Originally Posted by
Bad Lag
Wow!, this is hard for me to understand. In the last 45 years, I've had none.
What's going on that has caused so many serious accidents? Are you mountain biking? Is it you? Is it the other guy? Some of both?
Clearly there is story behind this post, maybe even three stories.
Are you serious? One every 20 years or so is not terribly unusual.
1. My first serious crash about 40 years ago resulted from an out-of-control pickup truck slamming into me from behind. The police noted that I was in the bike lane and that he veered into the bike lane to take me out. Put me in the ER and totally destroyed the bike. All the helmet foam was shattered (I was catapulted forward off his front fender and landed directly on my head). Nothing much you can do about that kind of encounter.
2. My second one was only about 10 years ago...my front tire blew out as I was negotiating a hairpin turn on a steep downhill. No injuries but a huge crease in the side of my helmet from going down hard and my head hitting the curb. Again, no warning and I went down so fast there was zero chance of even thinking about what I could do.
3. Just this year I was mountain biking on a popular trail. A stick got thrown into my front wheel and jammed against the fork. I went straight over the handlebars and landed on my head. Again, no injuries, zero warning and zero chance of evasive action.
You are either lucky or don't ride that many miles. Amongst the folks I know who ride thousands of miles a year in traffic or on difficult trails, there are many similar stories, some much worse than mine.