Bikesplendor

I-Like-To-Bike

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daoswald

Cycling is considered a low impact sport, unless, of course, you have a hard impact.

Normal riding I've dealt off and on with low levels of knee, hip, and shoulder pain. But those really are just warning signs that I'm pushing my miles up faster than my body's physical adaptations are ready. I'll back off slightly and things get better quickly, allowing me to push ahead again. Serious repetitive stress injuries, none.

I hit a boulder in August though, and hit the ground really hard. Hard enough I was pretty sure as I felt the impact and listened to the sound of skin sliding along on cement that I would end up in a cast. Luckily a few weeks of gauze bandages inside of mesh sleeves gir me to a point where I wouldn't ooze on my clothing anymore, and my elbows recovered without being immobilized. So it wasn't that bad of an injury at all. It was, however, my worst injury ever at any pursuit.

bakerjw

I did an endo out on the road one day doing about 25mph. Bike went underneath me, arms went out to brace the impact and I planted really hard. The first thing that I did was felt my teeth certain that several were missing but somehow they were all intact. One eye was blurred for several seconds as I crawled off to the shoulder dragging my bike behind.
Cracked ribs. Broken elbow. Several fractures in my left hand. Sunglasses had cut into my forehead.
Helmet came through without a scratch.
No insurance meant that I ate the ER bill and healed as best as I could.

BlazingPedals

Nothing beyond the common scrapes and bruises.

Kobe 

Several, but the worst was not even the worst accident. I hit a rock on a local trail, when I hit the ground I jammed my elbow into my spleen. I finished riding 5 miles to home with no problems.

After my wife heard that I was peeing blood she said maybe I should go to the ER. They ended up removing my spleen several days later.

indyfabz

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Brad L 

Crash 1 (Oct. 1999) Right clavicle broken into 3 pieces. I had my front wheel taken out during a Miss&Out on the velodrome. Hard recovery.

Crash 2 (Jul. 2000) Left clavicle fractured. In a double paceline on a training ride and, while making a right turn at speed, a guy on the inside went straight and took out the group. I was riding hard he next week.

Crash 3 (Oct. 2000) Fractured C1, C2, C7, crushed T6 and LOTS or roads rash and a large chuck of scalp was missing since the crash destroyed my helmet. It took 100+ stitches and 30+ staples to close it. My front tire blew while descending a long steep hill at 50+ mph. I watched my front wheel fold and felt my weight come off the saddle as I started the endo. I don't remember a lot after that. That was the end of amateur racing as I (still to this day) can't mentally do fast descents. Looong recovery.

Crash 4 (Jul. 2002) Bruised left shoulder and road rash. The guy in front on me touched a wheel and went down, taking me with him. My bike was worse off than I as the rear wheel was trashed.

Elvo

Yesterday I got water splashed on me. A few years ago I had a concussion and took a helicopter ride.

Milton Keynes

I've only ever had one bicycle wreck that I remember. I was around 10 and doing a bike-a-thon for charity. The route was simple, 6 miles south of town and back on a paved road. Coming back at around mile 9 I was going downhill with the wind at my back when my tire went flat. All I remember was the handlebars shaking back & forth and then my bike went out from under me. I slid on the pavement on my face & knees. Ended up needing stitches between my nose & mouth and on my chin. I also had badly scraped up knees and a few other scrapes. I still have the scars to this day, some 37 years later.

indyfabz

That'll teach you to ride in the shower.

KaiVentureBags

Preface: we're a team talking and replying. Only one of us really goes on these and I'm usually with my other half so we used one username, our team name.

I'm Kasey and my other half is Kai.

Kasey: I crashed in hardtack dirt while going downhill at 20 miles per hour after I saw a hiker. He looked worried. I panicked and wanted to slide but felt if I did I would hit him so I went over my handlebars and did about 2 rolls before stopping facing up at the sky. Yes, I cried because I got upset with myself for panicking when I thought I was in control. No major damage. I reinjured my knee from a previous injury and had scrapes and bruises but I rode back home 5 miles after the crash and it was indeed painful.

Kai: He says his biggest crash was in a rock garden when he was going 30 MPH downhill and hit a rock wrong. He went over his handlebars, dented his rim, broke his helmet, and scraped and bruised nearly his entire body. He had a big scrape on his buttocks (haha, buttocks). No major injuries and he was able to ride back to his car.

We both crashed on gravel bikes trying to be gnarly like we ride a mountain bike in these terrains. Haha.

PGHNeil

I get hurt more by my own stupidity and not knowing how to fall rather than by being daring. I should probably take a judo course or something.

My latest injury was the result of an OTB in my driveway. To confess, I stupidly tried to bunny hop in the gutter at the foot of my driveway while wearing sandals and having caged pedals and got tangled up as I went down. I fractured the radial head on my dominant arm through a combination of getting trapped between the handlebars and the top tube. The injury was the result of my weight compressing my elbow, causing two bones to thwack off one another. I'm lucky I didn't break anything else, like my wrists or collarbone.

Doctor Morbius

The only thing that's been hurt from cycling is my pride. One day I couldn't unclip from some newly purchased SPD pedals and I fell over at a stop sign next to a bus load of school children.

I can still hear their shrieks of laughter to this day!

katsup

Broke my collar bone due to losing balance starting from a stop sign (less than 5mph) while waving to the car that let me go. No idea why I didn't get my foot down, I use flat pedals.

Broke several bones in my wrist landing a small jump wrong while mountain biking and going over the bars.

ramzilla

`Three times in the last two years.

