robray

Last night I had an accident. This is by far the worst accident I have had, ever.

We had a wind storm the other night that knocked down trees and branches so there was a lot of sticks and crap all over the place. I usually ride around crap in the road, so I really don't know how that little stick got caught in my spokes. I never saw it coming.

From the pics you can imagine that I went over the bars and slammed in to the pavement. It happened so quickly that I didn't have time to put my arms up to protect my head, so I went helmet first in to the pavement.

There was another cyclist coming towards me at the time and he stopped to lend a hand. I can't remember much of our conversation, but I'd like to thank you again for stopping if you are reading this. He mentioned that he thought I got hit by a car, but I don't remember any cars around at all. I wonder if a car passing me could have blown the stick in to my spokes. I would really like to know how it happened. It would help with my confidence when I start riding again.

After getting off the road, I called for ride to Mount St. Joseph's hospital in Vancouver. I was admitted in to emergency very quickly and after some x-rays the doctor decided I had a slight shoulder seperation and a concussion. I was actually really impressed with the speed of the hospital. One of the doctors went out of his way to get me in to the x-ray while another patient was being prepared. Definitely a good Canadian hospital emergency experience.

The bottom line is it could have been a lot worse.

One final note about my helmet. I truely believe it saved my life or at least stopped me from having a very serious head injury. The helmet I was wearing was probably 6 months old. I bought it at MEC and the salesperson actually helped to fit it to my head. She made a point of explaining how it should cover as much of my temples as possible. The majority of the impact was on this area. My old helmet did not provide the same coverage. So a special thanks to the MEC girl who helped me buy the right helmet.

1983 Motobecane Grand Touring
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Helmet
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Helmet strap that would get imprinted on my head.
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The force of the impact caused the design of the strap to get imprinted on the styrfoam of the helmet and my head.
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My cool triangle helmet tatoo
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zoodude

!! Glad ur ok!

TFS Jake

Does your bike have any paint on it from another car? I really doubt you never saw a car coming, so maybe you just hit a log or something? I hope you do figure out what happened.

CCrew

Glad you're ok. Bikes can be replaced. Sucks, because looks like it was a nice bike, but better it than you.

Andy_K 

WOW! I've heard that a stick jammed between your tire and fender can do this, but I had no idea the results could be so dramatic (if that is what happened). I can't even figure out what I'm seeing with the front fender, and I can only imagine what kind of force it took to bend the frame like that. FWIW, the things I've read say a fender clearance of 10mm or more is recommended to avoid this, but I'm not sure that would apply to the stick you've got there.

Here's wishing you speedy healing.

yarb

Horrible. Glad you're (more or less) OK.

Was it at all windy at the time? Like you I'm struggling to see how that chunk of lumber got stuck in your spokes.

Seems like a real freak accident, which sucks in that you can't adjust for it in future, but on the upside it's almost certainly not going to happen to you again.

exile

Glad you are okay. Not knowing why something happened doesn't allow you to prepare for it in the future. Hope you get on a bike soon, and heal up quickly.

barturtle

Glad you're okay. If you really like your bike, a good framebuilder could likely rebuild it. I believe Bilenky offers such services.

Biketofeel.com

It happens. Glad you're okay. Part that sucker out!

robray

Thanks for all the well wishes.

If anyone has any thoughts or similar experiences I'd really like to understand how that stick got in my spokes.

I guess I will never really know, my current guesses are wind blew it in there, I ran it over and it flipped in the spokes somehow, a car drove by and somehow propelled it in to my spokes, some nasty kids were hiding between cars and stuck a stick in my spokes...

The car causing the stick to fly in to my spokes seems plausible because the other cyclists mentioned a car, but he could also have thought I was closer to the busy intersection, that I had just passed, and a car had hit me there. I have no recollection of a car coming from behind and then passing me or coming from the front. I do have a very good memory of the other cyclist's light bliking as he approached from the other end of the block and then WHAM!!

At least I am convincing myself that the odds of this happening again are very slim. I might have to go buy a lottery ticket.

Well I am off to Hawaii tomorrow. The trip was already planned so I guess it will be a recovery trip for my shoulder.

tjspiel

Just looking at your bike the stick may have been the initial cause but the damage near your head tube looks like its from a pretty serious front collision. Is it possible the stick in your spokes caused you to hit a curb or something?

wheel

I go for stick + fast + pebble + slick =


I average 8 mph during shingle season .

jtwilson

Wow that really sucks!

