Was riding back to my apartment on the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle when a woman on a bike coming towards me on an angle from my right. I veered to my left to avoid her just as she veered to her right. We both realized we were still heading towards each other and each of us corrected, she to her left and me to my right. Kind of like doing the hallway dance on bikes. We collided with her handle bar striking my right handlebar brake. I knew my right index finger had been mashed, but panicked a bit when she screamed, "My God, where is your finger!"

Long story short, about a centimeter of my finger was gone. When the ambulance came to take me to emergency, I refused to leave without my bike. They finally agreed to squeeze it in the ambulance. My right brake is still tweaked to the left which serves as a reminder to be alert. Lucky for both of us, we were wearing helmets. It could have been much worse.

Category: Crash (posted in a separate thread)
Location: Flatwoods Park, Tampa, FL (this past Saturday morning)
Bike: Colnago Ace

I was going to have my regular Saturday club ride but my wife wanted to do a charity walk for a local cancer hospital, instead. This was a last minute thing, so we missed the online registration. Saturday morning, we get up a little late and miss registration again. So, off we go to our regular riding place to do one of our weekend rides. There was a 70.3 Triathlon being held on Sunday, in Haines City, and the park was full of participants getting in their last training ride before the race. She told me to ride without her since she didn't want to slow me down. Off I go and finish one 15 mile lap. On my last lap, I arrive at the north end parking lot which is the middle of the lap. The parking lot is oval with one way traffic. There is a one way entrance and a one way exit. So I come into the parking lot, get to the middle of the oval, come around the curve and here's this guy going the wrong way, trying to exit through the entrance. Decision time: get hit by the car or dump the bike. I got my right foot unclipped, but didn't have time to dismount and down I go. The jerk watches me fall, looks right at me while I'm on the ground and keeps on going, leaving the park via the entrance lane. And he was also a cyclist since he had a TT bike on his bike rack.

At this point, I'm the "I've fallen and I can't get up" guy until some other cyclist came to assist. Outcome was three hours in the ER and a dislocated, right shoulder. I checked the bike out while waiting for my wife to come get me and all I could see was some marred bar tape and bar end plug. I'm hoping that the pain I was in didn't cause me to overlook some other damage to the bike. I'll probably recheck the bike out this afternoon, since my shoulder is feeling better and my son will be here to help me.

Plenty of "Fun" incidents on the MTB but one stands out.

Wet muddy trail at the bottom of the Downs and the mud is wet clay- deep and slippery. This was made worse as it is also the local farmers track for his tractor between fields. The wheel tracks were about 12" deep and full of water so you had the centre part of the trail to use. 6 of us out and I was last in line. As riders in front fell off the trail I knew where extra power was needed or the parts to avoid. Only about 100 yards and as we got to the end I found myself in pole position not having fallen off or stopped. Last bit through the gate and the trail was very slippery and the only way to get through it was power on and take the wheel rut. Water was deep but sailing through -----till the wheel track had a hole in it. Front wheel stopped- over the bars and landed in 2ft of water--Wet- chalk coloured muddy water. They gave me a 9 for the somersault but knocked me down on the landing as It wasn't on my feet. Back hit first and I went right under. 5 minutes later and they were still laughing till I pointed out that I was one side of the deep water and they weren't. I had got out of the water so quick that other than a grey covering of chalk- I was relatively dry. They now had to wade through 2 ft of water to continue the ride. They did not enjoy soggy socks for the next couple of hours

Newly back to mtn biking. Long "career" racing dirt bikes in the woods(B-Class in 200, Vet, 4-stroke, Open and Senior to those in the know)) Caught some air on the mtn bike. Clipped a tree with with my handlebar. These things don't recover from that like dirt bikes . Went rolling. Nothing hurt but the ego.

Category- Solo crash in front of all my buddies
Location- Ellwood City PA, circa 1967
Bike-Schwinn Stingray 5 spd

I purchased a 12' cargo parachute at the Army Navy Store and folded it into a back pack. I was going to use the parachute to slow the bike via Don Garlits style drag racing. I summoned all my neighborhood buddies to the bottom of the steep hill at the end of our street to watch the amazing feat. I did not have a simple way to secure the parachute to the backpack so I tied the cords to the loop on top of the bike’s banana seat. With a captive audience at the base the hill I began my descent and quickly went through all 5 gears building as much speed as possible. Just at the bottom of the hill I reached over my shoulder and pulled out the parachute. It worked perfectly!, stopping the bike in an instant. The only problem was that it didn't stop me, and I can still remember flying over the Stingray's handlebars and rolling on the pavement at full speed.

