Worst cycling accident?



Dame6089

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Jun 6, 2016
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Have you ever been in a bad accident while cycling or just going for a casual ride? Luckily I have avoided ever getting seriously hurt when riding. I once got my shoe string caught in the chain and was tossed from the bike. I happened to be by grass at the time though and was able to force myself to fall towards the grass instead of the pavement. I know others haven't been as lucky as me though. Feel free to share your stories if you have them!
 
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When I was a little kid I was riding down a steep hill on a gravel road. The bike shifted with loose sand and down I went, over the handlebars and sliding down the hill on my right arm and my face. I don't know how far down that hill I slid but it felt like I used up the entire hill with my poor little self. Anyway, once it was over, I had one very raw arm, which was torn up pretty much from wrist to elbow and a little beyond. The side of my face was scratched up a lot too and I remember picking gravel nuggets out of my arm for days afterward. It was so much 'fun' that I refused to ride my bike down a hill until I was fully grown... and even today I'm still so traumatized by the memory that I can't ride downhill even on smooth pavement, without riding the brake the whole way. My family and friends used to get so impatient with me because they always had to wait for me to walk the bike down hills, but it takes time to get over stuff like that sometimes. I don't see the scars so much on my arm but the right side of my face is still scarred a little bit, though not very noticeable after all these years.
 
No. I have never been in any cycle accident. The most important thing is to follow the traffic rules. I always follow the traffic rules and that is why I have neven been in an accident. Most of the roads have different lanes for the cycles and it is very important for the cyclists to ride on that lane instead of the main road.
 
I remember when I fell from my bicycle onto a pile of dried thorny twigs and branches that were trimmed from a lemon tree. I was cycling at moderate speed I think, and suddenly I ran into a hole on the road that made me lose balance and fall from my bike. The bruises were so large, but it was not so painful.
 
When I was little I riding along the edge of a very steep hill in the woods. I lost control and my bike went down the hill into the tree. It was extremely scary . Luckily I didn't get hurt too bad. I didn't hit my head. If I would have it would have been bad. My grandfather saw me and he came running. I learned to be more careful and less cocky after that.
 
Slipped on an oil patch while turning left. Badly broken leg up near the hip joint. Surgery to fix and four months off work.

But at least I'm still alive and that's more than some cyclists can say. I've been hit by cars three times.
 
I've been in so many. Three weeks ago I was out riding my cyclocross bike around a hilly park. I had ridden up to the top of a 1100 foot peak and decided to take the easy way down which was a long reasonably straight downhill that ends with a couple of sharp turns and drops down behind the golf clubhouse. From there back to my house is on asphalt.

I had been making pretty good time on a new bike I'd built with hydraulic disk brakes. These are a whole new world of braking since you can use one or two fingers to lock the wheels up.

In a previous unavoidable fall (it was a major mechanical failure of a prototype carbon fiber fork that dropped me on my face) I'd obtained a concussion and the medication I have to take forever for that gives you some slight memory problems.

While I was descending at a good speed there was an entire string of full suspension MTB's going up. Trailing off of the rear were other riders not in as good shape. They were climbing on the east side of the trail which was also the only smooth path while to my side there were heavy rain ruts I passed a man and couldn't see anyone behind him but still remained on my side of the trail to keep from hitting another slow poke.

There was a smooth section and I was probably up to 20 mph or so. Suddenly I hit a really deep rut and instead of locking the rear brake and easing on the front I did just the opposite. (damn memory).

The bike rotated around the front wheel. At the top my head was at least 10 feet above the ground. I yelled "OH ****".

But being that far above the ground I had time to rotate my body and instead of landing on my face I hit on my left shoulder, elbow and hip. I also jammed my right two middle fingers hard enough into the ground that it attempted to tear the nails off. My head couldn't be held up and my helmet hit the ground very lightly. There is a VERY slight depression about a half inch across and maybe a quarter of an inch deep.

There I was laying in a smoking pile of rising dust with the bike laying on top of me. The kid on the MTB said, "Uh, are you OK?"

