Ok has this happened to you? You have to go to a family thing, event etc...and you have to show up with a big scab, bandage, road rash, splint, etc and have to tell people 'Well, I fell off my bike" and of course, they just look at you and roll their eyes, sighing...

I've done it plenty of times, and will probably do so again in the future. Heck, I've got scars on both knees and both forearms, too (although the forearm ones are less visible than they used to be because my last two crashes opened them up and made them heal better the second time around). Most people I know understand that these things happen, and few of them make any comment about it anymore, beyond making sure I'm alright. The only thing that might worry me is if it's the sort of event that might aggravate that injury -- then I'd be concerned.

I just tell 'em that this one guy had been talking smack about them; and I had to straighten him out and got a little scuffed up in the process. I'd rather be thought of as a hard-case than a klutz.

Okay, so I only did that twice.

My family knows all about my cycling and is supportive. I suspect that some don't entirely understand the cycling, especially the really long distances, but they're supportive.


More "challenging" was dealing with work (office) situations. I've done some serious damage to my left knee on several occasions, and it is pretty badly scarred. Fortunately the scars are fading a bit now, but there were several years where I didn't feel comfortable wearing above-the-knee skirts in office situations because that knee looked that bad.

The people I hate are the ones that say "should you be doing that at your age?" When do you have to stop doing the things that you love just because you reach a certain age. What is it with this age thing!! I didn't start doing triathlons until last year when I was 62 and I'm loving it. You can do anything you want at any age.

So many things carry risks - would it be any different if you'd had a DIY accident or a car crash?

100% agree! It always amazes me how some people seem to think that you hit a certain age and the best option from there is to just sit down and wait to die.

I finished back-to-back randonnees (300 on Saturday + 200 on Sunday) and went straight to a get-together of some yachting friends. Trouble was, the saddle I used pre-Brooks made a fair old mess of my butt and my legs were stiff and sore. I moved in slow motion around the room to my food, and sitting down (and getting up) were episodes of self-loathing.

But, most of the people there knew I was into cycling and, after all, that's probably how they would have felt after 20 miles. A 200km ride was inconceivable.

Then there was a shoulder separation after falling on spilled diesel on a wet road... but seeing all my friends at the time were into cycling (or sailing), the injury didn't really register.

lol, yes i have a friend whose father used to say "What kind of a grown man rides a bike!" and yet if you show up with a black eye from hockey or something, no one cares.
A couple of years ago I had to go to a holiday dinner with my right elbow stitched and bandaged and limping from a fall...mostly it was sitting on the dining chair that was the problem, ouch.

I crashed in a crit a few years ago, and had pretty bad road rash all over. When I went back to work I was all wrapped up like a mummy - bandages on both arms, both hands, both legs. I got a lot of horrified looks that day!

What's fun is to just make up a different story for every person that asks you what happened.

I have a nasty scar on and under my left knee from a bike crash. We had a family get together about a month later and, being summer, I showed up in shorts. There were a lot of sideways looks but only one person asked; my mother. She looked properly disgusted at my answer, but that doesn't surprise me.

You know what's really embarrassing? Having to tell people your cracked tailbone, black eye, or dislocated shoulder is from tripping over, being head-butted, or knocked down by a dog. I'd rather say it was a bike crash any day.

the thing is if you're a girl, people often assume that if you have some sort of injury it's from an abusive guy or something. Unless of course they know you're an athlete of some sort.

Going to work all wrapped up like a mummy.....you can't really explain that any other way LOL. Even worse..when the bandages come off and you're one big giant human scab!

Tell them you were RACING and skidded out on a sharp turn.

Hi Chris. Haven't seen you posting on here is a while. Good to "see" you.

People roll their eyes at me even if I'm not injured.

Good to see both Chris L. and wabbit.

I tore my hamstring years ago and I would frequently show up at my parents house with my ice pack.

Well, there's your answer. Tell them it was a hockey injury.

Good to see you, too. I've been here on and off. I probably spend most of my time over in Touring these days.

Just say "It was barroom brawl. You should see the other guy."

Last year after being in bed for two weeks with the flu, I decided to shower for the first time in days and get out of the house. I have this dog gate at the top of a short flight of stairs down from my porch. Well, I closed the gate, latched it and turned to walk down the stairs and boom! Tumbled down onto the driveway, just missing the slab of concrete at the foot of the stairs with my head (or you likely wouldn't be reading this now). I messed up my knee pretty bad and my hand (the knee still aches sometimes when I ride) and couldn't move my shoulder right for a couple of weeks -- it could have been a lot worse obviously but the embarrassment at having fallen (I think it was just post-flu lightheadedness) lasted a bit longer than the actual wounds. As injury stories go, telling your family you fell while cycling, would seem cooler than that you lost your balanced and tripped down your stairs cause you're an idiot. :-D

lol trust me, everyone knows i don't play hockey...at least hockey players don't get road rash as they're mostly covered up...they get bloody face injuries...like one poor shmuck on the Habs these days...puck in the face and he looks like frankenstein! ugh! but they at least tend to keep most of their skin and don't have to walk around all skinned like a rabbit...ew.

Field hockey players can get grass burn from the synthetic surfaces they use these days and if they aren't watered enough.

Way back in the day when I played field hockey (well before synthetic turf was an option), I was transferred in my job to the West Coast of Tasmania where the rainfall was so high that growing and maintaining grass pitches for sports was very difficult -- they usually ended up as one big bog, a cesspool of infection.

This was mining country, so the people at Queenstown got over the problem for both Australian football and hockey by building pitches out of gravel, a fine granite-based gravel. The footballers were tough, and gravel rash after a match was not unusual in the pubs around the town.

The more genteel sport of hockey didn't result in nearly so much gravel rash, although there were regular cases throughout each season. On the other hand, the wooden sticks we used ground down rapidly...

Just as long as they don't have to walk around all skinned like a wabbit.

(Sorry, I just couldn't resist. )

52 and still race motocross. They're surprised I'm still alive.

when my son was still in high school, the coaches would try to get the rest of the teams (football, basketball) to take up cycling for the overall fitness & stamina that comes with MTBing & going 50-60 miles on the road after school - for fun.... To the best of my recollection, 2 kids joined him - the 1st totally wiped out on a big hill on his first ride (they warned him!!), and the 2nd kid stuck - ended up with a track scholarship....

chris lol..that too!!

it's funny but I worked at a gym for a while (reception) and sometimes, the guys playing basketball would get a crack in the teeth etc, so we kept bandaids at the front desk. One day this guy cut himself on the basket rim and while I was putting a bandaid on him i noticed his hand was shaking. He said that the blood bothered him...I told him he better not ever be a cyclist!

OK, once I tripped and scraped up my knee...on grass...playing golf. I had loads of fun explaining that one to folks So, in comparison, telling someone that I stacked up my bike isn't nearly as difficult