bruce19

Had a front brake lock up on a state road. Did an endo..hit face first and broke my neck. Now living with C1 & C2 fused.

cubewheels

Yes, it's quite dangerous to cross railroad tracks at an oblique angle especially in slippery conditions.

Crossing a steel gap like expansion joints or railroad tracks during rain (or has an oil slick) at an oblique angle can catch a skinny wheel and stop from rolling over (usually the rear wheel), forcing it to skid sideways and the bike to fall to down.

I've experienced it before in an unfamiliar road but at a much slower speed so I was able to put my foot down and avoid falling over. I ride slower over unfamiliar routes. I only get faster as I memorize the road features and establish my lines over the road features and hazards.

frogman

Me too. Too much bad news now with the Pandemic, etc.

rsbob 

Well don’t read it, or even open it and go make your own happy thread. No ones forcing you to read this unless you get enjoy pooping on others threads.

stevel610 

Scariest: Over the bars at 12mph. Flipped and landed on the back of my head and right butt onto tarmac. Helmet did its job so no serious injury though it rung my bell.....

Worst: Mountain biking when my right handlebar hit a tree. Bike stopped, I didn't. Broke a rib.....

downtube42

One year ago tomorrow. Bombing down a butte on a paved and twisty road at night, I though I'd rounded the last curve so I let it fly. A guardrail came into my headlight beam. I almost got the bike turned, hitting the guardrail at a shallow angle. Over the guardrail, ripping my leg open on the upright. Down into a ravine headfirst, breaking my C3 upon impact. I crawled out, got on the bike, and coasted to the bottom before deciding to call my wife.
It's taken a year, but I'm pretty much recovered.

Lemond1985

burritos

16 y/o biking down a 3-4% grade with no hands showing off. No helmet. Hit a bump. Road rash everywhere. No broken bones.

19 y/o biking home from friend's apartment at midnight. No helmet. Going on a flat, damn cat screams and runs in between tires. Over the handle bars. No injuries, but freaked out as frick

26 y/o mountain biking for the first time in Santa Monica Mountains. Having a blast and bombing downhill. Friends at the base of hill try to flag me down because a stream had cut through the trail with a step off. Miss their warning. Head over handle bars. Had a helmet. No broken bones.

30 y/o mountain biking in Santa Barbara mountains. Bombing downhill and slam on brakes cause there's a snake in front of me. Run over snake. Head over handle bars. Snake slithers away. No broken bones.

31 y/o follow my skilled friend down steep single track in Santa Monica Mountains. Face plant at the bottom of the hill. Can't remember where I parked for the next 10 minutes.

32 y/o get clips for my mountain bike. Fall down hill on steep uphill switchback. No broken bones. Move clips to my road bike.

46 y/o go mountain biking with backpack to collect random rocks for my garden. Fly over the handle bars on a steep decline when braking. Stop collecting rocks.

Nothing horrible, but thanks for the opportunity to fall down memory lane.

rollagain

Columbus, Ohio, sometime in the late 1990s; I was living in the Short North ...

I'd gone out for an after-dark ride, headed west on W. Main St. I'd gotten the idea to run out to some big-box store a few miles out that way, buy some small item, and return in the quickest time I could. I was on my Raleigh Technium tourer; nice bike. I had front and rear lights, but the front one was, IIRC, mostly a 'be seen' variety. Lots of street lights.

Got out there and quickly found a staple puller, bought that and headed back.

So I'm blasting along, in the drops and happily spinning top gear, and I was coming up on an intersection with traffic lights. I haven't checked, but as I remember it, W. Main at that corner was five lanes, with a left-turn center lane.

Anyway, I was maybe less than 100 yards from the light and it's green, and I was steaming for it, thought I could make it. It turned yellow; I still thought I could make it ... nope. All east- and west-bound traffic had already stopped to avoid running the light--but not me--and a west-bound car was turning in front of me just as I made the intersection and the light turned red.

