I've been an avid commuter for many years and carlite for a few. Sunday, my friend and her husband were biking when a squirrel ran out in front of them. The squirrel got caught in his spokes and he nose dived over the handle bars. He broke his neck. He isn't paralyzed, but doesn't stuff like this ever make you reconsider biking?

p.s. Yes, he did have a helmet on.

No. Cars crash as well, and all activities involve some risk.

I am very sorry about your friend, though.

Yes and no. I've had a couple of spectacular wrecks in my cycling career and I've even gotten pretty baddly hurt a time or two, but I've also gotten hurt in car wrecks and I didn't stop driving or riding in cars. As an adult, I accept the risk inherint in the activities I participate in but I can see how getting seriously injured could make a person reconsider.

Seriously, of all the animals, I think I hate squirrels most. They are so stupid and idiotic. If I could I would kill all the squirrels in my backyard and the ones that I come across on the road. They are a nuisance everywhere. If they see you coming down a road, they consider it obligatory to cross the road just when you are passing them. Same thing with chipmunks. I think best thing to do is not to try avoiding killing them if they come under your wheels. That way you wont kill yourself.

Unfortunately, accidents occur every minute of every day, whether cycling, driving, or stepping off a curb. Pick up a newspaper any day of the week and there will be stories similar to yours.
What happened to your friend was terrible and, not to sound trite, but life goes on and is too short and precious to give up those activities that you enjoy and look forward to each day.

My best wishes for your friends recovery.

No. People get killed in car accidents and in accidents in their homes everyday. Neither of these make me reconsider driving a car or living in a house.

Do what you love to do. Live is too short to be a pessimistic. You cannot control everything, so enjoy the ride!

Sorry to hear about your friend. Heres to a good recovery.

It's all about risk evaulation. Obviously, staying in the house and never coming out has its risks!

Any response I make would be pure guesswork. Never had that happen to me or any friends *knocks on wood*
My guess would be it may cause a momentary thought along the same line. However, I doubt it would go very far. Everything has risks and sometimes you end up paying the piper.

I hope your friends has a speedy recovery. I'd be going nuts not being able to ride.

Yes, if it happens to me. No, if it happens to somebody else. In this case, it makes me to think about the risks and therefore to become a better cyclist.

Good luck to your friend!

seeing someone injuired does make me think, but i doubt it would make me stop riding. i've already altered the way i ride based on some crashes i've seen (and been in). i no longer weave in and out of traffic, blow through stop lights, etc. i'm all about getting home in one piece that's the most important to me.

I thought I had heard all the ways you can crash your bike but hat one takes the cake. Seriously, the squirrel got stuck in his spokes?

It happens...part of the risk. I've had a few run ins with those nutcollecting terrorists myself....fortunately no squirrel to spoke contact yet...but I did run over a few

Keep in mind there is NO activity on earth that has a zero risk factor...well other than dying....that rarely does anything unintended.

That said, I have yet to see a good reason to not bike.

from

The book of risks by Larry Laudan

-for all those who think knowing is better than not knowing-

Virtually everything is risky so to try avoid risk, should we be reduced to total inactivity? Ponder this; hundreds of thousands of Americans are injured each year on their beds and another hundred thousand or so are injured by the clothing seriously enough to require emergency medical treatment.

Anxiety about risks of life is a bit like hypochondria. In both, the fear or anxiety feeds on partial information.

Risks are almost always a matter of probabilities rather than certainties. Nothing is without risk. Some actions are riskier than others.

Risk management requires 2 things; a modicum of common sense and information about character and magnitude of the risks we may be running.

The media has a habit of picking 2 or 3 risks every season to publicize while downplaying others. It is not so much that they dishonestly state the dangers associated with the “in” risk as that they fail to set that risk into context.

Unless someone can tell you what level of risk is associated with a given activity, then they have no business telling you it is risky to begin with.

How much risk should I be willing to run? This is a an individual choice based on your own beliefs.

