What's been your most spectacular crash ?

MattC59

Following the other thread on frequency of crashing, which seemed to have been slightly derailed into nasty crashes, I thought this one might be a good idea.

Details please..................

Ollieda

Mine has to come from when I was a little kid. Cycling on mountain bike in france outside my auntie's house. My brother and I had used the road/gravel path to make a elongated looped track and we were trying to cycle as fast as we could. I remember getting to 22mph (at that age and on a mtb it felt like we were breaking the speed limit!) and then something happened that jammed the front wheel.....resulting in me being thrown off the bike and skidding to a halt across the gravel floor. Amazing almost all the damage went into only my forearm.

From my elbow to about an inch below my wrist all the skin had been ripped away and loads of gravel bits hard replaced the skin! (what I nowadays would call road rash - just really bad!) My mum, being a nurse, whipped out a bottle of dettol, filled a washing bowl, dunked my arm in and began scrubbing - I was screaming!!! Took weeks of this being done daily before all of the gravel was out, not nice!

To this day I still don't know why the front wheel locked out, prehaps with my knowladge of cycling now I might have realised what was happening and may have even been able to prevent it happening but at the time I was only about 9 or 10. Still have the scar on my arm from the worst of it.

fleshtuxedo

Head on with a bus.

I was going down Keighley Road into Hebden Bridge ( a long gradual downhill) at 30-35mph on my mountain bike. Swung round the left hander past the Nutclough to be faced with a bus on my side of the road! Parked cars on my right left him no option, not his fault.

I hit the brakes, but it was slightly damp and greasy, so I was balancing the braking with skidding on the corner (which was drifting me further out into the road). It happened pretty quickly, and I was trying to get down the gap to the left of the bus, but I had no hope of stopping in time.

I just managed to get my left wheel down the side of the bus, before hitting the windscreen with my arms and torso, and then bouncing backwards. The bus going uphill and had managed to stop. If my front wheel had hit the front of the bus, I reckon I would have been catapaulted head first into or through the front screen.

I composed myself for a few seconds, then was taken into someone's house and phoned the missus for a lift to A&E. I had a broken right arm, left wrist (scaphoid) and some ribs. The painkillers kept me in la la land for a week then I had to adapt to life with casts on both arms for a bit.

Bike undamaged.

Never again!

MattC59

I'll add mine, I was in a rush earlier as I needed to get to the Docs for travel jabs (Maldives in 6 weeks, sorry I'm somewhat excited, not rubbing it in ).

Anyway,
About 2 years ago, I managed to get launched over the bars of my mtb (no idea how !!) My knee caught the stem leaving a 2" gash, down to the bone (I could see my kneecap !!). Needed a lot of stitches and a couple of hours where a very attractive nurse picked grit out of my knee with a needle. The doc said that had the tem hit my knee about an inch to the right, I'd probably have lost my kneecap !!

And another............
About 15years ago, I was messing around on my mtb on a BMX track, screwed up a double jump and suddenly found myself upside down, about 8ft in the air, without my bike. Suffice to say, the landing didn't go well.

And another.........
Whilst at Uni, I was trying to beat a personal best top speed down a rocky trail outside Sheffield. I hit 46mph, personal best !! Unfortunately, looking down at the computer turns out not to have been a good idea. I looked down, noted the speed, felt smug, felt the impact of my front wheel on a rock, heard the tyre go bang and hit the ground hard. I lost most of the skin on my right side, every high point, shoulder, knee, thigh ete etc looked like a piece of bacon that had been rolled in mud and sand. I got up, fixed the tyre and rode home. then it started healing and I spent the next coupel of weeks immobile. It wasn't good !!!!!

Pross

Mine was in a race in the Forest of Dean, going down a steep descent heading out of Coleford just before the climb to Speech House. Descending at just over 40mph a sheep walked into the road straight in front of the bunch. 3 or 4 riders went down in front of me and I swerved onto the verge to avoid the carnage. I was just congratulating myself on my skills when I hit a drainage channel cut across the vergethat left me somersaulting down a 3m embankment and hitting my head on the base of a tree (and with a twig embedded in my ar*e cheek :oops: ). Ended up being taken by ambulance to Gloucester Hospital but released with minor concussion and a stiff neck. I saw the sheep happily walk away from the carnage before my excursion down the bank but was told later it then got hit and killed by the comms car that had had to swerve down the wrong side of the road to avoid the chaos

Stuntman

I've had quite a few... but will stick with the two faves...

