Have you been injured Mountain Biking? How?

capoz77

Read many topics on bike forums which relate to past injuries/offs/still recoving etc

Have you been injured Mountain Biking? how? Was there anything you could have done differently?

lemoncurd

Broke collarbone.

Gone slower.

ricardo_smooth

Chainring gashes inside my bicep.

Don't fall off high northshore.


Various cut knees/elbows/shins

Gone slower or shifted weight quicker.

marcaudsley

Knee injury requiring surgery (3 days in Tenerife hospital)
Absolutely should have worn knee pads!

MountainMonster

On mtb, broken collerbone and lots of scrapes and scratches.

Most could have been solved by knowing the trail better. One of them I came down a hill and there was a dirt curb on the side which I didn't see, accidently hit it not realising it was flat. Oh well, live and learn!

fearnsy

Broke my arm when I was 6, trying to go turn round a lampost as close as I could
Six stitches in my chin when I was 9, nothing I could have done, hit something which sent me flying over the handlebars and cracking my action man helmet in two, thank god, it saved my life.
Ermm, severely cut back when I was jumping in 2010 (15), went to fast down a hill hit the jump landed ok-ish, then kept turning handlebars trying to regain control, turned off to far to one side, hit a felled small tree and flew :oops:, then got my mates to take about 25 thorns out of my back, yeah I was doing it topless :roll:

LittleEuge

fractured shoulder blade yesterday.
Going down a steep hill, veared aliitle off the narrow track, next thing I know my mate is helping me situp. Was unconsious for a few seconds.

jonnyc2420

long list..

seperation of bottom lip from jaw - contact with pedal
two holes through chin into mouth - same pedal! (bear traps)
stiches to right shin - v8 pedal
stitches to left shin - same
chainring into right hip - neat looking scar from that one !
brake disk burn /tattoo to left wrist
torn tedons in front of shoulder by putting my chin through them
ripped muscle in back of shoulder using it to stop against a stump.
hole in left ankle / stitches - poss contact with bike/rock but cartwheeling through air at the time so uncertain..

not put me off on the slightest though.......

good site here for adding injuries:#
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=113716608680749

allthegearnoidea

any bike related injuries of mine have All been caused by Outriding my abilities!!!
Going Far too fast down a short techy rooty downhill, hit small compression,weight all wrong and Defo on wrong bike, got all oiut of shape ended up back first into a tree at 20mph, Realy hurt! have Very limited feeling in that part of back now! ooooops!
bit further down same track on the full bouncer this time, thought to my self 'Flyin down here today!' shortly followed by 'Oh, bit off line, Ooooh b#gger Tree.............' found shoulder barging a relatively substantial tree Really isnt clever!! especially with the pain in the ribbs and when breathing fron it!!
loads of other minor silly things but all the same Out riding abilities caused!!

Northwind

Recently, just a bunch of ribs. All caused by moments of inattentitveness really- a wheeltrap I shouldn't have had any trouble with, letting my grip loosen on a fast bit of lumpy trail, and catching a bar on a tree that was closer than I thought. I don't do anything different though, they were all just minor errors with big results rather than any real problem with the riding.

Back in ye old days, broke the wrist on one side and 2 fingers on the other and dislocated my shoulder and foot while jumping my old rigid mtb into a riverbed How we laughed. I learned not to do anything so damn stupid

turpinr

2 broken ribs through being old and clumsy
a bloody sore coccyx after a pinch flat

Anonymous

Nothing to compare to others here. Generally the odd scars here and there from many OTB incidents & pedal strikes, and bruised ribs (falling off too many times at Aston Hill on the wrong bike with no DH skills).

The main one was just a simple bust toe (not broken, but hurt like hell and think I did ligament damage).

Occurred in stupid situation. Just an area of singletrack in Swinley with a very shallow descent and some roots that I've done loads of times. Never usually a problem but I took the wrong line and took it too slow. Front wheel slid across a root, wheel twisted 90 degrees and flipped me OTB, foot stuck in the bike and toe got crushed/bent/whatever.

What I'd do different is assess the line better, unweight, take it faster, maybe lower tyre pressure, and (as I do now) wear better shoes. I just had trainers before, now I have Five Tens with hard toe protection.

I think the worst thing about any injury that requires attention is spending 3+ hours in A&E.

Anonymous

capoz77 wrote:

Read many topics on bike forums which relate to past injuries/offs/still recoving etc

Have you been injured Mountain Biking? how? Was there anything you could have done differently?

Of course I've injured myself mountain biking.
If you're doing it right, you're bound to crash occasionally.
Fractured ribs, concussion, dislocated knee, internal bleeding, and various enormous holes, cuts and gashes in skin.
Wouldn't have it any other way.

Northwind

I think I could live without the internal bleeding personally

Anonymous

Oh, and quite possibly a fractured coccyx years and years ago that I really should have had checked out.

Raymondavalon

Yes, April 2008 while riding the Kona on some local singletrack I decided to do my regular "manual" down a little descent I know quite well.
I was carrying too much speed and lost it big time. The result was breaking my right lower leg in 6 places, a compound fracture with the lower tibia and fibula exposed to the world.
I am pleased to say I pushed the bones back into the fleshy area where they belong myself, much to the horror of my fellow riders.

