belowzero

The main paper here on Saturdays has a huge additional editorial called the spectrum. In it contains the paper titled goodweekend. Well not so good because the feature article is about a man who lost an eye, had permanent brain damage, broken arm and 5-7 rib fractures, collapsed lung and bad abrasions blood stained lycra. He ended up coming out of a coma and just barely surviving with a highly optimistic prediction of being 50/50 chances with a wife, 2 sons and dog. I’m thinking …oh yeah motorbike! Well he crashed on a new road bike during the weekend that was given to him as a work place leave gift. He went overtop of his handlebars at approx 50km/h.

Well I've fallen off at higher speed and could not do anything about the tire blowing out at the time to stop the accident. Luckily I did not sustain life threatening injuries but it makes me think twice about road racing and the risks involved. That same day I had my accident another cyclist down south was bumped by a fellow peleton rider and veered off falling to the middle of the road, he died on impact from another motorist.

How safe is it really?

Looks like anything can happen…

I keep hearing stories and having friends fall off, watching the TDF does not help.

slvoid

I know people who have DIED driving. But no one really writes home about that one.

woodcycl

This question is great at opening a can of worms ...

IMHO and FWIW ... I believe the chances of having a fender bender in your automobile is higher than having a bicycle accident, even cyling 200 miles a week vs. driving 15k a year. Take it for what's it worth ...

'nother

Well...it can. But it can just as well in a car, truck, airplane, train or walking around the block. Ya takes yer chances...

STEVO820

are you talking about road RACING or just riding a roadbike? i am a little scared to try it just yet when you see the tdf and some poor guy slips in front of the peleton and a crap load of guys just wipe out behind him. i want to try track racing next year and a guy at my lbs told me that if you protect your front wheel you should be fine and when people get close to you put your elbows out.

belowzero

Generally road bikes due to their fragile frame and tires but pointing more so towards road bike enthusiasts and road racing, eg; doing a lot of miles on the road bike with peletons or smaller groups for performance training and racers who will need to train that hard. Including races that are probably the most dangerous when you have competitive instincts and a whole bunch of new variables. eg; my dad had a knee op on his torn cartlilage after a bad crash in a race.

Yeah cars are dangerous and fatal at performance speeds, however you have a steel cage to protect you and at roughly 50km/h with all wheel brakes you have a high change of sustaining low injury to no. On a road bike your destined to hit the bitumen with any slip up. I’m not advocating to stop, but it makes me wonder how safe is it really compared to other sports or commuting activities. Of coarse recreational / leisure riders with solid bikes, commuters and mountain bikes going at slower speeds are less inclined to slip and fall.

I had a friend the other week fall at low speed on the road bike during minimal wet conditions around a roundabout. Probably some oil or grease on the road, he needed stitches in his chin

mister

If someone dies doing something they love, is it really a tragedy? Everything is potentially life threatening. You could choke on breakfast and die tomorrow morning while the rest of your family is sound asleep.

euroford

of course everything worth doing has some certain degree of risk, but personally i would put biking pretty low on that list.

well i felt this wasn't all of that dangerous either, so don't listen to me.

UmneyDurak

Anyone else had hard time reading and understanding this? Anyway road bikes are not fragile. I went down at over 22mph, bike still in one piece, and I feel safe ridding it.

UmneyDurak

Looks perfectly safe to me.

belowzero

I think if they're doing something they love then it is better than getting hit by a motorist randomly. However any loss of life is a tragedy to human life, whether its sufficating on food or falling off a bike. Just hope that person wasn't going to invent or embark on a discovery to the greater cause for humanity.

When I refer to fragile I compare then to cars and heavier more impact savvy bikes with bigger tires, such as MTB(s). And the fact that when you fall you hit the road hard. I don't mean they're weak instruments at all. BTW you are lucky then to have sustained no injury - must have been a combination of luck and professional falling technique.

AlanS

For some of us, you might compare the risks of getting hit on your bike to the risks of sitting on your a_ss, and getting heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure. Running is hard on your knees and swimming simply doesn't take the weight off.

ryanparrish

I work one week at a christian adventure camp and they put mountain biking as a higher risk of injury then repelling white water rafting or paintballing

belowzero

qoute from kids health & safety;

Riding a Bike - We've all heard the phrase "it's as easy as riding a bike." Well, riding a bike can still be dangerous. In 2001, more kids broke bones or dislocated joints riding bicycles than any other sport.

ryanparrish

I wonder what they were doing on bikes I have seen kids hear locally weave all over the roads or build make shift ramps and take their bikes over them

UmneyDurak

Kids heal fast.

belowzero

hmmm yeah protect your front wheel but also if your back wheel get hit badly you can go down depending on the situation. Make as much room as possible and don't be too aggressive with the elbows, its not Muay Thai.

Nasty TDF crash result;

Broken femur, needed a pin through it upon fracture analysis at the hospital. The Femur is the strongest bone in the body.



This is true, the benefits of exercise are clearly visibly but one doesn't need to be involved in sports cycling, can be recreational on safer surface grades. etc.. Swimming is actually a brilliant sport for exercise, its low impact. You will burn weight, just need to swim more! Cycling is easier in this sense as you rely on a machine to go faster, which helps keep the legs spinning. I think most audiences tend to gravitate to the pleasantness of water, when they go out to swim – at least I do.

ryanparrish

I dont race, but I think the benefits and the fun outweighs the negatives I would rather die in a firery crash after blowing past everyone in the peloton then *****1ng my pants in a old folks home

matagi

Belowzero, are you actually looking for a reason NOT to ride a bike? Sure, cycling can be dangerous but so can a lot of sports. You either accept the risks and keep doing a particular sport or you give up and find a sport which has a risk profile you are comfortable with.

ryanparrish

Thats why I don't look at pictures above it is kinda bad omen

belowzero

I'm actually injured atm [+] had a broken clavicle & fractured ribs.

I should be able to get back on the road bike within a couple of weeks. Will just have to take it easy on the downhills and in the peletons. I think my awareness has been slightly raised and I realise how easy it is to be seriously battered in a bike race or even training.

eg; Armstrong came close in a head on collision with a van/truck during training.

brundle_fly

Very dangerous.Every vehicle within 100 yards is an anxious moment.Even then,if you just hit a kerb
you are most likely to come off,and you or your precious bike are going to get injured.

Dave Moulton

If, if, if. Sh*t doesn’t happen; negative thinking causes sh*t to happen. Say to yourself “I am safe, I am protected” and just enjoy the ride. You can’t go through life thinking “what if” all the time.

ekimeno

I've had 3 major accidents on a road bike - twice from cars smacking be from behind and one where I smashed my head (without helmet) into the side of a turning truck. Only after the third accident where I was crashed into by a car from behind did I get paranoid. I gave up road cycling altogether for 8 years - I was even scared crossing roads for a while.

Good news is that at the age of 29 - a year ago - I started cycling again. Very little paranoia and determined not to let the traffic get to me. Always wear a helmet!!!

Hammertoe

Here are a couple of sayings I have come up with......'Birth is a death sentence' (Gonna make that one into a bumper sticker), 'Life is short and brutish enjoy while you got it because it is fleeting.'
Heck, breathing can kill you, eating chicken can kill you, hate to say it but riding your bike can kill you. Just to be a real bummer, you are dying right now.
Get out an enjoy life...ride your bike!!