When I was 12 I decided that while my brothers bike was broken we shouldn't be restricted to walking everywhere so he sat side saddle on the crossbar with me pedalling him every. On the way home and about 400m from our door he accidentally got his right foot jammed in the wheel and we flipped over the bars, landing on my head. I wasn't in pain but there was a lot of blood everywhere and my brother was screaming with agony(like a little girl). So I carried him and the busted bike as the front wheel was taco'd and got home... banging on the door my mum answers and instantly looks at my brother screaming and asks what happened, then turns to me for an answer and she nearly faints. With a face full of blood she was pretty shocked and to be fair most people were.
6 stitches for me and a sprained ankle and wrist for my brother.


More recently, two years ago I bought a ilightweight xc bike and on my first ride out I had the seat up pretty high for a fast XC loop with a mate. 2 hours of riding and we come across some drops that we'd done before, he rolls up to it and rides it smooth... I roll up to it, push the bike foward as I leaned a little back but as my baggy shorts caught the seat it threw me forward and I went over the bars.
After I flipped over the bars I seemed to put my right arm out to try and stop my face hitting the ground first, unfortunately I was still in mid flip and my arm rolled all the way round and unfortnately I landed on my shoulder, which seperated my collar bone from the shoulder joint.

Luckily i was pretty calm and noticing my collar bone move a lot we decided to go the A&E. 4 hours later and yep it was definitely seperated and I was lucky to get it reattached by operation within two weeks.

Luckily the bike was immaculate.

Cressers

Where do I begin?

How about during my mountain bike days when I was last but one of a group riding down a steep, tree-lined rut of a bridleway that leads from the top of Houghton Hill, West Sussex toward Amberley. Everyone else was much shorter and far more competent on a bike than I, so they all spotted and avoided the creeper that hung downfrom an overhead branch like a hangman's noose... It snagged me just enough to send me off the good line, out of control and after a valliant effort to get it back, over the front of the bike whereupon I headbutted a small tree splittling my helmet. I got back on slightly shaken and completed the ride without any ill-effects.

benno68

Last year I came off and broke my collar bone - despite this being the worst injury I've suffered the crash itself was nothing of interest.

The most memorable one was when I was about 14, on the saddle of a fairly decent Carlton road bike with my mate at the helm hurtling down a hill in Cyncoed, Cardiff.

It felt like we were doing around 30mph when the dreaded speed wobble happened, we went weaving from one side of the road to the other a few times eventually falling off at a relatively slow speed - just a couple of grazes. We were falling about laughing, probably at the relief that there was no traffic on the road.

Another one was when I was cycling to school in Bristol, a car turned right and drove into me. It felt like I was airborne for ages and was a peaceful experience...until I hit the ground. Went to hospital as a precaution but again got away with the odd bruise.

Cressers

Where do I begin?

How about during my mountain bike days when I was last but one of a group riding down a steep, tree-lined rut of a bridleway that leads from the top of Houghton Hill, West Sussex toward Amberley. Everyone else was much shorter and far more competent on a bike than I, so they all spotted and avoided the creeper that hung downfrom an overhead branch like a hangman's noose... It snagged me just enough to send me off the good line, out of control and after a valliant effort to get it back, over the front of the bike whereupon I headbutted a small tree splittling my helmet. I got back on slightly shaken and completed the ride without any ill-effects.

EX DH

Here goes,

1. riding the downhill track at hamsterley forrest, hit a rock garden at full pelt wich tipped my back end up, balls trapped between back wheel and frame. Then hit the next section on my front wheel ,threw me over the bars, hit a rock with my right arm extended and locked out, shattered a bone in my elbow, badly sprained wrist and pissing blood for 2 days.

