Your first crash.

[potsy]

Had my first real ditch on Saturday last, doing about 20mph down a very bumpy surfaced road, fellow rider's bottle leapt out of the cage and straight under my front wheel
No way I could stop or avoid it so down I went.

Bike initially seemed not too bad (twisted shifter and scuffed bar tape) only to be confirmed slightly worse a few miles later when the mech hanger snapped after a down shift whch resulted in the mech clattering the spokes, a roadside single speed conversion got me home the last 20+ miles.

I have a few scrapes and had a sore shoulder for a few days, knee is now playing up which is funny as it seemed OK the next day, but otherwise got away quite lightly.

Have fallen off before but mainly clipless moment type falls at less than 5mph

 

[sabian92]

Just from a confidence point of view, has anybody been riding a number of years and not actually had a crash?

Apart from the odd scrape and bump as a kid, I've never had a crash. 19 years of age and not bad I reckon considering I'm dyspraxic.

I hope I never do either because I really enjoy it and it would really knock my confidence. And I have a pathetic pain threshold.

 

[Nihal]

My very first fall was when i suddenly decided to take a sharp turn and my front wheel just gave up and toppled me over.The street was totally empty but a few joggers did see me flat on the road as though i liked the feel of it

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Just from a confidence point of view, has anybody been riding a number of years and not actually had a crash?

Its been about 5 years since my last crash, clipped by a ford focus. My first crash was that long ago the details have been lost in the mists of time, I first rode a bike as a small boy back in the mid 1950's. Its very rare for me to crash, usually with outside assistance, other road user snow or ice etc, its almost unheard of for me to just fall off.

 

[MrJamie]

Just from a confidence point of view, has anybody been riding a number of years and not actually had a crash?

My bike crashes have all been utterly stupid and easily avoidable, but im one of those plenty of intelligence no common sense kinda guys..
5+ years ago: Riding with tshirt and overshirt, i decided i could take the shirt off without stopping, got 1 arm out and the sleeve went into the back wheel and threw me off pretty effectively.
2 years ago: Tried to cycle home a bit drunk, went over the bars, rolled up the street and got pretty bad concussion. Not proud of it, but it was like 4am on cycle paths and residential roads no traffic just misjudged something and hit a kerb at about 15mph.
3 months ago: Was cycling around Woburn trails on mud on my 20kg hybrid with full guards, touring bag, hard virtually slick tyres enjoying myself, was trying to wheelie/jump some small branches and went over the bars and got a soft muddy landing

Ive not had any crash that didnt start with me doing something utterly stupid, if that helps with your confidence

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I remember jumping off a ramp on my Grifter and my front wheel landing before I did.

 

[PpPete]

Had a couple over the winter, one on ice, one on gravel/mud .... both occasions transitioning at too high a speed from road to adjacent cycletrack, and backwheel went sideways. Wish there had been video of the first, slight downhill, pavement covered in black ice - I went about 50 mtrs just sat on my arse !
Before that - one very silly clipless moment and then the time I got taken out by a boat...(recounted at length elsewhere in these pages)

 

[Nihal]

I remember jumping off a ramp on my Grifter and my front wheel landing before I did.

Is'nt that supposed to happen,i mean the front wheel is ...........in front of you?????

 

[lejogger]

Had two offs in two days last year. First was taking a corner far too fast and the surface being too damp to grip the rear wheel. Put a hole in my brand new mitts and put a big graze on my thigh but the only real damage was to my pride. incidentally there is still a very visible mark where the road rash was 8 months later. Is that normal??! Second was a car pulling out on me, but I managed to slow almost all the way down before I hit him so no real damage.

First proper crash when riding again as an adult came while cycling home from the pub after 6 pints of Poretti about 3 years ago. Thought i'd try to get my phone out of my pocket while cycling along and ended up veering into the kerb, flying over the handlebars, rolling down a bank of nettles into the filthiest stagnant ditch you can imagine. I emerged looking like a bog monster. I tell you what, I learned a lot of lessons that night.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Back in early 90's I was doing around 20 on a dedicated cycle route in Cramlington, two younger lads about a hundred yards ahead, one stops and his mate carries on then stop, doesn't see me as he looks over his left shoulder to see why his mate stopped then just turned his bike completely and unexpectedly across the path and I slammed into his front wheel (in slow motion as these always happen!) hurtled over his bike, twisted mid-air to miss a tree, landing in nettles.

Badly bruised ego was the only injury (not counting the need for handfuls of dock leaves) my cobbled together Puegeot racer only had a very minor front wheel buckle, but his racer - we called them racers in those days- was front end totalled, buckled wheel, spokes and fork.

So, not much on the injury front but my own most spectacular.

 

[sdr gb]

About 5 years ago, coming down a hill at about 28mph, a car coming up was indicating to turn across my path into a side street. As I got closer, he pulled across my path. Then on seeing me, he comes to a stop, only he's now on my side of the road at a 90 degree angle to me. At this point, everything went into slow motion and I can remember seeing the look of horror on the faces of his back seat passengers. I locked the back wheel and somehow managed to avoid the back of his car only to lose the back end on a wet manhole cover which sent me sliding down the road. Managed to get away with scuffed bar tape and a scratched lever on the bike and a few bruises and a bit of road rash to myself.

 

[Jmenorton]

About 5 years ago, coming down a hill at about 28mph, a car coming up was indicating to turn across my path into a side street. As I got closer, he pulled across my path. Then on seeing me, he comes to a stop, only he's now on my side of the road at a 90 degree angle to me. At this point, everything went into slow motion and I can remember seeing the look of horror on the faces of his back seat passengers. I locked the back wheel and somehow managed to avoid the back of his car only to lose the back end on a wet manhole cover which sent me sliding down the road. Managed to get away with scuffed bar tape and a scratched lever on the bike and a few bruises and a bit of road rash to myself.

What happens in these kind of situations? where you have an accident due to someone else but there's no contact. Is the other party still responsible for damages, or is it just a 'count yourself lucky there was no impact, tough titties about the bike' situation

 

[Hawk]

Had my first one this afternoon - doing 5-8mph tops on a terrible, terrible offroad cycle route..... obviously no one had cleaned it in the last few decades, steep, twisty, narrow downhill and my bike slowly slid out from under me as I called out "eassssyy!!" to the rider behind..... He went over too.... First crash in about 3,000 or 3,500 miles of cycling.... both of us OK though I might need some bar tape?

 

[cycleruk]

My first crash was a big one when i was young.
I was riding at a fair rate, i then went on the path also at a fair rate, lost control, hit a metal gate and over the handle bars i went. I thought all was ok till i lifted my trouser leg up and found i deep hole in the side of my leg, i then looked at the bike and found some skin on the brake lever, as i went over the handle bars the brake lever dug into my leg!, it was painfull to say the least.

I remember this because i still have the scar 3 inces off the crown joules!!!!! believe you me i am happy to say i still have the balls to ride a bike

i have to admit i normally have one or two crashes a year because of bad weather (or bad riding) but not normally that bad, a close call with a car or two but nothing major

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Is'nt that supposed to happen,i mean the front wheel is ...........in front of you?????

I should probably have mentioned that the wheel was no longer attached to my bike!