But did he wave as you passed by?

On tour? Night before I left Leuven, I came around a sweeping corner on wet cobbles a bit too fast, hit a slick steel rain gutter, and went down on a beer bottle I had in cargo short pocket. Pulled a shard of glass out of my thigh, rode back to the hotel with blood streaming down my leg, and luckily had a fiancee who is medically trained to use my first aid kit patch me up. Cut wasn't bad, but I also pulled my groin, which made mounting my bike difficult the rest of the week.

First time I tried mountain biking in college, I started on a trail I had no business being on, hit some moguls on the bottom of a fast downhill, and jumped my bike into a tree at over 20MPH. Bruised half the ribs in my body. Didn't ride again til the next summer.

You should be a story teller. As I got the visual out of that!

No, I have not gone down on any of my touring bike, , , , yet. (1 yr)


-Snuts-

The two falls in the modern era involved being unable to unclip in time. Both times I was upside down and otherwise unscathed. I have come close to not being able to get my feet out of clips, but not I wear them more loose. Those usually involved dogs and me trying to retrieve my Henry rifle......

I had entertained thoughts of riding my Roubaix. Wouldn't have been good.

My last ride last year. Warm November day in Wisconsin, planned on a 25 or so mile ride. Hit debris in the road as I was coming through town, right in front of the local Perkins restaurant. My wheel went right, I went straight. Hit the pavement on my left side. Helmeted head bounced twice, left side of my body kind of felt like an internal explosion inside. Broken clavicle, broken hip. Total hip replacement. Just now getting back outside on the nicer days to ride. I do have about 150 miles riding the bike to nowhere in the garage, tho. Yeah, I was gawking around is why I didn't see the debris.

The only touring-related crashes I've had involved me staring at something and not paying attention to where I was going...

My only crash of any consequence while touring occurred when I was riding with a group that I was not familiar with and they refused to use loud audible signals like "slowing", "stopping", or "turning" even when the group was tightly spaced. Low hand signals when carrying panniers doesn't cut it. It was inevitable then that this one woman took a couple of us out when she decided at the last second to take a quick right turn into a driveway without letting anyone know her intentions, guess she thought we were mind readers. After that, I either rode at the very front if I knew where we were going or I rode well off the back.

So did you change any of your cycling behavior because of the crash?

I read through the posts. Some events like dogs and cars can't be prevented, but the ones that could have been are speed and paying attention. I know for myself that sight seeing is best done stopped as I've almost ran off the road more than a few times.

Concerning speed. Have we gotten ourselves into this need for speed? I passed an old boy on a touring/commuter, seen him many times, going into where every he goes. He was riding really slow and carrying a load. It made me stop to consider that he is probably not going to crash from speed or not paying attention since he would have more time to react.

This. Conversely, I refused to ride with someone once after observing his style for just a few blocks. Later I found out this guy was routinely in crashes, like once a year. I was not surprised.

There are no old, bold cyclists.

After a few minor mishaps as a child when I started out cycling, I have never been in a crash. I go slow, wear a helmet, use lights and hand signals. I get plenty of adrenaline just being out there in traffic, thank you.

Not everyone can spend hours getting to their destination. Going slow enough that you won't ever crash isn't an option for most people.

Nor does everyone want to go slow all the time. Part of the allure of bicycle riding is the thrill of bicycle riding. Making mistakes and crashing is also a way of learning how not to make those same mistakes in the future. A few bumps, bruises and crashes along the way teaches you more about how to ride a bike than never crashing in the first place.

Frankly, in life as well as bicycling, I learn much more from making mistakes than I ever learn from successes.

Unless the person is crashing into me on a regular basis, I would never refuse to ride with someone because of their "style". I might even ride with them if they were crashing into me on a regular basis in order to teach them how to avoid crashing into someone on a regular basis. I might carry a baseball bat if they were a slow learner but I'd a least try to teach them something.

