Sticky : What's your crash story ?



lischoux

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Feb 26, 2004
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If you have not crashed, you're not a cyclist yet !

Please share your crash story with the rest of us.

... Mine will follow !
 
Originally posted by lischoux
If you have not crashed, you're not a cyclist yet !

Please share your crash story with the rest of us.

... Mine will follow !

Got me a Trek 5200 and took it on it's maiden voyage... don't know what happened exactly but physics and logical reasoning let me to deduce the following events:

After a 10% descent there is a dip in the road between Prevost and Echo Lake (here in Quebec), just before you get to a small bridge and another uphill section... Last July I took my 5200 there and did the descent at a rather decent 50 km/h before going out of the saddle and sprinting the short uphill section... Well I dunno if I hit anything but I may have hit the handlebar with my knee...

Since I've been riding my Trek 1200 a lot before, I think that the ultra-light carbon 5200 was reacting much more nervously than the heavier 1200 (aluminum) and I either over- or underreacted.... The ride became unstable and I basically did a rodeo of the right side towards the ground. I may have sommersaulted over the handlebar but I have no recollection of this. The thing I clearly remember is my position much further right of where the bike was … and my vision of my right arm extending, the black-gloved hand spreading out and the road surface in the background of the hand coming closer and closer…
I hit the road with my hand first, scraping over the asphalt, then the right lower arm, the elbow and at the same time my right hip and my right shoulder slamming the road. Finally my right knee and foot also hit (and scraped) the surface. I was convinced that I was finally on the ground… When my head hit. And it hit hard. Actually I was surprised at how hard it hit that it startled me.
The entire fall probably took no more that a second or so… to me it seemed MUCH MUCH longer.

Conclusion:
Hip - bruised
Glove - trash
Arm and elbow - scraped (took 3 weks to heal and left nice "tatoos"
Shoulder - Hurt like hell for about 3 weeks, then hurt a bit for another 3 weeks...
Bike - basically ok, saddle scraped and the brakehandles need replacement.

Looks like I bore the brunt of the crash (and I heal nicely)
 
I bought a "Hard Shell" helmit about 1 month before they banned "strap hats" over here, Track race the day after I bought it I was coming around the field at top pace (I was doing 11 sec 200 mteres in those days) rider infront falls and I hit him squar in the back, Im slung streight in the air, **** over kite, and piledrive the track head first at 70k+. Roof of my mouth swelled so much I couldnt talk for a week (literally) I didnt know who I was for an hour or 2, sweet tattoo's all over, But if I had been whereing my strap hat that day I am convinced I would be dead.
Funny thing is I campained bitterly against compolsery helmits...always believed I would have the skill to avoid a "Head Crash" LOL oops
 
Another I just thought of, 1985 track nationals as a lad (under 17) I was in a qualifying race, 6 to qaulfy in a field of 15 but there where 3 - 4 of us way above the rest, I had poll in the last bend and I see a shadow under me, I figure, no problen we are way clear all going to get in, so I didnt "slam" him down, he pushes through locks bars and bang, all over.
Im lying on the ground, no skin on my back, brothers OR7 wheels totaled yelling at the top of my lungs " I WILL KILL THE DUMB *******" at which a guy well over 6 foot tall and built like a russian ditch digger (remember where under 17) looks down at me and says " Sorry man" I looked at this huge human and said...... "no prob m8, accidents happen" funny how fast you can calm down when faced with death :D
 
I had just gotten my Fuji Roubaix pro, I had just ridden it for about a week or 2. On this faitful afternoon I was riding through Coconut Grove on my way to Key Biscayne in Miami and it just started to rain. When I approached a corner to make a right turn I was doing probably about 18 to 20mph, I went over some slick road and as I made the turn the bike came from under me. I slid for about 15 to 20 ft before I came to a stop.

Result;
shorts torn right off my hine side (nice view of a full moon)
scrapted elbows and ankles and hurt my dignity(for the above)

Bike;
rear derailur scratched up and slightly damaged
brakes scratched up
chain stay bent in
handle bar wrap torn

Fortunate thing the bike is steel frame so the the chain stay was able to be bent back into place. brakes and derailur well they take a lick and keep on ticking had to replace the wrap and get new shorts.

Oh, before I forget, quite a few people were amused of my early moon rising, other than that I made a full recovery and was only off the bike for about a week. Mostly to heal my derry aire and my dignity.:p
 
Unmarked 1" steel construction plate w/ sand scattered around at a green light intersection in Boston. Speed 20+. Forward sumersault. New helmut $80, emergency room visit, $300, new front tooth $1200. Experience........... Priceless.
 
Was riding my new Specialized Sequoia around my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago and hadn't adjusted the tension on my clipless pedals yet. Came up to a stop sign and couldn't get my foot out in time and fell on my right side right in front of a car full of kids that were all laughing and pointing at me.