From what I can see in the pics, it looks like your reflector was pushed outward [perhaps by a stick flipping up and hitting it] enough to catch on the front fender stay, pulling the back of the fender up into the forks, causing the abrupt stop and flip. The damage to the front end tubes does look like a hard impact was involved somehow.

Hope your recovery trip goes well!

Grim

WOW!! Glad you were not hurt worse. Bummer about he M GT Looked like a sweet bike.

I have clipped the edge of a stick in the road and had it flip up at me. I can see it happening where it flip up into the spokes.

Bioflamingo

A stick with a pointy or angled end on it can be very dangerous. If you just barely hit the tip at the right speed an angle it can flip up and towards you. I've not had it happen on a bike, but there is a massive dent in my car door from exactly this happening. Glad you made it out without any extreme injuries.

Aeneas

What it looks like to me is that a stick entered your front wheel below the fender support. As the wheel turned, the stick caught the fender support forcing to upward towards the fork crown and pulling the fender with it. As the fender flexed, it cracked in half and the bottom half with the mud guard continuing to be brought to the fork and the top half of the fender popping back to relieve the stress. The stick may have been broken either by impacting the fork and being driven by the spokes or by the primary impact with the fender support. In any event, the fender mounting assembly slid into the front brake displacing it and likely the displaced brakes seized against the rim tire causing the crash. At least that would be my theory.
Glad you escaped without significant injury. Hope you heal quickly and can back to riding soon.

Mr IGH

This is my thought too. Planet Bike fenders are starting to scare me. Second accident like this in the last few months. Looks like the SKS fenders may be better with the "breakaway" design.

tarwheel 

That's a bummer. Sticks can be very dangerous and I think many cyclists take them too lightly. A guy on another forum broke his neck after a stick jammed in his wheel. On group rides, many cyclists don't bother to point out sticks, and I've seen guys purposely run over them. Not a smart thing to do.

lambo_vt

The breakaway is no guarantee; I had just that problem with my SKS Commuter fenders, though I was traveling very slowly and didn't suffer any harm.

nwmtnbkr

I'm glad you're alright. Believe it or not, wheel design and the type of spokes used on your front wheel can have a bearing in this type of accident. It looks like you didn't have an aerodynamic wheel with fewer spokes (they will be more dangerous since they're less likely to deflect objects flipped up from the road). However, even a wheel with more spokes may present a greater risk if aerodynamic spokes that are blade or oval shaped are used since they have sharp edges that may dig in and lodge a stick into place. Here's a link to a discussion from a law firm that handles suits involving bicycle accidents. https://stc-law.com/wheel_roll.html

Bioflamingo

On my planet bike fender supports I loosen the adjusting screw just a tiny bit. The fender will stay in place while riding, but if you really yank on the stay it'll pop out. I'm not sure what would happen in this situation, but if there's even a chance of preventing this sort of thing I'm going to do it. Nose dives are one of the main things I'm scared of while riding a bike.

I have these fenders on a couple beater bikes as well, and I just use cheap zip ties to hold the fenders on to the fork. They'll pop off easily if under a large amount of stress.

robray

Thanks for your insight. I don't know how you could figure that our from the pictures. Maybe it was my concussion, but I couldn't seem to figure out what happened.

The fourth picture of my bike clearly shows the stick, fender support and a spoke intertwined. If I hadn't had a fender the stick might have broke or popped back out.

I still don't understand how the stick got in there in the first place. I didn't see the stick at all. I have a very bright front light and I was on a wide side street that is in perfect shape. There isn't even trees hanging over the street. I have streets on my route that are covered in sticks and branches. I am going to go back there and have a look around again, but it is generally a very clean street.

I am am recovering more quickly than I thought I would. I went to physio before I took off to Hawaii and he gave me some exercises to do so maybe that is why.

Looking forward to riding again soon.

reueladhikari

See this thread on a UK cycling forum about mudguards/fenders causing crashes: https://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.ph...hilit=mudguard

shubonker

Glad you're okay, want to sell me your brooks?

corkscrew

I'm glad your (mostly) none the worse for the wear. Good call on the helmet also.

That poor Moto! I've been lusting over finding a GT, so I'm sorry for your loss on that one. Good luck getting it repaired?