Was sitting at a stop light in town today and just happened to glance over as this guy was riding a bike. It was a small BMX style bike and this was an adult man, no helmet, no gloves. Obviously not a cyclist, just someone using the bike as get-around transportation. Well, he's cutting across the gravel shoulder between a store parking lot and the cross walk at the light. I don't know if he hit something or just cranked on the front brake for no good reason but he endo'd the bike.

I know I shouldn't laugh at something like this. Eventually we all go down. I have. A couple times. But I couldn't help myself. What made it funny is that he wouldn't let go of the handlebars so he ended up face-planting in the dirt (again, no helmet), then as if that weren't bad enough after he finally did let go of the bars, the momentum carried the bike over. By this time he had rolled over onto his back and to add insult to injury, the bike hit him in the face again. I did not laugh at that.

I almost asked if he was injured and needed assistance but he sprung up real quick and hopped back on the bike like nothing happened. I didn't see any bleeding and he appeared to have full ROM. I think his pride took the biggest hit. OK, now I'm laughing.

Always wear the gear, even if you're just puttering around. I've found old helmets in Goodwill for as little as $3.

Taking delight in the misfortune of others. How classy.

Having someone do something in front of you that strikes your funnybone is not the same as "taking delight in someone's misfortune". The OP didn't ask for this, nor was their response thought out. I pulled a "best of" many years ago that would have had all viewers watching doubled over, even if I broke multiple bones. (There were no witnesses and I was unhurt. Had there been, I could have faulted no one for their reaction.)

My GF loves it when people crash. She laughs a lot when I or anyone else crash. I always feel bad for when someone crashes and check on them except when the GF crashed then I laugh at her for all the time she has laughed at me because I am petty like that. ha-ha

when someone wipes out who might desperately deserves it, it can be a sublime case of schadenfreude.

Thanks. I did not in any way take delight in it. As you said, it simply struck my funny bone, and I do feel bad about it because I am generally a pretty compassionate person. I was glad to see the guy did not get significantly hurt. But I do hope he learned a lesson or two. And I have busted my ass once or twice as well. It wasn't funny when I did it, not to me anyway. But someone else may have seen it and it struck their funny bone. Sometimes, it's just a reflex reaction, whether you want to or not. And that's what it was here. Just a reflex.

He probably saw you and tried to make you laugh and it worked!

It's nearly impossible to not laugh at certain types of 'crashes' and this sounds like it was one of those. Thousands and thousands of people watch Pink Bike's Friday Fails every week...for good reason.

Ya, I seriously doubt that. I don't think he wanted anybody seeing that!

Like I said, I really didn't want to but it was just reflex. I think what made it so funny is that it was one of those things that was kind of slow motion. The guy wasn't going particularly fast, barely a jogging pace, but it's almost like I could predict was was going to happen before it happened. There was just nothing either of us could have done to stop it.

ooofphh
The guy must have been rather average in size as to not snap a bone. A long time ago, I snapped my wrist when I went for an over the bars vacation. Wasn't high speed, just was a heavy weight load & the wrist taking on all the load.

Laughing spontaneously is something you probably had no control over. I can't honestly tell you whether I would have laughed or not. Now, if you had taunted him or scolded him, that would've been a different matter. Then you're in "kick him when he's down" territory.

It's amazing what you can ride away from when you land on dirt.

I never voluntarily take my hands off the bars during a crash because it stops me from landing on my hands. I went over the bars last year and essentially did a belly flop at about 20 mph. It hurt a lot, and I definitely felt it for a few days, but I finished the ride and didn't need medical attention.

I always jump up, raise my arms and shout "Ta Da"...makes em wonder.
He didn't laugh at the man but the incident...that is different and often humorous.

The last time I went over the bars that I got hurt, I used my unprotected head to stop the fall. I didn't break any bone! But I won't recommend it. It might have costed me 20 pts drop in IQ, maybe more.

Well I guess I will see you in Hell then because just seeing an grown adult on a small BMX bike is funny to me. He probably just leaned a little too far forward.

I went down one time since returning to bikes when I rode my freshly refurbished 66 CM '81 Schwinn exactly 10 feet out my garage door in the gravel driveway. This with unhealed spinal fusion surgery half way through months of PT. Wife was not amused in the slightest. Haven't crashed since.

Lighten up, Francis.

(No doubt I'm dating myself with that quote.)

When we were little kids back in the late 60s/early 70s…my little brother came flying into the yard on his bike. A Schwinn Racer with 26” wheels. He intended to make a turn and go to the backyard. But the garden hose was stretched from the faucet to the nearby tree and was wrapped around it…about 12” off the ground. Either he didn’t see it, or thought his wheel would go over it. It didn’t. The hose went over the top of the wheel, snagged at the steer tube, and immediately stopped the bike…but not him. He flew over the handlebars like Superman. He landed in the grass, and wasn’t hurt. To this day I laugh when I think of that (and so does he).

Dan

Using a bike for transportation..... Isn't that what cyclists do?

Schadenfreude is a thing. I'm not sure that this is that, tho...considering the victim bounced right up and rode off.

IMO, incorporating the "class warfare " and lack of safety gear devices into this thread was a mistake, if only because a helmet discussion is a good way to get a thread locked. Sometimes less is more, if you know what I'm sayin'.

I think we had the “bike rider” vs. “cyclist” debate a couple of weeks ago.

Dan

Impossible to know the backstory behind an adult on a BMX, but age and epic fails sometimes go hand in hand.

The “let’s see if I can still pull this off” should be preceded with “let me see if I have my insurance card and a ride to the urgent care.” But it’s not.

I think most of us have had those moments.

John

Those are, of course, obviously synonyms.

I continue to believe that people who think "cyclist" means anything other than bike rider are allergic to the use of adjectives.

This seems like a weird conclusion. If the cyclist (whom you describe as "obviously not a cyclist") was wearing a helmet, he still would've ended up in the exact same situation - face planting, having the bike hit him (again, in the face), getting back up and riding away uninjured, and then later reading about how someone laughed at him on the internet. A helmet doesn't prevent any of that.

What problem are the gloves supposed to solve here?