Fifty Plus (50+) - How Safe are 50+ Riders?

How Safe are 50+ Riders?

Any accidents in the past 3 years?

Any your fault? Involve a motor vehicle?

Tell us about it. You get to define mild, moderate, serious and critical in your own way. Nope, I'm not going to do it for you. Sorry if that leaves you dangling a bit.

Answer as many as you like. Multiple responses encouraged.

I ride a mountain bike. The occasional inability of the trails to absorb the application of my skills results in various bruises, contusions and the spilling of blood. At the age of 63, I try to avoid mistakes that may result in broken bones. So far I've been lucky.

Does "while riding my bicycle" include 0 mph Club Tombay episodes?

Does "while riding my bicycle" include 0 mph Club Tombay episodes?

Always someone wanting a clarification!

Sure, if you were injured.

Well, I voted for option 1, no accidents, but it registered as option 7, something else.

Pretty much typical of my day so far!

I had a crash ~3 years ago, when I was a 40+, so I should not be dragging down the safety record of this fine forum. ;) I pedaled through a high speed downhill turn where poor road patching had added some height to the crown of the lane, caught a pedal and went down. I think replacing an attic fan later that afternoon was more painful than the crash itself.

One mild-moderate. My fault. I was making a 180-degree corner, on concrete, too fast. Knot on the head, knot on the elbow, knot on the right hip, two black eyes, road rash, no broken bones. Good news is that the bike was fine, and I learned that I need to wear a helmet, which I have done since.

I still ride like I'm 12.

I can't recall my last crash on the road, but I'm pretty sure it was more than 3 years ago. I hit the ground about once every couple of weeks while MTBiking. Mostly minor scrapes and scratches if anything, but once in a while I come away with some impressive scrapes and bruises.

In my 20+ years I rode like a fighter pilot with wild abandon and on the edge. This behavior moderated over the years and now at 60 I try to ride like a commercial airline pilot, smooth, predictable and careful. The last 3 years have been accident / injury free. Knock on wood.

I don't remember any accidents/falls in many years but my memory isn't what it used to be, is it?

How Safe are 50+ Riders?

Any accidents in the past 3 years?

Any your fault? Involve a motor vehicle?

Tell us about it. You get to define mild, moderate, serious and critical in your own way. Nope, I'm not going to do it for you. Sorry if that leaves you dangling a bit.

Answer as many as you like. Multiple responses encouraged.

I wish I could remember my accident (September 28, 2008) but have no memory of it. The only thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and my wife, boss, and son being there and that was after being there for week. What my wife got from the police report is they were called for a man on the side of the road with a bike, bleeding and not moving.

The woman in the house the accident was in front of call the police. From what a witness told the police, I was riding and went over the handle bars and hit the grant curbing head first. My wife was told I got up brushed myself off got back on the bike (I must have been in shock at that point) and went over again and never got back up. I remember none of it.

My helmet was broken on the right side and stuck together from the blood. I had a fractured cheek bone, black eye, fractured right arm with damage to the nerves, screwed up right leg, bruised front lob of the brain and was bleeding inside the brain, and screwed up speech (the only thing that saved my sorry ass was my helmet). Thank god for the helmet.

I went through physical and speech therapy in fact still going to speech therapy for memory and just to help me cope with everything that happened, plus I have to take medication for the brain injury. But hey I am riding again (have been since April) doing all kinds of miles when I am not working. I even bought another road bike. My boss was great gave me all the time I needed to get going again. Oh the only thing that happened to the bike I was on was a messed up front wheel.

Thanks all for listening.

Wow. That's a hard post to follow.

I think I am a safer cyclist now than 40 years ago, because I have learned a great deal about riding safely in traffic. I have never been a risk taker, and because of my lifelong physical coordination challenges, I have never been tempted to ride to the "edge" on tight curves or fast descents. (On group rides, I am typically one of the first up and one of the last down.)

I sustained a concussion and a double fracture of the left clavicle when I was left-crossed by a motor vehicle 33 years ago. Today I wear brighter-colored clothing, ride more visibly by getting farther out into the roadway, wear a better helmet, and have better brake pads. I think today I could avoid or lessen the impact under the same scenario, but I do not feel like proving this assertion.