"AM I OK?????" rang off of all of the hillsides and echoed back and forth. "DO I LOOK OK???"

I clicked out of the pedals and kicked the bike off of me and the kid was over there by then and helped me to my feet. I was bleeding lightly on the left elbow and pretty strongly on the right two middle fingers. He pulled my water bottle out and was spraying the blood off.

As it turned out the ground was soft enough that the shoulder and hip weren't very badly torn up because they were both covered with the shorts and jersey.

I thanked the kid for his help, remounted and continued down the hill still slightly in shock. I slowed up a LOT for the turns at the bottom. As I rode back on the main blvd I stopped at the bike shop and washed the affected areas off with their warm water and antiseptic soap.

I then rode another 6 miles home taking a climbing road since it had so little traffic on it. Though the descent is steeper than on the mountain road. With three strong switchbacks on it.

At home the hot shower and antiseptic hurt. I always have large bandages on hand and covered all the wounds with antibiotic salve and coverings. The worst part is that I'm hairy so over the next couple of days I had to continuously change the dressings by ripping off the bandages suddenly which tore hair out.

Three weeks later the only injury I retain is an almost healed elbow. That would have healed if I haven't ridden some 300 miles since then keeping it out in the sun too much after I though it sufficiently healed to not cover it.

All I can say about this is "AM I OK?????" Well, I suppose so. Life's hard at over 70 without these little mistakes.
 
Fortunately, till now I haven't had anything really sever. The worst that has happened to me is having my brakes snap on me and having to veer out of the way of an on coming car. After hitting the sidewalk and being thrown from the bike all I had to do is brush myself off and push my bike home.
 
I always ride my bike, although I had an accident I would consider bad, I still ride it til this day.

I was out one day just riding my bike to the post office, it was a single speed bmx bike, I like to think of myself as an athlete sometimes. I can do tricks and little things like that. On this day, I was crossing the street, I made an attempt to jump the curve which is something that I never had a problem with.

My bike pedal broke off, it wasn't the pedal itself, it was the actually leg holding the pedal. The metal just snapped, Because if this, I was kicking down already which made my leg grind against the broken metal which peeled my skin open about 7 inches up my leg.

To make things worse, there were on coming cars, so when I fell down I was either going to be hit, or they would stop. Which they did, I had to get stitches, I still have that bike, never bothered to fix it.
 
I already explained this in some similar thread. I was in a car accident recently and I lost my front wheel in the process. It wasn't my fault but the guy in the car could not see me although he was careless and driving pretty fast for the given street. He stopped the car and approached me to help me and see if I was hurt badly. I had minor bruisings and some sore muscles but nothing serious. My bike was hurt the most.
 
I was on a tour (when am I not? It is what I do ) and was looking for a place to camp for the night. It was late, perhaps 10pm on an overcast night. I was riding on a flat, straight road, and within 3 inches of the white line at the right side (that is correct for this country). I had lights front and rear, reflectors all over my helmet, reflective vest, reflectors on all my bags, the works. I never even saw the reflection from his headlights. There was this mighty THUMP and I was flying through the air. By the time I hit the ground he was half km (1/3 mile) in front of me and I never saw his brake lights come on at all. He was either aiming for me or drunk. Likely both. The first question out of the Highway Patrol was "Did you get a good look at the car?". 2 weeks later, when I could hobble across the room without the crutches, I used a prybar and bent my chainstay back into some resemblance of what it looked like before the impact, then put on my spare cycling shoes and went riding. Took a month of riding with the left foot mostly just being carried along (gradually adding more pressure to it as time went on) to bring it (my left foot that is) back to 90% usability.

And yes, my SO kicked me out after she found out I was riding again after I had been hit. . .

Am I an addict? Likely yes, I am.
 
