arodr42

Im new to cycling and have been in 2 crashes. Non of them were that bad and I was okay and only the front wheel got out of true. Both of the accidents were not my fault and they were caused by reckless driving or by a driver being on his phone. I try to be as safe as possible but sometimes these things are out of my reach. Fortunately nothing happened to me and i only got a few scratches. I want people to put their info on how many crashes they have been involved with either in the road or racing and have they ever thought about quitting cycling for their good being and family for not to worry about them. Have they ever been scared again of being in the road? Have they gotten depressed after a big accident ( Collarbone, etc..)? I am currently in the situation of only riding in trials because i live in a big city where drivers are just reckless and many of them don't have licenses. Last accident i was in, i took down the driver's plate number but the car was under another name and the man driving it drove away. The police gladly helped but suggested that the driver didnt have a drivers license which is frustrating. I would appreciate any input/motivation.

10 Wheels

Ride to be safe.

Bright Strobe Lights help.

dougphoto

I knock on wood have have never been in a non-racing crash, racing I've been in a few and even hit a dog one time in a race. I've been biking since the '80's and riding in Chicago like you since the early 90's I think over time you develop a 6th sense about traffic around. In Chicago I generally feel safer riding in traffic than riding on the lake front trail, kids, bikes, roller bladers, dogs, and runners make sudden unexpected movements. Cars on the street are much more predictable. The only time I'll ride on the lake front trail is at like 5am when it's empty, but I hate mornings so that never happens.

FBinNY 

Crashing is a real risk in cycling. It happens, but it's not all that common, and those of us who've been riding for years know that crashes are the exception and not the rule.

I suspect that, as a new cyclist with 2 crashes already, maybe the underlying cause can be found in your mirror.

Ride more carefully and be alert to what's happening around you. Learn to recognize situations with heightened risk potential, like right land drivers that may be turning at the light, or an oncoming driver slowing because he's planning a left turn, and so on. As you gain some experience, your ability to anticipate traffic moves will improve and you'll develop preflexes that keep you out of trouble.

Dopefish905

One crash, car pulled ahead of me and cut me off doing a right hand turn, underestimated the speed I was going..t boned the car flew 20 or so feet over the hood up on a sidewalk. That was 6months ago back still hurts here and there and have a scar on my face from road rash, nothing broken thought Cept my front fork and wheel. I was in the bike shop the next day asking how long for replacements and repairs..don't let it stop you from doing what you love, no one gets outta this alive anyway at the end so enjoy as often as possible

arodr42

What part of the city do you ride? I've been riding in the north side alot but both accidents were in the south of the city. It seems to be Drivers are not as aware of cyclists in the south side. The infrastructure is not as developed as well.

arodr42

I think this is it. I have learned alot of anticipating traffic moves but still have alot to learn

arodr42

Which lights do you recommend? (Specific model)

WalksOn2Wheels

Pretty much everything he said. You'll hear the old "Imagine everyone in a car is trying to kill you" phrase, and it's mostly right. I had the benefit of years of motorcycling before I got into cycling more seriously, so I had learned idiot diver patterns and have more experience anticipating them. You just have to accept that no one behind the wheel of a car can be trusted. Of course as an absolute statement, that's false. But by accepting the concept, you become more vigilant. The majority of the drivers pose no danger, but if you're expecting them to do something stupid, you'll be right at least 5-10% of the time.

Paul Barnard

OP, you said the crashes were not your fault, but that's not the best way to look at it. Ask yourself a few questions relative to each incident. If I had to do it all over again, would I do anything differently? Is there anything I could have done to have reduced my risk?

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that your type accidents and the best mitigation strategies are covered in this quick article.

https://bicyclesafe.com/

Lazyass

This June will be 29 years of road cycling and I've never crashed. 25 years of riding sportbikes and I've never crashed. Ride like everyone is trying to kill you, watch out for gravel and oil when cornering, be paranoid at all intersections and side streets, keep your head out of your butt and hope for lots of luck.

arodr42

This is GOLD. The left cross and the right hook were my type of accidents.

eja_ bottecchia

On a ride a couple of months ago, I lost control of my bike on a rain slick road and crashed against a K-rail. Shattered one the bone n my right, small finger. The ride back with the broken finger was not fun.

