PastorJim

I'm 57 and been cycling since 2011. On July 9, 2017 I flipped off my bike onto asphalt - Fractured 4 ribs and broke collarbone. Well 3 weeks in I'm still healing (feeling pretty good though). I'll get back on my bike in 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. I got hurt in 2011 (took a year to heal - I rode anyway). This time I'm not pushing it. I also don't know if I can put my all in to it. To be honest I'm a bit scared. Two falls and injuries both times by rider error. I just don't bounce well off of pavement. So I want to ride, ride, ride for fun and exercise (not competition). How do I go out there and not worry of falling?

Thanks,
Jim

1989Pre 

I injured some ribs (non-cycling) and it took two years for the intercostal muscles to heal. I hope you heal faster than that, but don't let this accident play a head trip on you: Take this time away from the bike to do other things that you may have over-looked in your life. I think things happen for a reason.
Commit to memory the conditions (both inner and outer) around your accident, and never get into that same situation again. You are now a wiser and better rider. When you are fully healed, ride slow to start, and with your newfound vigilance, awareness and practicality, consider how lucky you are.

SquidPuppet

Learn from your mistakes. That's about all you can do. Take it slow until you feel the confidence returning.

cb400bill

I was in a similar situation 3 years ago. I crashed on my road bike and separated my left shoulder. My injury was not bad enough for surgery, but was bad enough I was off of my bikes for 2 months. I had some trepidation for the first few rides. But now I don't think twice about it. This took me about 30 days. I won't ever mountain bike again and I'm more cautious about observing the road conditions. I just rolled over 8,000 miles since my crash and still love getting out and riding.

exmechanic89

I agree with the others - learn from your mistakes. I had 2 nasty crashes last year - one where I fractured my right hand - and from those incidents I learned to never put myself in an identical situation. I may crash again, but it wont be for those other 2 reasons, lol.

VegasTriker

You could consider a recumbent trike. If you add up all of the costs of medical care for your injuries in two accidents I doubt it would be less than what these things cost. I can honestly say that I don't know anyone who rides a two-wheeled bike a lot who hasn't had crashes on them. Most don't get hurt as badly as you have. The more you ride, the greater the chance of having another spill. I switched to a recumbent trike back in 2003 after two crashes that didn't break any bones but left me severely bruised. My concern was the possibility of breaking a hip in a crash and ending up out of work for an extended period.

thumpism 

I crashed on a motorcycle at age 60 after many years of riding. Figured I had to ride it as soon as possible afterward if I ever wanted to be able to again. Did so with very little trepidation. This did not affect my bicycle riding but I have not had a serious bike wreck. Yet.

curbtender

Yes, learn from your mistakes, and also others. I think the biggest is lapse of attention. If you ride with others , stay out front are ride a little back so you can see what's ahead. Had a fellow rider drafting too close today and when I let up for a second he caught my tire and went down. Most of us have gone through what you have. Let fear warn you, not stop you.

FBinNY 

It's like they say, you get back on the horse as soon as you can.

The fear will ease, though hopefully, you'll keep the knowledge and use that to avoid a repeat.

Way back in the Bronze Age, I had my first serious crash when I hit a steel deck bridge coming around a bend at 30+mph. I was on the deck before I realized I was in trouble, and slid down the span, saved by the Jersey barrier which kept me from sliding into oncoming traffic.

I escaped without serious injury save for "court burns" on my shoulder.

However, I was truly shaken up by the speed and suddenness, and for years I couldn't ride on steel deck bridges. My friends marveled at how fast I could wrestle my bike to a stop, or execute a U-turn rather than hit one of those spans. But over time, I grew more willing to ride them, though at very low speeds, as I would if riding on ice.

The point is you'll be able to ride, and as time goes by without crashing, the fear will go away also.

PastorJim

Thanks for sharing. Good advice.

PastorJim

Thanks for the helpful good advice.