2. Hitting up a road gap in my local woods ( 8ft drop 14ft gap) not enough speed to clear it so my front wheel hit first, dumped me over the bars leg locked out as i hit the deck and popped my hip out backwards!

3. 5ft drop off at hamsterley again. Chain locked up just as i cam up to drop, landed with all my weight on right side of the bike, resulted in head hitting the floor pretty hard and knocking me out. Woke up about 20 ft from drop on my back. Serious gravle rash on my back(dad had to scrub it with a nail brush to get all the dirt out. hurt a bit)

4. While on a DH holiday in Les Getts friend rode across a cattle grid with spike tyres on, front wheel slipped so he put his foot down to steady him self, foot went through grid dislocating and broke three bones. 3 days in hospital while i had a great time riding with a load of lads from MBR magazine(went to pila in italy for the day and over to swisserland too).

Hense the name tag of EX DH.

bompington

The most entertaining has to be the mtb somersault into deep water trying to ford the river Quoich near Braemar - nothing particularly remarkable about that, but then I did exactly the same again on the way back.
But in terms of speed & injury it has to be the "Perth bike lane" incident - coming up a bike lane at traffic lights when a car waiting in the right lane queue decided there was enough space in the left hand lane - if he used the bike lane as well. Result was that I was side-swpiped onto the kerb at about 25mph: my most vivid memory is of the available space in the bike lane narrowing down in front of me, and that fraction-of-a-second calculation of "can I get through before there's no gap left?" No was the answer, and the car shoved me onto the kerb front wheel first: I grazed the pavement with my knuckles, hands still on the bars, as I flipped over, and landed on the left side of my helmet and the back of my left shoulder.
Injury count: mashed clvicle, cracked scapula & a couple of ribs at the back, skint knuckles, bit of minor road rash on my back.
Damage count: not much - helmet split in two, minor tears in clothing & gloves, 1 burst tyre on bike - which of course didn't suffer much as I landed on my head with the bike on top of me.
Legal consequence count: driver was done for careless driving & didn't contest, but I'm still wrangling with the insurers over the personal injury payout more than 3 years later.

Warwickshire Whizzer

I grew up in a street which was essentially 2 cul-de-sacs linked by a footpath at the other end, making the a great race loop for us young ne'er do wells. Me and my 'Racer' were comfortably in the lead one day when out of no where, my mates mum pulled out in her burnt orange mark I Escort. I remember the look of horror on her face as I hurtled at her and the flight through mid air as I was catapulted over the bonnet lasting forever before landing on the other side of the car with a broken arm. I remember not crying until I saw my beloved bike, with just a bent front wheel lying in the road.

The absolute wrose I've seen though, was said mate trying to climb very steep bit of scrub on his BMX, his foot slipped, he landed flat on the top tube and slid back down it toards the seat, opening up his scrotum on those brake cable retainer thingies.

No man should have to suffer that.

JD_76

Used to race old skool BMX and whilst out practicing on a pump track I cleared the first set of doubles ok, the next jump was a step up and i didnt jump high enough so my front wheel hit the face of the top step, this flung me over the bars and 8ft down the other side of the jump landing on my right side.

Resulting in 4 broken ribs and a plate in my wrist with 8 screws holding it together.

= end of BMX racing for me.

Stuntman

I have to add, that my brother was pretty stupid riding home from shool one day. we would race and then head down the fairway of a golfcourse as a cut-through but as all golf courses have traps to help golfers lose their balls, the two fairways we crossed had a 1 meter deep and wide trap running inbetween them.

I was ahead of him and as always went round, but in his panic thought... I could catch him if I go straight and forgot about the ditch. As he calls my name I turn round to see him hit the ditch and flip and flip and flip and flip... and flip. He had only stopped flipping about 3 seconds before a got there and I was about 80 meters ahead of him.

He came round and looked at the bike as I was pulling his legs and arms from the tangled wreck, and then instantly the pain hit. As I untangled him and started to carry him the mile home, a golfer arrives and says 'are you okay' with my brother crying and his bike in bits, I reply ' yeah he cries like this all the time' and the golfer proceeded to pick up the remainder of his pedals that were on the floor and hand them to me.

it's funny now but a shattered colar bone was a lucky escape.

