Silly, Stupid Crashes

[beeatnik]

Just had one this morning and it got me thinking about how many frames or bikes you see in the classified section which have "never been crashed or dropped." If you put in serious miles and with the law of averages (or whatever) how is that even possible?

Anyway, I broke one of my cardinal rules this morning and tried to ride through a crosswalk, after riding for a block on the sidewalk. Since I didn't feel like dealing with traffic at an 8 lane intersection, I had decided to roll on the sidewalk for a block or two and jump back into traffic on smaller residential street. As I was about to enter the crosswalk, a car attempted to rush a right turn in front of me. I hit the front brake a little too hard and went over the bars at about 1mph. Immediately got up and told the crossing guard and 4 other witnesses that I was fine. My bike and I hardly had a scratch.

When I rode away, I could feel a little tenderness on my right palm but I my pride was more bruised than anything else. But it got me to thinking about safe riding and avoidable crashes. Had any silly, stupid avoidable crashes lately?

[fiamme red]

I was riding home a few weeks ago. It was almost midnight and I was sleepy. I unlocked the bike, mounted it on the sidewalk, and rode off into the street, right into a deep pothole next to the curb. I went down hard, with my bike on top of me. :crap:

My left hip and elbow have just finally healed.

[achurch]

Took a "shortcut" through a parking lot--hit loose gravel--wheels slid out--went down:-(

Damage was a scratched rear derailler and shifter, some good road rash, and a bruised ego:-)

[Nooch]

slid out in the rain heading to a saturday morning shop ride. right in front of the shop. just hit the corner too hot, slid on either the crosswalk paint or the manhole cover..

took a small chunk out of my new tape, shocked my shoulder/neck and was sore for a week, cut up my palm..

[AngryScientist]

the other weekend:

after a long ride i pulled up to a street sign on a back road. kept both feet clipped in, i was tired and grabbed the signpost for support, intending to just wait for someone for a minute or two.

signpost totally NOT stable, me, the bike, and the signpost went down, sad.

i fully agree with your premise though, that if you put in enough time on the bike, we all go down, sooner or later, happens to me more often than i like to admit.

[Clydesdale]

I was riding about a mile down the bike path to my daughter's soccer game on my fixie and took a phone call :no: While talking and riding one handed I "brain-farted" and tried to coast... Harmless spill in the ditch and no bike damage but I felt like a total idiot.

[Louis]

I wonder what % of crashes are due to:

1) operator error
2) other person's error,
3) combination of 1 and 2
4) a truly random "accident" (critter runs out into road in front of you)

[beeatnik]

I wonder what % of crashes are due to:

1) operator error
2) other person's error,
3) combination of 1 and 2
4) a truly random "accident" (critter runs out into road in front of you)

Fatigue or lack of concentrations seems to be a major factor. I once crashed trying to ride up a driveway. It happened to be the one driveway in LA that has a steel curb guard. Front wheel slid on the steel and I went down hard on my left. No time to unclip. The driveway I was trying to ride over leads to the entrance of one of LA's finest liquor stores and I was rolling in for a bottle of Pliny the Elder (easily fits in a jersey pocket). I was stone cold sober...the irony.

[Iowegian]

I T-boned a car about 10 months ago. I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye and thought he was merging into traffic. By the time I figured out he was actually crossing traffic (at an angle, into a parking lot) it was too late and BLAM! I certainly felt lucky, but also a bit stupid since while I had the right of way, I should have been a bit more defensive. The bike was a total loss and while the driver was more shook up than me, I was the one with the broken bike (and broken foot). Be careful out there!

[bart998]

After I bought a set of KEO's. The cleat got caught and wouldn't release. Over I went like a newby.

[gone]

Was on a road I'd ridden 100's of times that had a slight downhill into a 90 degree curve. Was feelin' good so I thought "let's see how fast I can take that curve". Forgot there were some bumps right at the apex of the curve and hit them with the bike fully leaned over going about 30 MPH. The first thing that hit the ground was my right shoulder and the right side of my helmet. Slid across the road still clipped in and hands on the drops.

Damage

Bike: rear derailleur and right pedal scraped. That's it.

Me: scraped a nice patch out of my right shoulder (still have a nice 4 inch "white spot" scar there that'll never go away), banged up my right hip and significant road rash there, road rash all down my right leg, grade 2 separation of my collar bone, 2 broken ribs, pneumothorax, 2 days in the hospital.

Dumb.

