Originally Posted by
zonatandem
Crashed at 38 mph coming down a canyon in Utah due to harmonic vibration on my Merlin road bike back in 2003 when I was 70 years old.
Broke shoulder (not collarbone) in 2 places.
Rode up and down that same canyon this morning . . .
So that makes you 78 and still riding in the canyons... I am in awe, and hope to be able to do those kinds of things at that age. (I imagine it probably doesn't seem like a big deal to you though if you've always been active.)
But back on topic, the TdF commentators were saying how the fast crashes usually aren't as severe as the slower ones, however odd that seems to me. Maybe rolling and sliding takes up a lot of the energy? But running into a tree, guard rail, or whatever else would hurt a lot as the energy (1/2 * m * v*v) has got to go somewhere.