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What cycling injuries have you suffered over the years?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

What cycling injuries have you suffered over the years?

Old 07-08-20, 03:07 AM
  #51  
Kabuki12
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I have had a few spills since taking up the sport in the seventies with the usual road rash and bruised ego. Nothing too serious until a couple of years ago at Eroica California in Paso Robles when I allowed my front wheel to drift into the ledge of asphalt on the the very narrow shoulder causing me to go over the left side of the handle bar and use my face as a landing pad. I broke my orbital bone and shattered my cheek bone into 4 or 5 pieces . My left hand was broken and the bar end shifter broached a hole into my right leg. Then there was the road rash. I healed up and now keep an eye on my downhill speed. At the time of the accident I was barely doing a leisurely 12 mph. I used to typically do 30+ mph on downhills not realizing the risk and now I don’t! I can’t imagine if I were to fall at any kind of speed what the injury could be . As we age we are more brittle I guess and things break .
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Old 07-08-20, 02:09 PM
  #52  
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Road rash a few times. Nothing serious, scraped knees and elbows.
A couple of stitches in my elbow, washed out on fresh chip-seal I didn't see in a corner during a pre-dawn ride.
Only serious accident was due to a left cross during a descent (10/04/94). 75 or so stitches in right eyebrow (3 layers of stitches), another couple of dozen just below my knee (must have caught car roof or handlebar as I went over), another couple on my cheekbone, hairline fracture of thumb, a few chipped teeth. Landed on my head (only road rash was on helmet and face - that's when I started the beard I wear to this day). No serious concussion, was never fully unconscious. Fell asleep in the CAT scan machine. Still don't remember the actual crash or several minutes afterwards, "woke up" as I was being loaded into the ambulance.

Lesson learned: when the car next to you suddenly starts slowing down, grab the brakes. The guy at the head of the line of traffic in my lane stopped to let someone in the oncoming lane turn left into their driveway, the line of cars stopped, I looked to the van on my left (which also was blocking my view ahead to the opposite lane) like "WTF are you doing?", that's the last I remember.
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Old 07-09-20, 01:11 PM
  #53  
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1. Ilio-tibial band syndrome of the right knee early on in my cycling days six years ago. I was riding with the seat too high and it was causing my right side to pull too much. That required physical therapy for a month. I keep doing the stretching exercises today.
2. Commuting to work by bike, my front tire hit a rut between the grass and sidewalk. When I finally turned out of it, I turned too hard and ran straight into a stockade fence. Fortunately the front steel fork absorbed some of the shock and was bent back about an inch. I lunged forward and badly bruised some ribs on the upper horizontal wooden part of the fence. I also scarred my chest with two nice parallel diagonal skin burns. My wife came and picked me up. Work was not fun for a few days, and the pain finally subsided about a month later. X-rays showed no broken ribs, so I may have either bruised them or fractured the cartilage (which won't show up on X-ray).
3. The rider that was two people in front of me during a group ride clipped the back wheel of the person in front of her. She went down and I only saw the butt right in front of me move to the left. I finally saw her go down, and the last thing I remember was trying to avoid her. I was unconscious for 3.5 minutes. Fortunately one of the other riders was a podiatrist and noticed I wasn't breathing. I was face down, and he forced the others to help him gently roll me over. Once they did that, I started breathing. My Cycliq Fly 6 caught the whole thing. I wasn't breathing for about 80 seconds. Without him, I may be dead right now. I gave him a roll of Lifesavers on the 1 year anniversary October 12. I had my first (and only) ambulance ride to the ER. CAT scan showed my brain still intact. I was "not myself" for about a week. I felt better but had a neurology consult just in case. Knowing I was OK, I made my wife come to the visit just so I could ask the doctor in front of her if I could go back to riding. When the doctor said yes, I looked at my wife and asked, "Did you hear that?" On my way home from that appointment, I stopped at my LBS and got a new helmet. To this day (21 months later) I have a nickel sized tattoo from the asphalt that is buried in my face, just below my right eye.
4. My low back went out from over training and not doing my stretching exercises this past April when less work due to COVID shutdown meant more cycling. My own fault.