Two Club Tombay...skinned knee. :o

I start physical therapy tomorrow, from injury jul 18th, US, sorry no pictures - I was not seen by coming driver who turned into sub in front of me. story posted

Other injury I was training for TT, feb 20, rear wheel slid out around a curve @ 24mph, nurse picked out most road rash grit but small pieces of road grit was coming out on my road rash for 2 months.

Its been a ahard year but as i said in my posts, life is good and i will continue to ride.

If accidents include clipless falls at 0 mph, I had a mild knee sprain this summer when my bike went over at a complete stop. I was clipped out on the left (as usual) but my bike inexplicably went to the right while that foot was still clipped in. I lost control of the bike and as it went down, it twisted my knee. That was near the start of the ride (around 9:30 AM) and I didn't arrive back home until late afternoon -- 6+ hours post-injury. It took at least a month for the pain and swelling to go away, yet the injury itself was minor.

Define serious. I define it as requiring medical attention. Others might say breaking a leg. I've had two fall on road bikes. One required stitches, the other just banged up a bit.
I won't count the number of times I've fallen on a MTB because that is the nature of that sport.

In 47 years of riding, I've had exactly ONE injury accident, entirely the fault of the driver who changed his mind halfway through a left turn (he was TURNING, not just signalling left), and turned right instead, directly into my path. At 30+ mph, I didn't have much opportunity to avoid him. And I was riding in a designated bike lane at the time. Oh, and did I mention he had passed me not 30 seconds before?

This happened 8 years ago, on April 1, of all days...

SP
Bend, OR

Aside from being doored (Apr. '07) and a downhill tandem crash (Aug. '07), both of which resulted in bruising of body and ego and road rash and, thought I was a fairly safe rider.

Until March when I crashed and broke my wrist -- now Levi's gone and copycatted me. :rolleyes:

Since June 15th I've been back on the road and my heightened vigilance is almost scary. I want to know what and who are around me all the time. I'm definitely more wary of riding in a group than I used to be; not that I'm riding sketchy, just choosy about whose wheel to follow and how close to follow it.

Live and learn...I'm happy to be able to do that daily.

My two accidents have been well deserved, taking turns too fast for conditions.

I am amazed that, so far, not one accident has involved a motor vehicle!!

I often tip over but I haven't gotten hurt (excluding ego). It's all part of riding through all four seasons. If you're afraid to fall, don't ride on wet leaves or snow.

Except........Back in '91, a 72 year old lady pushed me and my seven day old bike off the side of the road and into a light pole with her Oldsmobile. That one I didn't get up from (I tried like hell but I couldn't even sit up). Broken helmet, broken bike, tons of road-rash and a nasty bruise by my left kidney. Her insurance company bought me a replacement bike, replacement helmet, paid for the ambulance ride and paid the emergency room bills.

I am amazed that, so far, not one accident has involved a motor vehicle!!

I had a close call with a vehicle this year but managed to avoid contact:thumb:

A lady pulled out of a side road and just missed me and a friend. She apologized and said she didn't see us. We both had neon yellow jackets so my guess is she wasn't looking very hard:(

I have only been riding less than a year and I had one so....
I was just starting out with clipless pedals and I had no issues on road bike but MTB was a different story. I was riding the MTB on a new railtrail that was asphalt and tried a wheelie and flipped over backwards! I was upside down clipped in and thinking this is going to hurt when I hit. Well I went down hard on my tailbone and elbow. I hurt like heck too. Elbow was bloody and smashed pretty good. Tailbone was so sore for at least a week after too.
Helment saved my head from getting smashed as well.
Platform peddals went back on the MTB too!

Been road riding just on 3 years and NO incidents at all. Couple of near tombay's but MTB skills have taught me to track stand while I sort myself out. Nearest I have got to a Tombay was when I unclipped- put pressure on the pedal and slipped off. Gentle roll over on to grass.

But those MTB's- The trails are lethal for me. Trees keep jumping out into the middle of the trail, The rock that you look at (Fatal I know) so that you will miss it moves- and sometimes I have exceeded my skills on trails that need it most.

But by far the best has been the Tandem. That thing keeps trying to get the riders in close company with the soil. Why is it that the pilot always gets away by falling in front of the mud/puddle/pile of manure-? while I always fall straight in it. Think his skills are exceeding mine at present.

And I thought that mountain biking would be safer with no cars or trucks to hit.

I am amazed that, so far, not one accident has involved a motor vehicle!!