I lost about 6 months worth of "cool factor" that afternoon. :(
 
Originally posted by Doctor Morbius
Was riding my new Specialized Sequoia around my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago and hadn't adjusted the tension on my clipless pedals yet. Came up to a stop sign and couldn't get my foot out in time and fell on my right side right in front of a car full of kids that were all laughing and pointing at me.

I lost about 6 months worth of "cool factor" that afternoon. :(

I hear 'ya Doc !

In 2002 when I got back on the bike I had to readjust to using clipless pedals. The 4th or 5th week I went out riding and I wanted to turn around on a narrow road to head back, when I slowed down to turn and basically couldn't make up my mind if I should stop or go on right away... Somehow the speed of the ride was too slow to go on... too fast to stop and I still had my feet clamped in. Result: Tipped over like a stone. Nobody saw me :)

A week or so later in front of a buddy's house... Same scenario: Tried to do a U-turn and wasn't fast enough... Tipped over like a sack of flour ! There were about 10 people around the neighborhood who saw it... Plus I scraped my left index finger and started bleeding. My buddy's mom actually came out of the house with a band-aid... The only thing more "uncool" would have been to start crying.... A 31-year old guy with a bleeding finger and a tear...Now THAT would have bee pathetic.

But since... Never tipped again. The real crash came much later (see above).

Btw... The finger healed well and nicely and other than a few scrapes on the pedals and on the handlebar wrap (which I long changed since) no material damage done :)
 
as a kid, 10 years old (1980), doing the Steve Martin King Tut move, no hands, going downhill in the dark. Pow! Brown station wagon looms up, no time to evade, start turning left, and right leg gets pinned under rear bumper as body does 'hip check' into car. Snap!

broken tibia and fibula, both bones poking through the skin. luckily for me, it was a busy road and a doctor stopped by, and drove me to the hospital. i remember his son (my age) was in the car, and i was gouting blood in the back seat. he had a toy in his hands -- a kite i think -- and i was asking him about it. he looked at me as if i was truly the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

since then, a couple of minor falls, but nothing broken.
 
Ok, it was a nice warm day in June. Humidity at 90% and I was feeling great in my fresh new lycra shorts and jersey. I was 18 and feeling cool to won a nice new road bike.

I was just finishing a good 30 mile ride and passing through the park on my way home on a cool down stretch. I had felt so good that I actually detoured through this way because on a warm Saturday afternoon on a hot day like this there would be planty of cute girls on the beach. The park was situated betwwen two lakes where I usually spent these afternoons as a life guard.

There she was, in a nice new bikini, and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Jennifer the girl that I was supposed to be working with decided to don a new suit for the day I was away. Needless, to say, I was so mesmerized that as I was waving to her, in what SEEMED like very slow motion, I didn't see the brown station wagon right in front of me!!

She drove me to the emergency room and 7 stitches and many hours later, we were on our first date. Talk about an embarassing moment . . . .
 
Approx 15yrs old, riding a 3 speed dragster with gear shifter between the legs and with loose handlebars. Going down a hill in the park, rather than a slope there was a small drop off, saw it at the last moment and went to pull back on the bars and ended up somersaulting over the bars and rolled into a stand.
Hobbled away, but felt something running down my leg (blood). I'd sliced my calf down to the muscle on the shifter casing on the way over the bars. 18 stitches in all.
 
If you have to crash to be a cyclist, I must almost be ready for the tour de france!
here are some of my crashes.


  1. After only having my brand new bike for 3 days a group of mates and I decided to go for an early morning ride. Only 10 minutes into the ride one of my fellow riders ( very inexperienced I might add ;) ) decided to clean up my front wheel, sending me flying across the pavement at well above 30kmph stopping just short of an oncoming car!!
  2. AMBULANCES! Their supposed to help the injured, not cause injury!
    I was riding down the main street of town, at the speed of traffic, when all of a sudden an ambulance cuts me off! He didn’t have lights or sirens going and was clearly not in a hurry to get anywhere soon (except to knock off maybe!) anyway he pulled out straight in front of me, as I was going much faster than he was, I had no choice but to go around him! This is where it gets interesting. Everybody has seen the grates that cover the drains, down most streets. Now these drains have gaps in them that are just wide enough to fit a rim through (with a bit of force). Normally these drains run perpendicular to the road, however! This grate ran parallel to the road. As I had no-where to go I had to take my chances, I hit the drain, my front wheel disappeared into the drain right up to the axle! I came flying straight over the handle bars, sliding endlessly! I stopped in the middle of the road with an ambulance less than a meter behind me! Remarkably I walked away from the incident!! It took myself, two ambos and a cop to pull the bike out of the drain though!

  3. My most recent crash occurred only two and a half weeks ago. I was riding with just one of mates. I have clipless pedals , and normally ride with my cleats, that afternoon though I was just riding down to the local golf course for a hit so I was wearing my sneakers. I was standing up pedalling hard, when my chain slipped! My foot came straight off and hit the ground, I went flying and ploughed into the rear-end of a park car. This crash I actually managed to shatter my collarbone!
    So no cycling for a few weeks!