Last edited by Bassmanbob; 07-09-20 at 01:23 PM.
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Old 07-09-20, 08:17 PM
  #54  
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Does anyone want to know what a 3 million dollar (pre-negotiated) hospital bill/'s paid for? Hit & run, I was in ICU for 8 months, 6 months in a rehab hospital. Had a colostomy reversal performed early this year. I was soooo looking forward to getting my life back to normal when covid hit. After many surgery delays, covid hit. I thought great, surgery will get delayed again. I wasn't relieved until I was gowned up and rolled into surgery. Long story short, crushed by a truck, 120 units of blood and 5 surgeries in the first 2 days. 2 1/2 years with a colostomy. Injury list is a mile long, add muscle atrophy and malnutrition also. I just bought a bike to help with rehab, it will only see trainer time until I'm ready. I was an absolute mess, trach'd for over a year plus weight loss and road rash scars all over. I have pro cyclist arms now.
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Old 07-10-20, 02:34 AM
  #55  
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Wow. I thought my injuries were bad enough. Some of y'all are monuments to stubborn determination.
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Old 07-10-20, 09:53 AM
  #56  
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I've been lucky and not had too many serious issues other than some bruises and cuts. These are the more memorable ones.

When I was a little kid I tried to do a wheelie on my muscle bike, but fell off instead and broke my arm.

At 18 years old I was taking a corner too fast and the bike slide out from under me. Got road rash all along my right side. Only time I've ever had road rash. Still have a scar on my right elbow.

Maybe 10 years ago got left hooked by a car. Bike was destroyed, but I was spared with only minor cuts and bruises. It was my fortune that the driver was not going too fast and she had a low profile car.

5 years ago a wrong way cyclist broadsided me around a blind corner on a park MUP. Bent my front wheel and chain ring. I got a huge goose egg on my left leg. It took a month to heal.
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Old 07-10-20, 11:25 AM
  #57  
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One or two concussions, along with the broken helmets. a few days off work for a very sore back, and a few rapid losses in blood pressure from road rash. Fortunately for me, nothing major, and hoping to keep it that way.

in a couple of cases those issues may have been combined.
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Old 07-10-20, 11:58 AM
  #58  
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OK, no more x-rays of dilapidated birdhouses built while drunk, please!

Let's see ... Hit by a car in 1972. Very lucky, just shoulder and head abrasions. Nowadays, I suspect we'd have sued the ass off the motorist. Back then, she just put me and my bike in her station wagon and drove me home.

Bruised some ribs when I missed a turn on a fast mountain bike descent in the early 90s. I didn't realize there was a gully there! First time I'd ever had the wind knocked out of me, was convinced I was going to die.

A year later, while touring fully loaded and coming down out of the Sierras, I took a hairpin a bit too wide to the right. Off the shoulder, no problem, brake a little bit ... hit a sandy patch, skidded, went down. Nice of the CHP officer to drive right by me as I sat on the side of the road wondering what happened a minute later. The hotel bar was a god-send that night. Kept going on the tour; was only a week into a five-week tour.

A few years later ... clipped a handlebar on a very stiff hedge while riding the sidewalk to get around some construction. Went down, breaking my left humerus near the shoulder. That one kept me off the bike. In a sling, taking the bus to work, doing physical therapy.