Happened more than 3 years ago but on the Tandem again- We had a car pull out in front of us and we hit the bumper hard. We were OK and the driver was apoligetic. We pointed out the damage to his bumper (New bumper would be required) but he was happy to get on his way. Then we had a car pull out on a roundabout on us. Caught the Rear end this time and BIG scratches across the car. He just asked if we were ok and drove off. Then along the seafront and it was dark by now- Two powerful lamps on the front and two good rear lights. One set on blink and the other constant. A car overtaking us had his wing mirror ripped off by the stokers bars. We stopped and so did he. Big argument about us swerving over the road till Stuart pulled out his warrant card. The driver then admitted that he hadn't seen us.

3 hits in one night and NO damage to the tandem.

Moral- Don't hit a Tandem with a Policeman as Pilot. They hurt---Both of them.

I've been hit twice; neither was my fault. However, I also failed to control my bicycle properly on more than one occasion and incurred injury as a result. Those I cannot blame on any but myself.

I am amazed that, so far, not one accident has involved a motor vehicle!!

Only way this could happen to me is if I ride out directly in front of a car at the intersection of a rail trail and a road.

Or some nut case drives their SUV down a rail trail.

I got hit by a car, and put on the pavement, at 40 mph back in February of '07 (story here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=270492)). The driver was found at fault. My injuries includes road rash, about 20 stitches, and a totaled bike...no broken bones.

Last year (June 1, 2008), I crashed my time trial bike on the last corner of a race. The bike was OK, but I had road rash and a broken clavicle. That one was my fault.

So far this year...no accidents or injuries.

:roflmao2:maddmaxx//AND iTHOUGHT IT WAS MY LACK OF SKILL SILLY me//kenneth:thumb:

None in the past three years but a couple a little longer. Actually I've had four crashes and two are funny. The first was years ago right after I got a new bike after not riding. I was on the asphalt part of a multi-use trail and a dog on the cinder part beside took after after a cat. Just as the dog almost caught the cat, the cat took a right angle turn and I ran over it. It fippled me over the bars and that was my first road rash.

The second humorous one occured when I road the shoulder of a highway where an additional lane was being added. No traffic was on it and it was me and the road. I was flying along seeing how fast I could go over certain distances. I ran smack into one of those orange plastic barrels with the flashing lights while playing with my computer.

The other two weren't so funny. I hit a pothole riding in a paceline that no one in the group called out. The other happened on vacation in a city I hadn't ridden in before. My wheels got caught where railroad tracks merged and suddently stopped me. In both instances, my helmet cracked in two.

Hope I didn't jynx myself by answereing no accidents in the last three years in the poll.

Just (re)started four months ago. Riding trails (60%) and residential/industrial (30%) and learning to share the road (10%). No problems so far.

Never been hit by a car.

Fall often, I'm kind of a klutz on the bike I guess.

I fall almost every time I mountain bike, but only got more than scrapes and bruises once. I tore some miniscus in my knee...

Worst crash ever in March of this year. Fell on my head in the street. Cracked helmet, grade 3 concussion. I also dislocated my pinkie and managed to get 7 stitches in it, too. Went to ER, no memory of the ambulance ride or the crash...

In Feb. I was riding the MUP that was treacherous trampled ice/snow covered with a smooth couple inches of pristine blown snow. Together with heavy tail wind gusts, the uneven surface made me lose control and I went down on the non drive side. My helmet kept me from a sore noggin but I my left shoulder / neck were sore for a few days. I didn't count that as a real injury.

I am amazed that, so far, not one accident has involved a motor vehicle!!

You must have missed my post, I have the drivers SUV emblem on my hip bruise, (Die'ing to post Pic, but promised I would post no more pic's :lol: but admit its hard to decipher)

You must have missed my post, I have the drivers SUV emblem on my hip bruise, (Die'ing to post Pic, but promised I would post no more pic's :lol: but admit its hard to decipher)

I was just checking the poll, where it asks that question.

Now we have several checking "yes."

I have had two accidents (falls) that were both my fault. Failure to yield to a pothole :D and failure to yield to a big patch of ice. Smashed up my hand good bit in the pothole incident.

On the road I've had a near miss or two but nothing substantial.

In a car I've not had so much as a speeding ticket for years. I hope it stays that way. I'm a pretty defensive driver.

On the MTB, my style can best be described as "Brownian motion". I broke a finger about three years ago because I though MTBing during an ice storm was an intelligent thing to do.