PastorJim

I would love to get a recumbent trike. It's just our country roads are narrow roads and no shoulders.

Cyclist0108

I bought a new bike as a recovery present to myself, and got one with hydraulic disc brakes (both for my sense of security and because we have steep hills). I still bike like a borderline clinical paranoid 4.5 years later.

PastorJim

Thanks for sharing. I hope to never crash bad again. Once I get going again hopefully the PTSD will fade away.

General Geoff

Recumbent trike is the technological solution. If you're only a few inches off the ground, you probably won't break anything even if you somehow tip over or whatever. And being a trike, you have built-in stability that will tend to keep you upright through just about any situation.

I don't think narrow roads are a concern for a trike, they're really not much wider than a broad shouldered man.

cyclist2000

I had a couple of falls, nothing as bad as yours. I started riding again as soon as I could. Just get back on your bike, ride some MUP, in a while you will be riding like normal.

Retro Grouch 

Oh man! I've definitely got the t-shirt for that.

I think that it's been 7 years since the first of my accidents. My switch to recumbents was pretty much forced because I broke both of my elbows. Since that time I've consulted with 2 different psychologists and eventually was able to wrap my head around to riding a recumbent trike. In other words, it's taken me a long time but I stuck with it and I'm pretty well OK now.

Feel free to PM me if you feel the need for a longer version of my story.

Mtroup

"Courage is being scared and saddling up anyway." ~John Wayne

Thought this was kind of appropriate. Saddle up!

55murray

You will be afraid. Accept that. Then, with each mile you will be afraid a bit less. You probably will not have an accident that bad again.

Tokwan

I rode Superbikes, dirt bikes and cycle. I have fallen from all of them. Some broken bones, an off aligned hips, mulleted fingers, stitches here and there and lately patella tendon issue, falling on some roots.
I just started cycling again today.
I got so used to injuries that there is no more phobia. But I do remember when I was afraid in the past. Go slow and do things gingerly till you gain your confidence. Saying "I can do it " to yourself is very very important. Or get someone to cycle with you. That someone shud be able to encourage you. Do this only if you still worry.

canklecat

A couple of cycling friends fell and broke their collarbones the past year. Both are riding again. One admits she's no longer comfortable with her road bike on gravel trails. Can't say I blame her. Road bikes and gravel don't go together for most of us. The other smacked into a tree riding single track. I don't know whether he's riding single track again but he's still riding a lot, including gravel.

In athletic pursuits I've always tended to be both a risk taker and analytical. If something goes wrong I try to understand why and what it'll take to fix the problem. I won't keep bashing my skull against a problem unless I know my skull has a good shot at coming out ahead.

I don't believe it does any good to just jump back into the saddle without understanding what contributed to the mishap and what, if anything, we can do about it. Repeating a mistake doesn't help us learn. It just reinforces bad habits and fears.

That's not the same thing as repeating a failure -- sometimes failure comes from avoiding an old mistake and discovering a new limitation or mistake. Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

As I get older I'm more risk averse and more analytical, in part because, without health insurance, I can't afford a serious injury. One of my cycling friends will not ride her bike until she's been on her new job long enough to qualify for health insurance. I won't go quite that far.

All three of my falls since resuming cycling in 2015 occurred on the local multi-use path. All three the same way: Veering off the pavement, which is really just an ordinary sidewalk, nicking the pavement ledge and skittering sideways onto the ground. The first two were inconsequential -- slow speed while riding around slow moving families with kids and dogs, re-entering the pavement at a bad angle, flop, landed on grass.

The third fall on the MUP, back in February, was inadvertent, at night with poor visibility. It was a group ride, about 12-14 mph, and I was only a full bike length behind the rider ahead -- not drafting, but too close to react quickly to any problems. The paved path split into a Y. I swung out too wide onto the leftbound side, nicked the pavement ledge and hit hard on my left side on the pavement. As always this stuff happens quicker than we can react. The only effective reaction I had was to tell myself, as I was falling, "Roll, don't smack down on the left shoulder." So I avoided a broken collarbone but banged up my ribs pretty hard.

