FREEBIRD1

I know if you ride long enough,it's going to happen, I've been down a few times resulting in ER visits over the years. I mainly ride trails now, but the risks are still there as well, last one I hit a very small patch of slippery mud on the side going about 8 MPH and was instantly put on the pavement before I knew what happened. The road rash on my helmet would have been on my forehead that time. Any of you been down at speed? I'm always looking at safer ways to ride. I wear day glow on the trails for on-coming riders, I see a lot of riders concentrating on their work out vs. looking ahead. I quite riding alone also.

flangehead

I got too close to the edge of a re-paved asphalt road, dropped a wheel off the side then fell left, probably at 15-20 mph. Nasty hip road rash. Helped heighten my awareness of parallel creases.

Recently I was braking for a traffic light and hit an oil spill and dropped. I was pretty slow already and had no injuries.

The speed really maters. Slowing down when your spidey-sense alarms can reduce injury severity.

Litespud

when i was 17 I wiped out on some gravel during a brisk descent. Significant road rash on my arm and shoulder. Took >6 months for skin to grow back over my shoulder. Scars still visible 40 years later. When I was 25 I was JRA and I just ended up on the ground - front wheel must have caught something. As luck would have it, it happened right outside a hospital, so I tottered up to the ER with a bloody scalp wound. Stitches, and still a knot on my skull. Shortly thereafter, I bought my first helmet 👍. I haven’t crashed in the 32 years since - a few close shaves only. Pretty lucky, really.

OldTryGuy

4/27/2020 just 12 weeks ago yesterday morning 1:26am and 33 miles into an overnight 100 miler riding at 20.1mph a wild hog ran into me. Hard impact left side on soft ground resulted in left shoulder joint injury, scapula cracked, 2 ribs cracked, lung punctured and some collateral impact injury to 2011 crash of minor broken neck/right clavicle/nerve damage. Recovery is going well and I see my Orthopedic doctor at 8am today regarding MRI of both shoulders. 7/10 was my 70th birthdy so I rode 141 miles and it was another overnight this time without incidence.

FREEBIRD1

Wow, I thought for sure my last crash my arm and shoulder were broke, luckily I suspect that I lift weights, I have a little natural body armor in the upper body that helped. I got a lacerated elbow that took a while to heal. I ride everything, cruisers, street bikes, recumbents, e-bikes, mountain bikes etc. Only thing I don't own is a trike, at 60 I may have to think about that.

wphamilton

If "at speed" is mid-20's then yes

There were different reasons but the common denominators were recent rain or miserable weather, feeling like kicking it up a notch, and debris or surface hazard. The only thing I can think of to be safer is: "chill out" under those conditions.

closetbiker

You realize that by bringing this up you’re jinxing yourself into your next crash, right?

jack pot 

i posted my worst crash on the SS/fix thread > suffice to say speed (IMO) is the #1 cause of going down > the reason i ride fixed is to GO SLOWER but every now & then there is that need & that's when it's going to happen BTW the reason i ride a bike is that i thought i was going to maim or kill myself if i kept riding MOTO because today's liter bikes are way to fast to safely stretch out on any public road

SurferRosa

All my crashes were basically my own fault. Had I just been a little more attentive... Worst was about four years ago and haven't crashed since. Any time I ride through shadows now, I hold on tight. Unseen tree roots are a *****.

Sorg67

The University of Virginia did a study of motorcycle accidents and concluded that 75% of motorcycle accidents were the fault of the motorcycle operator. Some have speculated that as much as 90% of motorcycle accidents were in the power of the motorcycle operator to avoid. I suspect similar statistics apply to bicycle riding. We like to blame motor vehicles, but we can do a lot to protect ourselves.

OTOH, motorcycle riders have more tools at their disposal to avoid accidents.

Our behavior is the only behavior we can control.

Sorg67

I am going through a similar transition. I do not have a liter bike. But even my 650 Kawasaki Versys is fast enough to get into trouble.

However, if ridden sensibly I think motorcycles can be safer than riding bicycles on roads. You are in more control of your own destiny. Keeping up with the flow of traffic makes a big difference.

BHG6

Totally agree. I see some people taking up traffic lanes even though they have a 6 foot bike lane at their disposal. Never understood why someone would consciously create such a hostile and dangerous environment for themselves...

