I was out for an annual long father’s day ride with a few buddies when my friend slowed suddenly due to a front tire flat with me on his wheel; my buddy on my wheel and I went down hard when I rode up the back of my friend with the flat.Inexplicable luck of cycling, both my shifters are destroyed (pic) yet I have only minor scrapes on my knee and elbow. Meanwhile, my buddy’s bike is undamaged, but he is in the hospital with a broken rib and collapsed lung.

No idea how I hit the deck for this to result.

I'm sorry to hear of your and your friend's crash.

Stuff happens.

Wow, the condition of the post-accident shifters shows that this was a pretty bad impact. I recently wiped, and it would have been really bad, but I landed on tennis ball-sized stones and rolled across them. Had I hit pavement...yikes. I'm sorry to hear about your friend abd wish him a speedy recovery.

Wow, sorry to hear about that. Best wishes to your friend and your brifters.

That must have been a hard landing. Never seen damage like that.

Hope your friend heals fast. maybe a New Bike Day is in your future.

Test ride the new Super x the other day. Pretty sweet bike, Contes near you has one.

The shifters are nothing in the game, the broken rib and lung collapse is ugly and probably not as bad as it could be. The hospital bill for that would easily buy you any custom all new bike you wanted. Get better soon.

Glad to hear you’re OK. Be safe out there.

Dan

You just never know what will happen when you crash on a bicycle.
A long time ago, I was riding in a more casual group at the back of the pack and decided to sprint up to the front to chat with some other friends, passing the pack on the left as one does. Somebody didn't look and swerved directly in front of me. My front tire clipped his rear, my bike began to skid sideways as the back end kicked out and I got chucked off the side at about 20mph. Somehow, I wound up with only one quarter sized road rash on one elbow, the bike needed the stem realigned, front wheel slightly out of true and that's it. I was able to finish the ride. Guy who swerved in front of me? He didn't even go down but I turned his rear wheel into a potato chip so he had to call for a ride home.

Hope your friend heals well and new shifters for you aren't too expensive.

when i ride alone i prefer to be by myself.

Wishing you both a quick and speedy recovery

That's horrible. I had that happen to me once where the guy in front hit the brake versus shifting and I was hitting his cassette and I went down. Minor scratches on my bike, no one else went down, but I shattered my collarbone to point where I ended up having multiple surgeries to fix it. Feel better son

Took the bike apart today to inspect for other damage. None found, but I can’t figure out how the shifters broke in pretty much exactly the same place, as if they hit the deck simultaneously with the same amount of force. Since all my injuries are on my right side, how the bike hit the deck to cause identical damage on both shifters is a mystery.

First, sorry about the crash; hope your friend heals quickly.

That said, riding alone obviously eliminates the risk of overlapping wheels with another bike.

However riding in a group, gives some safety in numbers from cars, and gives a faster more interesting ride, and a shared experience.

Pick your poison.

Nasty business ! Way lucky that you're OK. Best wishes for your friend

Were your hands on the hoods when you crashed?

But aren’t you already by default? Asking for a friend.

Unfortunate that it happened.
it's examples like such why I don't ride close behind others nor want it done to me.

I think it depends how well you know your fellow riders - I know no one I regularly ride with in the club would brake if they got a flat when they know someone is behind them but also most of them use tubeless which doesn't tend to deflate quickly when you get a thorn through it. But if it's a less regular group then you can get erratic behaviour - a guy in front of me on the commute recently suddenly veered away from the bike lane / kerb at 40kph and I was presented with the back of a runner who had stepped off the pavement into the road. I had maybe a second to react and must have missed them by less than an inch. The other rider knew I was there too and should have known that the runner might be about to do that because a car pulling out of a drive was blocking their way, but clearly not too bright. Some wheels aren't worth drafting.

I'm sorry to read this. Crashes happens so fast. Most of the time within the blink of an eye and you're on the ground not knowing what happened.

I wish you a speedy recovery. On the flip side, you may need to buy a new bike as a result!

I usually faceplant on the road protecting my expensive bicycle components.

99 times out of a hundred, it’s the rider behind who biffs. Not much to worry about someone being too close behind you.

I'd just feel terrible if I eat it & by poor luck someone is on my spokes at that time shares the same asphalt lunch.

Where have you been? Have been missing your word mastery. Maybe you should n’t answer that.

Riding alone is no guarantee, my only really crash, 9/11/2012, riding alone mid afternoon and literally find myself sitting up on the asphalt, my R collarbone obviously trashed, helmet cracked, and when I tried to get up I couldn't, because my pelvis was fractured. No witnesses and to this day don't know what happened, wasn't going maybe 15 mph, no holes in the road, no dogs(at least that I remember). Worst damage was my beloved Look 585 had bent derailleur hanger which could not be fixed. Week in the hospital, lots of post concussive symptoms, collar bone repair, walker for 10 days, crutch for 2 weeks cane for 4 weeks, 10 weeks off the bike.