Category: Wreck
Location: Harbor Springs, Mi
Bike: Motobecane Mirage

I was 16, loved to ride the roads in complete freedom on the Moto. Had a devil-may-care attitude on life after my girlfriend said, "I just want to be friends". Was on a sharp descent on the way into town, lonely country road and doing a snappy 25mph when I got into this cocky zig-zag mood. Two quick snaps to the left and right.....TACO, SMASH. My bike came right over top of me as I slammed into the pavement. I sat there in the middle of the lane wondering what just happened, saw my beloved bike with a majorly destroyed front wheel before I checked my left shoulder blade. Ouch. No skin on a golfball sized patch over the bone, hip and shoulder was road rashed.

The lady and daughter came out to see how I was and helped me off the road. They brought me in and put a washcloth on my forehead which I pulled off and put on my shoulder blade. The mother called my parents and not long after was in the ER getting checked out for broken or missing parts. The intern ruled out Xrays because I could move my arm (I'm high pain tolerance) but later on I wasnt convinced there wasnt a broken clavicle.

The best part of it all was the new 15.00 weinmann concave (the beans back then) alloy front wheel to replace the heavy steel Rigida Superchromix bag of bricks that was taco'd.

Something that I had forgotten until reading this thread. When I was a young lad living in the 'burbs of cincinnati, I was riding the back of a friends bike. We were going down the hill on his street at a pretty good clip when I decided to bail by just sliding off the back. It seemed like such an easy solution! Welcome to inertia and the unstoppable force that was my face meeting the immovable object-the concrete.

Category: Impact with motor vehicle
Location: Royersford, Pennsylvania Summer 1981
Bike: Campagnolo equipped 1980 Lotus Legend in Ice Blue

Bombing down the largest hill in town going to visit my girlfriend (now wife) fully decked out in my leather hair net and Santini wool jersey. Female motorist in a 1970's Chevrolet Impala blindly backs her land yacht out of her driveway into the street clearly ignoring the Make No Wake sign. I tried to avoid the impact but clipped the front fender, launched off of the bicycle and flew through the air landing in a pile of trash cans and trash bags at the curb. I stood up completely unscathed. The woman looked at the bent wheel on my Lotus, opened her purse and gave me $37.00.

Just because you were not injured.....I laughed at that one

It's purely amazing how fast concrete can come up to hit you.

Category – Theft
Location – Montrose, California
Bike - no-name hand-me-down

This happened in 1956. I was five years old at the time and was just learning how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. My dad has made a three-foot T-bar that attached to the seat stays that he could hold while he walked behind me as I was learning how to balance. He had just come home from work and I asked him to help me learn to ride. He said he would after he changed his cloths, so I got the bike out and leaned it up against the wall on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Well, after waiting awhile, I was called into dinner. When I went back out afterward, the bike was gone! I think I cried that day. My dad had painted the bike a pretty yellow and his add-on handle was painted to match. It was a cool bike. Before the days of the Sting-ray, but about the same size. We called the sheriffs and filed a report.

Who would have believed it? Two day later, the sheriffs called and asked us to come by and pick up out bike. Someone had taken it for a joy ride and left it about two miles from the house in a different neighborhood. Oh, the days of "My Three Sons" and "Ozzie and Harriet". When most things were innocent and the worst trouble kids got into was for not coming home from playing when we were supposed to. Then, we got "grounded" for a few days; or a week if it was something really bad.

My office mates are wondering why I'm laughing out loud.

War Story
Category – My first Toombay
Location – Merzalben West Germany, 1969
Bike – Unknow 10 speed

I had a Raleigh Rodeo muscle bike but wanted a new 10 speed. A much taller local German lad and I swapped temporarily for a test ride. I stalled going uphill and after coming to a stop could not dismount. Some part of the bike punched a quarter sized whole an inch deep just above my right knee. I abandoned the bike and limped back home. My sister caught me trying to apply a band-aid and I got a trip to the base hospital. I still have the scar.

War Story
Category – Self inflicted
Location – Woodbridge VA, early 80's
Bike – My new taller KHS road bike

I stopped at a red light with what I believed was a pressure sensitive trigger plate. I decided to trigger the light and came down full force flat-footed. I don't remember if the light changed.

ow ow ow ow ow ow

Category – Wipeout
Date - This evening 5/15/2012 ..as I said this evening!
Location – Local MUP Wichita, Ks.
Bike - Gazelle Champion Mondial

They are doing roadwork next to one section of my favorite MUP and have the path blocked off. Tonight I took a short cut through the little league baseball parking lot. I was just coasting and watching pedestrians when I was exiting the lot and headed back for the MUP, I hit a patch of gravel. For a split second I was Jay Springsteen broad-sliding my way through turn four at the Springfield Mile. It couldn't last! I ended up sliding on my hip and got a strawberry on my right elbow for my trouble. As folks began gathering around I flipped off my toe clips, righted myself, checked the bloody elbow and sprinted away to more calls of "are you alright?"