Jasper Storm

I've only had one racing crash, non-injury/damage, in road race. Couldn't avoid pileup in front of me. Been close to, but managed to avoid, plenty crashes in crits.

Have been in four training ride crashes: 1.Hit leaf-hidden debris 2.Went off road to avoid crashed teammate.3.Went in ditch to avoid crashed teammate 4.Bike slid on on slick road. Varying degrees of rash/cuts, one possible hairline fracture, that healed on it's own.

I've never had even a minor accident w/ a vehicle. Not a bike commuter, but do plenty of miles with traffic. As others stated, I'm at the point where I feel safer on the road than the MUPs. There have been some close calls where I know that a less-skilled/attentive cyclist would have had a serious crash. I've largely given up on clicking on helmet-cam video links from Cycling News, etc. showing wrecks w/vehicles. I know I would have easily avoided at least 90% of them.

dougphoto

My favorite city ride starts at division and harlem then I wind my way up to Superdog bike around that area and bit then back to start. I teach part-time at Columbia so I bike from Division and harlem to columbia, I take madison straight in from harlem. I also bike a lot in the near western burbs starting in Oak Park then heading out to La Grange/oak brook. Another really great route is to take grand or iriving park west and do a loop around Ohare The road that goes around the south and westside of Ohare is great.

Paul Barnard

Given what you read there, what would you do differently in each of your crash scenarios?

wphamilton

All of my crashes have been at least partly my fault, which is good because it means that I have some control over preventing a recurrence. They have all involved some other person, or an animal in one case, which is also encouraging because had I seen it coming and recognized the danger I might have dialed back and avoided it.

This last month was the most disconcerting because it seemed so random. Early morning pitch dark, a furry missile streaked into my headlight beam from the left, impacted my front wheel hard at the front and I went down. I had the impression of a rabbit, but it was faster than I've seen rabbits move. Less than a second warning, closer to half a second, what could you do? But I think I could have "flicked" on the right bar turning the wheel into it and jinking right and maybe stayed up.

I can't say that there was ever any depression or fear after a crash. The cost of repairing a collarbone is a little depressing. The trick is to get back on the bike before you lose self-confidence and the reluctance sets in.

CafeVelo

Im covered in scars from crashes, one racing, one in avoidance of an idiot on a bike path, one weather related, and another that came from me fiddling with the barrel adjusters rather than watching where I was going. There were other minor spills that don't make the greatest hits, like the time I was taking off arm warmers and the front wheel turned sharply, throwing me off the bike. I somehow rolled and avoided any injury whatsoever, save a stiff shoulder. I've broken my tailbone and my thumb, and the volume of skin I've lost should be expressed in square feet, but I've never considered giving up riding, nor have I felt unsafe on the road afterword. (I am still working through some descending anxiety after my last crash, where I slid down the road on a poorly banked hairpin.) After a crash I usually take a day off, and spend my riding time for that day fixing my bike if necessary, and get back to it.

rmfnla

Riding a bike in traffic is like riding a motorcycle.

You have to assume you are invisible and the cars are still trying to hit you.

As stated earlier, blinky lights help, front & rear...

Drew Eckhardt 

June 2015 - hit gravel cornering at 22 MPH, broke my collarbone, had big patches of road rash on my shoulder and hip. My thigh swelled up so much my wife thought I broke something else and took me to the urgent care clinic for x-rays.

2003-2006 - crashed twice after I wore out my big ring and got un-commanded down-shifts out of the saddle with my weight forward. Might have had a concussion on the second one because the world was going grey when I got a ride home from strangers. Crashed another time riding close to a curb not paying enough attention.

When I was commuting an idiot bumped me with his car when I was naive enough to use the bike path next to the road where car drivers aren't looking for vehicle speed traffic; although since then I've favored roads (even without shoulders) and had no problems.

1991-2006 - crashed a few times on ice winter commuting at low speeds. I don't count those.

1987 - crashed down-hill at 25 MPH riding too close to a gutter riding in the St. Louis Moonlight ramble. Some painful road rash.

