How about some pics to add to the misery?

Mine was only a little over a month ago and convinced me to solve my Davidson's Ergopower 8-speed ghost-shifting problem once and for all. Out on a local ride with Bob Freeman and a couple others we were heading out the back roads from Sultan to Index. 3/4 up the first rather steep climb of the day my chain jumped from the lowest cog to about halfway through the cassette. The ghost-shift caused my left knee to jerk forward and smack into the left end of my handlebar - I was climbing out of the saddle.

In a flash my bike simply slipped right out from beneath me and I landed on my left hip, both feet still clipped/strapped in and both hands still on the bars! I unclipped, popped back up, remounted and that was pretty much it. No damage to the bike, superficial cut on my knee from the plastic Cinelli bar-end cap:



My last fall before that? Hawaii, 1998 - I bruised my collarbone on that one. Knock on wood it's another good, long time until the next one (I won't count any falls on my MTB).

DD

Both quads, simultaneously, turned to stone. There's literally nothing you can do except stretch (once you can straighten your legs without them locking, and wait it out. I am in good shape and do not bonk; my legs simply, at time, cramp immaculate.

A couple days before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I was on a C&V group ride that a friend in Lancaster, PA was hosting. I was using the ride as a bit of a shakedown for Shadowfax, my 1970 Raleigh Professional, which had been freshly repainted. The riding was just a bit spirited, and as I was making a right turn and trying to make up a little bit of ground on a few people who were ahead of me, I leaned into the turn a bit. I wasn't pushing any envelopes, but there was some fine gravel on the roadway, and my tires lost their grip. I felt myself washing out as if it were in slow motion, expecting to come out of it all the way until my right shoulder and thigh were dragging on the ground. Other than several 0 mph clipping incidents, I have never (as in zero times) fallen off my bike since the day I first learned to ride. I was in such disbelief that I was still holding the handlebars when I came to a stop (probably a very good thing, in hindsight).

Fortunately, one of the fellows on the ride was able to give me a quick patching up, and I was game to continue until one of my tubulars flatted (yes, it was a Rally). When my pump failed to do the job, and all the others had gone past, save the ride's host, the sag wagon was called for. It was my only experience with true road rash, my better Raleigh jersey became a memento of the occasion, and fortunately, only one chip to the paint.

In December, 2005, my front wheel slipped into a light rail track slot. I thought I was crossing the rails at a large enough angle to avoid it, but apparently misjudged. I was doing about 25mph down a hill when it happened, and I went over the handlebar flying about 15 feet before landing on my left shoulder. My A-C joint separated, and ten years later I'm still lopsided.

The orthopedic doc said if it wasn't causing any pain and I still had a full range of motion, repair surgery probably wasn't worthwhile.



Stitches over my left eye. That was too close.

^Yikes, Stan!

What a bunch of klutzes we are!

[MENTION=108582]RobbieTunes[/MENTION]: I could feel your pain coming through in that video! I occasionally get hamstring cramps toward the end of a long hard ride (something I never experienced when younger) and indeed they can be quickly debilitating.

Cheers to keeping the rubber side down, everyone!

I crashed on a charity ride last summer. I ended up with a separated shoulder similar to Stan's pictured above. But, no cool scar.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...cks-hurts.html

After the crash and regaining senses first checking the bike and then next going to the bike shop. THE trademark of all TRUE cyclists.

Look clip less pedals. Vintage Bottecchia. Rolling up to a stop sign. Unclipped left foot. Did a little track stand and fell on my right. All I thought about was protecting the bike. Concerned motorist got out of his pickup to help.

My last fall? It was a learning experience. I learned not to drink too much and ride your bike. Went over a curb that was a new feature, crashed, skinned my knee and sprained my wrist. Three motorists stopped and asked if they could help. I politely thanked them, said no help was needed and rode home.
The experience did restore my faith in mankind a little, though.

Of course!!!

I swear I saw that pattern on a some cans of stuff at the convenience store.

April 2012. I was feeling particularly fast on that morning's commute (read, strong tail wind). I decided to take the right into the parking lot hot. Tires just went out from under me. A sore right shoulder, plenty of road rash and a dent in the top tube shortened my day at work. So I had that going for me.

last year. as usual, i was at the pub (there is a pattern emerging), and when i left, i got on my bike, and couldn't get my shoe into the darn Triomphe pedal/clip. they are pretty, but they don't have a flip tab. while focusing on that little task, i bumped into the curb and... plop. a young woman was walking up the side walk and asked the old man if he was ok. of course, he jumped up and said Yes i'm fine. now the pedal has one of those plastic zip tie thingys so i can flip the pedal.