I guess my Bontrager slicks weren't made for gravel! Since the bike seems to be OK, I guess the only casualties were my elbow and my dignity.

Category: Hit by a Car
Location: Lakewood, Colorado, 1966
Bike: a blue Raleigh 3-speed, never knew what model it was

This happened when I was 11 years old. The area where I grew up was a residential suburb with basically nothing but houses in it. My street intersected the main street at the bottom of a short, steep hill. Coming home from a ride, I would have to cross the main street at that point. This day, I looked both ways and started across. Made it into the far lane when I was broadsided by a car that had come speeding over the hill, outdriving her line of sight. There were skid marks most of the way down the hill, but she still hit me hard enough to bend the wheels and possibly the frame. I woke up on the pavement, looking up at the driver, who asked me if I was ok. Being a rather ill-tempered little brat, I suppose I growled at her or something, whereupon she hopped into her car and sped off. I picked up the bike, limped home and cleaned up the scrapes on my knees and elbows. I didn't tell my parents what had happened (I felt like it was somehow my fault, even though in hindsight, it clearly wasn't.) But later a neighbor came by to ask my mother if I was ok. I was furious about that! The bike never did get repaired, either.

Category: Crash
Location: San Francisco, California, January 2009
Bike: Giant FCR3

Commuting to the train station on a drizzly morning, the first day of work after the New Year's holiday, I was heading down a hill on a busy downtown street. As I approached a T intersection a taxi pulled away from the curb on the side street. I thought he was going to pull right into my path and braked hard. (As it turned out, he stopped a few feet short, and I might have been fine if I'd just kept going.) But I managed to torque my front wheel to one side, and was ejected from the bike. I slammed into the pavement on my shoulder, the taxi driver looked at me as if he realized he'd caused my crash, and drove off. A guy got out of a passing car and helped me to the curb. I told him I didn't need a doctor, and I honestly thought that was true. Was I ever wrong!

The bike was undamaged, but I didn't feel up to riding, so I walked home. It took my boyfriend a couple of hours to convince me to go the ER, where I found out that I'd shattered the top of my humerus where it sits in the shoulder joint, and there was a giant bruise covering my entire right arm and side from shoulder to hip. Got a nice titanium plate installed the following week. For the first 5 weeks I could neither lie down nor sit straight up. Once the bone healed, I was so weak my hand shook from the effort of holding a pen. Had to have a second surgery to remove excess scar tissue inside the joint. Net outcome: 2.5 months off work, 7 months of rehab, 10 months until I could ride a bike again, about $100,000 in medical bills.

Don't recall the year. 10 years ago? I just remember that it was February 1st. Rode home from work, my usual route. Rolling into the driveway, kind of fast, standing on the pedals. Put the brakes on, there were some wet leaves on the driveway. One second I was upright, the next WHAM! I was on the ground, on my left side, sliding. I never felt myself fall, but I felt my helmet bounce on the pavement. I said out loud, "Ow! That hurt!" rolled over onto my back & lay there for a few minutes, looking up at the sky, trying to figure out if I could get up by myself. Torn trapezius & a separated shoulder. It was probably a year before I could sleep on my side, again.

Category: unplanned dismount
Location: Ft. Huachuca, AZ, USA circa 1995
Bike: Litespeed Obed FS
Bonus: FREE theraputic holistic mud skin treatment, value $300!

Monsoon season had passed several days hence, so my GF & I had gone off exploring some godforsaken dirt road where by surprise we discovered a nicely appointed picnic area off to one side. We were noodling around the ramadas and such, just sniffing around. Between 2 ramadas was a low area including what appeared to be sun-baked dried mud. I hadn't been in the area long and wasn't aware that it was not as it seemed. I began to glide down through the small depression, standing on the pedals for a stretch. I soon found out the expanse at the bottom was ash-gray mud, about the consistency of soft ice cream, with a dried baked layer at the surface.

My front wheel sunk in about halfway to the hub and the bike stopped. The event from there was lived in slow-motion from my perspective. I managed to get my right foot unclipped and out in front of me as the rear wheel lifted off the ground. For what seemed like several minutes (although I'm sure it was only seconds) I floundered with my right leg in the mud , my left leg extending behind me, left foot still clipped in, hands on the bars and the bike's rear wheel wavering side to side in the air as I TRIED not to faceplant in the slop. I did manage to land on my right side/shoulder with a godawful squishing sound, and my face only got a few small splashes of the nasty mud.

My girlfriend had gone around the area on the high ground and was watching the whole scene from the other side. She was laughing so hard she had to get off her bike and sit down. Soon I was laughing too.

No injuries, and it made for good laughs for the duration of the relationship.

'Knees,
You need to hit the "what appears to be hardpack" on a dirtbike. Did this in the mid-70's at a harescrambles in Alabama and went for an unscheduled air trip into the mud that lay bellow the skim layer on the top. You sure can slide a long ways in that slick mud and collect a huge amount in your helmet and on your leathers.

