jaxgtr

Damn, maybe it was a good thing I was working so much last week that I did not get to ride. The wind has been so bad here the last couple of days that I got up early, looked out the window and went back to sleep. Today wind was a steady 30 gust to 50, nothing in my book say that is good riding weather, especially own your own. I was driving to church this morning and my car was push to the side of the road, I can imagine what it would have been like on a bike in the cross wind.

scottmorrison99

Tuesday group ride, rider in front of me hooks some loose barbed wire with his shoe,the the whole roll of wire springs from beside the road into his bike. He goes down immediately. I almost got around him. I flew about 20 feet, glancing off a roadside sign post. He had road rash and a concussion. I had a bleeding bruise on my shoulder and hurt ribs. Both bikes are ok.

Paco97

Saturday I was finishing up my ride and did my usual pull into the driveway and stop right behind my pickup. I unhook both feet from the pedals as I was slowing down, but wasn't being careful and without my knowledge I reclipped my right foot on the pedal. I prefer my right foot land first since its my strong leg. I usually unclip and lean slightly to the right as I stop and it works great. Except for when you reclip and don't realize it. By the time I realized my foot was stuck to the pedals I was already stopped. I tried without success to unclip in a split second. All I remember was tucking my arms in and yelling, "OHhhhhhh!" Next thing I'm laying on the ground. Fortunately I fell into my yard on a slight hill (12" high hill). My wrists hurt also, so I don't think I did a good job of tucking my arms in. I got up and looked around and fortunately none of my neighbors were out and about. Still embarrassing though.

c_m_shooter

Was goofing around today on the new bike. Stacked up some palets in the yard to work on wheelie drops, did fine even when my wife came out with the camera to film the carnage. Led the Bulldog around for awhile then went running around the neiborhood pastures. When I got back I was practicing trackstands in the driveway and doing pretty good. (for me anyway) Out of nowhere I decided to pull a wheelie and back over I went. Scratched my elbow a bit and I'm pretty sore.

solveg

I'm not reading this thread anymore. I wish you all speedy recoveries!

I got hit by a car in the early 80's and just did the "overcoming my fear" thing last summer. You guys are making me afraid roadkill* is going to jump out at me.

chipcom 

Just to put a couple of things in perspective.

1. I fell because I was goofing off - hardly a crash.
2. I haven't had a crash that caused a visit to the hospital since the early 80s...and I ride anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 miles a year.
3. If you pay attention and don't goof off...odds are you won't have a bad crash - ever.
4. As Tom found, there are no guarantees...but hey, he's just beat up a bit, not dead!

Neil_B

If riding 5K in a year is being wussy, I want to move to Wussyville.

Ruckin

Earlier this year I discovered that it was a bit colder than I thought...

Going across a bridge I hear my son crash. As I turn my head to look
my front wheel looses all traction (freezing rain sucks) and I start sliding
towards the edge. Thank goodness I am to big to fit under the railing

My son just needed his bars adjusted but my bike bent the bars, and fork.

After that we walked all the bridges and places where we saw cars in the
ditch... but otherwise had a good ride.

Returning home and having hot cocoa - priceless!

-holiday76

On Saturday, not too long after the Historian left my house actually, I took my Raleigh commuter on a 40 mile loop. I didn't technically crash, but I did run into a tree branch and scratched my arm. I did only weigh 199.6 that day.

I guess that doesnt count.

Seriously though, I'm glad everyone is ok. Being a big guy and taking a header on a bike, well coming from someone who has broken bones doing so, it's not fun.

WhaleOil

Almost a month ago now. Sand + corner + curb = Clyde Down.

No bike damage, LOTS of raspberries, one as big as a luncheon plate.

Couldn't unclip fast enough!

Bifnasty

Sounds like I had about the same crash as Chipcom. Was racing around and wanted to show off for my fiance.....ended up on my side cause as most guys around the females, I am an idiot.

No bike damage, bruised hip and palm.

rdmjr

I didn't have an accident, but last Tuesday when I got back to the parking lot after my first ever 40-mile ride, I bent over and grabbed my trike to put it in the bed of my truck and got stung by some sort of bee. By the time I got everything put away and drove home, I had hives all over me and some minor swelling around my throat. Now I have to go up to the pharmacy to pick up the newest addition to my gear - a 2-pack of Epi-Pens. I knew I was mildly allergic to bee stings, but now it looks like the allergy's getting worse (or the bee venom's getting stronger!).
- Bob

Tom Stormcrowe

Probably an Africanized hybrid. They are up north now. They do have a bit stronger venom than NA Honeybees. They're also a bit more prone to sting, but not as much as the media and movies have made them out to be.....

