Crashing
 

The ever present discussion about shoes is going on in another thread, and the recent thread about blinky lights. That made me think about bicycle safety, which made me think about crashing.
So have you have any bicycle crashes? Big? Small? Were you injured? What about the bicycle? etc.
I'm particularly interested in hindsight being 20-20, is there anything you could have done to prevent said accident?
Yes! I'm bored with nothing else to do today.

Had I been looking at the road rather than at the abandoned house off the side, I might have avoided the limb that launched me over the bars.

Late last October, not on a tour but an evening ride where I was in semi-time trial mode, I took a 90 degree turn way too hot, caught gravel and went down. Destroyed both shifters and other miscellaneous parts. I felt my helmet hit the asphalt twice and was thankful I was wearing one. I've had more enjoyable rides.

I crashed once. It was on a MUP at a stop light in town. I was talking with my wife while riding, we stopped, and I forgot to clip out. It was comical to say the least as I had been riding with SPDs for years at that time.

On RAGBRAI this past summer, I saw a man twist his leg so that his toes were pointing 180deg around and down to the ground. I kid not. It was horrific and some people were crying after seeing it. The guy was in straps, came to a stop, and couldnt get his foot out of the strap as he fell. Not 10min later he was riding down the road...in an ambulance.

Two crashes.
The first was as when I was twelve or thirteen and I still (age 64) have a visible scar on my elbow from the road rash. I was racing another kid. The bike was a three speed and it unexpectedly downshifted when I stood up to pedal harder. I was thrown off balance and went down. 'Twas a dangerous time when nobody had even heard of a bicycle helmet, much less wore one. I was lucky. All damage was to my right arm on the elbow and hand.
#2 was a few years ago at probably half the speed of #1.
It was an early season ride. I was just starting to get in some decent miles and was less than a mile from home. I lived out in the country at the time, and though it wasn't a factor in the crash, the last .3 of a mile was on a gravel road. I had, maybe, 150 yards of paved road left when a neighbor's dog came out to chase me. It was part of the daily ride, he wasn't trying to bite, and he always stopped chasing before I turned on to the gravel road I lived on. That particular day, he decided to change things around a little. Instead staying behind me, he decided to run ahead of me, run in front of me......and stop. I went from about 12 mph to zero in a split second. Unlike my childhood wreck, I was wearing a helmet. Also unlike my childhood wreck, I was attached to the pedals with LOOK cleats. More age and a lot more weight made contact with the ground a lot worse than it had been as a kid. I dragged myself and bike out of the road and sat in the ditch. The sleeve on my jacket was shredded, although it was intact enough to allow the blood to run out the cuff and off my fingertips. My helmet, I would notice later, was crushed on the right side. The dog was standing in front of me wagging his tail because it was the first time I had ever stopped for him.
Before it was all over, there was a trip to an emergency room for the infection that had started from the road rash, and a trip to a different clinic when the pills prescribed at the ER weren't doing the job. The doctor at the clinic sent me out of town to a specialist who really wanted to stick me in a hospital but agreed not to if I would promise to check back if things didn't improve quickly.
I also had to buy a new helmet and rain jacket.
The good news, is that I didn't break anything.

I don't think there is enough room on all the servers of the World to do a comprehensive list of my crashes. I can say that no two were alike so I must have learned something from all the times I found myself laying on the ground looking up. Just the highlights

-Pulled off a bike by my dog who was afraid of sewer grates. She stopped. I didn't. As I was sliding on the ground she made a beautifully graceful gazelle like leap over me.

-Body checked by a jaywalking...well, running...pedestrian. She landed on top of me, bounced up and said "Are you alright?", then ran off across the street as I was mumbling "I think so." Didn't even rip her nylons.

-Jumped off a water check, caught about 6 feet of air and watched in slow motion as my left hand hovered about 6" off the handlebar. I distinctly remember thinking "This is bad" before hitting the ground. When I came to, I watched the cloud of dust drifting over me and I remember thinking "Where's a video camera when you need one?" It was the only time I've ever lost consciousness in a crash.

-Struck a pedal on a narrow trail and got knocked off the bike. Took a handlebar to the chest and started falling down a steep hill. Managed to grab my bike and arrest my slide before I went all the way to the bottom of the cirque. The bruise ran down my chest all the way to the hip.

-Hit a patch of ice in the dark on my way home from work and went down hard. It left me with a dark black bruise from my hip to my knee...six years later, I still have a rather painful golf ball sized lump on my hip that hurts when I put pressure on it. I also ended up with an odd thin bruise from my shoulder to by wrist that resulted from the bones of my arm being trapped under me when I hit the pavement.

I haven't had too many "touring" related crashes thankfully. I did run into the back of my daughter's bike when she stopped short and had a slow speed crash. I also tripped over a rock while taking pictures on the wrong side of a pass from my car and bruised a couple of ribs. I then crashed hard a couple of times before the trip was over. Crashing with bruised ribs isn an experience in pain!

Finally, I've been hit by a car. He turned left in front of me and I slammed into the car, slide across the hood and ripped my knee open on the pavement. I severed the nerve that runs down the right inside of the knee and haven't been able to feel anything in that knee since...about 30 years ago now.