Looking at your picture---see, that's what happens when you try to pedal using the your left foot clipped to the right pedal!

Glad it wasn't worse and you ended up with a little permanent badge of honer, sign of a pure cyclists!

PS: Below my knees are multiple permanent fall down scars. Now for me it's simply skinning scar tissue on those mini-accidents that happens to most of us on occasion if we ride enough.

This morning 8:45am

End of the ride & almost home, I cross a 4 lane at a controlled intersection. Light turns green, s3x hub is in the mid range, slip into the clips and standing on the pedals I get 2 or 3 rotations in........then click....it's out of gear and I do a header over the left side of the bars and find myself laying in the middle of the intersection, shoes still attached.

The greatest injury was to my ego, lost some skin on my knee and elbows, hip and shoulder are sore, but nothing serious.

Lesson learned: a more thorough periodic inspection would be helpful!

June 2013. Damp day, wood surface bridge, wet leaves, and touched the front brake. Buddies said my splits would have made a cheerleader jealous and wanted to know how I, pushing 60, managed to have my right heel touch my right shoulder blade(I ride with some strange guys). Got my wits about me and we rode to breakfast.

The next morning, my right knee was the size of a 16" soft ball and wouldn't bend. Went to the doc and ICED it for several days. Improved down to 12" softball size but no better(I have 'bird legs' according to my wife). Ended up having knee surgery that December and off the bike for almost 18 months. Finally getting back into it again.

Riding to work today, all I could think about was this thread. Oh, and the "show someone crashing" thread, and sloar's cracked stem thread.

But I made it intact, more or less.

I count myself extremely lucky, then. Last summer, climbing the hill to my old apartment, both my thighs began trembling uncontrollably. I was bonking big-time. I pulled up and walked the last 3/4 mile. Weirdest feeling ever, but sorta comical, too. Now I wonder - was I seconds away from experiencing something similar to your event?

If so, I'd have ended up in traffic and then it wouldn't have been a laughing matter....

DD

Damn - it does, doesn't it? That's rather freaky.

DD

Since I haven't any practical experience with IGHs, I'm at a loss as to how this happened? Could you give a guy without a clue a clearer reason for the crash? It appears the hub did something unexpected?

DD

3 weeks ago on, or rather "off", my Fuji Espree. I had just finished several updates and was heading out for a short test ride. I was wearing jeans, no helmet, and just got to the end of my driveway before deciding I needed to lower the saddle. I swung my leg over the saddle to dismount as I applied the brakes. My jeans hung up on the nose of the saddle causing me to grab the front brake lever harder than intended locking the front brake. I did kind of a barrel roll end over combination and hit the sidewalk pretty hard. Totally my fault and of course there were plenty of witnesses, not one of which stopped to see of I was OK. Bumped my head, crank hit my thigh very hard causing a big knot and a bruise in the shape of a ring.

Me too, except on the right side:



Again, othro doc said surgery has no better outcome than rest and physical therapy, so that's what I went with. Still lop-sided, but I have full strength and range of motion even though I can tell it's not the same as the other side.

Man I haven't fell hard in years. Probably since middle school when I was racing BMX and dislocated my shoulder. Since then I've had some clumsy tip overs at low speed and only hurt my ego. lol. Almost feel into a little creek by my house last month while on my fat bike. Mind you we were crawl through about four feet of over grown grass so it was pretty cushy.

My last fall was several years ago: I tipped over in the driveway after forgetting to unclip! I fell on my left elbow and cracked a couple of ribs! Really embarrassing. The worst bike crash I had was in third grade, when some neighbors and I were racing around my house. The bike went out from under me on some loose gravel in the driveway and I slid about 10 feet on my right arm. Still have a nice scar on that elbow. I was winning at the time, naturally.

Last Monday. Almost to work, last half mile. I hopped the curb and took a shortcut through wet grass, then into a freshly resurfaced parking lot. The route goes down a steep drop then hairpin left. At the apex my wet sidewalls and the fresh, slick asphalt teamed up to slam me onto the deck.

Skinned left knee, sore shoulder, but my left wrist / forearm is killing me, and making cool noises. Going in for an x-ray Tuesday, pics to come.

Oh yeah, one witness. I got up and said "F me, that hurt"...looked around, and behind me, about 20 feet away, another cyclist was in the process of locking up his ride. He was looking at me, but immediately turned away when I noticed him.