I've never seen a thread specifically about this, so thought I'd ask.

While I've had some close calls with crazy drivers, so far I haven't had an accident with one. OTOH, I had had solo accidents where I have been really fortunate to be going darn slow. Went over the handlebars once when a grate grabbed my wheel just yards after I was stopped. On a couple occasions I've fallen over while getting use to clipless pedals. Probably worse one was when my wheel went right out from under me when I hit mud where the side of the road was slanted, but even that one just skinned up my ankle a good bit and it still bothers me some if something rubs it - doesn't affect riding.

I have learned from these accidents that falling over isn't that big a deal as long as you are just hitting your side or shoulder (I know, hit wrong and you could damage something no matter what) and yes, I wear a helmet.

But I'm wondering about the effect of crashing at considerable speed. Typically my fast speeds on flats won't be more than 20-21. My speeds going down most good hills will run 30-35. The fastest I have ever gone is 42.6, when a car forced me off the road onto rough, hard ground (clumpy grass). I fully expected to crash as soon as I went off, but somehow I didn't.

So, I've been lucky, but curious. Surely some people here have fallen at fast speeds onto the road or into the dirt and grass along the side, so, what was the result? I'm assuming at the time you are bouncing around, there is a certain numbness from shock, but once stopped, you might be in really bad shape.

Shock, then anger (I can't believe I fell...etc), then lots of pain, then anger again when you look at the bike.

I have been hit, it sucked.

Well, I guess what I'm looking for is a bit more detail about solo crashes at high speed. Considering most of us only have minimal protection, other than a helmet (light clothing, bare arms and legs), mostly I'm trying to figure out how often, relative to speed, one gets busted bones, severe damage to exposed skin (beyond minor abrasions).

When you come right down to it, unless we have been through it, our impressions of what to expect would be based on movies - not exactly major reality! At 40+ mph, I picture myself bouncing all over the road, tearing myself up pretty bad - but maybe my impression is less than accurate on average (ignoring averages, you could probably break a bone falling over while standing still, though abrasions would be pretty limited).

I have crashed while I was going a bit too fast down a hill and didn't see the rut right in the middle of the trail around the corner. The shin/knee gaurds I was wearing actually saved me from most of the bashing since I was sliding down on my right leg.

I got some scraping on my right arm and my torso was a bit bruised and the right side was pretty scraped up. Other than that I was fine. Got up, finished the descent and decided to head home to get some band-aids.

note: this was on my mtb. I haven't had a high-speed road crash yet. Hopefully it won't happen...atleast on my mtb I have my armour to protect me.

My worst crash wasn't solo but I did get hurt(what I consider) pretty bad. I was trying to do a jump I had missed a couple times and I guess I hit it a bit too slow. My rear wheel slipped off the lip of the landing ramp I was using and I fell backwards onto my back/head. Then I proceeded to fall over backwards where I(stupidly) tried to catch myself with my right hand, breaking all 4 fingers in the process.

Strangely it didn't hurt at first, I was kind of going "Huh, I'm hurt. My fingers look weird?" and then the pain hit me.

My worst crash was at a very slow speed.

Earlier that day I had broken a toe in my left foot, but since the Dr probably couldn't do much about it, and since my cycling shoes have stiff soles, I ignored it and went cycling (despite the fact that I could hardly walk).

I was riding behind a friend, and we weren't going that fast, but all of a sudden, he stopped. I rode right into him and started falling to the left. What I normally would have done is to put down my left foot . . . but that was the one with the broken toe, and my brain sent a message to my leg to stay on the pedal. And for some unknown reason, I also remained hanging onto the handlebars too. I didn't put out a hand. Therefore, I landed squarely on my left ribcage ... and cracked my ribs.

I was in agony for about 8 weeks. I couldn't take a deep breath, and I definitely couldn't lie on my left side. In fact, even lying on my back was painful. I had to rig up a special arrangement with my pillows to get a comfortable position. Sitting was just about as painful too. The one position that didn't hurt, however, was when I was on the bicycle. Leaning forward like that meant that my ribcage dropped forward too and just hung there with no pressure on it. That was great! I could ride!! I just couldn't ride very fast, because I couldn't breathe deeply.

Oh, and to make matters worse. When I went to the Dr after the accident, I mentioned my foot. He bandaged it too, then asked me when I had my last tetanus shot ... I hesitated ... and before I knew it, I was being jabbed in the left arm rendering my arm useless! I was in so much pain, I wanted the whole left side of my body to just fall off.

My fastest crash was going down a hill on a gravel road. My bicycle hit a really loose patch of gravel, skidded out from under me .... and I went down on my left knee and hand. I had a lot of gravel imbedded in my knee, and I was scraped in varying degrees, almost all the way down to the ankle.

When I went to clean it out, I was in so much pain, I was actually convulsing. I was on tour and camping at the time, and there weren't any medical facilities around. In fact, the next night I was bush camping in the middle of the jungle ... and trying to change the dressing with only the medical kit I had and cold running water.

That was mid-December. I've still got quite a nasty scar.

Hmmm, I can see some problems with falling on gravel, but on the other hand, it means you aren't hitting a surface that is extremely hard so in other ways, maybe it isn't as bad.

At speed, it's not the gravel rash, but the thing a rider hits. Just over two months ago, a local rider -- a racer -- died when, on a long and fast downhill with a dampish surface at dusk, he lost control of the bike and hit a control box for a "slow moving vehicle" sign above. We don't quite know what happened -- grabbed too much brake for the upcoming sweeping corner, blow-out, or a very brief lapse in attention... the coroner undoubtedly will work it out.

