Closest you've been to a really nasty accident.

finchy

What's the closest you've been to having a really nasty accident but managing to stay upright?

I was bombing it down a hill near Bratislava when a deer shot out from the side of the road and missed my rear wheel by millimetres. I was doing 40mph at that point, so I hate to think what would have happened if the animal had hit me, especially as I wasn't wearing a helmet (yeah, I know it's stupid, but I didn't have one in Slovakia and it was a car-free route.)

webbhost

especially as I wasn't wearing a helmet (yeah, I know it's stupid, but I didn't have one in Slovakia and it was a car-free route.)

That bit made me laugh lol... At 40 mph the last thing I would have been worried about is a helmet, what about the rest of your body!!

Closest I've been is hitting the side of a white transit van at about 25 MPH as it pulled out infront of me at a junction and he didn't see me.

Other than they its got to be the bird that tried a suicide attack on my front wheel... just missed but wasn't going that fast.

whyamihere

Clipless moment when trying to make a right turn off an A-road. Nearly fell over to the right into the path of the 60mph traffic going the other way. Managed to just about get the bike rolling forward before I fell, and was able to unclip.

finchy

webbhost wrote:

especially as I wasn't wearing a helmet (yeah, I know it's stupid, but I didn't have one in Slovakia and it was a car-free route.)

That bit made me laugh lol... At 40 mph the last thing I would have been worried about is a helmet, what about the rest of your body!!

True, my whole body would have been a bit of a mess, but my head's the bit I definitely wouldn't want to hit the ground without protection.

webbhost

john I see your point, however if i was told I'm to fall off at 40 MPH id use no helmet and make it quick and (hopefully) painless!!!

I do wear a helmet btw.. Even if I'm in a rush, if I forget it, I go back lol.

Red Rock

When I got my first road bike last year I was going down Parbold Hill and decided that I needed to be in a better position for braking, so tried moving to the drops... big wobble at 40 MPH then grabbed to much brake and nearly went over the front wheel... nearly messed myself! Followed that by almost running into the back of the car in front of me. :oops:

chuckcork

I guess it would be the crowd of lemmings who, having patiently waited for the car just in front of me to pass, decided that the cyclist approaching at 25mph presented no danger, so as a group launched themselves across the road in front of me.

Still not sure exactly how I got through that one.

Oh, and plenty of cars pulling out/turning across in front of me as well, including one that did a U-turn across the front of me (he was coming from the other direction) that I had to go into a bus pull in bay to avoid. Not suprisingly was driving a BMW!

fossyant

I've had a fair few near misses and collisions. In the last year, two cars have decided to change lanes as I'm right next to them - slamming on brakes, experience etc were the only things that stopped me going over the bonnet...and shouting 'Wow"...... very close...

Like poster above, I've been taken out at 25 by a transit - another lane swapper - he outside lane, me inside lane, he turned right without signalling - straight through his wing mirror and over the bonnet - flew about 20-30 feet in the air, and crashed down between a load of scaffolding - slid down the ped. walkway on my back. bike didn't escape - it was written off on the scaffolding. Other than a broken bone in my hand and gravel rash, I was OK - the driver legged it...

Out on a club run, we all misjudged a corner coming off Axe edge towards Flash, ended up on wrong side of the road as a van came up....... we all went inside between van and hedge at some speed...whoops....

mrushton

Some years back one NY Eve, descending a hill, 30mph+ and a car pulled out in front of me from a side road. the sun was in his eyes! I swerved to go round the back of the car but sort of scraped along the rear third. i can remember seeing my bike bounce down the road and thinking 'Bugger'. Anyway, I got up and spoke to the driver and then got on my bike and rode 20 miles home. Went to see the Doctor in the New Year who must have thought I was a nutcase. My right side was a 'sunset' of bruising.
Also the other week having just left home, I was moving along (20mph+) and was o/taken by a large van which I moved behind to draft. He forgot I was there and pulled over without signalling :evil: I ploughed into the van headfirst and swore I could feel my spine compress. Bike was OK but I was off to A&E on a backboard. Paramedic and PC were impressd how light my bike was. Some physiotherapy and a new helmet but I think my back is going to be an issue for sometime.

ColinJ

(I've mentioned these before on one forum or another)

On road:

Descending Rossendale Road from the Manchester Road lights on the fringes of Burnley. I was looking down at my computer and saw my speed shoot up to 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 mph...Could I get up to 60 mph?

I probably could have done but I decided that perhaps I ought to start watching where I was going. I looked ahead and had a heart-stopping moment when I saw a manhole cover jutting up out of the road ahead of me :? My computer later told me that I was doing 56 mph when I hit it. As I took off my chin hit the handlebars and I almost bit my lower lip off. I must have travelled 30 feet in the air. It was certainly long enough to contemplate the potential horror of the landing...

I landed with a thump and bounced back into the air before finally becoming road-bound again. The bike slewed about as the backend fishtailed under my panic braking but somehow I stayed upright :shock: !



Off road:

I was on my MTB chasing my mate and his young son down a rocky bridleway. I felt that we were probably going too fast but if a little kid could do it, so could I!

