Who has never had an "off"?

[tobykenobi]

Loads of times as a kid, including a broken collar bone.

As an adult only twice. Once on ice, once on a mountain bike riding over uneven ground. Shunted from behind by a car once.

 

[vickster]

Too many as an adult after returning to cycling

Came off in Sept 09 and have fecked my knee for ever more

Then I had some sort of weird embarrassing off when I went to put my foot down at a junction and the ground wasn't there due to some crazy camber and I lost my balance! (can't remember when that was)
Knocked off by car in Feb 2014, 4 procedures / surgeries, still not recovered (leg never will fully), PI claim ongoing

Dec 2014 came off on some plastic strip things in the road (the one @jefmcg mentions)

Sept 2015 (or thereabouts), another weird one, hit a chicane while trying to clip foot into bloody single sided pedals, was looking down! Soft landing on grass fortunately

Clipless moment (can't remember when), loose cleat, couldn't get foot out of pedal on a hill!

Another utterly bizarre one in Chertsey with @jefmcg caught clodhopper on front tyre while turning, somehow managed to disengage both feet and land standing with bike on floor!

Last spring (May?) came off on Thames path, rough stuff by a speed hump, seeminglyunsuitable for 23mm tyes

I think and hope that's it!

 

[Aravis]

My first thought was "rarely", but when I think about it I'm probably well into double figures, so once every few thousand miles. I'm classifying that as "a few times".

In student days I remember having to jump off a couple of times when failing to negotiate a corner and hitting a kerb. Read into that what you will; it hasn't happened since.

Most have been inconsequential and I can only remember being injured twice. Firstly in 2000 when my front wheel failed to clear a dome-shaped white line newly painted along the Severn Bridge cycle track. A heavy fall but only cuts and bruises. Many others did the same thing and the line disappeared very quickly. Just one broken bone - a scaphoid in 2005 when hit from behind by a car. That's my only vehicular impact I think.

 

[iandg]

Too many - road racing, track racing, MTB racing, training/leisure rides and commuting. Hit by a bus once in West Bromwich and have had about 1/2 dozen visits to A/E for ?head injury. I have been an active club cyclist since 1973 so overall relatively few.

 

[ianrauk]

4 Bike/Motor interactions in the past 12 years.

1 of them 50/50 as I was careering around a country lane too fast around a blind bend and came a cross a car coming from the other direction. I managed to swerve out of the way and just brushed his offside bonnet which resulted in me going flying. Bruised and battered but no damage. We both agreed that we were both at fault and parted amicably.

2nd was the classic of me undertaking backed up traffic and car in lane flashed an oncoming car to turn right into a side road. Managed to brake but still got a glancing blow. Driver was very apologetic. From that day on I very rarely undertake. Bashed and bruised and cracked ribs. Bike just needed a front wheel true.

3rd one was a Copper doing a U-Turn without indicating sending me flying and knocking me unconscious. Cuts, bruises and rotator cuff shoulder injury which still gives me jip now. The cop lied about the episode. The incompetent cops lost witness statements and tried their best to stall and delay the case. He lost, they admitted liability and he got done for dangerous driving.

Last big one was another classic SMIDSY. This was the scary one as I was at speed and I could see it was going to happen. Minivan doing right turn over mini roundabout, claimed he was blinded by the sun. Up onto the bonnet, smashed windscreen and into the road job. Very battered and bruised for that one. A&E job for checkover. Motorist was very good, admitted full liability, took me and my bike home, then took me to the hospital. Paid for damaged bike repairs and ripped clothing without hassle.

Apart from those, a few off's due to ice, diesel or slippy roads and paths or just a simple lack of concentration.

Hitting a motorcyclist on the commute as I was tailing him too close when he braked.

Being very hungover on a bike ride and like @smutchin , just not concentrating, hitting a verge and just going over.

On a FNRttC took a corner a little too wide and ended up rolling against the kerb.. that was only going to have one ending, and over I went.

The worst self inflicted was a badly sprained ankle which laid me up off the bike for a couple of weeks. I needed a waz so unclipped in a county lane, put my foot down and straight into a hole in the verge. I went over, my ankle went pop. That was sheer agony.

Damn, it looks like I'm a cycling Jonah.. but with the miles I do every year and the amount of London traffic cycling I do. I think I have got off very lightly. That, or I just bounce very well.