Nothing too serious, operated on that day (Saturday) and discharged two days later. Back to work on Wednesday and back on a bike 91 days after the event.
Lesson learned? I am not a youngster any more and wear a helmet!

For the POIDH crew



The event did shred my confidence and 3 years on I am still a little wary, but I feel a skills course is long overdue

Since then lots of cuts and bruises as well as losing a chunk of my right ear on the Cannock Chase Monkey Trail last summer from clipping a tree with my head while wearing a pee pot helmet

Anonymous

Raymondavalon wrote:

Lesson learned? I am not a youngster any more and wear a helmet!

What, a helmet on your leg?

gonetothehills

As a 'youngster' - and in the days before mountain bikes had suspension on them - plenty of gravel rash, holes and broken bits. All through a failing in my speed / skill / terrain equation. It was part of the learning curve though, and part of the thrill of it.

Nowadays, with a mortgage and other boring commitments (like a career...) I ride much more within myself, have skill compensating equipment and wear kneepads.

Still - it didn't stop me ending up in A&E before Christmas - whiplash from coming off the bike backwards on some ice. That was down to sheer stupidity and not appreciating that just because the thaw had started the afternoon before, it didn't mean it wouldn't have finished by 6am the following morning. Boy it hurt.

This serves to demonstrate that the biggest injury in recent years has been to my mojo - the fear gland that gets more active the older you get. Dunno if there's a cure for that though? :?

Raymondavalon

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Raymondavalon wrote:

Lesson learned? I am not a youngster any more and wear a helmet!

What, a helmet on your leg?

Oh, I didn't have a helmet on and improved my looks with a faceplant during that little bone crunching stunt, however that was minor compared to the leg.. it could have been worse

Anonymous

I'm an ugly cnut anyway, which is why I normally only wear an open face lid. I'm hoping one day I might faceplant just the right way to rearrange my face into a stunning bird magnet.

x-isle

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I'm an ugly cnut anyway, which is why I normally only wear an open face lid. I'm hoping one day I might faceplant just the right way to rearrange my face into a stunning bird magnet.

:P

Suspected fractured wrist after an over the bars trip (didn't see the second bump), worst of all, I landed in stingy nettles! Far worse than the hurt wrist.

Entire knee very bruised after another trip over the bars. Caused by my mind being elsewhere when going down the Black rocks at Cannock.

bike-a-swan

I seem to break the bike not me- obviously not doing it right, never seem to get much more than cuts and bruises! Even jumping a road bike off a country road a good 8 foot into a field at 30mph I only got nettle stings.

angry_bird

I got killed once when my bike exploded after a massive jump




Actually it didn't and I didn't get killed, worst I've ever had was when smashing my elbow and wrist into a rock and wasn't being able to put weight on them or even move them from one position for 4 weeks

cooldad

On a bicycle not too much, scrapes, bruises and a few busted ribs.
On a motorcycle, 27 broken bones at various time, including, in order of most painful, breastbone (and 11 ribs), pelvis and neck. Funnily enough I raced motorcross and short track TT races, but all my injuries happened on a road bike except for the pelvis - went over a small cliff and the bike used me to break it's fall.
I was obviously a really shit rider.

My conclusion is bicycles are much safer. Or more likely, I now ride like a weenie.

Northwind

Never broke a bone on the motorbike... Though I did break my hip while walking out to the garage to ride to work :oops:

getonyourbike

Nothing yet for me really other than the usual cuts from teh pedals on teh shin. I bet that will al change soon though

cooldad

Northwind wrote:

Never broke a bone on the motorbike... Though I did break my hip while walking out to the garage to ride to work :oops:

If we were supposed to walk, god would have given us four legs.

nfiore

Badgers! at the end of a summer's evening ride on the last section home, hit a badger full on, over the top of the handlebars, landed on gravel, laid there for 2 hours waiting for the ambulance to get me. 3 nights in hospital, 2 operations on my arm and the fiick1ing badger ran off unhurt. Bring on more badger culling.

mossmotorsport

Reading this thread isn't doing much for my confidence - especially since I've only recently started getting into more and more biking. Some of the injuries seen dotted around the site, and mag, highlight the importance of a helmet though!

cooldad

mossmotorsport wrote:

Reading this thread isn't doing much for my confidence - especially since I've only recently started getting into more and more biking. Some of the injuries seen dotted around the site, and mag, highlight the importance of a helmet though!

Something to consider. If you are unconscious you can't feel the pain of the other injuries.

P-Jay

Had a bad one at Afan christ... 18 months ago now, hit a rock hidden in some grass just off trail because I was going too fast, bars twisted and snapped my wrist, over the bars and smashed my elbow, compound fracture blood everywhere. 6 hours surgery on my elbow, 4 on my wrist, 3 weeks in hospital, 100+ hours physio, months before I was well enough to do much more than lay on the sofa.

Had another opp 2 weeks ago to finally have the plate out of my elbow (it didn't start to heal for over a year) got a bit more movement and it's strong again. Started riding again about 10 months ago, I'm banned at the moment because of the screwholes, but back on the trail back end of this month, DH bike not long after and off to Whistler in August!!

Few things I could have done.. Left my elbow pads in the van that day because it was hot, still would have messed myself up, but might not have hurt myself too much, not rode quicker than the trail allowed? Not gone out for a ride 3 days before a alps trip is one i'd avod if I could!