Best/Worst Crashes
 

I was hit by a car a couple weeks ago and I would like to hear about others experience with crashing and/or getting hit.
Here's my story:

I ride the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle as much as I can to get around. There is one particular part where the trail goes down below the road (N 34th) and under the Fremont bridge. I needed to get onto the bridge so I rode the sidewalk (which is legal in Seattle). The sidewalk is narrow and not very smooth along this area. There is a driveway that comes up onto 34th. This van came up the driveway and stopped at the sidewalk. I continued forward looking up at the van and looking down at the sidewalk so I wouldn't fall over. Just as I was in front of the van, he hit the gas and hit me and launched me out into the street where there was a car coming at me. That car saw me and stopped (WHEW!!!). The guy in the van jumped out to see if I was ok and all I said was, "Get my bike out of the street!!!" (I ride a 1993 Masi Team 3V) After that I realized how bad my leg hurt...
I am on crutches, in a knee brace, can't work and stuck at home with the internet to entertain me.
I look forward to your stories!!

Ouch! That hurts, that's a lousy place to be caught on a bike by an unaware driver, I think most autos coming out of that intersection only expect bikes from their left, sorry you were an example of this.

I, too, am currently on crutches in the Seattle area nursing a broken hip and foot from a bike car collision out by Snoqualamie Falls mid august.

So, here are two of the most spectacular cycling crashes I've seen, both times the cyclists got away with minor injuries. Both happened back in the early nineties.

One, me and a buddy went for a nighttime bike ride after work to the bars in a small town. Riding downhill, my buddy on his BMX bike jumps a driveway curbcorner from the street onto the sidewalk, doing a little sideways air for style points and in midair he SLAMS square into the brick wall of the laundromat.

Second best, me and another buddy riding the concrete breakwall in the harbor, a big halfmile long abutment into the bay. Big breakwater, it had a lower section about 5 feet above the seaward side, then a big angled slope up to a sidewalk width top section about 15 feet above the harbor. We we having a great time riding up from the lower section to the top, then back down the ramp to the lower section. I'm riding on top and watch my buddy accelerate right up the ramp part, across the level top of the breakwall and pitched into the harbor, bike and all.

Then, there was the time....

1. was riding my commuter bike back from class through Isla Vista (college community next to UCSB). Some chic backs out of a driveway at full speed without looking. I hit the side of her Jetta and end up on the hood. DOWN: 1 toasted commuter bike

2. another time I was riding my VFR-750 up to Cold Springs Tavern for a weekend gathering, music, food & drinks, live band, etc. Was going through the twisties at 50-65% clip and came around a corner and guess what was in my path??? A flattened soda can!!! I ran over it while leaned over with my front tyre.. it slid... :( DOWN: 1 VFR, broken brake-lever, side-fairing, clutch-cover

3. another time I was headed to work on the VFR. I was going down Glen Annie towards the freeway (2-mile straightaway between UCSB and freeway). Halfway down, some lady in a truck pulls out of a car-wash driveway without seeing me.. BAM!!! I hit the rear bed of the truck and flew over. The bike spun her truck around so it faced back into the driveway (I was going 45mph). Wish I had a video of her reaction from inside the truck... DOWN: 1 VFR for good, cracked helmet, broken chin, broken wrist, twisted knees, minor road-rash

4. Was on a hillclimb ride with the cycling-team A-riders. We started at the bottom of Hwy-154 and was headed to the top, a 10-mile climb at around 5%. Small shoulder, but we can comfortably fit two riders side by side completely in the shoulder. So we're coming out of a long right-hander and we hear all this clackity coughing sounds behind us... then CRASH, CRUNCH, BANG, SCREAMS, YAHAAHHA!!! Some guy in a rickety van that was dying up the hill was driving in the shoulder at 10mph to let other cars go buy. He caught up to us going around the corner and saw us at the last minute and slammed on his brakes. Still managed to clip the last rider in our group and knocked him forward into our group, taking out another 3-4 guys. DOWN: 5 guys, 3 nice bikes, 2 not-so-nice bikes, 4 wheels taco'ed

5. Another A-group ride with some guys from the S.B. Bike-Club & Echelon team. We had an early ride up to Refugio beach, climbed up Figueroa Mtn, waved to Reagan's security cameras and headed back on 101-S. About a minute after passing the El Capitan Beach on-ramp, we hear this sound of a car behind us. But it was getting way too loud! CRASH, SCREETCCHhhh... Some idiot drunk (on a Wed. morning at a 9am) had gotten on the freeway and was following the solid-white line since he could barely see. Ended up taking out half the group and kept on going! :eek: DOWN: 4 nice bikes, 1 rider for good, 1 rider maimed (found Ken's leg stuck to the guys bumper after the car crashed a mile down the road). :(

worst http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=137556&page=1

My best was when I slid on some gravel going 2 mph.