newridenewme

What falls have you had while commuting

Training.Wheels

Three, all of them having to do with not getting out of my toe clips or clipless pedals. All stationary. Pretty embarrassing, haha.

FatherAlabaster

One time, I stopped for a tiny little muffy dog coming out from between two parked cars, popped over my handlebars, and broke my arm. Better my arm than my face. So now I'll never have another bike with front suspension for the city, because if the fork hadn't bottomed out I would have stayed on my bike. Another time I got knocked off by a van making a surprise right turn, and somehow their rear wheel went over my ankle. It didn't hurt much when it happened, so I got up and kept going. I still have problems with the ankle four years later. Now I take the lane at those weird industrial intersections, and go to the left of those guys, like I should have done.

Other than that, it's been funny stuff like tripping over my bike on a dismount or wiping out in the snow.

The thing I still feel the worst about was once when this kid ran into my bike. He must have been eight or so. I was probably only going 15-20mph, and he just darted out into the street and ran smack into my handlebars. I tried to avoid him but I couldn't. He seemed ok, just crying his eyes out, naturally. His mom was there, and she kept telling me it wasn't my fault. She's probably right - no stop sign or anything. I don't care whose fault it is, I still feel horrible.

cyccommute 

Too many to count, remember or detail.

I've been body checked by a jaywalker running to catch up with her friends...didn't even rip her nylons. I've been hit by a car...only once, thankfully. I've gone into a corner too fast because of the 40 mph tailwind, hit a curb, did a Greg Louganis dismount, smashed into the ground on my forehead and pivoted on my helmet while looking up at the sky with my legs pointing in the direction I was going. I've crashed hard enough on ice to break the mounts on all 3 lights (handlebars and helmet) and to leave a hematoma on my thigh that stretched from my hip to my knee and a pencil thin bruise that ran from my shoulder to my wrist where the muscle of my arm was trapped between the ground and my bones.

I've crashed on dirt, on gravel, ice, water, dry pavement and about any other surface you can think of. I've crashed while road biking and while mountain biking...yes, while commuting. I've crashed because of animals, because of letting go of a handlebar while going off a jump (don't do that!), because of gravel on a corner, because a bar end wasn't tightened enough, because a crank broke, because a pedal broke and because my gears slipped. And I've crashed because of not being able to get out of my clipless pedals.

Crashes are part of riding a bicycle. It will happen. It will be traumatic at the time. And you will feel stupid. However, learn how to not get hurt when it happens. First and foremost, learn how to fall. Most people go rigid and 'brace' for the impact. That's the worst thing you can possibly do. You don't want to put out anything to catch you like a leg, an arm or a hand. Those things will get broken.

Don't try to get rid of the bike either. Relax, ride the bike down and when you hit the ground be a rag doll. The bike will take most of the impact and if you do come off the bike, you'll just roll (and slide a little) along the ground. You might be bruised and battered but, if you do it right, you won't be broken.

Bluish Green

I've never had one (knocking on plywood pressboard for good luck...).

wobbooze

none

alexaschwanden

Front wheel came out from under me when taking a hairpin turn at 12 mph at 40 degrees tilt, not a good idea but i was in a rush to get to my destination.

bluegoatwoods

It's been over twenty years now, with plenty of riding miles in every one of those years, since I've had any kind of true wipe-out.

Since then I've had the occasional ungainly dismount and such. But nothing that was injurious.

But I'm also a more calm rider than I was at one time. I'm now at the age where I just don't heal as fast as I used to. That tends to make one more cautious.

mikhalit

Had a couple of falls while learning to ride a fixie, nothing serious. Once on the black ice, smashing my laptop to pieces.

In the beginning of my cyclocommuting days met a border stone with my head when a strong wind gust pushed me into the open drainage hole, helmet cracked, front wheel completely trashed, frame and steerer tube bent. Pity i didn't take any photos of it at home, was a spectacular fall. It could have had more consequences, as the next week I went to a consulate to apply for visa, and the clerks there were quite suspicious about the scratches on my hands and face. Looked a bit like a bum.

Another time I did hit the pavement when I was watching my (girl)friend riding instead of my own way and the barend got caught by something. That girl is my wife now.

Just three days ago I fell because of unclipping the wrong way, inwards instead of outwards. My feet got stuck (sole went in the empty space in the chain ring) and i collapsed. Was the first time I did it the wrong way. Now my knee is swollen and the worst thing is that I had to skip my first brevet with Hamburg rando guys yesterday. Next one is in two weeks only and I am not sure if I will recover by that time. Not to mention I probably won't cycle to work for the next two weeks or even longer.

It sucks to be stupid. Nearly all of my falls could have been avoided. At least I always went away by myself, so far.

Matariki

Hit the pavement this January when a crank arm broke. Happened so fast I had no idea what happened until I got up and saw the lower part of the crank with pedal in the middle of the street.

jyl

I crashed once while commuting, that was in college multiple decades ago. Otherwise, I can't remember ever crashing on a commute ride. Not counting falling 3X when learning clipless pedals. Or various falls and crashes on fun rides.

a1penguin

2 mph "crash" on a tight, 180º wooden plank overpass approach. I reached out for the railing to try to avoid falling. That failed. I had a sprained middle finger and a broken lesser humerus. That's a broken shoulder and it took 9 months to heal. Fortunately no soft tissue damage and full recovery except for a bit of range of motion loss when reaching behind my back. I wish I had taken a picture when it happened; a good portion of the arm turned black and blue three days later. I didn't go for medical attention for three days as I thought it was just bruising.

spare_wheel

Falls and crashes are inevitable. And depending on your risk tolerance they can be quite common.
Cyccocomutes advice about relaxing is good but staying with the bike is not a good idea when you go down drive side down. Some of my most stubborn injuries have been due to engagement of drive train with flesh. You should never grip the bike tightly when you go down. In fact, experienced cyclists will often make a diving/throwing motion as they go down so as to control the angle of impact. I recommend that cyclists find a soft grassy area and practice -- even at low speed you can develop muscle memory that will reduce injury. Competitive racing is also a very good way to learn how to fall. They don't call Cat 5s human crayons for nothing.

Falling due to the use of clipless pedals is, IMO, 100% unnecessary. Please learn how to track stand before you even think of using clipless pedals. Moreover, track standing is not just a trick, its an excellent way to develop balancing skills that can save your bacon when your wheel slips.

Monnster

Twice. The first on black ice, I was down before I even knew what happened. The second was weird. A piece of rebar was sticking out of a dirt trail, I didn't see it. Somehow I managed to turn slightly at the wrong time and it got caught in my back rim. I was standing at the time and went head over the handlebars. One of the few times I didn't wear a helmet. I learned that lesson the hard way.