lil brown bat

Bob, you need to be carrying an oral antihistamiine, not just an epi-pen. Epinephrine cures the symptom, temporarily, and can have oogly side effects. Antihistamine attacks the cause. Please get some info from your doctor, this is serious stuff.

rdmjr

I didn't need to talk to the doctor about this; my brother's a pharmacist and he'd already told me that the epi-pen's only a starting point, that I also need to be carrying around a bottle of Benadryl with me as well, so I picked that up too while I was at the pharmacy. Just looking at the epi-pen, I can already see that it's a lot bigger than I'd been thinking it would be. I'm guessing that the first oogly side effect is the thought of jabbing it into your thigh!
Thanks for the warning, though - sometimes (my wife would say almost all times) it takes more than a single mention to get the idea through my thick skull...
- Bob

Tom Stormcrowe

Speaking as someone that had to give himself insulin injections for years, it's not that bad...

Just a little stick and it's done.

lil brown bat

Check again with your pharmacist brother. On reflection, I suspect he'll tell you that the Benadryl is the starting point, i.e., the thing you need to take first. Get some more detailed info about exactly when you should use the epi-pen -- they've saved lives, but they're often not necessary and they've done a lot of harm when used inappropriately.

Tom Stormcrowe

Agreed, LBB, an Epipen is crisis intervention.

HigherGround

So you're saying that using mine when there's three laps to go in a criterium would be inappropriate? Son of a

Just kidding. I carry mine because I was once stung on the face while descending a hill at 40 mph. I cursed, and continued with my activities for the rest of the day. The next morning I could tell that my face was swelling, and it continued until later that evening... more than 24 hours after I had been stung. I was stung above the lip, and the swelling was spreading towards my eye and my throat, so I went to the ER. Now I don't ride without an epi pen any time from spring through fall. Oddly enough, I have been stung since then, but I didn't have much of a reaction. Still, it's better to have it and not need it, rather than the other way around.

redneckwes

I guess I can be added to the crash list, though it was not much of a crash. Did pretty well on the commute into work, until I got to the parking lot. I always pull my left foot out of the strap, well I didn't notice I was on just enough of a slope to the right to pull me off balance, just could not get the right foot loose in time and over I went. 26lbs of Old Raleigh and 223lbs of me hit the pavement in one pile.

I am really really glad it was the Grand Prix and not one of the A bikes, though the only damage was a scarf on the Brooks. I'm a little bent up though. Seems I went tense as I hit the ground.

Viking55803

Yesterday I bolted on my new Shimano clipless pedals and took a ride on a single track MTB trail near my place. I have only ridden a few times on my new Rockhopper 29er with the stock platform pedals. Anyway, I'm coming up a hill and get to the trailhead where there is a nice, big 4X4 trail signpost by the entrance. I figure I needed a rest and wouldn't bother unclipping and just roll up to the post and use that for support. WRONG. The whole post just tipped over and I went with it. By the time I hit the ground, both my feet were unclipped but they didn't do me any good. I broke my left brake lever on a large boulder that I missed on the way down. No damage to me, but I had to order up a new set of brake levers when I got home.

Tom Stormcrowe

Look at the bright side.....you didn't have your Artie Johnson moment in front of a crowd.

(Think Laugh In if you're old enough, the tricycle skit....)

ctoddrun

If you don't mind, I'll rename the thread "... Month ending 5/10" so I can share... Had my own clipless topple last month at the office. Had driven in to the office with the bike in the truck, and was beginning the ride home when I realized I had forgotten to reattach the front brake when I put the wheel back on. No biggie - stop right by the path (2-level path at that) to the parking garage, try to pop out the right foot (why, oh why? I always clip out left...) and cleat gets stuck. Oops... small scrape on right calf, no bike damage, and plenty of ego oozing all over the place...

ctoddrun

Be glad you couldn't - my one experience getting unclipped mid-fall was the worst I've had. Got my foot to the ground just in time to wrench my knee around in a way that God didn't intend it to go; was off the bike for weeks due to injury, and several more months while trying to overcome all the excuses I found not to ride (suppose that was fear, in reality...) Generally speaking, I think it's probably better on that kind of fall to stay clipped in - keeps your limbs "out of the way" of the fall. Hurts like hell, rash sux, but it's better than ligaments and bones and other structural stuff.

And on the rash front, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND 3M's Nexcare Tegaderm wound treatment. Did a little "controlled experiment" the last time I had rash - treated a couple of spots with conventional methods, and a couple others with Tegaderm. No lie - in 7 days the Tegaderm areas had new skin, no scab, no scarring at all. The others are scarred and will be for a long time... Not to mention that Tegaderm doesn't need to be changed for a week, so there's no pulling and peeling of the dressing every day...