pedalhard

Had 2 crashes this year 1 my fault not holding on with both hands and hitting an unseen bump, not really hurt the 2nd was not my fault someone on the bike path turned left, right while I was passing and into me. He did not look first ,seemed one minute I am riding the next flying , hurt bad this time off the bike for at least 1 month. My wife is pissed at me and thinks I am always crashing does 2 times with 10,600 k seem like allot. I also broke my wrist last year but that was my only crash and it was a case of being way over-tired and not taking a rest day.

umd

Cue semantic debate over what "normal" means...

I_Like_Bike

Normal? There is no such thing.

urbanknight

There is no normal. It's like auto accidents. Some never have one, others have many.

Chris_F

Your second accident was your fault too. Safety of a pass is the responsiblity of the one doing the passing.

asgelle

Yeah, that one was your fault too.

pedalhard

I am always amazed at the utter stupidness of this forum and people who post like this. If you have nothing to say, say nothing. I think it's pretty clear what I asked here , if most people never crash than I am a loser who needs to learn to ride better, if crashing occurs more often than it's part of the sport and I am an unlucky loser whos wife is pissed. Oh I forgot as I have been riding all summer and not usuing this forum that if it's not a post about buying something than no ones intrested.

pedalhard

Meaning

Creakyknees

I disagree; some take more risks, whether they know it or not.

The OP for example, was passing at an intersection... on a MUT. Next time he's presented with that situation, I wonder if he'll hold off for a moment before passing safely after the intersection.

Chris_F

Meaning next time either let the guy know your're going to pass or give him more room or both. If you were riding down the path minding your own business and someone plowed in to the back of you then you may be led to believe that the guy who ran in to the back of you is at fault, and you'd be right. You had more control over the situation than the other guy did. It's your fault. Nobody has any obligation to hold their line on a MUP.

Flatballer

wow, defensive much?

And yeah, you probably crash more than you should for someone who isn't racing. If you didn't ride on MUPs you'd have only had one, and that one was just not paying enough attention to road conditions, totally controllable.

Learn to pay better attention, stop riding on the MUP, and tell your wife it's either this or cave diving.

Chris_F

/thread.

I've never crashed on the road bike. Tons of time on the mountain bike, but that's just part of the sport. Never on a road bike though. Most folks I know of have never crashed. Those who have crashed have crashed many times.

Yaniel

i was actually going to say "Message umd"

Yaniel

i've crashed once this year. I know people who haven't crashed in 30 years of riding. Umd crashed like 11 times in 10 days. Which of us is the "normal" one? umd gave you a good answer.

midgetmaestro 

I've had exactly one bad crash due to speed (immature, invincible attitude) and road conditions (gravel on a turn) on a road bike.

DScott

I haven't crashed, yet, and I'm not normal. Almost a few times, but somehow kept it upright.

I ride about as much as the OP, but also avoid the local bike paths like the plague when they're at all busy.

hao

Relax dude, there was a horrible thread a while back that turned into an argument about the definition of "normal".

ericm979

Yes. Taking responsibility for your crashes rather than blaming others or "luck" would be a start.
Three crashes in less than two years is a lot if you're not racing.

JoelS

Been riding for years. Two crashes. Latest was this year. The other was several years ago. Thought I had made eye contact with a driver who then pulled out of an intersection leaving me about 5 feet to contemplate life before I plowed into her car. Her ins. co. said it was her fault and payed for the damage to my bike. I was fine.

My wife has been riding for about 13 years, 1 crash. Her fault. She was blasted and wandered off the pavement. No damage to her or her bike, just a bit to her pride.

Yes, you need to learn to either ride better, or to be much more aware.

banerjek

You crash too much. Both crashes were avoidable -- you should always assume people will do stupid stuff like that. Also, it sounds like you need to learn to fall.

If you want your wife to have faith in you, you need to be able to easily avoid situations like the ones you describe. Except when you're especially unlucky, neither you nor the bike should take more than cosmetic damage when you go down. It doesn't sound like you've been especially unlucky yet.

alexvpaq

Two crashes I can remember of, One was with an old mountain bike on slippery wood. and I slipped.

Second one was this year on my road bike I even posted pictures on the forum.

My pedal Unclipped because I was too godly for SPD. So they were like : hey you god of climbing get off this pedal.

So I ended up with my right leg in the big ring then tried to make it out without crashing and unclipped my left foot and the pedal went right back in the back of the yet unarmed leg. and then I gripped hard on my handlebar and I went down. Boom no damage whatsoever to my hands/arms/shoulder/head. but both legs were fun to look at for a good while and the right one is still healing slowly.

Oh and I'm from quebec too the lower st-lawrence (bas st-laurent) so P.M. me if you are close.

StephenH

It's a combination of things, not unlike driving. If you'd had two or three car wrecks right together, what would you think? (On the other hand, my wife had a couple of wrecks within a year and has now gone 20 years without one, and I doubt she drives any differently.)

I've been driiving a long time and have never had a major accident. On the other hand, I've had plenty of "incidents" that could have major accidents or even killed me had someone else been in the space I slid into or something. And then my mother-in-law was sitting in her car at a traffic light, and someone asleep at the wheel plowed into the car two or three back from hers and wrecked her car. Good driving can't avoid that.

Regardless, sounds like you could maybe slow down a bit, or pay better attention, or pick better places to ride and reduce the possibilities.

WCG

I am always amazed at the utter stupidness of this forum and people who post like this. If you have nothing to say, say nothing. I think it's pretty clear what I asked here , if most people never crash than I am a loser who needs to learn to ride better, if crashing occurs more often than it's part of the sport and I am an unlucky loser whos wife is pissed. Oh I forgot as I have been riding all summer and not usuing this forum that if it's not a post about buying something than no ones intrested.

I may be way off base......but it's probably not the best idea to post a question on the BF and then proceed to insult those who post replies and call the forum stupid. Just saying.

The_Cretin

Some stats here on page 261:

https://books.google.com/books?id=0n2...page&q&f=false

1500 mi per crash for children
2000 for college kids
10,000 for club cyclists

kayakdiver

Don't really know what normal is but this year I have crashed twice. One was a car pulling out in front of me. Bike totaled and facial lacerations as well as road rash as well as a broken nose.

Second one was all my fault pulling into a parking lot with fresh asphalt sealer on it in the rain. One minute I was riding along and the next minute I was wondering WTF just happened. Very sore elbow and rash to the hip but otherwise ok.

Last years total was zero.... Same amount of miles. Year before that zero again with approx same amount of miles. All years between 8-12k

So this year I either had bad luck or forgot how to ride.. . I figure it was bad luck.