The accident didn't really bother me until I saw the Xrays. The finger bone was in three pieces. It made me sick, but I also thought it was pretty cool.

Nowadays I rarely ride my MTB because of career and financial considerations.

I had 4 falls without broken bones but lots of blood and bruises. Two accidents were due to Pace Line biking. One was my fault the other was someone else mistake.
Two accidents were caused by large potholes covered with water and sand. One accident was caused by wet leaves on an otherwise dry road (in a curve).
There was recently a serious accident were my wife got injured with broken pelvis. Too fast for conditions and using slick road tires on a sandy trail were the cause.
I should add that I bike over 10,000 miles per year.

Three falls in last nine months, two with minor injuries, no medical attention needed. All three were my fault, mostly inattention.

I'm either very lucky or very good or some combination of both.

When I first started back over 3 years (!) ago -and I mean *first* started back- I fell 3 times.
Once was my fault, the other two were mechanical.

I was not hurt in any way in those falls.
I haven't hit -or been hit by- any cars. Nothing.

Folks in my little burg seem to be pretty bike-friendly
'Course I don't ride like a jerk, either

Is a broken wrist moderate or serious?

Is a broken wrist moderate or serious?

What was it to you?

Got my foot stuck in the pedal when stopping yesterday. Fell over and skinned my knee. Also took out the poor guy who was standing right next to me. I apologized, he laughed and that was that. On the serious side, I've been fortunate enough to not have ever been in a serious accident involving a motor vehicle. I've had close ones that I've been able to avoid, but so far, my number hasn't come up. My brother and nephew are semi pro racers, and both have been hit by cars. No critical injuries, but there were some broken bones. I'm knocking on wood!

Is a broken wrist moderate or serious?

It required surgery and insertion of a titanium screw. Certainly not life-threatening but beyond moderate. I gave it the serious because of the surgery. For some this is little more than a bug bite. It's the worst injury I've ever had, in that its effect on my life was so far-reaching.

What do you think?

While commuting to work last November I cracked some ribs after being hit by a car moving through a red light on Market St. in SF. It hurt like hell, took 3 months to feel okay and 6 months to feel good. After medical bills were paid, my attorney ended up getting more $ than I did. No surprise there.
I'm well past the stage of being spooked by everything on the road, and have settled in to a more relaxed and conservative style of commuting.

Now 61. A couple of years ago riding in Montecito, Calif. on nice country road on my Dahon Speed 7 folding bike.

Went off pavement, onto dirt shoulder and tire slid on some tree leaves, nuts, or seeds--something of that kind.

Seriously did splits going down, and strained myself pretty badly in the groin area. Painful ride back to hotel was about 6 miles.

Ruined the rest of the getaway, but healed in a couple of weeks.

Got my foot stuck in the pedal when stopping yesterday. Fell over and skinned my knee. Also took out the poor guy who was standing right next to me. I apologized, he laughed and that was that. On the serious side, I've been fortunate enough to not have ever been in a serious accident involving a motor vehicle. I've had close ones that I've been able to avoid, but so far, my number hasn't come up. My brother and nephew are semi pro racers, and both have been hit by cars. No critical injuries, but there were some broken bones. I'm knocking on wood!

Were you going to apply for a Tombay membership?.....:D Getting one's foot stuck in a pedal leaves us with a toe clip impression and we don't have as many of those members anymore.

I'm worried that posting my stats might be tempting the forces of retribution - but

No cycling accidents, ever. Just one incident, posted here a number of years ago, when beloved spouse got her jumper tangled in the tandem back wheel - and I kept it upright until she could step off, then I (still clipped) went horizontal. So that doesn't count, eh, and just adds to my chivalry points?

No bike bumps, after bike commuting in London, Paris, San Franciso, New York, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Jakarta

And no motorbiking bumps despite using one in all of those places and loads of others on tours. And the only car bump was being driven into from behind on a UK motorway by a chap who was steering with his knees whilst writing dictation on a notepad from a cellphone call jammed in his shoulder - and he finished this activity before stepping out to discuss the results.

Oh lord, why did I write this. Instant Karma's gonna get me

One road spill on a rainy day that produced the normal road rash but lots of MTB spills producing cuts, scrapes and bruises. My MTB group is 20-30 years my junior and I don't want to be the guy everyone waits for.