Until the middle of last September, all my injuries had been at relatively low speeds -- under say 12km/h. A damaged left shoulder from doing tight zig-zags on a hybrid (two years to get full mobility back); various abrasions and kneecap "holes" from toppling over trying to get out of clips or clipless pedals; a bent middle chainring and leg bruising when I fell going *backwards* to close a gate; broken left hand when crossing wet railway lines in the closing stages of a long ride.

My worst was a dislocated right shoulder and vertical break in the ball of the humerus. I went down between 25 and 30km/h on a sweeping downhill curve with a slick (rain and bus diesel) coarse chipseal surface. I landed directly on the shoulder. A tiny abrasion on my right hip I only discovered two days later. No shredded clothing. I rode three kilometres to a doctor's surgery, they called an ambulance, and in hospital casualty, they gave me a knock-out sedative to put the shoulder back in. I avoided surgery. I was lucky I didn't break my collarbone -- 10 days later I rode a 300km randonnee, then in the following month a 400, a 200 and a 1200. I had to "creep" my right hand from the stem and across the bars to the hoods to get riding, but strangely it wasn't that painful once I got going.

*shudders*

This is kinda embrassing but, since we are all sharing, when I first got my clipless pedals, I wiped out like at least 3 times. The whole concept was new to me, and when I would come to a stop I could forget to clip out, and as the bike comes to 0 mph, I would realize that I was still clipped in and I would panic pulling upwards on the pedals instead of sideways and bam, down to the pavement I would go. Really not fun at all, kinda traumatic. I'm glad I have long passed that phase, I make it a habit of clipping out like 40seconds before I plan on stopping just so I dont forget, .

Well, I didn't break any bones, so I guess that was good. I did mildly sprain my left hand though, and that knee wound felt very, very much like the 3rd degree burn I experienced a few years ago.

I think everyone has done that!

Don't worry, I can gaurantee that everyone here has(or will) fall that way. I know I did a couple of times.

That blow-out thing is something that always worries me at speed - especially if I am in any kind of traffic. If the tire comes stays out of the rim, it is going to jam on the brake or something and, I assume, cause me to lose major control. Of course, the faster I'm going, the worse it would be. If it just went flat, it may still be a problem - especially if going fast - but I would have at least some chance to maintain some control.

Nah, that isn't embarrassing. What is embarrassing is to have clipped out on one side and be sitting at a stop light - then casually shift your weight to the other side which is still clipped in and fall over!!! Yes, I did that. It's amazing the things you do on "normal" pedals without thinking which get you in trouble with clipless pedals. I got in the habit of leaning the bike over more than I normally would just to remove any tendency to shift my weight on it.

I was doing that and almost falling over every time I pulled into my driveway. For a while, I couldn't figure out what the problem was ... then it dawned on me. I unclip with my right foot. I was doing a sharp left turn into the driveway, and was still leaning to the left when I unclipped. I started making a point of straightening up as soon as I rounded the corner and solved the problem.

I had one of those gravel falls once- also on my MTB. I went over a patch of gravel that was between a bike path and a park. Now it's paved. I just skidded on it like it was ice and blat! I tore a big piece out of me knee that bled all the way home, scraped my elbow, tore my gloves. I wasn't going very fast, though. Just one of those dumb falls. AFter that I made sure I kept some first aid stuff in my pouch.

I've sheared pedals twice: in 88 while in CA resulted in broken collar bone and cracked Ideale saddle rails.That saddle was broken in really well. Last year got a mild concussion. Both pedal shears were during sprints up hills. The one I remember most was sitting at a light in front of a bus full of people. Fell over trying my track stand. Sprinted away when the light changed and didn't look back.

And then there was the time I was turning onto a bike path (<5 mph) from the street. It had just started raining. Bike slipped out from underneath me and I broke three teeth. My girlfriend at the time just about gave up on me.

sun

To this day, i am still not entirely sure while i crashed, but i managed to crash going about 12MPH uphill. I was riding behind someone and then i suddenly veered out into the road and fell uphill. There werent any cars - the road was a backroad in PA where i go to college, but my right hand and hip took the brunt of the impact. I was basically slingshotted off my bike. I totatally tore up my glove - the hole for my pinky and for my middle finger tore into one big hole and there was another tear along the side. My hand (the palm of it) was swollen for a few days afterwards and had a strange blackish/blue line running down the middle of it. I was wearing long sleeves and leg warms, but i still managed to cut up my elbow and hip, and my right side was sore enough for the next week that i couldnt sleep on my side. The strange thing about it was that during that same hour i crashed, my room mate at the time suffered a deep muscle/bone bruise on his leg (there was still snow on the ground) after a filming accident where the knee of one kid collided into his thigh.

Yeah...luckily never hurt too bad (even at higher speeds), other than the sharp sting to my ego.

My highest speed crash happened around 25 mph. At that time, I had one of those cheap bikes. I was going around 34mph when I was about to slow down because of a sharp curve on the road. When I slowed down to about 25mph both of my brake cables snapped at the brake lever area! For a split second, I was saying, "Sxxt!" Then I decided to ride directly (perpendicular) into the fence around the curve, because there's no way I could do a 120 degree curve at that speed. The good news was that the metal fence wasn't permanently mounted yet (was using big concrete anchors). Even then, the fence flew about 15~20 feet away after I smacked into it. I think most of the force was taken by the front wheel/fork. My hands were a bit scratched up and had bleeding under a couple of finger nails (I instinctively held my hands up in front of my face to protect my face/head). A bunch of other cyclists stopped to ask if I was okay. Some saw the whole event and look amazed that I wasn't hurt pretty bad. The 6-month old bike was totaled, but better it than I...