Ultraslide

I've never crashed on the road in 3 years of riding, but I am slow and ride mostly solo.
I am tossed off my mtn. bike regularly. It's my way of knowing that I am pushing myself.

wens

I feel like a bad person for doing this, but fixed.

dstrong 

I got my crashing out of the way when I was young...and have the scars to prove it.

hao

I crashed into my wife's parked car the other day...if that counts. I was fiddling with my iPod and BAM, right into the side of the car. She was not happy with me...

Blackdays

Bike gods sending you a message.

kleinboogie

15 years ago I ran into someone who stopped without warning but didn't fall. Nothing since.

save10

crashed on rollers - check
crashed descending a mountain (Mt Diablo) - check
crashed while doing a track stand at an intersection in an asinine attempt to impress some girls that were waiting for the light to change - check

merlinextraligh

Not pushing hard enough if you haven't crashed. How else are you going to find the limits of adhesion, if you don't push past them?

ErichM

Did the girls giggle?

save10

If by giggle you mean point, laugh and yell 'nice going dork' then yes, giggle

Magnificent777

I crashed 3 times this year. One crash cost me road rash on 7 parts of my body. Both forearms, both

knees, ankle, chin, and two knuckles on right hand. I was going 21 to 25mph on a tight turn from road

onto cement bike path. Front wheel slip right out from me.

The last crash I yelled out in pain as I landed on my right shoulder and reopen road rash on forearm.

This was 3 months ago. I finally don't feel pain in my shoulder anymore.

I sold that bike giving it up to being cursed . I know ride a new cyclocross bike with road tires at this

time. My plan is not to crash unless I'm racing cross but it's always a possibility.

KendallF

Yeah, that's always been my plan too.

Showed up at work today for the first time after a rather serious crash last Saturday. My secretary says something like, "Poor guy! Again!"...I'm thinking "hey, it's been a long time since the last one!", but not to my co-workers apparently.

DataJunkie

I haven't ridden my bike today. I can always aspire to greatness but I need to at least be on my bike first.

hao

Well to be fair, the title is "why haven't you crashed yet", not "why haven't you crashed on your bike yet".

DataJunkie

In that case I will crash my desk chair into the wall.

DTownDave22

I had my first real close call a few months ago with a younger man turning left, right in front of me trying to get onto Fisher Freeway near downtown Detroit. I could tell there were others in the car and that distracted him some likely.

Since then, I picked up an orange vest and ride with my lights on whenever I'm in a higher traffic area, for increased visibility. Though during daylight hours, it does not make as nearly as much of a difference as at night time hours, I had someone look at it for me from a distance, and it did make a difference--it helps that it's a bit more bright.

Also, I had my first experience on the other end, being a driver--I realize now (limited amount of people on bikes here in metro Detroit so I don't deal with this nearly as much as others where cycling is more common and feasible) how easy it is to not see someone on a bike when you have limited vision, are riding in traffic, etc. I was backing out of the driveway and didn't even see a person on a bike having taken the time to look (though they were riding on the street in the left part of the street).

I think the biggest contributor though to me having close calls was trying to think that my legal rights are of minimal consequence to my relative safety and increased succeptibility, i.e.--I'm allowed on the road, but it doesn't mean I'm as safe as those in a car--those in a car are much more protected and can and do drive in such a manner with reduced risks compared to one riding a bike. That combined with hurrying and not being careful enough.

I wouldn't say it's a matter of time unless I start changing my previous habits, which one big one is not to make assumptions with what I think a driver may do and to play it more cautious with taking up the middle of a lane with increased chances of an accident (intersections, on-street parking). I also don't ride nearly as much as others who ride longer distances/times and use it for transit much more often, though, so of course that is a factor.

Edit: I have had minor accidents before as a kid and as a teenager, but that is almost out of my consciousness as I forgot about those and probably didn't think of them because they were minor.

Since I started riding my bike again (and now in the road), like many that have stopped since they were kids in the U.S. after getting a license, I ride mainly for exercise and am not in a hurry, ride for longer distances (more of medium to long distance at a slower pace vs. short distance at a faster space as a kid in the neighborhood) and take greater caution.

I've had two minor incidents, one not paying attention and having a spill (don't even really remember how it happened other than I was looking at someone of the opposite sex down the street--real smooth), and the other being in too much of a hurry and riding into our parked car in the driveway when I was much younger. Neither resulted in serious injuries. I'd like to think of that as a different period of riding and neither of those would be very likely to happen again.

Seattle Forrest

Hey ... if my previous boss could redefine "incent" from "I'm an idiot who doesn't know my own native language" to "a verb meaning 'provide an incentive'" then there's no reason you can't redefine giggle. Just think of it as linguistic innovation. I'm sure those girls would be even more impressed.

tuxbailey

That sounds painful.

hao

What, get a music player that works?

joe_5700

Wow. I consider myself lucky then. I had a similar crash on gravel where the front wheel slipped out and I went down on my left side at 20mph and onto my left hip. Both feet auto unclipped and I slid on my butt/left side and my bike did not suffer any damage. No road rash whatsoever, but I swore I cracked my hip/pelvis in the process as it had pain still after over 2 months.

Paul Y.

I once read somewhere about riding a motorcycle, eventually everyone crashes.
With the bicycle, not sure but I've gone down 3 times in 7 years of serious riding.

1Echo

The scabs from my most recent crash now blend with the ones from the crash 2 weeks before that.

The first was a turn with loose sand, the second was high speed into a curb on a poorly negotiated turn. The 2nd one trashed the frame and gave me a mild concussion. Fun month. I'm much slower on turns now.

nitropowered

I crash all the time.

Shaking off my latest concussion.

goose70

I am staying far away from this thread. Oh, wait... Damn.

Omega359

I haven't crashed (yet) in the sense that I've been actually moving, though I've tipped over way too many times by not forgetting to clip out. Last time was at a busy intersection last weekend, very embarrassing. Kinda messed up my knee that I landed on but didn't realize that till after coming home 3 hours and 110 km later. Staying off the bike for a week to let the knee recover.

Given my aptitude for clumsiness I'm sure I'll do a good number on myself one of these days. I just hope it's not on a bike I care about.