And lots of little mountain-bike dumps and falls over the last two decades. Usually just scrapes and blood.
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Old 07-10-20, 01:50 PM
  #59  
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I've been lucky as far as impact crashes go. I've only had the 30 mph road rash from a front tire caught in a rut, and mild concussion from going over the bars into a 4 foot deep ditch after the front wheel sank into deep sand just off the shoulder and stopped instantly. But what still ails me is knee pain I developed in 2017 (which I assume was from sprinting training at the time) that just won't go away, and is keeping me from doing: anything out of the saddle, anything above 400 watts, no sustained climbs (and I have a 3,000' climb just 5 miles from my front door), nor anything longer than 40 miles with 2,000'. MRI was inconclusive. PT and stretching gains are marginal. On top of that I was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer about 9 months ago (caused by cycling, not likely) and initially I had thought that was the end of my riding altogether, if not my life. But I've since beaten that and am now back to riding 150 miles a week, and all I can think about is riding like I used to 200-250 miles per week, centuries, double centuries, big climbs, KOM chasing, but I've come to accept my new normal, and am just hoping for the day when the knee pain fades away.
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Old 07-10-20, 02:11 PM
  #60  
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My most painful injury was when I sat on one of my testicles when mounting the bike. Sorry, no photos.
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Old 07-10-20, 03:59 PM
  #61  
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Nov 2017 -- "Extensive craniofacial trauma", including bilateral superior orbital, medial, and inferior orbital wall fratures, bilateral medial and lateral medial wall fractures, zygomatic process fractures, hard palate fractures, broken and comminuted nasal fractures, comminuted and displaced right and left mandibular fractures, dislocated hip and associated displaced posterior acetabular fracture, tibial plateau fracture, hyoid fracture, thyroid cartilage fracture, paralyzed vocal cord, deep lacerations to the face and knee, hematoma on the carotid, massive pulmonary bruising and some other bits and bobs. Note that your face is a crumple zone and it works, but it's not comfy. Like lesterburnham above, hit and run but his looks significantly worse. I only had a week in the ICU and did a half-century in May 2018. Bicycle helps the hip, which is still a little cranky 30 months later.




(I have other pictures. You probably don't want to see them)

Prior to that? Skinned my knee a few times crashing in the rain riding to work and Uni. Shoulder going over the bars on an MTB in 2000.

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Old 07-10-20, 04:02 PM
  #62  
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Originally Posted by Riveting
I've been lucky as far as impact crashes go. I've only had the 30 mph road rash from a front tire caught in a rut, and mild concussion from going over the bars into a 4 foot deep ditch after the front wheel sank into deep sand just off the shoulder and stopped instantly. But what still ails me is knee pain I developed in 2017 (which I assume was from sprinting training at the time) that just won't go away, and is keeping me from doing: anything out of the saddle, anything above 400 watts, no sustained climbs (and I have a 3,000' climb just 5 miles from my front door), nor anything longer than 40 miles with 2,000'. MRI was inconclusive. PT and stretching gains are marginal. On top of that I was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer about 9 months ago (caused by cycling, not likely) and initially I had thought that was the end of my riding altogether, if not my life. But I've since beaten that and am now back to riding 150 miles a week, and all I can think about is riding like I used to 200-250 miles per week, centuries, double centuries, big climbs, KOM chasing, but I've come to accept my new normal, and am just hoping for the day when the knee pain fades away.
Congrats on beating that!
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Old 07-18-20, 01:48 PM
  #63  
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Surprised no more members than this have ever had injuries!
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Old 07-28-20, 01:36 PM
  #64  
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40+MPH over the bars crash, roadbike, downhill canyon twisty road. Concussion, destroyed my helmet. Burst fracture T9, fused T7-T12. Occipital Condyl Avulsion right side, cracked C1-3. 4 broken ribs bunches of road rash.

Fear going downhill lingers. And I have ZERO memory of the wreck, ambulance, Emergency room, helicopter ride, and the next few days are lost as well. It has been almost 9 years. It did take 3 years to get back on a bike, and it took until last year to really get back to riding with any intensity...
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Old 07-31-20, 09:03 PM
  #65  
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So here I was on a nice casual 65 mile ride in the countryside with about 8 other people in 2015, we were at mile 58 and the dude in front of me decides to jam on his brakes at 28 mph for reasons I still do not know. Next thing I know, I am looking up at the clear blue sky and wondering why am I looking up at the clear blue sky on some freshly paved road. I thanked god later that day, that we were not 200 yard on either side of this segment of road, as that road would have ground any and all skin and soft tissue from my body. The skin damage in the big scheme of things was minimal, bruising was unbelievable massive that ran from my shoulder to my ankle and far more painful than the broken shoulder. The first thing out of my mouth as people were yelling at me not to move, was, how is my bike . Shoulder was broken in 5 places, I have permanent nerve issues in that shoulder and some of the broken bone fragments intermingled with the nerves and the doc was not about to go digging around for little pieces of bone. He told me it looked like a peeled hard boiled eggshell there were so many little fragments. I had one larger section that he could not get positioned to be screwed in place. I've had 4 surgeries to fix things along the way, and I have recovered about 95% of my range of movement due to the help of a very talented physical therapist. Good times.

Other than than, I have luckily been injury free.


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