I locked up the brakes, too late--BAM, broadside into the guy's rear fender.

I don't remember flying through the air or much about the landing, but I had to have made the most perfect landing you could ever hope for. Flat on my back; didn't touch my helmet, and just felt a very mild soreness in my butt-cheeks.

Then I looked, and bearing down on me was another car that had followed the one I hit (that driver left the scene), so I hopped up and grabbed my bike and got out of the street double-quick. Checked myself and was amazingly intact. Checked the bike, and the only thing wrong was that the handlebars were at 90 degrees to the fork. Got my tools out and made it right, and home I went.

A day or so later, I made a pair of little decals in the shape of a car's profile and stuck them on the Raleigh's top tube. Also, I still have that staple-puller; it's on the shelf right above my monitor.

Maelochs

Normally I skip these threads because of the bad memories, but this one was actually entertaining, if a little painful.

Some pretty good stories here. Thanks for sharing. Some of them I appreciated but could not like---they simply evoked the pain and horror of crashing too well. Thanks, and don't feel neglected or rejected---your stories were simply too evocative.

Mr. Foote, I assume you will get your mojo back eventually. Whatever is best for you, but you have been riding a long while.

I went down three days ago----silly incident, lots of road rash and a pulled muscle, healing very quickly---but always a good reminder that cruising along, nearly naked, three-and-a-half feet off the ground, at 15-20 mph is an inherently dangerous activity.

RISKDR1

Three months ago I was hit by a car. I flew 15 feet. I was conscious for the whole flight and was thinking about what it was going to do to me when I landed. thankfully I landed in grass. I missed a sign and a pole.

Juan Foote

I appreciate the mention. I have been on my bike so little as of late that I almost feel guilty posting to a cycling forum. The spiders are enjoying them.

expatbrit

Yeah -- I still ride. Stationary bike was an early part of my PT before I was weight-bearing on the leg (first 16 weeks or so). I was back on the road a month of so after I was walking; did a half-century on my old 2012 X-cal with 50mm gravel tires less than 6 months after the hit. Now, in truth, if I don't cycle the hip gets cranky fairly fast -- when the head of the femur went thru' the back of the pelvis it messed up my cartilage, so I need the spinning.

I was actually supposed to do the Majorca 312 this year. Probably for the best I didn't, but you never know!

olddcarnutjag

I have no idea, I regained full consciousness four weeks later, I was air ambulance to the ICU at queens hospital. They estimate I was doing more then 50 mph, based on my injuries, I said something about a goat. The EMTs threw my helmet away because of the blood. I have a tshirt, because I joined the clavicle club. When you spend money on your new MIPs Helmet, mine has a Snell sticker, it can take a serious hit.

MNebiker

Well, there was the time back when I was in high school: I turned off the alley into our back yard, and ducked under the clotheslines like I usually did. But this day one of the props had fallen and one line was drooping down and caught me just under the chin. It stopped me dead, and lifted me right up off the bike - but I wasn't smart enough to let go of the handlebars. The line snapped back and dropped me right astride the top bar of the bike. No lasting injury, but still memorable!

But today - nice day to ride but I'm sitting at home taking Tylenol for cracked ribs and a scuffed up hand that I got on a ride last Sunday. Crossing a bridge on an MUP trail I came up behind two lady walkers. I slowed to a crawl because there was oncoming traffic, and when it cleared I announced that I would be passing on their left. They turned, saw me, and waved OK. I started to ease past them when the one lady began wandering to the left into my path. I tried to clear her but in doing so my left bar end caught the bridge rail, spinning the bar back into my ribs, stopped the bike in it's tracks, and dropped me on the deck - with bar in my side. The ladies went into a panic, wanted to call help, etc. but once I caught my breath it seemed like I was basically OK except for a sore side and a bloody hand that had lost a lot of skin. I assured them I would survive and rode several miles to home. A hot shower, some bandages, two Tylenol, and I thought I was OK.

