cycleprincess

Witnessed a rather unfortunate accident...This morning, just after 10, I passed a bicycle. Nice bike, I thought. A few minutes later we aproach a rail road crossing, with the gates already down, train looming, literally no more than 50 or so feet away. I am first car in cue. This fella comes around me and swerves around the baracades...his back tire gets stuck in the deep rivets as he tries to manuever the first baracade. He clips out just in time and gives his bike a quick yank, to no avail. He leaps over the second baracade (the one just in front of me) and lands just outside my driver side door. My window is down. The train literally tore his bicycle apart. I have never seen or heard a train hit anything before, and I have to admit (I know I'll get ripped on for saying this) it was kinda cool. I did feel terriably sorry for him though, it was as I said, a nice bike. Specialized I think. This guy just sat on the ground for a good two minutes or so watching the train go by, in disbelief I suppose. I asked him if he was okay, if I could give him a ride somewhere, he declined. I said, Man, I'm sorry. That sucks. At least you clipped out, you could have gotten killed. No S*** he said. The train passed, the gates went up and I went about my business. Twenty minutes later I drive over those same tracks...back from the post office, and the guy is still there, sifting through components. I stopped again and offered help, and he said no thanks...he was just looking for his cell phone. I let him use mine to call his wife (I bet she was pissed). Come to think about it, I should have taken a picture...it is a camera phone. I don't think he would have much appreciated that though. Learned my lesson...DON'T CROSS RAIL ROAD BARACADES!!!!

galen_52657

Just because one rides a bike does not mean one is not an idiot. We may think we are smarter... but your tale disproves that theory.

I guess I am sorry he did not get hit by the train, mostly because if he had… it would have made the papers….’cyclist ignores train barricades, is dismembered by locomotive’… painting us all as morons.

Guy survived to procreate…now that is scary.

LordOpie

hell yeah! I'd love to have seen and heard that.

I've seen people die and it's not really that interesting. But the train tearing thru the idiot's bike, that'd have been cool.

I hope he posts here

-CM-

That bike had (a) DA on it - and I don't mean Dura Ace.

Glad to hear he wasn't hurt, and I'm sure he'll never do that again!

TomInFLA

With board approval, I'd like to morph this thread into "stupid stuff that actually looked really cool".

I was riding my mountain bike down a path I had travelled many times. My best friend and another guy were following me. I let it all out, and what I didn't know was that it had rained pretty hard there a day or two back. As I'm coming down a steep portion, I could see there was a washout at the bottom of the hill. I started to slow down, but quickly realized I wasn't going to stop quick enough, so I decide to lay the bike down. The stupid part was riding that fast down the path in the first place, but this is where the cool part is. As I'm laying the bike down, trying to do it like I saw Ned Overend do once in a video, I must have caught a pedal or perhaps I grasped the front brake and didn't know it. In any event, I catapulted over the handlebars, then the bike followed me over and landed on top of me. I continued sliding down the hill, on my face and shoulders, with my bike on top of me. I clearly remember thinking, "oh this is going to hurt later". I did stop before the washout, and my riding companions caught up to me, asking if I was ok. Other than the requisite mud, stones, and grit, I was. Then of course I practiced creative swearing for a minute or so.

They both agreed that the sight of me flying over the handlebars, then the bike flipping over, was one of the neatest things they had ever seen. They also spent the rest of the day trying to represent to me what I looked like, but mostly they just flopped around a lot. Well, maybe that's how I looked.

LordOpie

i'm confused, was this in FL? If so, where do you have such hills?

TomInFLA

I'll give you a two-pronged answer. Yes, there are some hills in FLA, with MTB paths. There is a place called the Gran Canyon near Brooksville: https://www.singletracks.com/php/trail.php?id=147 . I've ridden there and it's a goooood time.

But the incident I previously described happened in east central PA. My best friend has dubbed the incident, "The Faceplant". I'm lucky it didn't become my nickname.

galen_52657

I am not sure you can equate falling on your face on a trail with almost getting hit by a train.

cycleprincess

I hope he posts here too...I somehow doubt he would be brave enough to say, hey yeah...I'm that idiot who got his bike smacked down by a train!! Oh and yeah...it was pretty cool to watch. It sounded more like a crunch then metal screaming though. When I crossed the tracks, I had to swerve to miss the front half of his bicycle!! Literally cut it in two. I'm going to pass those same tracks in a bit when I go to the gym tonight, so I'll let you know if there is still debris.

TomInFLA

Apparently I don't have your approval.

cycleprincess

You have my approval...I didn't think you were asking me though!!!

Dahon.Steve

People take these risks because the element of danger adds to the "Thrill" of crossing. It's insanity because each year dozens are killed doing the same thing that man did. Gamble with other things but not your life.

LordOpie

I think he's saying that you're not quite dumb enough... yet

Steelrider

...it's DuMass (for anyone who remembers, that commercial was hilarious! )

flat tire

Cycleprincess, I see you are from Texas. I have seen too many news reports of cars and trucks kissing trains in my neck of the woods--south Texas. Usually, there is no barracades. This person seems to have just been stupid and is lucky to be alive. I wonder if he has been hit by a car before?

SL

Xtrmyorick

"So... am I Dumbass material?"

I'm assuming that's the one you're talking about, Steelrider. That joke was also used in The Shawshank Redemption with Alexandre Dumas.

Zin

This may be a good time to review grade crossing safety. Many of us encounter tracks. Visit Operation Lifesaver to learn the facts and what to do.

Operation Lifesaver

You can contact them and they will send a presenter to speak with your local club or group. We staged a train vs. school bus accident here a few years back. Really an eye opener!

Be safe.

collegeskier

Train vs. bike or pretty much anything. It is sort of like a pro baseball team versus a tee ball team. Trains are just massive.

Steelrider

Yep. Shawshank is also high on my list of all-time great movies...

Raiyn

They're called reclaimed phosphate mines

my58vw

Something stupid happened to me today also...

Was riding my MTB on patrol and slid on some wet pavement into the dirt... well at least I thought it was dirt. Before I knew it the bike was 3 feet in the mud and I was clipped in with my face 2 inches from the mud holding onto the handle bars. Ended up falling in the mud... Only casulity I think is the pad on my front disc brake... and 2 hours of tearing part part of the front end to clean all the junk out...

bandaidman

i have been to several train vs car scenes.... the devastating amount of damage done by a freight train with millions of pounds of cars behind it is really unbelievable to behold upclose. they will literally obliterate vehicles

the engineer/conductors really take it hard when they hit someone/thing...it is almost never their fault too...it can take a mile of hard braking to stop a fast moving heavy train.

be careful around the tracks, a fast moving train will be on you before you can hear it

Insanecyclist

Train wins bike gets destroyed...ditto

Gurgus

I wonder if the guy was out on a training ride.


/I'm so sorry.

Maj.Taylor

Without even reading the start of this thread, my first thought was: "Bike loses."

MASSES:

Modern locomotive (alone) = 200,000 - 300,000 pounds
Modern bike = 17 - 21 pounds
Modern human brain = 2.5 - 3 pounds

The way I see it, those weight differentials explain it all.