My worst crash
 

Every biker hates to think about it, but we've all had crashes. I think the stats are about 1 in 3000 miles for the average biker. What was your worst crash, based on a personal injury perspective OR based on how much it cost you to repair/replace your bike?

Mine:

1984, Gainesville, Florida westbound on University Avenue, going down the "Big Hill" and yes, I was in a marked bike lane

Old lady in a crfeam colored Grand Marquis turned right in front of me and I hit just behind the rear wheel at about 25 mph, went over the handle bars and landed on my back on the trunk. Thankfully the shackle lock in the backpack, plus the college texts and change of clothes absorbed almost 100% of that impact. I kept going off the other side of the trunk and something caught somewhere because I go flipped end over end again and came down on my right knee. My patella ended up almost half way up my thigh. Don't know what happened to her. A cute student in a little pickup saw me and asked if she could take me to the emergency room (I was standing on 1 leg at the time and was not still a bit stunned). She threw the bike in the truck, me too so I wouldn't bleed all over the inside of her truck, and about 90 seconds later, I had medical attention. She left the bike's remains at the bike rack and I never saw her again. I can close my eyes and still see that rear quarter panel meet the front wheel.

Spent 2 years on crutches after a good surgery. I didn't ride again for 20 years. I bought a Trek in '04 and have been enjoying it since. Still, I give drivers all the room they can use, and then some. Prefer separated bike paths and draw the line a lot sooner than most when it comes to roads I won't attempt to mix on.

I hope, with that crash, I've paid the dues for life.

Riding my mountain bike on the road back from a trail in the bike lane. Came to a lighted intersection and it was green for me. As I was passing a Chevy pickup with two teenage boys in it peeled out from my right and hit me side on smack in the middle of the bumper. I bounced off the bumper into the traffic at the side of me. How I was missed by cars I'll never know.

The pickup hit me so hard my wheels were L shaped and my right arm was numb for over two weeks and I even had one quack tell me I might never get feeling back in it. There was blood everywhere from scraping my face and many other body parts on the blacktop. I was a sight, apparently, when I got up and saw terror in the face of my friend. I felt so bad for him that I started laughing. It wasn't until later when the endorphins wore off that the pain showed up.

-Steve

Whoo, that's intense. I suppose it's only a matter of time before I can contribute something good to this thread, nobody really gets away without a major crash sometime in their life.

As it stands right now, my worst crash would have to be when I was 8 - bombing down a 6% grade on my orange and black Huffy. Freaked out in the middle of the hill and mashed on the front brake. Flew over the bars, landed in a sprawl on the pavement. I got a huge bloody scrape across my sternum for this awesome bleeding-heart effect that seriosuly freaked out my mom.