filled a diaper box with dirty diapers and my collision dumped it and them all over their driveway. I had to pick them all up, straighten my handlebars and brifter and go on my way.

the middle of the lane may have more issues that the right tire track.

Only time I've had something like that happen, I hit a small pebble on a tight downhill turn that was banked the wrong way, and my wheel slid out. Were you in a similar circumstance perhaps? It's waaaaay easy to lose control on an incorrectly banked turn.

We have an active thread devoted to an S-curve in N. Va. that's wiped out tons of people (me included). "S-curve of death" or something like that.

The dumpster was in front of a house and they had filled a diaper box with dirty diapers and my collision dumped it and them all over their driveway. I had to pick them all up, straighten my handlebars and brifter and go on my way.

:roflmao2:
Hey, at least you picked them up. I'm sure more than a few people would just pretend it never happened and ride away, especially after seeing nobody around.

I think the tri bike could sense that it wasn't being used for its intended purpose and punished you...

Let this be a lesson.

If you went head-first into the fence, you're going to need a new helmet. The shock absorption is only good for one hit.

If you went head-first into the fence, you're going to need a new helmet. The shock absorption is only good for one hit.

Yeah, that's the plan. It doesn't show any real damage, but better safe than sorry.

You get a big ATTABOY here for doing the right thing and picking up the diapers.

We need more cyclists like you.

Glad you and the bike are OK.

Since you just did a mechanical upgrade, the most parsimonious explanation for the crash is a mechanical problem. If the part you upgraded is good, you might have inadvertantly messed up something else while you were doing the work.

I had a similar accident a few years ago. It messed me up bad--maybe permanently. After the accident, while I was crawling around on the street looking for my glasses, I picked up a two inch bolt. This makes me think some road debris might have caused my crash, but I'll never know for sure. I checked the bike later and it was fine.

I had another mysterious crash on a paved path. I think this was due to my carelessness. I think the front wheel went off the pavement into soft dirt and caused me to lose control. I was going slow and only got some road rash.

I was just about in the middle of the lane, probably 4 or 5 feet from the curb (I prefer to stay in the middle of the lane as opposed to the right side). Maybe there was some sort of groove or something that I never noticed. I'm making a mental note to look closer on my way in tomorrow. I'll know the spot since you can see the indention I left on the ground!

Did you ever discover the cause?

Everything should be better now that Locke fixed the monkey wheel. When are we???

Stay safe & LOST!

Team Cinzano likes to sneak up on folks and stick a frame pump into the front wheel. Very sneaky.

What bike had you been riding prior to the Tri bike? I find that when I switch from a slacker geometry bike to a tighter one and vise versa, it takes a little time to adjust my steering inputs to ensure I get the desired results.

My Fall--The Story of a Bicycling Injury and Recovery (http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/myfall.htm)
by Ken Kifer

Excellent article. Kifer talks about the bike he was riding being twitchier than he was used to, and how tat might have caused his fall.

Did you ever discover the cause?

No, we were going out of town the next day so I ended up driving, and I was off today, so I haven't been back by there yet. I'll be looking when I pass it again though.

Everything should be better now that Locke fixed the monkey wheel. When are we???

Stay safe & LOST!

I don't understand this at all. :)

What bike had you been riding prior to the Tri bike? I find that when I switch from a slacker geometry bike to a tighter one and vise versa, it takes a little time to adjust my steering inputs to ensure I get the desired results.

Glad you asked cause now there's a reason to post some pictures, and I think we can all agree that pictures make every thread better.

This is the bike I was riding when I wiped out:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/brockd15/Bikes/Quintana%20Roo%20PR7/IMG_0758.jpg

This is what I rode the day before:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/brockd15/Bikes/Aegis%20Aro%20Svelte/IMG_0763.jpg

This is what I've been riding most of the time:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/brockd15/Bikes/Airborne%20Manhattan%20Project/IMG_0630.jpg

And this is what I'll be riding soon:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/brockd15/Bikes/Ted%20Williams%20Free%20Spirit/IMG_0762.jpg

Which used to look like this:
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww54/brockd15/Bikes/Ted%20Williams%20Free%20Spirit/Beforestrippingitdown.jpg

I took some trolley tracks (embedded in the road) at a bad angle once, and I felt a sudden jerk to the right sort of what I think you're describing. The bike went down, but I somehow managed to clip out and land on both feet :) Not really sure how I pulled that one off. It just sort of happened.

Not as impressive, but I was once trying to make a very sharp uphill turn on a narrow path (Gasworks hill if you're familiar with Seattle) and felt my road bike going down under me. Somehow I managed to eject myself: launch myself off the bike, unclip both feet, and land next to my bike as it toppled over in the grass.

Team Cinzano likes to sneak up on folks and stick a frame pump into the front wheel. Very sneaky.

That gets a laughy face :lol:

Doing a steep mtb downhill, I'm thinking
"I am ze great downhillair" next thing I'm plowing 15 feet
of trail with my shoulder. Even had time to think about it
as my head is bouncing.
I just chalk it up to what I call "bicycle moments".

If you like the middle of the lane it could have been a small spot of oil.

On this morning's ride a gentleman on a mtb was coming over the bridge just before a right turn. For some reason the guy turned hard right and almost flipped the bike over. Luckily he corrected his mistake and just rode away.

You probably did this already, but did you check if everything was screwed tight, like your handlebar stem or something else in that area?