How often do you come off?

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Have been off once this year, with a few hours in A&E and follow up visits to clinic. In fairness I wasn't commuting at the time but was on a trail. That was about 650 miles ago, so how much longer before the law of averages swings against me?
 

Noodley

Guest
You'll not catch anyone out with that one. :sad:
 

gambatte

Middle of the pack...
Location
S Yorks
If I'm on a trail I can nearly part company from the bike every time out. Sometimes its the safest thing to do.
 

catwoman

Well-Known Member
Location
North London.
In nearly 25 years I have had the following incidents where I have lost contact with the bike:
Highbury Corner, car cut me up and simultaneously I hit a crack in the road and a strong gust of wind hit me. Result: Broken wrist.
Euston Road, went over the handlebars as a result of a pothole. Result: No injury.
Forest Road, car came out of side turning and knocked me off. Result: broken and bruised ribs.
Holloway Road, doored. Result: badly bruised ribs.
End if my street, skidded on black ice. Result: broken wrist.
Holloway Road, Knocked off by hit and run black cab. Result: very painful black eye.
Holloway Road, Cut-up by motorist turning left with no indication. had to take immediate action to prevent collision. Result: ended up on my backside in the middle of the bus lane. No injury as my bum has ample padding to prevent any bruising etc.
Not a bad tally for all the years I've put in but I think I should think about avoiding the Holloway Road!
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Location
Odawa
I have come off 3 times in 10 years on the road - and all of them were largely my fault. Nothing too serious, just broke my hand once, which just meant I had to give up kung-fu for a while (which ended up with never really getting back into it).

Off-road, it's a different story - as my 'gambatte' says sometimes you have to take the decision that coming off is safer than staying on. An then you also have to make the decision about how to come off. This choice can be unenviable: in Arizona once I had to chose between a cliff or sitting on a cactus. The cliff could have been fatal so the cactus it was - that was just very painful and embarassing!

Ganbaremasho!
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
Last one was 26th December 2006, went round a corner too fast and dropped the recumbent. Short skid on my hip, no injuries. Love that falling from 1 foot high! Funnily enough two weeks later a postie took a spill at the exact same corner, glad he was OK too!
 
Only once in 2 and a half years

Ouch!

I can't even blame anyone else (ok I could blame the council for a poorly placed manhole cover I suppose!)
 

gambatte

Middle of the pack...
Location
S Yorks
Yeah, I got an image of Michelle Pfeiffer with ample butt cheeks, bouncing down the road....

Unfortunately not tho.

Jokers looking good in any case, just hope they don't kill him off again like with Nicholson.
 

Archie

Errrr.....
I've only had the one low speed off in my current commuting/recreation career over the past two years. Going round a corner where I play badminton there's a tree which had started shedding it's leaves. A recent shower had left the ground wet and when I checked after the spill that corner felt like it was ice! No harm done though.

Other than that, apart from the usual childhood spills the only other off I've had was completely self-inflicted. I was riding back from the pub one night and at the time I had those old Ever-Ready lights mounted on the forks. I noticed the front light bracket had twisted so the light wasn't shining forward, but rather than stop I decided to give the light a kick to twist it back to the right angle. A couple of dunts had no effect however, so the next kick carried some force.

Unfortunately the kick only struck a glancing blow to it's intended target, and the force carried my foot through the spokes, which then wedged it against the forks, thus arresting the bikes forward motion. This resulted in me flying over the handlebars (happily dislodging the foot in the process), executing a 1/2 somersault and sliding to a halt on my back. :sad:

Luckily there was no other vehicle nearby, and I was wearing a thick jacket for the cold which seemed to take most of the force. So after dusting myself off and fixing the light bracket I was on my way again. I don't even remember being bruised, but that was probably the effects of the alcohol, bringing a ying-yang life balancing element to the story.

So in conclusion, my rate seems to be one every decade, and if I can work on the common sense I even have room to reduce it! ;)
 
Touching all available wood......

Twice in 30+ years of commuting and Sportives etc .

1. Commuting to work, I was overtaking line of stationary traffic (on the right hand side of the cars), and schoolkid in back seat threw his door open right in front of me. Wrecked my front wheel, and his mum's door. They paid for my wheel though.

2. Evening "training" ride, was bowling along at c25mph along a quiet village road, and elderly "gentleman" in an ancient Ford, pulled out from kerb, forcing me to swerve round him. He didn't appear to like the fact that he had been overtaken by a mere "pushbike" so proceeded to drive inches from my back wheel. We took a 90 degree left turn and he pulled level and then drove into my handlebars, bless him. Cue me spilled onto road/pavement, not too happy, can still remember the git's number plate....C614UKV.

The 30+ years though, is totally road based, I'm sure if I had gone over to the dark side (:sad:;)) I would have come off a lot more.

No, where can I find some more wood.........
 
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