But the next day I was hurting, couldn't sleep laying down, etc. so after two days I went to the local sports medicine urgent care. Two badly cracked ribs. Interesting medical plan for cracked ribs: "They will be painful for a while, suck it up . . . " They did give me a Vicodin scrip so I could sleep, but that just made me feel goofy and after two days of that stuff I went back to Tylenol. A week later I'm still sleeping in my recliner, hand is slowly mending, ribs are still sore.

Worst part was explaining to my daughter that her 81yr old dad was not nuts for still riding . . . . . . .

Pianoboy57

I was 13 out putting my new Varsity through its paces. It was dark and my brother was throwing old inner tube strips he'd cut at me. Those things hurt! I was hauling ass to get away and I zigged up onto the sidewalk from the street.

Pale yellow is invisible in the moonlight.

The pale yellow '65 Impala 4dr hardtop was parked across the sidewalk. I hit that car aft of the rear wheel at full speed. I don't remember the impact or flying over the car. I landed in grass on my chest. I must've went out for a nanosecond. The Varsity crashed behind the car with the sickening horrendous sound of electo-forged steel hitting concrete.

I was unhurt so I dragged the bike home. My brother took a rag and wiped the tire mark off the Impala. The bike was totally out out of adjustment after the wreck. My dad fixed it but he never noticed that my Varsity now had a wheelbase like on a criterion bike. The top tube compressed and the downtube bent slightly. The wheel and fork were undamaged. It had toeverlap from then on.

Kapusta

I got hit by a truck when I was 12.

I’ve got a 2” leg length discrepancy to show for it.

In my adult life I have crashed on my MTB too many times to remember. Gotten pretty banged up a gew times but only one broken bone so far (wrist).

VernMoto

Dogs. I had a pack chase me. I sprayed them with pepper spray. The worst was a tiny dog that ran out in front of me while I was doing a sprint. I hope I did not kill him, but it destroyed my front rim. Not an easy thing to do. I landed PLOP on the road and my hip took the worst of it. Huge bruise. Ruined my bike shorts. Dumb dog, but really STUPID owner.

Notso_fastLane

I've had a few hit and runs, some of them got an ambulance ride and short stay (never overnight) in the hospital. Luckily, none of those were very bad injuries.

The worst in terms of that was when I was living in Wichita, KS. They don't salt their roads in the winter, they use sand. Unfortunately, the sand pretty much tends to accumulate along the edges of the roads and never goes away. It's risky for both motorcycles and bicycles.

So I was hauling home about 15 miles into my 20-ish mile long route home from work. There's a section where I cross a 4 lane road with a middle left turn lane, but it's not quite straight across. The cross street on the other side is about 20 yards offset to the left. So zoom across the street in a break in traffic then immediately take a right. I'm leaned over in the right about 20 mph, and I find some of that wonderful Wichita sand.... Road rash pretty much all down the right side of my body. Huge welts on my shoulder, back and hips, with minor scrapes and bleeding in a few other areas (I rolled a bit).

Rode home bleeding pretty profusely, but as noted by others above, everyone pretends not to notice. I was literally screaming in the shower, scrubbing the road and sand out of my skin... Took a while for it all to heal up, but the bike was relatively unscathed, and nothing permanently damaged.

locolobo13 

Summer of '75, I was 19. There was a huge unused quarry in our neighborhood where us kids practiced riding. Sorta BMX before anyone had heard of BMX. The cool kids had motorcycles but I had a Schwinn Varsity.

A couple of buddies and I had gone to the deep end. There was a 15-20ft elevation drop with a beautiful hump to do jumps on. I sucked at jumps but was determined to "get it". Kept landing on my front wheel.

So. I needed to go faster, jump higher so the back end stayed down. Right?