First time was riding on pavement with rolling hills at Stone Mountain Park in GA. Going downhill around 30 - 35mph and uphill about 5 - 10mph. Was going up hill and beginning to slow down. Standing up on pedals for more climbing power. Got too close to the curb on right hand side of road. Pedaled down hard on curb and launched myself onto the sidewalk. Scraped my palms and knees. Bloodied my right knee bad. Thank god I was wearing gloves and pants. So, only lost a little bit of skin.

Second time was riding on flat road in Fernandina Beach Florida. Only going about 10mph. Front tire blew. Lost balance & fell off bike. No big deal. Scuffed up my palms & knees again.

Third time was the next day. On same bike. I had repaired the tube and was about 10 miles from home heading North on A1A when front tire began to slowly lose air. For some stupid reason I decided to pedal as hard as possible in order to get closer to the house before I had to begin walking. Was doing between 15 to 20mph when I lost control. Not sure what happened but, I flipped upside down and landed on my back in the middle of A1A. Resulted in a big bruise on my left arm and scraped up left knee real bad. Lady driving right behind me actually stopped & helped me out. Yep. Gave me a ride to the bike shop. Got my tire fixed and I managed to ride the rest of the way home!

expatbrit

canklecat

Not too many, all things considered.

1978: Tangled wheels in final sprint in one of my first crits. Scrapes, bruises, looked worse than it really was.

2018: Hit by a car at an intersection, broken and dislocated shoulder. That was last May. Shoulder didn't begin to feel better until late autumn. Takes a lot longer to recover at age 60.

Those were the worst. I've been hit by cars several times at slow speeds, usually from behind at stop sign intersections. The drivers always say the same stupid thing: "I didn't see you! Even though you were directly in front of me! And I stopped behind you before running into you! So clearly I remembered seeing you, until I forgot! You must be the Invisible Man!" D'oh. That's why I practice the Idaho Stop now. Never pays to spend more time than absolutely necessary around intersections.

I've managed several unforced crashes, just scrapes and bruises. Bruised ribs from a 2017 unforced crash was the most painful, mostly sleeping and getting in/out of bed. Took about six weeks to fully recover.

I still like riding fast, mostly solo, but don't race. If I'm gonna crash it'll be my own fault or a moron driver. I avoid fast groups if anyone looks skittish or sketchy. I'll trust a couple of people I know for a fast small group ride but not most groups. A few weeks ago I tagged along on a group ride and immediately noticed way too much half-wheeling and people not holding lines. I dropped back about three bike lengths off the back and waited for it. Sure 'nuff, two of 'em tangled and crashed in front of me but I had enough time to brake. I retrieved the ginmormous tablet/phone one of them used that popped loose -- even a Quad Lock has its weight limits. I dropped out immediately after that.

frogman

After reading the posts, now I am afraid to go out on my bike

Teamprovicycle

i rode steel , it got way too real !!!

ArmChairRider

I injured my pride not too long ago.

Oh okay I got one, I laid my Guam bomb down at Anderson. Something about the algae on the shell stuck in the asphalt was to make my knee a part of the bigger picture. The doctor with a bottle of Betadine in one hand and a scrub brush in the other. Demonic I tell you.

Lemond1985

Was on a group ride in a paceline ~25 mph. Hit a pool ball-sized rock with my front wheel (that no one pointed out). My hands were draped lightly over the hoods, and the impact knocked them off the bars. I felt around for them in vain as I went down hard on my right side, with no chance to brake.

Road rash on my right side, a sore hip, and a cracked rear derailleur hanger on my brand new '87 Cannondale were the main casualties.

I had medical insurance at the time, so I went to a doc, a first for me at the time. They said I had bursitis in my hip and gave me anti-inflammatory meds, which I took according to directions. I just wanted some pain killers so I could sleep at night and heal, but they wouldn’t give me any. Swelling went down, but the hip was still plenty painful.Hip never quite healed properly, still bothers me regularly. I blame the anti-inflammatory drugs, since it’s the only injury I ever had that became chronic. I now suspect that injuries of this type need swelling in order to heal properly, and these days I despise prescribed medications like the plague.

I also make sure I have a good grip on the bars these days, and always have hands grasping the some of the underside of my hoods and bars so my hands can't bounce off if I hit a large bump unexpectedly.

indyfabz

Mary Ellen Moffat broke my heart on a ride.

jadocs

^^^^ lmao

subgrade

I have had quite a lot minor crashes involving bruises and scrapes during my childhood and teen years, but nothing more serious. Some of them have left scars to this day though. Once I crashed into a back of a parked car, breaking its rear window with my face and receiving a few cuts in the process - a couple of scars are still there.

But the worst was in September last year. The end of my handlebar got caught in the railings of a narrow sidewalk on an overpass while I was doing around 25-26 kph, I think; it was a Saturday morning and there were no pedestrians or other cyclists at the moment. This resulted in going over the bars and landing face first on concrete. I think I blacked out for a few moments; when I came to, I was bleeding profusely out of my nose and cuts on my face, and while the teeth seemed to be all in place, there seemed something not right with their alignment. A passer-by called an ambulance.
The result: stitches on upper lip and eyebrow; concussion; several facial fractures: Le Fort type 2 fracture - nasal bone, eye sockets and upper jaw on both sides which effectively means central part of the face disconnecting from skull, plus fractured left cheekbone and displaced nasal septum. Had surgery, and now I have three titanium plates implanted to hold my face in place.