Hurt like hell. I could hardly breathe. Rested for awhile. A friend offered to drive me home but I was determined to finish the 12 miles home. Took about six weeks to completely heal. The hardest part was turning over in bed. Riding a bike was the easy part, although I mostly rode an upright comfort hybrid for the first couple of weeks.

Figure out what went wrong that contributed to the crash. Avoid doing that, unless it's unavoidable, in which case the solution is to get better at the maneuver that went wrong.

My change was to avoid group rides and tight formations on the narrow MUP, which is just a sidewalk, not really ideally suited to bike riding. I did ride in a group one more time on the MUP, in June. This was a faster, more experienced group. But it confirmed my impression that the MUP sidewalk is not well suited to group rides of 12 mph or faster with less than a bike length between riders. There's no margin for error. If we hug the right to allow for oncoming cyclists, joggers and pedestrians, we're within a few inches of the pavement ledge and potential disaster.

We wouldn't accept conditions like that for a criterium race. We expect a 3-foot buffer when riding in traffic. We wouldn't ride 12 mph or faster on a public sidewalk when there's a potential for pedestrians. So it makes no sense to ride fast pace lines on an MUP that's nothing more than a 4-foot wide sidewalk.

I still ride the MUP, but only solo. That's the change I made to avoid a repeat of a painful crash. I know of a couple other cyclists who've made the same choice -- no more fast rides on the MUP, especially in pairs or groups. It just isn't practical on a common resource shared by slower users -- pedestrians and joggers -- who have just as much right to enjoy an outing without brush-by passes by cyclists traveling 20 mph.

I still ride fast, and still ride with groups, but only on appropriate streets. There are plenty of good streets nearby where I can ride fast as safely as possible. Not much traffic, good pavement, no worries about nicking a pavement ledge if I veer off my line a couple of inches.

OldTryGuy

Why not take a moment and simply contemplate what your life would be like riding or not riding. There is no law requiring you to get back riding so take some time off after healing is complete, OR NOT!!!

My 2011 crash resulted in a minor broken neck, clavicle, cervical compression, nerve damage, loss of movement and still recovering. While in ICU I asked my neurosurgeon when I could ride again and that was 16 weeks later. A crash the year before found me looking at 2 lanes of traffic coming at me at 55mph. My wheel overlap contact caused a left side down and slide with me finally stopping in a seated position facing traffic. Saw the cars, grabbed the bike and got my ass/bike off to the side of the road. Buddies checked bike and me out, hopped back on and rode 8 miles home. The wheel overlap incident has not stopped me from riding inches behind, I have too much fun drafting to stop doing it.

IMO, things happen just because or due to actions. I will never be convinced that childhood cancer, abuse, neglect as in being left in a locked sun baking car HAPPENS FOR A REASON. That's ABSURD reasoning to me.

xodondum

I don't quite understand this. you crashed on your road bike but you won't mtn bike again? ..I crashed a few times, once on road bike and a couple on mtn bike, always downhills. Nothing serious thankfully, just bruised ribs and scraped / missing skin ;-) I am a lot more cautious going downhills now, no excessive speeds, applying or ready on the brakes.

Esthetic

Hope your recovery goes well.

I work with my hands, so an injury would really set me and my family back.

Pretty into road cycling right now and have gotten my taste of some speed and some scary fast descents recently by chance and now i know better.

I really only ride for cardio and endurance (to rack up miles) so really its about not focusing too much about speed and KOM's, but riding a manageable and confident avg speed where you have a greater degree of control and visibility.

Not really familiar with what it is you ride, but perhaps some attention to your larger tire options and lower pressure comfort gains might make you feel a bit more in control with the irregularities on the road.

1989Pre 

Tell me about it. I often wonder, in some desperation, why this hell of a reality exists. Every once in a while, though, something happens that makes sense.