Mettan

Most spectacular one was when I was Kid, on a BMX - went over someone elses stanionary bike at speed - (not a good idea) went over the bars, smashed head on road - got knocked unconcious, then taken to a head injury unit for scans (still unconcious at the time) - woke up when leaving hospital.

I did another stupid thing around that time - we played chicken in our street against bikes (not sure why) - one time I ran out infront of a bloke on a bike and got smashed to the floor - he came off too - probably one of the most stupid things Ive ever done. (was 8 or 9 or something)

bompington

Mettan wrote:

woke up when leaving hospital.

...meaning they discharged you when you were still unconscious :shock:

Mettan

bompington wrote:

Mettan wrote:

woke up when leaving hospital.

...meaning they discharged you when you were still unconscious :shock:

I awoke in a side room (looked like a cellar underground - the unit was below ground level I think. Father carried me up the stairs - that's the last memory.

daviesee

My favourite is by no means major in damage or speed but fairly spectacular in the entertainment stakes.

Riding to work on my new bike in Canada one handed with a fresh cup of coffee without lid in the other.
I was going down the hill when I noticed the speed bump. No problem I thought.
Apply a liitle braking to slow down and un-weight for the bump.

Except the brakes there are on the other side and I dabbed the fronts while un-weighting.
Result? A full somersault over the bars landing flat on my behind with my legs straight. No damage done at all, and not a drop of coffee spilt! I laughed at that and can only imagine how it looked.

The worst I have seen? As a child my friend was doing a high speed wheelie down a hill when the front wheel dropped off. Everyone knows he should have jumped off the back but he panicked and tried to stop. Stop he did. Instantaniously when the forks went into the tarmac, quickly followed by a hard impact face plant - OUCH!

StillGoing

100mph highside top of Craner Curves at Donington Park. Partially dislocated hip. Still two wheels but with an engine.

Nuggs

Mine was when I was about 13. Riding along the pavement (I know, I know, but it was a rural stretch with no pedestrians) one-handed with a football in the other hand.

Going along quite nicely when I hit a pothole which threw me over the handlebars.

Because I had the ball in my hand, I couldn't seem to get my arms out to break the fall. Instead I landed on my head and used my face as a brake. I arrived at my friend's house looking like something from Nightmare on Elm street. He took one look at my bloody face and burst into tears!

Karl2010

Mine was on a mountain bike when i was about 15.
... it might seem exagerated but this is true.

We where messing about on the bikes in this wooded area close to home bombing down hills and doing jumps.

I spotted a "jump" basicaly a mound of mud and figured i could get quite a high/big jump off it. So i went to the top of the hill and bombed down, i did use my brakes to control the speed i hit the jump but i had underestimated. The result of hitting the mound was a jump that would have put Evel Knievel to shame. It was a huge jump! High & Long.

I over shot my safe landing zone, and as i landed i went stright into a log, which sent flying over the handles bars. I summersalted through the air and landed flat on my back, on a small sand bank in a stream at the bottom of the hill.

It was quite funny to be honest. I was soaked head to toe. The bike was lying in the stream next to me, i guess i was lucky it didnt land on me.
Thankfully no dammage to me! The bike had a tiny dink in the from wheel.
I was lucky to land on a sand bank because all around me where stones & pebbles and landing on them would have been painfull/dangerous. I had no helmet either.

I just climbed out and carryed on enjoying my day.

Ginjafro

The one when I was a kid. I thought it would be a good idea to use my foot as a brake, you know shove it through the front wheel, whilst bombing along. Predictable result and great Superman impression.

A mate did one better, using his balls as a brake! Bum hanging over the back of the saddle and slow the back wheel down with it......

Karl2010

A mate did one better, using his balls as a brake! Bum hanging over the back of the saddle and slow the back wheel down with it......

HAHAHAHAHAHA

gethmetal

Karl2010 wrote:

A mate did one better, using his balls as a brake! Bum hanging over the back of the saddle and slow the back wheel down with it......