Really cool jump. Higher than anyone else that morning. Then my front wheel dropped. Instinctively I leaned forward to pull it back. Bad move.

Next thing I'm laying in bed thinking, "That was a wild dream. Wait until I tell my buddies." Thinking it was awful sunny in my bedroom. My bed sure was dirty.

Then my buddies rode up. Told them I was OK. But they seemed to think I needed to clean up some of the blood. Sissies.

Mom took me to the Dr. Not injured bad. Lacerations, abrasions, wrenched back. Most of it healed in a week. Had a silver dollar spot on my shoulder that would burn extra red for a few years.

Germany_chris

In late 2000 or early 2001 I was snow down hilling at Dry Hill at night on on my dually Rock Hopper I saw and obstacle and I loaded the suspension too early for the jump and hit it squarely. I managed to break my Ulna and collar bone and needed an evac off the mountain and after that I kept the winter down hilling to the barracks staircase.

Juan Foote

Some years ago one of the club rides had been having issue with a pack of dogs and in particular one dog being quite aggressive at a particular spot in the ride. A Group so they went pretty fast. One of the riders opted to bring some pepper spray. He was close to the front, sprayed the animal as he came alongside and misted the entire back of the pack. I cannot recall the exacts but one individual was whambulanced out, and another had a permanently droopy ear from it. We messed with him about his dog ear for years.

The Old Peddler

My "off" experiences are not as dramatic as some mentioned here but I did have some memorable ones. (1) Long ago I was blindsided by a car at a corner. Knocked me down and mangled the bike but I had only scrapes and bruises, no broken bones. (2) Riding up a steep trail, I ran out of "oomph" and had to stop. I put my right foot down .... nothing there. I rolled down the hill (with the bike) through brambles, over small rocks, and into other pointy things. More scrapes, bruises and pokes but no serious damage though my bike needed some bending and twisting to make it ride-able again, more or less. (3) A bike I built with an experimental fork, turned out to be unstable in the extreme. It threw me like a bucking bronco. Fortunately, I was barely moving so the only damage was to my pride.

The Old Peddler

friday1970

Lyon Park in New Hudson, MI. I decided to bomb down the hill on my recumbent towards Milford Road. Those of us in the area should know this hill, especially the section that has sunk under erosion. It's easily ridable, but once you're in the section, you have not choice but to go through it. Very thin line through it.
It was early in the year, and apparently, large rocks had washed into the area from previous storms. I'm easily at 30mph, I'm bombing though that section and BAMMM!. My front 20" tire hit this large rock, and instantly blew the tire. I veer to my right, I see a tree, and start to veer left...Down I went.
On my lowracer recumbent, if you lose any tire, front or back, you are going down. Thankfully, when you do, you never hit your head, It's always the side of your lower butt cheeks. And man, did I scrape that up. I even had to call my LBS who came and picked me and the bike up.
For few days, I could barely sleep on the side that was scraped up. But that wasn't the worst part. When my rash started to heal, it itched so much. I had to compulsively scratch it. Imagine, a 45 year old man, standing in line at the supermarket. furiously scratching his butt. 'Nuff said.

Cacti

I am NOT a profession stuntman, so take this with a grain of salt. But I've dropped my Harley twice, fell off of my share of ladders, and just doing stupid stuff climbing when I was younger. I assume the same concepts apply to a bicycle. The one thing most people do wrong is that they try and stay with the bike/ladder/bicycle, roof, etc. This is the opposite of what you want to do imo. My worst accident was when I dropped my Harley going about 40 after being cut off by a car. When I realized the bike was unrecoverable, I jumped off literally pushing and kicking it away from me. I slid a good long ways mostly on my bum and got some good road rash on my back and side

Ditto with a ladder. Don't try to go down with it! Push it away and land on your own terms if possible. This is true even if you're on some ledge. As soon as you realize you're in unrecoverable shape, jump on your own terms. Many times people hang on too long and get more seriously injured than necessary