General Cycling Discussion - *Sigh* First Bike Crash

I was greatly looking foward to my ride today, seeing how it would be my last for a little while until I get moved into college and get settled. So I am biking along a nice shoulder, more than enough clearance from the road and for me to bike in peace. I come to a downhill and I crouch down to pick up some speed, not long after the hill flatened out I looked ahead of me and a large rock was right in the middle of the shoulder and it was already too late for me to react. I hit the rock dead on with my front tire, and beleive it or not hit it dead on the back one as well. By this time I was going about 28-30mph, I went completly out of control and was went swirving all over the shoulder trying to regain control, I ended up flying into a small ditch on the side of the road and fell clear off my bike. My bike is "alright" nothing major, the chain just needs to be put back on because its in a way that this newbie can't even understand, both tires are flat, the handle bars arn't really bent, but when I hold the bike upright the handle bars are off to the side, a matter of straigtening them out really, nothing major. So I began on my 15 mile walk home, about 20 minutes later a Massachusetts couple stopped on the side of the road and gave me a lift home. Bike is fine, maybe a tiny scratch or two but nothing to weep over. Got a little cut on my arm but overall im alright, just another day I guess. Taking it down to the LBS tomorrow and getting it fixed up, if all goes well I might get back on the road tomorrow and try again.

Holy crap. Sounds like a pretty wild ride and it could have been worse. Sh*t happens though. Taker easy.

Just keep riding. Had a similar situation, I was comming down a hill at about the same speed. What happens, a car comes from out of nowhere an turns right infront of me. I slammed into the wheel well, go flying over the handel bars and land on his hood ( left a pretty good dent). I rolled off the hood on to the ground and through so I was standing up before I knew what happened or the driver got out of the car. ( I will never go without a helmet again after that) I was not hurt, and all my bike needed was a new front rim. The moral is, fix your bike and keep riding. Hopefully it will not happen again, but more likey it eventually will. Don't let it discourage you. :)

Oh no, no discouragement here....Us bikers are going to take our bumps and bruises and get in our accidents, but I am going to keep riding. Taking it to the LBS tomorrow and probably riding it tomorrow as well.

Good to see that your getting back onto the bike! I know that after I dislocated a finger I was a bit hesitant about hopping over obstacles for awhile(actually I still am) but I guess you don't have that problem.

BTW, was this on a road or mtb?

Kevin,

Glad your ok, hope the bike is alright.

I hope you had your helmet on?

Yeah, it was a road bike it was my Fuji Roubaix. No real damage to the bike, a very very small scratch but nothing major. And of course I had my helmet on :p Id have to be close to near insane where I would bike without it. Accidents do happen like today, and when you don't have your helmet your gonna pay.

Your lucky that you weren't killed going at that speed. I was only going about 8 - 10 mph when I hit a small speed bump, flew over my handlebars and ended up fracturing two ribs (that wasn't fun). It took me 4 weeks before I could even attempt to get back on my bike. My bike wasn't even scratched.

Ride with a helmet (that probably saved me from a concussion) and keep your eyes peeled for aliens jumping out at you !

I had quite the experience as well today on my first "real" ride out on my new bike. First thing that happened was that both of my cleats got stuck in my pedals which was not very fun but after I separated the shoe from the cleat I didn't want to bum out my riding buddy so I decided to ride on. We rode downtown and were going to the bank when I turned a corner and smacked right into a wall-mounted fire hydrant. I hit the hydrant with my left arm so I scraped it up a bit and landed pretty hard but luckily I had gloves on so it saved my hands although my legs got a little road rash. It was a pretty funny crash but no one else was around to see it, just the results. Other than that it was a good first ride, we ended up doing a little over 14 miles and plan on doing the same route early morning tomorrow.

Wow, no damage to your bike? Sounds you and I are pretty lucky today with our wipe outs. Suprising enough I am suprised I didn't break my arm with alot of rocks in the ditch area, but I go lucky I guess.

No, there was luckily no damage to the bike at all except for some serious scraping of the pedals when I was trying to figure out how to remove the cleats.

KevinmH9 -

Glad to hear you're okay. I think you should check around at your LBSs and see if they have any basic bike maininance courses. Everything you described as damage on the bike probably could have been fixed right there :

Handlebars crooked - hold the front wheel tight between your legs, and twist it back. This usually works without any tools. I'm not sure what stem you have, but the older quill types have an alan bolt on the top that you can loosen to make it easier to turn.

Flat Tires - most likely, these were both pinch flats, so you'd probably have had to have two tubes with you (I carry 3, currently) to fix them, plus tire levers and a hand pump or CO2 pump. It sounds like a lot, but it's worth it. Learning to change the tube on both tires also helps with :

Getting the chain back on - this is a lot simpler for me, but learn the chainline on your bike. Taking the back tire off and on to change the tube would probably have made it easier. It's possible that your derailleurs were nocked into a different gear, making it more difficult.

It's been awhile since I've had an accident that did anything but scratch the paint on my bike and bruise my pride, but when they have happened, it's nice to have the ability to get the bike back working and ride home instead of walking. 15 miles on foot pushing a broken bike would, IMHO, be worse than spending a half hour on the side of the road fixing the bike and recuperating, then riding home. Probably faster to fix the bike, too...

Anyways, glad to hear you're okay and all. Keep riding.

Good advice HereNT, this isn't my thread but I'm going to thank you all the same.

...Learning to change the tube on both tires also helps with :

Stopping and helping out folks who don't know how. Good karma!

Tip: With a decent patch kit (the glue type) and some good levers, its fast&easy to repair most flats without removing the wheel.

For folks who forget their spare tubes(me!), or want a quick way to patch up a tube:

>Pump the flat tire-to find the offending leak "area".
>Remove a bit of the tire bead from the rim at the suspect area.
>Pull out a bit of the tube pump again to see the hole.
>Patch (follow directions), while the glue dries (coupla minutes) check inside the tire for glass, wire etc.
>Pump again to make sure ther isn't another hole. Deflate.
>Carefully put the tube back in, seat the tire well on the rim.
>Pump.
>Get riding!

Glad you're O.K. Make sure you go over your bike well and make sure everything is OK. A buddy of mine crashed yesterday afternoon. He went down, still clipped in - broke his collarbone, concussion, road rash from his shoulder to his knee. He literally shredded his jersey and his shorts right off his side. Worse, at least to him, he took a chunk out of his carbon frame. Looks like it's time to shop for a new bike.

KevinmH9: Sorry to hear about the crash. I hope you and the bike will be OK soon. Get back out there and ride as soon as you can.

Has anyone read the date on the original post? The crash happend in late august. That was 7+ months ago. I sure hope his bike/his self is OK after 7+ months!

Camel, what was the point of bringing this old thread up after 7+ months?

Pfft, 7 months is nothing, we've had 5 year old threads dredged up.

Once you've had that first terrific crash, you're a changed person.
Glad to hear you're ok...keep riding

[edit: well, hope he's still okay these days]

Camel, what was the point of bringing this old thread up after 7+ months?


--OOPS!! No idea how I got to that thread. Went to coffee, helped some patients, came back to my computer+had what seemed like a good thpught regarding fixing flats+posted it.--Just noticed the dates now myself!