I completely disagree. I know, and have known, lots of old, bold cyclists. I've kind of reached the point where I'm one of those old, bold cyclists I admired 30 years ago. One of the toughest "old, bold cyclists", I know went on a mountain bike ride with me back in the 1990s two days after breaking his collar bone because "I just wanted to do your ride". He broke his collar bone while mountain biking. I didn't even know that he had broken it until we reached the bottom of a long downhill with lots of braking that hurt my (then) young skeleton and he was 60 years old! He got to the bottom of the hill and said in a very matter of fact manner "Well, that hurt a bit" and told me about the collar bone. I've been on rides with him since and he's still going strong at 90.

I knew another "old, bold cyclist" (he's gone now) who took up mountain biking at 70 and rode until he died at about 95. He was probably one of the best mountain bike riders I've ever known. He crashed a lot...it's inevitable in mountain biking...and just dusted himself off and went on down the trail.

Now that I've reached that point in my life, I'm not timid about riding. All those bumps, bruises and scars are part of my diploma of cycling. Without them, I wouldn't have learned how to avoid crashing (without riding all the time at walking speed) or, when the inevitable happens, how to avoid getting more seriously injured by learning how to fall.

not a wave cuz he was getting up w the bike, but we spoke. I said something to the effect of "awww, & you were doing so well" & he replied with something to the effect of "yeah until that part right there"

He still should have waved. Jerk!

if I see him again I'll throw a stick in his spokes (jk)

What happens days after a vehicle hits a cyclist? How does damage to the bike get handled?

Would anyone share their experience and/or advice please?

Thank you,

-nervous rider

Using this mentality we would say that speeding in automobiles is justified if one is late. Better to start early or chose another form of transportation.

Using bicycle accidents as a learning tool is not only foolish, but goes against any form of rational behavior. A healthy dose of common sense and caution would be the preferred method.

I completely agree and this is why I just don't cycle with some people. I can't imagine recommending to a new cyclist that one should crash once in a while to build one's skills.

In 65 years, 6 crashes.

Tennies, rat traps and clips:
1) Steel Legnano, commuting to work in '64, car brushed me into a curb and I went down on the sidewalk at about 20, strapped in solid. Bike went up on end and I went head-first into a phone pole, bike still attached. No helmet. Kinda knocked me out for a moment. No damage. Remounted and rode to work.
2) Steel Legnano, leaving a ferry in car traffic, strapped in, didn't see the angled RR tracks. Spun me up onto my naked back, bike still attached. Some skin damage to back. Finished my planned ride.

SPDs and Sidis:
3) Carbon Trek, car pulled out in front of me. I laid the bike down and slid into him, wheels first. He stopped when he saw me sliding. Very little blood, no damage to bike other than scrapes on aluminum bits. Finished my planned ride.
4) Carbon Trek, wasn't paying close enough attention to road conditions when I was forced from the shoulder into the lane. Touched a raised lip and went down at about 20. Lifted some of my upper body off the asphalt with my helmet and mostly stayed with the bike. Road rash, not too bad. No real damage to bike.
5) Steel tandem, went down in the rain on an off-camber turn on ancient pavement made of small polished rocks. Sidi buckle destroyed, hole in shorts. Stayed with the bike. No other damage other than scratches in aluminum bits. Finished the ride.
6) Steel tandem, tried to negotiate a 180° downhill reversal in a bike trail. Overshot the asphalt on the far side and went down into the bushes. Stayed with the bike. I cracked a rib, stoker had a black eye. No other damage. Finished the ride.

Lessons: stay with the bike, hands on bars, don't put out a hand in simple low-side crashes. SPDs are safer than clips. Tegaderm over dried Povidone fixes road rash up real nice. Scrub it raw first.

I took a count a while back and figured I’ve crashed on about half my tours. Some might better be described as relatively gentle falls rather than crashes. Most were off paved roads or off road altogether. Fortunately no major injuries. In the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming I had an avoidable very slow speed crash. I had replaced the M56 cleats just before the tour and not loosened the pedal clips thinking they would wear in soon enough. I was just starting up a steep grade after a photo stop and not paying attention, lost my balance and couldn’t unclip, so over I went in slow motion. Back of my helmet hit hard enough to crack the outer shell. (Replaced the helmet after the tour.) Apart from a sore shoulder for a few days, no serous injury. 20 seconds of adjustments with a hex key would have avoided the fall.

