Advocacy & Safety - I crashed with my bike today, please don't make my mistake

Hi all,

I am Dimiatar, I am 25 from Sofia Bulgaria.

I am new to this place and registred because I need to know more about bike safety. I love bicycling but city traffic is giving me hell.

I crashed with my bike today because of a traffic jam. I was riding in a group of four. One remained stuck, three went for the curb.

The curb was too high, my front wheel couldn't jump it and I was thrown over like a ragdoll.

I landed on my hands bruising my left hand. :mad: Didn't hit my head or it could have been worse.

My front wheel is ****ed, it was a high-speed collision. I am 80 kilos, and it threw me like a ****ing pancake.

Don't make my mistake!

If you got stuck in traffic, WAIT! Don't try to overtake and never go for the sidewalks, some curbs look easy but if you are driving at high speed and you can't jump it the result can be a catastrophic collision.

I saw it was too high in the last moment but couldn't stop. It happened so quickly.

A similar thing happened to me once, I was coming up to a traffic jam and went to go onto the pavement up a sloped kerb but there was a bit of a lip and my front wheel didn't go over it properly and slid along it while my momentum carried me forward (it had been raining which could have contributed) I somehow managed to get onto the pavement without going down - I think at one point I was hanging off the bike to one side! Either way I won't do that again.

I wouldn't say that you ALWAYS have to wait, but one should at least slow down to assess the situation before making a move.

my worst crash was a high speed one when the passenger side door of a car stopped in a left hand turn only lane suddenly swung open (a hitchhiker getting out) and hip checked me so hard I shot across the lane to the curb, hit the curb, did a complete endo and thinking that was the worst of it I prepared to just somersault out of it when I realized the small of my back was slamming hard into a fire hydrant as I flew upside down.

Those kinds of crashes hurt!:eek:

Heal well.

Rode into a parked car one time.That was embarrassing,I thought I had been doored as I was flying over the handlebars. I learned looking at my dérailleur while I am moving is generally not a good idea.
After that I thought a helmet might not be a bad idea.

looking at my dérailleur

I nailed a curb with my chainring doing the same thing on a recent ride, trashed the whole crankset.

Thanks for your comments guys, good to hear other people have been through the same.

I usually take curbs with no problem, but this one was high I didn't stand a chance.

I hate myself for being so stupid, made a complete fool of myself falling in such a stupid way.

A thread in where the same folks that preach perfection (that's you, A&S) are admitting to their own mistakes?

Priceless.

-Kurt

not all of us are A&Sers some of us use the "new posts" button

not all of us are A&Sers some of us use the "new posts" button

I'm poking fun at A&S in general. Nothing personal.

-Kurt

That's ok :) I get what you mean though!