HAHAHAHAHAHA

This rings a bell, and brings a tear to my eyes. Way back in the mists of time, when I were a lad, a mate and I were two-up on his Raleigh Winner barrelling down one of the local hills having been swimming in a lake for the afternoon. At some point in the descent, whether through panic, malice or other he pushed me off the back of the seat and onto the rear wheel. :shock:

Cue me comically trying to run with the bike with my undeveloped nuts trapped in the frame/rear wheel/calliper until we came to a stop. Many abrasions and blood-pinches to my nether regions and inner thighs later, I learned why two people on a bicycle made for one is such a no-no.

All's well that ends well though. I have three beautiful kids and no scars...

Anonymous

This from Friday 13th March 2009-



Blue is speed. Orange is Altitude. Lost the back end under braking and went straight into the side of the road, using my leg as a brake. Broke my leg in three places. Still not fully recovered. My Max speed was recorded at 44mph, just as it happened.

TLDNMCL

I've had some that have resulted in lumps bumps and injuries, but this one fits the "spectacular" billing better than those:

Had my front wheel taken away by a vehicle treating me to the old left hook; result? Fairly impressive (and unintentional!) no-hands somersault onto my back, but thanks in part to my rucksack I kept going until I was back perfectly upright again in the middle of the road watching my bike slide on ahead of me. 8)

No harm, minimal damage to the bike and an extremely apologetic WVM.

Damn near cr@pped myself about 10 minutes later when I'd had time to turn it all over in my mind though!

freehub

In a race last year, fell off at 26mph right onto my side, I was pretty damn lucky I didn't break my collar bone.

Dirk1978

My two main ones are from when I was a kid. Trying to show off in front of some girls racing along on my bike that bake brake activated when I peddled backwards, I forgot about this, riding with no hands and back brake comes on sending me flying off the bike and through an old wooden fence, I can still hear those girls laughs now!

Second one cycling to a friends out when I was 15 as he had sourced some 'adult drink' again trying to show off to a girl pull a wheelie front wheel comes off and I give the road a big kiss. Next memory was standing outside the hospital afterwards waiting for the taxi home. Apparently I walked the mile back to my parents with blood dripping from face arm and knee and the wheel in one hand and the bike in the other!

Thankfully I am much more sensible now!!!

Blacktemplar

As a sprog, I recall a few good ones;

1. Crashed my Chopper into a hedge which concealed a rusty old spike railing - impaled myself through my right nipple, still have a lovely scar today.

2. Coming down a hill into the local school playingfield, I was aiming for a gap in the green chain-link fence, but didn't notice that the stringer wire was still in place. It caught me on the bridge of the nose and flipped me backwards out the saddle. Cue broken nose & dislocated shoulder.

3. At about 16 or so I was screaming down a long straight when (I think) I hit a pothole - over the bars, face/shoulder hit the road at about 30-odd mph. Tore out one nostril completely, hamburger face, friction burned my shoulder and one elbow through to the bone, and major concussion as I wasn't wearing a helmet (well, it was 1978 ) Still have the scars. The bike (a lovely silver Puch) was a write off.

Most recent one was last September, when I came off on wet leaves at relatively slow speed turning into an underpass. No bike damage, minor road rash but a Grade V AC Joint separation, with the end of my left collarbone punched through my deltoid. Cue reconstructive surgery, carbon fibre ligaments and nearly four months off the bike. I know I said I wanted a carbon frame, but that wasn't what I meant...... :shock:

UndercoverRunner

Coming down the outside of stationary traffic in a summer traffic jam and a woman in Mini started a 3 point turn just as I got alongside her, I was going very slowly so the initial off was o.k but she then panicked and pushed the accelerator instead of the brake :shock:

So she shunted me across the road still clipped in and wedged me in a tangled mess of Pinarello tubes against a Transit :shock: head under the van with bike and legs sticking up in the air between the car and van.

I just had scratches but passers by were screaming that I was dead sadly my Pinarello Opera was indeed dead