 

[Ciar]

the Commuter bike once, due to cornering way too tight on winter roads ;-)

but the MTB truth be told i have had in the past more so when i was kid, touch wood on the new bike not so much, about 6 weeks ago i did manage to clump a low lying tree branch proper thick one, twice and give myself either mild concussion or whip lash, touch wood just had close calls rather than offs

where as the bike had to have a new rear axle due to the level being bent into an L shape and my right shifter needed rebuilding due hitting something without realizing it.

 

[bikingdad90]

September 2007 rear ended by car thinking I was pulling out to go onto a roundabout. Wheel was farked but I was ok, landed on my feet.

January 2016. Icy commute and hit the deck on black ice. Pannier protected the bike but I had one hell of a bruise on my leg.

March 2017. Front wheel went on white line on a greasy town centre road. I bounced and sprained my wrist but ok. Managed to write bike off as it clipped the kerb when it fell.

I have had a few near misses when I have been pushing it. Usually back end slides which I have caught.

 

[User169]

In the last 20 years:

3x in London - collision with car, collision with bus passenger and falling off towpath into Regents Canal
3x in NL - each time skidded on ice

only one required a trip to A+E

 

[Bodhbh]

Christ time has gone quick, I've been commuting/touring/whatever about 10yrs now. Rough guess reckon I've had 8-9 offs: 2 collisions (1 their fault, 1 mine), 2 due to waxy road conditions (not ice), 2-3 ice, and a couple self inflected due to too much sauce. Worst one was a KO this year getting hit by a motorbike. It was probably my fault, but being KO'd I don't recall it, so I can't make any kind of argument...good advert for a bike camera as blackbox. Cost me several grand in paying for his repairs as well. Next worst was a cracked rib and smashed glasses, other than that cuts and bruises.

/edit reading some of the other tales, also ended up in the canal and headbutted the tarmac after a chain slip. Makes me wonder how many other times I've forgot.

 

[rugby bloke]

2008 - Commuting through a park, mind else where, no-one else any where near me. Somehow managed to come off whilst not doing more than 10 mph. Twisted my knee and still hobble around on it.
2009 - Icy morning, right hand turn before a hill, the bike gently fell away from me on some black ice.
2010 - Riding on a cycle path, back from the LBS after getting my brakes fixed. Came to a wooden bridge which can be slippery after rain. Thought I had better just check my speed, forgetting I had new brakes, applied far too much pressure and went over the front. Broken tooth and 5 stitches in my lip.
2016 - A clipless moment on the way to the start of RideLondon last year ... no injures but felt good after giving so much amusement to so many riders !

So 4 unplanned dismounts, with a cumulative total speed of around 25 mph ... The moral of the story - don't ride slowly, its dangerous.

 

[Bollo]

Hit by a Volvo in 2009. Nothing broken but aggravated a shoulder issue.

Off on ice around five years ago in front of a gaggle of school kids. Nothing broken. Shoulder aggravated.

Two years ago, a biggie. Giving it beans (PM said 650+W) away from a roundabout in Basingstoke and the chain drops. The sudden unloading has me unbalanced, off the bike and bouncing down the freshly surface-dressed road. Nothing broken, but lots of skin loss, permanent damage to my hip and aggravated shoulder.

18 months ago. Ice. Enraged shoulder.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I don't feel like "liking" any of these.

I have had a few very minor ones. Slight bruising. Nothing of much interest. There's a cursed road (Chalkpit Lane) where I fell off going up (slipping gears) and then on my next visit going down (wet leaves). I don't go there any more.

 

[Znook]

Just the once when I was youngster, when descending a blind bend on a damp night. Seeing there were no vehicles approaching from the other side (as there were no headlights showing) I decided to cut the corner, got three quarters around when I found I was dead on for the cats-eye in the middle of the road. When you're leaning over to take the turn there was no chance of avoiding it, front wheel hit and that was it, down I went. Handlebars knocked off centre, tape scratched to f@£$, pedal/crank no longer 90d but thankfully the bike was still rideable in a fashion. I was lucky, escaping with just a bit of road rash. I still drive, run and bike past this point even today and I always think back to that particular night.

 

[derrick]

Last big of was when i was about 13 or 14,Just badly bruised and loads of road rash, But as an adult and 30000 miles not so much as a clipless moment, a couple of close shaves,But i can live with them, I am now clutching a big lump of wood.
Edit, Just remembered i did hit some ice a few years back, but i was going so slow the front wheel went away, i was not clipped in so foot was on the floor before the bike hit the deck.

 

[GM]

Much the same as Derrick, but not as many miles. Only 2 clipless moments, both quite amusing. These days I tend to ride much slower, the thought of coming off at my age could be very painful.