Touring, no. Commuting, twice, due to idiots on bikes. Mountain biking, bunch of times due to lack of skill. Have I learned anything? I guess, be more careful.

All three of my crashes involved alcohol.
I will never learn.

I can't wait for warmer weather. I am eyeing this for June:


https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18316675


I may substitute a spin through Kootenai N.F. from Troy to Libby for the out and back to Glacier. The park has been a hell of a lot of snow this year so there is no telling if the west slope will be open by my scheduled arrival. No biggie. I have done it three times already.


Definitely going to try to not crash during the trip.


Definitely going to try not to crash.

What happened? Did you hit empty alcohol bottles in the road and crash? ;)

At this point you need to just move to Montana.

My mom's dad was a farmer, we lived thirteen hundred miles away. The next farm down the road had a kid just months away from the same age as myself. I spent summers on the farm so the kid down the road and I grew up together during the long school break each year. We got the bright idea to play "chicken", starting a causal 100 paces apart. We were both foolishly brave. As I think of it fifty years later I remember it to be like a B&W film clip of a head on crash between two steam locomotives (on a smaller scale).

Yea, unfortunately I have to agree, and why I only mentioned the latest one. But surely not the last one.

In France this summer I made a last-minute decision to turn right in a steep supermarket parking lot. As soon I started leaning my front wheel washed out and my bike and I slid on a layer of greasy pavement until we ran into a curb. I had a little road rash but my rear Ortlieb had a hole in the side the size of a golf ball. It protected the rear derailleur from damage. The next day we went to a Decathlon sporting goods store, where I found a patch kit with small sheets of PVC. The patch didn't look pretty, but it made the pannier waterproof again.

My most recent dramatic crash didn't happen on a tour but is a fun story to tell. I was descending Mt. Hamilton (the big mountain in our area) at night with some friends. On a turn my front wheel washed out in some mud I didn't see and I went down hard. I stood up, dusted myself off, and we continued riding. About 5 minutes later as we were climbing a short section before the final descent I acted surprised that I had just crashed. My friend recognized that I had a concussion, flagged down a passing motorist, who took me to the bottom of the mountain where my friend's car was parked. My friend drove me to the emergency room. The whole time we kept repeating the same conversation. I was surprised that I crashed and I wanted to know how it happened. Over and over again.

I woke up the next day with bandages on my hand and knee, totally confused. My wife had to tell me what happened. I only remember a few snapshots of the ride. I don't remember crashing and the car ride to the bottom of the mountain and I don't remember ever going to the hospital.

Even though I hit my chin during the crash my helmet was unscratched.

I've broken two helmets in two crashes. One where a lady unleashed her Chihuahua puppy at a MUP. I missed the puppy...I was knocked cold and the only bandage for my still badly scarred left shoulder was a sanitary napkin I found at the park's women's rest room. Not a scratch on the bike.

The second helmet died during a night time charity ride. My headlamp had some dark lines projected that hid a crack in the road and I rode right into it. Knocked out again, broken collar bone, chipped ankle bone, and bruised and cracked ribs. I had to pick up the bike and ride four miles to the finish area, put the bike into the truck (very ungracefully), drive home, and then bother my older daughter for a ride to the ER. Both front and rear fenders were jacked.

I'm a bit strict about my kid's and grandkid's use of helmets. ;)

Brad

All of my crashes were significant, and I don't like to talk about them. Bad juju.

Crashing two-wheeled conveyances - motorbike or bicycle - is something that, on a long enough timeline, everyone experiences. Its not a matter of if - its a matter of when. I haven't quite figured out how karma plays a part in it, but I'm sure it does.

I have been considering it for the future, but I am not certain I could deal with the winters.



https://www.nps.gov/webcams-glac/sno...?2017113125414

Even the snowmen have snowmen.

fify.

Hard to tell. Not exactly anatomically correct.

Yeah. They could have made up for that with the clothing. It's funny because I looked at the web cam earlier today and the eyes and things were messed up--sagging and whatnot. Someone clearly went out and fixed them this morning their time.

Did the Katy trail and hit a trail guard. They are pretty solid. Luckily I hit it square on and was probably going just 10 mph. Stupid, as I was looking down at my phone. And good thing I was riding my LHT, the tank was fine.

You mean the LHT's "inferior steel" didn't buckle better than a Pilgrim's hat and then asplode like carbon fiber?

saw a guy go down Saturday. was riding on a recently plowed paved rail trail. he got on ahead of me & stayed ahead of me until I caught up at some road crossings. he was approaching one & lost control (not sure why) & fell on his side. as I passed him I cud see he had nice wide knobby tires (but no studs). he was fine w a big smile on his face. I had been video taping but not at that time

Hmmm, yesterday. Not really what I would call a crash, more of an off bike experience. Fat biking on some local trails, plenty of soft( DEEP) snow if not centered on the main tread. Too fast down hill resulted in a front wheel washout, OTB, belly snow angel in 2 feet of soft snow. Got 2 front, 1 side and 1 back in 1 hour of pedaling. All good.