[Waldo]

I've been riding fairly seriously for 24 years. About 7-8 years ago, I went through an 18-month period when I crashed five times and I don't even race. All but one of those crashes were solos and the other was a bike path freak thing. Altogether, I've counted 15 crashes, though I think there were one or two additional clip-out failures. The 15 are described here:
http://bikeridestories.blogspot.com/2011/03/crashing.html

[benb]

Knock on wood as an adult my current road bike (bought this year) is the only one that has never been crashed, and never even fallen over in the garage. (Unless the shop knocked it over when I wasn't there.)

My first bike.. fell clipping out at a stop at least 2X

Second bike.. fell clipping out once, got caught up in a group ride crash once, got caught in a giant criterium crash

Third bike.. giant criterium crash, low speed crash crossing railroad tracks in the rain

Fourth bike.. fell over from the wind when it was leaning against the garage..

Fifth bike.. safe so far.

MTBs = Too many crashes to count!

[Fixed]

they are all stupid crashes
some haunt you longer than others
glad you and the bike are ok
cheers

[Wilkinson4]

I wonder what % of crashes are due to:

1) operator error
2) other person's error,
3) combination of 1 and 2
4) a truly random "accident" (critter runs out into road in front of you)

5) Always blame the bike!

I went down many moons ago when I hit a sand patch while climbing and stuck the right side of my face to the pavement. Road rash on my face, a busted lip and slightly concussed. Was going very slow!

Oh, and forgot about the time I went for a ride even though the sky was lookin pretty bad. Sure enough, 6 miles in it opened up. Big time. gully washer.

Anyway, was hammering back home and lightening was popping all over, then I saw a flash and hear it at the same time, went down and I must of slid 30 plus feet on the pave with an inch of standing water.

Jumped back up and was totally freaked out. Tried to mount my bike but the handlebars were cockeyed so I straightened them and rode home.

To this day if there is any hint of lightening I stay home!!!

mIKE

mIKE

[charliedid]

Hard to crash it if you never ride it.

[Matt-H]

Pulling my two kids in the trailer last week, I ended the ride trying to thread the needle in our driveway between our car and a hedgerow. I was going slow entering the driveway, but I guess I jack knifed the bike and trailer and went to the ground quickly (kids of course stayed upright). We all had a good laugh after a great day.

mIKE's rain story struck home a few days ago when I almost outran a storm while on a ride. Hardest rain I have ever encountered on a road ride coupled with lightning everywhere, brakes failing, and a river for a road really made me think. I ended up hiding in a barn until it passed a bit, only to find the road at the bottom of the descent was closed. I think I probably averted a crash that day.

[parris]

Almost 25 years ago I was on a Sunday ride with a couple of friends on a back road and a little spaniel came out to play. While I was goofing around watching the dog run beside us I didn't notice the the road veered ever so gently to the left while I was holding a nice straight line... Right down a 12 foot slope ending in a drainage ditch. Damage was bent top and down tubes, dented head tube, a whole lot of laughter from my friends and the best part was the little dog was jumping and trying to play thinking it had found a new friend :o

[soulspinner]

On a downhill I got a multiple stinging from a bee that entered my full zipp jersey and was stinging me across my torso. As I went down the hill gathering speed I was wailing at my midsection. My riding buddy thought I was having a heart attack as he approached me on the ground I could not catch my breath from laughter and exertion. Wheel repair only, but to my surprise the spots itched for almost a year :o

[LesMiner]

A couple of years ago my wife and I were riding on our tandem through construction at a railroad crossing. The construction was nearly complete but we needed to navigate around the barriers. Somehow we got parallel to the tracks and both wheels were trapped in the space between the rail and the pavement. We were going really slow so no real damage or injury. Just felt stupid going down.

[leooooo]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6260011849_47da9bd932_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoo0oo/6260011849/)


Spindle on my keo's snapped off this sunday. Bruised ankle.

[kohagen]

I was in my driveway after a cold weather ride, on my Weigle that i had just recovered after it was stolen many years before. It had just been repaired, repainted, and new components installed, so it was like a new bike. I had on a pair of insulated tights with nylon on the front for wind resistance, so they didn't have a lot of give to them. The crotch of the tights caught on the nose of the saddle as I was getting off the bike, and down we went on the drive side. Scratched up the new rear derailleur, which annoyed me no end. Retired the tights after that.

[rain dogs]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6260011849_47da9bd932_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoo0oo/6260011849/)


Spindle on my keo's snapped off this sunday. Bruised ankle.

Damn... Good to hear you're ok. That is one of my worst feared accidents... That and a snapped steered tube.

I once had a silly, stupid accident when I was a kid on my BMX (once... ha! ....about 50 times), and I was hammering racing my friends on the bus, and somehow my chain slipped off while I was standing and right over the handlebars and onto my back I went.