What I hadn't taken into account was that the boy in question had virtually gone from his crawling phase to mountain biking without a walking phase in between. He already had years of experience of such offroad descents. I didn't...

I hit a big rock at warp speed and was launched into the air. Both feet unclipped from the pedals, my bum left the saddle and my left hand was flapping about in the air desperately trying to relocate the handlebars. My only remaining contact with the bike was the circle formed by my right thumb and forefinger!

Time dilation rules applied. I thought about the 70 foot drop-off to my left. I contemplated my body smashing into the boulders strewn ahead of me. Somehow I got my feet back on the pedals, though I didn't manage to clip in. Just in time my left hand found its target.

As the bike slammed into the ground, I bottomed out my front suspensension and almost castrated myself with the nose of the saddle. The bike bounced a few times and I got perilously close to the drop-off but somehow I managed to stay upright and regain control. A real brown shorts moment... :shock:

ColinJ

(Oops, double-post :oops: !)

GEPC

Closet I have every got to a bad accident is anout an inch.

alfablue

I never stay upright, I always follow through to the bitter end!

jimycooper

i was going down a hill nerar my house at about 45kph, and some twat on the pavement was shouting abuse at me, so i gave him a taster of my most fruitful langauge, looked back at the road and right infornt of me was a stationary car. smashed into the back of it before i could pull the brakes, i flipped over the car and to my astonishment i was in no pain, it was a miricle, and the biike was fine aswell. could of ended in far worse sinarios.
must off been payback from when i helped that old lady across the road a few weeks earlier

Tempestas

I was on a training camp in Cyprus and we had ascended Mount Troudos, we took a rest at the top and then descended at speeds over 50mph at times. I was following a guy at about 2 meters and we descended exceedingly fast putting quite a few minutes into the rest of the group, upon reaching the bottom of the climb the guy says to me ‘Not sure about these tubulars, they worry me’. I replied with, ‘they are fine with good tape on, but I never use glue it’s to mucky’. He then replied with ‘Tape???? Glue???’....I then explained how they needed to be stuck on......whilst re-living every corner of the last descent....

Eat My Dust

I was overtaking slow moving traffic on my way into work. I came to an HGV and I started overtaking, it's a wide bit of road so I thought there would be no problem with oncoming traffic. Little did I know that there was a bus stopped at the side if the road and the large space I was expecting was now filled with an oncoming car! In a panic I fumbled with unclipping. While I was trying not to fall over the traffic had built up a bit of speed. So there I was slowly falling into the side of the now moving lorry. I nearly got away with it....but one of the jaggy pointy things that they tie ropes onto caught the back of my arm and tore right through. I think I was lucky I had short sleeves on and that there was no cloth to drag me along by. My god the pain was terrible, I continued the 6 miles to work nowing there was blood coming out of my arm. It wasn't until I got to work and everybody starting turning pale that I realised it was fairly bad! I've got a lovely scar from it as well. It could have been much worse!!

mididoctors

saw an artic turn on top of a commuter once and crush her

screamed like a rabbit being slaughtered by a fox... screeching squel that went on for a thousand years...

mididoctors

got caught between two buses and my handlebars were gripped on both sides and the front wheel lifted off the ground....

i learnt from that

stabilised

Descending the wonderfully named 'Dead Friar's Bank' at about 35mph when a group of sheep decided to run across the road in front of me. One seemed certain to T-bone me but somehow or other it strightened up just enough that we rubbed along each other for a moment before I was passed it (sheep can only do about 20!). I clearly remeber feeling my foot rubbing through its wool.

Another horrible moment included a huge speed-wobble while doing 40+ approaching a 120 degree right hander with seemingly only armco and then a dry-stone wall awaiting me. I forced myself to let go of the brakes for just long enough for the wobble to stop and somehow got round on the four feet of grass in front of the barrier. Both feet out, clinging on and somehow stayed upright.

Eat My Dust

I had a close one on the Highclere Challenge where I was doing about 40 mph and then I notice the 90 degree turn at the bottom of the hill!! Just missed going down the ditch on the other side of the road, if something had been coming the other way........makes me shudder to think!

Monty Dog

A few years ago descending from Luz Ardiden in the Pyrenees which inevitably turned into a bit of a downhill race with a friend. As it was late afternoon we were fairly confident that there would be little uphill traffic and so started to use the full width of the road on the bends. Approaching a big left-hander a bit too fast and ended up running wide on the exit such that tyres ended up on the gravel between the road, the armco barrier and a drop of about 30ft onto the road below - before the next stanchion I managed to unweight the front wheel and hop-up back onto the tarmac and completed the descent at a bit more leisurely pace! Riding Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff in the pouring rain last year heading down into Houfallaize with a bit of late braking into a bend when I remembered it was a bit tighter and more off-camber than I remembered! Pulled on the brakes hard at which point the Conti tyres gave me a full-drift experience - had to straighten-up, aimed at the armco at the crown of the bend with full on braking and get it back together about a foot from the edge - and laid it back over to get round the corner. The Belgian guy next to me thought I was a goner - big drop into the river below. Saw plenty of people not make the bends that day.