A few years ago it was "bike to work day" but evidently it was not bike home from work. As a commutor I should have taken the day off.
I had left a dedicated bike path to travel up a few blocks to my bank (it was also payday) on a four lane road. She was boiling out of a side parking lot looking up the road to head down opposite of me, I never had a chance being in the nearest lane but managed to mostly unclip. I went over the hood of the SUV the bike went under, 1 bottle cage and a wheel skewer survived, I'd like to say I channeled my inner gymnast and stuck the landing, lol. I was being loaded in the ambulance when the lady finally returned.
I have gotten both hips replaced and a blood clot caused a minor stroke. I bike nearly everyday but still shy of my previous mileage. I get a huge amount of inspiration from prorider Tyler Farrar's father Ed whose accident has him using a hand powered recumbent. All the days I start to feel sorry for myself he is already out there riding.
 
I haven't been in an accident. And I'd like it to stay that way. I guess the worst experience I had would be slightly feeling disoriented because I've been cycling for more than an hour. Thankfully, I stopped before anything bad happened.
 
I've had a couple of incidents throughout the years. Most of them were simply tumbling over by accident with no severe results, but some were definitely more dangerous than others. The two worst accidents I had were both in high school.

For the first one, I was biking to school in the morning. Being your typical teenager, I didn't get enough sleep the night before and was incredibly sleepy that morning. Believe it or not, I fell asleep while riding my bike, just as I was crossing the street. Next thing I knew, bam. I fell hard onto the asphalt after I had slammed into the side of a car that was making a right turn. No significant injuries though, and the car didn't even stop.

The other incident, I was transferring from the road onto the sidewalk, when my front wheel slid out from under me when it hit the curb. I fell on my open arm, and ended up dislocating it at the shoulder. That was loads of fun.
 
Have you ever been in a bad accident while cycling or just going for a casual ride? Luckily I have avoided ever getting seriously hurt when riding. I once got my shoe string caught in the chain and was tossed from the bike. I happened to be by grass at the time though and was able to force myself to fall towards the grass instead of the pavement. I know others haven't been as lucky as me though. Feel free to share your stories if you have them!

I had my share of accidents but I guess my worst one was when I was still a teen, we where doing jumps on a wooden ramp and when it's my turn my BMX, fork and bars broke when I landed and just missed impaling my stomach by inches, my right arm was broken and I fell face first on the ground. I had to be rushed in a hospital because I was unconscious. I think the pain of my head lasted for weeks after that.
 
Have you ever been in a bad accident while cycling or just going for a casual ride? Luckily I have avoided ever getting seriously hurt when riding. I once got my shoe string caught in the chain and was tossed from the bike. I happened to be by grass at the time though and was able to force myself to fall towards the grass instead of the pavement. I know others haven't been as lucky as me though. Feel free to share your stories if you have them!

The last time I had an accident was 3 years ago, I went out one night riding my MTB and I was riding at the side of a secondary road when a motorcycle came from my back and bumped me on my side. I got my knee and leg and hands all grazed and blooddied because the impact caused me to crash. I stopped cycling at night because of that, my wife won't let me because there's a lot of scooter riders at night here and most of them are drunk or under the influence of either alcohol or drugs.
 
I think my worst was back when I was around 100, I was going downhill and couldn't control my speed and fell head first into a gutter, and I tried to break my fall with my arms but they were broken instead and I still got a huge gash on my forehead.
 
I think when I was accidentally fell to the mud, with four feet deep, because the roads in our province is really worst, and it's really hard to handle the bike and it was dark during that time. I went home with a little scratch and my body was full of mud.
 
I remember when I fell from my bicycle onto a pile of dried thorny twigs and branches that were trimmed from a lemon tree. I was cycling at moderate speed I think, and suddenly I ran into a hole on the road that made me lose balance and fall from my bike. The bruises were so large, but it was not so painful.

It must have been pretty difficult for you to forget such incident. We all have a fair share of some ugly accidents when we began riding. It was all about having the fun to continue riding our bikes.
 
I think when I was accidentally fell to the mud, with four feet deep, because the roads in our province is really worst, and it's really hard to handle the bike and it was dark during that time. I went home with a little scratch and my body was full of mud.

This must have been really not easy for you! Going home with the mud all over your body must have been tough for you. I think you don't have major injuries during that period which is good as well. It was one of those times that we have to pass a phase in our riding life.