which route to take when crashing is inevitable?

[DarrenCT]

i thought i'd never crash, but thursday morning i was stuck in a bad situation.

i was pedaling down a hill going about 30mph when a mini-van made a left hand turn in front of me. from the way i saw it, i had 3 choices

1. hit the van dead on
2. try to avoid it and probably hit it or wipe out
3. take a quick right down that street where the car made a left and slide across the pavement and crash
4. jump the curb on the corner and go flying into the woods

after trying to slow down as much as i could, i was still going to fast to avoid the car or make a quick turn so i chose option #4.

i jumped the curb and my front wheel dug into the grass and my sachs bike and i went flying toward some trees.

luckily, i never made it to the trees. my calf is bruised and the ligaments are damaged on my right leg. everything else is pretty much fine, except for a bruise here and there. i should be good to go in a couple weeks. xray's looked ok and i'll get an mri done this week.

also, the bike is ok. :)

cheers
-d

[Fixed]

bro you did the right thing
get well soon that sachs can't wait
cheers imho

[Javaman]

came out okay...and the Sachs. :beer:

[Grant McLean]

Dude!

glad you're ok.

Always go for the route that avoids the most sudden stop!

I was riding a demo Pinarello Prince the other night after work,
when a car made a sudden left in front of me without a signal
or any indication at the intersection. He never even looked
my way, i'm quite sure he continued along never even seeing
that I had done a full lock up to avoid sprawling over his hood.
Nothing like that feeling of almost trashing someone else's $10k
bike!

-g

[thejen12]

i was pedaling down a hill going about 30mph when a mini-van made a left hand turn in front of me. from the way i saw it, i had 3 choices

1. hit the van dead on
2. try to avoid it and probably hit it or wipe out
3. take a quick right down that street where the car made a left and slide across the pavement and crash
4. jump the curb on the corner and go flying into the woods

Phew, I was on the edge of my seat reading your story! I would probably take option 2, I did that once and it worked out well. I would not trust myself to jump the curb, I'd probably hit the curb, knowing me. Glad you survived!

Jenn

[shinomaster]

That sucks dude...I'm glad you are ok. My friend had the same thing happen to him. He run into the side mirror with is thigh. It ripped open his leg and tore the muscle from the bone.. Yuk.

[fstrthnu]

Ouch. Nice maneuvering though! Sounds like you executed that one perfectly.

:beer: for a speedy recovery

[1centaur]

What does it say about me that I was thinking about the Sachs while you were describing yourself? :)

Mild thread drift: curb jumping - I have a hard time imagining the right sequence since it seems like you cannot push against the surface you have to jump off, you can only push against your pedals. Physically, what occurs that allows you to get airborn? I think I see people pulling their bikes up to them when I watch video of curb jumping, but I don't see how they are getting lift from pedals into which they are locked.

Keep it as simple as possible for me.

Thank you.

[regularguy412]

Any time you can hit something that is not moving in your direction,, take that route.

The same scenario happened to me about 15 years ago. Pickup truck made a left across my lane in front of me and I hit the brakes and dived for the ditch. Trouble was,, there was no ditch. It was a driveway and he was turning into it. Broadsided me. My left knee went thru the grille of the truck. Lots of blood, but no major damage. Trashed my C-dale's wheels and fork. Strangely, the aluminum frame was still straight, but I traded it in for a new bike after the settlement -- just in case.

Mike in AR

[soulspinner]

Live to fight again! Time for another :beer:

[DarrenCT]

Live to fight again! Time for another :beer:

great advice :)

time for one of these.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/25/sierranevadabeer1nw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[DarrenCT]

Any time you can hit something that is not moving in your direction,, take that route.


thats what made me go into the woods

[gt6267a]

What does it say about me that I was thinking about the Sachs while you were describing yourself? :)

Mild thread drift: curb jumping - I have a hard time imagining the right sequence since it seems like you cannot push against the surface you have to jump off, you can only push against your pedals. Physically, what occurs that allows you to get airborn? I think I see people pulling their bikes up to them when I watch video of curb jumping, but I don't see how they are getting lift from pedals into which they are locked.

Keep it as simple as possible for me.

Thank you.

bunny-hop ... compress into the tires and then jump. the bike will come up with you. the connection with the bars is enough to get it done ... no need for the feet to be attached. super easy on a bmx bike or anything with big tires. at speed, jumping a curb is not hard as there is no need to get one wheel up before the other since they both seem to go over at the same time when above 10 or so.

glad to hear you are reasonably ok. unlucky the landing pad was soft!

[mschol17]

Glad to hear you're safe. Did the van stop, or did they never see you?

[guyintense]

A low-side is better than a high-side. Definitely avoid the flying W.

[rwsaunders]

glad you're ok.

Always go for the route that avoids the most sudden stop!

-g

+1 for the physics major. :cool: Glad all worked out.

[DarrenCT]

Glad to hear you're safe. Did the van stop, or did they never see you?

thnx. also, the van never did stop and im not sure if they saw me. my guess is yes. :crap:

[pdxmech13]

You overlooked step 2.5

Mess your chamois....

Glad to here your ok :beer:

[Kevan]

not that it really matters, but where'd this happen?

Glad to read that you and the bike will ride another day.

[onekgguy]

Dude!


Always go for the route that avoids the most sudden stop!

Do you mind if I use that line in the future?

Kevin g

[bironi]

Good choice, but can you make the right choice every time? It always comes down to that split second decision.

Glad you made it, and hope you have a few more in your back pocket. Everyone needs bike skills, an agile mind, and a flock of angels.

:beer:

[Kahuna]

Dang Darren, that's an easy one. You take the path of least resistance and hope & pray. This seems to be exactly what you did and I'm glad you weren't hurt bad. Good thing your Sachs didn't get bruised otherwise it would have taken what, 4 years to heal (or is it up to 6 years now? ;)

The dilemma most cyclists face is that we don't always have the luxury of choosing how we go down. You're riding along and the next thing you know, you're one with the pavement. That's usually how it works.

In my last nasty crash (training ride) I went down hard when cornering around a slick off-camber turn. I hit the ground hard and went sliding across the asphalt into the opposite guard rail. I left a lot of skin on the road and was bruised but not hurt bad. The crash still gives me the creeps because of the way I went sliding across the yellow line into the guard rail on the opposite side. It was just by the grace of God that a car wasn't coming in the other way. I'm sure many cyclists have had moments like those. They suck, but what can ya do?

-K

[tiger]

1. hit the van dead on
2. try to avoid it and probably hit it or wipe out

Several years ago my brother's roommate was out training for the Ironman and had exactly the same scenario come up. He chose #1 or #2, not sure which. He died on the way to the hospital.

Any other choice is usually better than hitting a car.