No. I'd be miserable and hard to live with. In theory I'd be more likely to die from heart disease, although my father has proved resistant to that in spite of not exercising.

I'm 43 and 5'9.5". The last time I tried not cycling was in 2012-2013, and by fall of 2013 I'd grown to 205 pounds

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]2012/12/18[/TD]
[TD]2014/05/19[/TD]
[TD]2015/09/04[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]weekly hours riding[/TD]
[TD]1-2[/TD]
[TD]6-7[/TD]
[TD]10-11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]weight (pounds)[/TD]
[TD]190[/TD]
[TD]186[/TD]
[TD]136[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BP[/TD]
[TD]136/90[/TD]
[TD]153/84[/TD]
[TD]111/61[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]pulse[/TD]
[TD]77[/TD]
[TD]74[/TD]
[TD]48[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]total cholesterol[/TD]
[TD]244[/TD]
[TD]185[/TD]
[TD]181[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LDL cholesterol[/TD]
[TD]166[/TD]
[TD]131[/TD]
[TD]112[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]HDL cholesterol[/TD]
[TD]61[/TD]
[TD]55[/TD]
[TD]74[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

I'm much happier riding, have much more energy, don't snore, sleep better, need about 2 hours less sleep, and am usually about as relaxed as I was with a few beers in me as a more sessile person.

I did stop BASE jumping and skydiving for my family after I broke my leg parachuting off a bridge. That made me miss a plane crash five weeks later with no survivors, although usually screw ups like that don't have positive side effects.

I'm nervous about cornering at high speed, go slower down-hill, and have been riding intervals indoors instead.

I also got a DNR after my last crash - if I do enough damage to stop my lungs and/or heart other things which would get in the way of riding are likely to be in bad shape so I'd rather stay dead.

arodr42

Hello everyone, i've been thinking. I cant really imagine living a life without cycling. It's just a way of freedom for me. I just fixed my bike and trued the wheels. Tomorrow i will be back at it again

CafeVelo

by that comparison your family probably finds cycling in traffic a sensible activity. Wild how stuff works and you narrowly avoid catastrophic situations.

FBinNY 

+1,

IMO, ALL crashes, except getting hit from behind are at least partly the cyclists fault. Many may legally and morally be someone else's fault, but there's always an element of control or avoidance in the riders hands. The biggest difference between riders who crash and those who don't is situational awareness and anticipation. This doesn't mean that the best or smartest riders won't ever crash, it only means that crashes are avoidable, or manageable when they can't be avoided.

As an example, I was left crossed while riding at high speed. I never try to beat a left cross, and this situation didn't allow clearing behind the car. I opted to protect my bike and myself by steering left and using the brakes to end up hitting broadside and rolling across his hood. I escaped without injury, and I suspect the driver learned a good lesson.

silversx80

I've had several crashes on my road bike, most my fault, and several on the mountain bike... all my fault. The worst injury, save my most recent incident was a bruised hip, which I only took one day off. In June I was struck from behind by an F-150. ER, broken collarbone, several other still-persistent injuries.

At 8-weeks post accident the doctor gave me the clear to put weight back on my arm. I had already upgraded my door trainer due to losing the entire summer worth of riding, so I started using my new Kickr in the mornings (my rides used to be in the mornings before work). If anything, the accident has made me more focused on what my overall cycling goals are. I spend my time much more wisely, I'm stronger than ever on the bike, and I enjoy it more. I do spend much more time indoors, though.

deacon mark

I had been lucky until just 15 weeks ago. Went out road bike turned on a patch of ice. Feel right on right hip broke non displaced hip fracture. 3 screws the next day and the deacon praises the lord I am back running and riding. Being a runner first the bike does not usually have over use injuries but the big bone breaks and potential life changing crashes are a risk.

i should not have been riding in the conditions and it is the reason I will never race. I was lucky but I will never get a on a bike again without thinking, maybe I should just run today. Problem is I love riding and at almost 55 cycling makes up for loss of running speed. In the past 8 years I have up my cycling I have not started getting slower.

I never leave eave without a mirror on helmet and live in the rear view, trouble is stupididity I missed the ice.