Bill

Category- lack of attention to details
Location- Half a block from home, late 60's
Bike-My beloved green 'sting ray', ape hangers, 48" sissy bar, shorty fenders, and a square shouldered slick on the back.

I loved that bike, it was freedom on wheels., and I was a wheelie king.
I decided to make it cooler by replacing the 20" front wheel with a 16" wheel. I got out the old crescent wrench, unbolted the wheels, stuck the smaller wheel in the drop outs, and finger tightened the bolts. I stood back to see how cool it looked, and said to myself, yup, I am the MAN. Now this was before "lawyer lips" and bike helmets. I couldn't wait to see how it handled, so I hop on and rip off down the street. Not bad, time to try a wheelie. I lift the front wheel high off the ground, and watch is shock as it bounces down the street without me. I'll never forget that sight. If you don't already know, the front fork doesn't roll well at all. IT hit the tarmac, and the bike stopped, like many others, I of course did not. When I woke up, I didn't know how much time had passed, and the only thing I could think of was to go home. I have a vague memory of a distant voice talking ot me, by I just got up and walked home. Sometime later my mother asked why the lady from the other end of the street brought my bike, and separated wheel home.

Category- fork failure
Location- In front of a Dairy Queen
Bike-My white x-mart 10 speed my Dad bought me for Christmas

I came home from my second year of college, and gotten a summer job in the meat department of a grocery store. I had spent an 8 hour day(I was part time HA HA) in the cold room, packing chickens into plastic bags. I got home wet with chicken juice, and chilled to the bone. my hands had cramped from the cold. Since it was a beautiful June evening, I had to go for a ride to warm up and de-stress. Within the first 1/2 mile of my ride was a nice hill, 20+ mph easy. At the bottom of the hit I had to turn right. As I made the turn, something didn't feel right with the bike. So I decided to stop and check things over. I applied the brake as I approached a Dairy Queen. Nice warm day, there were about a dozen people in line waiting to get ice cream. Then as I was almost stopped, the fork broke. The steerer tube broke off from the crown. BOOM I'm kissing concrete. I jump cursing like a sailor. The line of people are staring mouths agape. One guy comes over, asking if I'm ok. Yeah I'm fine. I feel the slight trickle of blood. I walk to the front of the line of people, still staring at me, and ask for a few napkins. The guy behind the counter takes a look at me say something like "OMG!" runs out from behind the building, around front grabs me and pull me in side. He sits me down and hands me a towel. WTF a few napkins would do. I blot my face, and look at the towel. It seems I left most of the left side of my face on the street. The guy calls my father, he pick me up and off the ER. No concussion, just road rash, two black eyes, and soreness.

Forty eight inch sissy bar? You WERE The Man!

Does anyone remember Ram Horn handlebars? They were apes with a curl at the top, almost like some drops way up there.

You needed a parachute. I could have fixed you up back then.

Category: Solo Crash
Location: Couple of Blocks from Home around 1970
Bike: Homemade chopper bike (20" Stingray type bike with chopper extensions on a 27" fork)

You guessed it. It was the chopper extensions. Riding through a dirt field near home on my way cool chopper I took a small jump, got some air, came down on the front wheel, chopper extensions buckled, fork tips hit the dirt and I went over the bars. Apparently the warning that the extensions were for show only was true.

Category: Bike Stolen
Location: High School in 1975
Bike: Schwinn Varsity

My buddy and I locked our Schwinn Varsitys together when we got to school. When school let out, no bikes. We walked the six blocks to the Schwinn dealer and, as luck would have it, they had a pair of Continentals ready to go. A couple of pleading phone calls to parents later, we rode away on our new bikes. Somehow, my friend got the yellow one and I was stuck with the light blue one.

Category: Car vs. Bike
Location: Two miles into my commute last October
Bike: '07 Schwinn Le Tour GS (first modern bike I bought when returning to cycling - it became my commuter when I realized I "needed" an Ultegra-equipped road bike and, to justify another new bike, "needed" to make the Schwinn my commuter)

Going straight in the #2 lane on a clear morning with front and rear lights flashing and high-vis yellow vest on, I crossed an intersection and a woman making a right turn blew through the Yield sign, crossed a solid white line and tossed me and the bike into the #1 lane. I remember well how everything went into slow motion as I was flying head-first toward the pavement. I clearly remember thinking "this is going to hurt" as my head neared the asphalt. To my surprise, it didn't hurt. The helmet did it's job and cushioned my skull. My shoulder hit next and didn't fare as well. Bike was totaled too. Good samaritan stopped and helped. Woman who hit me just kept her distance and waited for the police to arrive. Her insurance company finally admitted fault and is covering everything. And I got a new commuter!