I've had a few good crashes in my day. Hit a root that had grown through the pavement while going about 27ish or so on my TT bike. Front wheel stopped but the rest kept going - broken collar bone, totally destroyed helmet, and lots of road rash.
Bike crashes are brutal...ugh

livedarklions

I had the opposite experience last weekend. I didn't crash when I thought I was about to. I've taught myself to never let go of the bars if I think I'm going down. Last weekend I hit a pothole at about 22 mph and my front wheel bounced so high I was sure I was going to flop over, but before I even knew it consciously I was able to get the bike back in control because my hands stayed on the hoods. Whole thing took less than a second, but in 50+ years of riding, I've never experienced such a recovery of a clearly out of control trajectory.

nomadmax 

I've crashed at speeds of 40mph + several times; alone and in a pack. Sometimes it's just luck that determines how bad you'll be hurt. Life is an uncertain endeavor.

Sorg67

I have two boys 22 months apart in age. The older boy learned to ride at age 5. The younger boy insisted that he wanted to learn. I thought 3 was too young. But I took the training wheels off his bike. And walked him around a bit. He seemed okay so I took him out in the street and ran next to him holding the seat. Still fine. I let go of the seat briefly and grabbed it again. Still fine. Let go a bit longer, and longer and longer. And to my amazement he was riding on his own. After going down the street a bit I turned him around and was jogging next to him and he was riding. Then all of a sudden he decided he was done. Let go of the handle bars and reached for me. I was completely unprepared for this. Handle bars when cross ways and he went face first over the handlebars onto the pavement. Road rash on nose and chin. It was two more years before he wanted to try again and we tried on grass.

He learned fine. He is 24 now and rides a MTB regularly.

livedarklions

The only word in that I'd disagree with is "sometimes". When you crash at speed, how you land is really a coin flip, and you're the coin. My fastest wipe out was at the bottom of a San Francisco hill where I didn't see that a manhole had not been raised to the grade of the road. I wasn't recording my speed (it was 1992, electronics were expensive) , but I had to be going 35-40 mph. My front wheel went into the hole, and I flew over the handlebars. Somehow, I managed to do this in front of a house that happened to have a front yard (not a lot of those on hills in SF), and I actually landed on grass. Road rash and a sprained hand, but nothing serious, think it would have been a lot worse if I'd landed on the road or a sidewalk.

livedarklions

They always seem to need to fall once to figure it out.

My kid just took off the first time I had him off of training wheels like magic, but then promptly ran it right into a curb when I couldn't keep up with him on foot. Not seriously hurt, but tearfully yelled "I never want to ride a bike again". Five minutes later he gets back on and figured out how to steer it.

roundypndr 

I haven't crashed in quite a while, with the last two occurring when I was going around turns. One was due to excessive braking with the front wheel on a slippery turn, the other was due to my forgetting to bring up my inside pedal, and having my pedal strike a slight asphalt incline between the street and sidewalk. The slippery turn crash just caused a hand plant to the pavement, resulting in some minor abrasion. The pedal strike crash caused me to bucked off the bike like on a wild bronc, land on my back, thrown partially into the oncoming lane, fractured my helmet, a headache lasting for a day or two, and caused the motorist behind me to slam on their brakes,

Needless to say, I've trained myself to gingerly apply the front brakes, even in an emergency situation, and I now diligently lift my inside pedal when rounding turns.

nomadmax 

I think we agree. What I was going for is that it isn't an absolute you'll be seriously injured in a crash involving higher than normal speeds.

I-Like-To-Bike

Pretty dang certain when the "crash" involves a higher than normal speed collision with an immovable object like a wall or tree that causes the cyclist to decelerate from high speed to zero instantly, or the other object in the collision, such as a motor vehicle grille or windshield, crashes with the cyclist at high speeds.

nomadmax 

You win the internet. You're absolutely right; let me know where we can send the check.

fietsbob

Le Tour Day one had several..

Sorg67

No, @nomadmax wins.

I dumped a motorcycle at 70 mph when I was 19 and rode the motorcycle home with minor road rash.

As @nomadmax says high speed does not always yield serious injury. And the converse is also true, you can be seriously injured with a slow speed crash.

Of course, all else equal, higher speed increases injury. Speed magnifies everything.

jack pot 

^^^^ you might walk away from low sides on a moto BUT with speed, comes high sides & few "walk" away from high sides ... as for bikes speed generally catapults you over the bars and its just depends on where & how you land

FREEBIRD1

I went for about a 15 mile ride on the trail today, we had a storm last night and there were random wet areas,leaves and sticks on the pavement. Still seen people doing 25 over these areas, a disaster in the making. Since my last few run-ins with semi-wet dirt, I am way more cautious in these conditions. Seems like loose sand, dirt or any type of substance over pavement is a major crash contributor. I have seen people go down on those roots protruding through the black top, and potholes as well. I've gotten pretty good at avoiding going down on my recumbent using my legs as outriggers similar to drag bike racers if is starts getting sideways.