Perhaps the most “spectacular” crash in recent years was on the Middle Fork Trail along the Willamette River in Oregon. On a steep rocky section I got off my fully loaded bike to push to the top. Lost my balance and the bike went over a 20 ft. cliff. I managed to free myself and let go of the bike so no damage to me. Aside from a twisted handlebar stem and a lost mirror no damage to the bike. I don’t know, I could have stayed on the gentle Forest Service roads but how often are you presented with a 2,000 ft. single track vertical drop down a sheer mountain face while touring? I’d do it again.

You had two crashes with clips and four with spds yet you say the later are safer. I used to ride with tight clips. I no longer find I need to do so. I can get out as fast as with my spd type. It appears that none of your crashes were the result of pedal type.

From your account three of your crashes were pilot error regardless of pedal type. I agree with hands on the bars and not putting out hands.

I think you are right about not putting your hands out for a crash, while moving. I took qymnastics one winter to learn how to fall. It helped a bit. It's best to roll up and land across your shoulder blade, upper back, if you can think about it in that instant you are flying through the air. Landing on your shoulder can mean a broken collar bone.
If you are clipped in at a stop sign and are simply falling over, then it might make sense to put your hand out to catch yourself.
I came up with an idea a while back for a set of shoulder pads for cyclists. Some sort of mini football type shoulder pads. Hopefully the pads would spread out the impact from a crash across your shoulder and thus prevent a broken collar bone. Anybody have an old set of football pads they are willing to cut up?
Or a pocket in your jersey across your shoulder that a elbow pad type of thing would fit in, to spread out the initial impact.

Two can play at that game. Using your way of thinking we should never drive our cars over 30 mph. That would be much safer for everyone. Better yet, perhaps we should go back to requiring a flagman to walk in front of the car warning people that it is coming. That would trim automobile accidents to zero.

So what's an acceptable speed that I can ride? Is 10 mph too fast? I've crashed at 10mph. Is 5 mph too fast? I've crashed at 5 mph. Perhaps I should just stand still. Or, better yet, I should just stay in bed...or perhaps under it.

Sorry but I'd rather not. I'm not afraid of crashes. Things happen. Best just to learn to deal with it and move along. Beats the heck out of staying under my bed everyday worrying about whether I'll be hurt or not.

Yes, I agree that some caution and common sense are necessary but too much caution results in too much timidity. If you never push the edges of the envelop, you never find out where the edges are. Even then, the edges of the envelop aren't set in stone and, as I learn more about how to push the edge, the edge moves further away.

Here's a prime example of how to learn from crashing. People with little to no experience with crashes usually assume that "bracing" for impact is a good thing. It isn't. It only results in breaking the thing you are using to "brace" for that impact. Most people learn that lesson the hard way. I learned long ago that letting the bike take the impact is far better than me taking the impact but the only way to learn that is by actually crashing.

Nope. Not a good idea. You are still falling from a pretty good height and people break arms when they trip and try to "catch" themselves all the time. It's best to just topple over on a bicycle, hang on to the bars and try to let the hard bits of the bike hit the ground first whether you are moving or standing still.

A common suggestion for mountain bike riders is to go practice falling over on grass or some other soft surface so that you learn how to fall. I've fallen over enough on harder surfaces than grass to learn those lessons but it's more painful than the other method.

Crashing is inevitable...I know there are some here who say they have never crashed but they are anomalies...it's better to know something about how to crash then have it be a complete surprise. You are less likely to be hurt that way.

To be clear, I don't usually go out to intentionally crash. But I learned many crashes ago that just relaxing, going "rag doll" and letting the crash happen is far better than trying to resist the crash. I just realize that it happens and am prepared for it. That way I end up with scrapes, nice oozy scabs to pick and bruises but not with broken bones.