I was fine, didn't hit my head (no helmet) and just had some roadrash on my shoulder and back. What was impressive is how fast it all happened and how quickly I went from sprinting on my bike to sitting on the curb, stunned, with the wind knocked out of me.

This is how I envision the result of a snapped pedal axle but at much higher speeds.

[DRZRM]

I was in Ft. Collins for 10 day this summer with my coupled IF single speed MTB with a White Industries duo on the freewheel side (16/19, with the matching 35/38 crankset) and a 15t fixed cog on the other side. each day I was riding from campus in my higher gear to their paved trail network, when I got to the range and the unpaved trail network (really beautiful riding) I'd move my chain to the lower combo and ride the trails. One day all of a sudden I start getting flats that are cut at the base of a stem. I obviously have a sharp spot on my rim, and no tools to buff it out. So I flat through all my tubes, I start headed home after the second (three flats within an hour) but I find myself walking back about 5 miles from where I'm staying, contemplating packing the tire with grass (this works, ask me how I know), when a very nice guy stops and offers me a spare tube. I figure I'll be on borrowed time, so I flip my wheel over to fixed in order to have the highest possible gearing and as I start sprinting for home trying to arrive before my inevitable flat, I forget that I'm riding fixed for the first time all week. There is a wet muddy spot on the train and I "stop pedaling" to coast through. I get bucked off the bike, land squarely on my shoulder and helmet in the mud puddle. My hand didn't stop tingling for three weeks, no damage to the bike though, and I made it home on the tube.

[Bob Loblaw]

i was riding my old beater cross bike, came to a 4-lane intersection as the light went yellow. I launched a sprint, and mid-intersection I popped a front spoke, the wheel tacoed, and I catapulted spread eagle through the air, landing inches from a chrome bumper as the light turned green.

Still clipped in, I dragged body and bike to the center island as fast as I could.

I was bundled up for a winter ride, so casualties were limited to a few patches of skin, my ego, and my front wheel. The car turned out to be driven by someone I knew, so it was quite a while before I heard the end of that one.

BL

[Bob Ross]

Back in July I went out for a short, slow, toodle-along-and-smell-the-roses ride with my wife and a handful of her friends to celebrate her birthday. We meandered up to Piermont to her favorite muffin shop, ordered some comestibles, and then decided we would ride a half mile up the road so we could sit by the river to eat.

I, being the gentleman -- and, in hindsight, the idiot -- volunteered to carry all the food.

So I'm riding with a large bag of sandwiches & muffins in the hand that's holding the bars, and a large iced coffee in my free hand. Going really slow. Just a half mile up the road. We get to the river, and there's a sidewalk between the road & the gazebo where we want to sit. I maneuver my bike towards the curb-cutout at the end of the sidewalk so I can ride up onto the sidewalk and get right next to the gazebo. Now I'm riding even slower.

And just as I get to the curb-cutout, I realize it's not really a complete cutout; it doesn't slope down flush to the road, but rather just dips slightly, so it's still presenting a short vertical wall to my tire.

Time slows. It seems like it took a full 30 seconds for me to assess the situation, then try (& subsequently reconsider) three different approaches to getting the bike up over this lip. In actuallity elapsed time was probably 2 seconds. In any event, I failed.

Bike lurches over and I go slamming down on my side. Sandwiches are crushed. Iced coffee explodes all over my head. Elbow & knee start bleeding profusely. Bar tape gets shredded. My pride is irreparably damaged.

Coffee on the head was definitely the worst part.

[JStonebarger]

One of my fonder memories of my first "real" road bike -- sneakers tied together hung over the handlebar. The first shoe caught in the spokes pulling the second solidly into my jaw just before making an abrupt stop at the fork and sending me sailing. I was fine, of course -- I was ten years old.

One year on RAGBRAI I was foolish enough to use Speedplays. Camping off route connected to town by a wet dirt and crushed stone bike path, the next morning I thought I'd impress a friend with some coffee. On the way back I was so pleased with myself that I sat up and slipped one of two large coffees into each hand hoping to have a sip. Only then did I realize that neither of my clogged Speedplays had actually clipped in. No hands, no feet, and as I coasted off the path into someone's front yard I thought briefly about trying to save the coffee. No chance.

Still, the silliest, stupidest crash I've had was the pickup that hit me from behind at highway speed. Drunk driver? Cell phone? No. The driver was picking up something he'd dropped on the floor of his cab. I landed in the ditch with a broken back, but a year later I feel almost lucky enough to laugh about it.