There is generally a huge discrepancy between the true magnitude of a risk and a lay persons perception of it. For instance, questionnaire research shows that most people suppose the chances of their dying of a heart attack to be about 1 in 20; in fact, the risk is closer to 1 in 3. Similarly, the average person reckons the odds of dying in a car accident this year to be about 1 in 70,000; the real figure is closer to 1 in 7,000.

We chronically tend to minimize or under estimate the size of common risks. There is a reverse tendency to exaggerate the size of rare or unusual ones. By doing this we end up protecting ourselves against unlikely perils while failing to take precautions against those most likely to do us in.

Risks of accidents:

Accidents have fallen drastically over the last 2 generations. Despite this, accidents rank as the 4th leading cause of death. Accidents is evenly split between those relating to transport and all other accidents. Of transportation deaths, 94% are motor vehicle deaths.

Risks of accidents:

Accidents have fallen drastically over the last 2 generations. Despite this, accidents rank as the 4th leading cause of death. Accidents is evenly split between those relating to transport and all other accidents. Of transportation deaths, 94% are motor vehicle deaths.

The risks of crime:

Few risks receive more media attention than crime. Many of the risks of crime are different from the popular stereotype. Sky and car jacking are so remote as to be negligible and cops lead much safer lives than you imagine.


...and don't forget the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by a great deal.

Even if you consider that a cyclist falls and gets some road rash once in a while, cyclists hearts are in much better shape than a motorists, and cyclists rate of death in collisions is the same as motorists rate of death in collisions.

No. Sh*t happens. But I do get a bit twitchy around squirrels, because they're so unpredictable.

CharlesC, there was a post maybe a year or so back with pictures of a guy's completely wrecked brand new Trek OLCV carbon frame. He hit a squirrel, it got sucked up into the spokes, broke the fork and mangled the downtube. YOW.

A deer jumped out in front of me a couple weeks ago, imagine what he could have done to my spokes

I will definitely be more cautious of squirrels now, that's for sure. I wish your friend a speedy recovery.

Been in three bike/car wrecks, the last one landing me in a hospital. Have seen all manner of motorist from those that respected cyclists to those that targeted cyclists to those that simply were oblivious to everything.

Have been put off cycling for various reasons over the many many years, and have "sat out" for a while, but I keep returning to it.

Somehow cycling seems to call me back... time and time again. I may change my style and where I ride, but I WILL ride.

I know where you are coming from, I had two accidents within a month that required emergency room trips. The first I went over the bars and landed on my face, 20 stitches required, don't know what locked up my wheel.
The second another rider hit me headon on the sidewalk, fractured right shoulder, still recovering from that one. Doctor says no riding until August 22nd.
I am only considering changing where I ride, I won't give it up. I will re-evaluate my methods, life is a risk.

A squirrel caught in the spokes? Thats really a one in a million shot.. pretty crazy.

77impala, sorry about your wrecks, although the second could of been avoided by not riding on the sidewalk, sidewalks are for walking, not cycling (as the name oh so implies!).

And for the guy who started bad mouthing squirrels and talking about killing them; grow up and get help you moron.

On my ride to work today 2 deer crossed the intersection i was coming up to (4:30am, was just me and the deer, no cars). For this Aussie that never sees deer i didnt know what to do so i stopped. They gave me a good look before they kept crossing.

Its stuff like that that makes me love my ride to work, even if they could have potentially ruined my spokes if they got caught in them

I'm going to quit biking when it ceases to be fun. The rewards far outweigh any risks for me.

If you are really worried about this, you'll have to practice falling properly ss police cyclists do. Repeat until it's second nature. [how to is covered in biking mag. Sorry don't remember the date, it's in an article on police cyclists.]

If you hiss at a squirrel or basically make a really loud Pffffffffffttttt sound it scares the shiznit out of them and they will run away from you thinking that it is a predator approaching.

No, but it does make me reconsider ever becoming a squirrel.

Anyone else remember the Geico commercial where the squirrel runs out into the road to make the car swerve and crash?

I think some of the squirrels in my neighborhood have seen it.

Yes. Anybody want my Trek 520?

Seriously though, I would rather die with the handlebars in my hand than the TV remote.
I hope your friends husband recovers quickly and doesn't give up cycling.