Your Worst Crash...............so far.

On_What

Never dropped the bike through my own fault! Come close on a few bends etc but my skill has not run out yet. Closest I came was on LBL sportive on a wet cobbled road with a sharp right hander at the bottom.

nevman

Last October,training ride with a group one night on the A6-guy in the left CG pulled into the space occupied by my mate in the right CG and both came down.I went over the top and landed on my left shoulder-recall sliding down the road on my face.Grade three dislocated shoulder and concussion plus usual cuts and bruises.My bike was unmarked but my mates was a write off.He was unharmed.Garmin stopped at 25.2mph.Still hurts and quacks say its not bad enough for a repair job,although the missus says it makes her feel ill to look at it-me too actually.Back riding,slowly,two weeks later.

Diamant49

November 1980, got T-boned by a speeding car after I pulled out from a side road at a blind junction (corner & hill to the right). I am sure it was clear when I pulled out, but the driver was a cop (RUC) who was already 5 minutes late for work and 5 miles away from it when he hit me and the police evidence suggests he had his foot down.

Left arm went through windscreen & I went on over roof of car - so totally shattered left forearm and nearly severed at elbow; broken ribs which punctured lung; ruptured colon; badly broken right collar bone & humerus; broken right tibia; damaged ACL in right knee and damaged right ankle ligaments; multiple cuts, abrasions etc.; major blood transfusion.

Required 10 days in ICU, mostly in a morphine induced haze (lovely stuff!) - but when you are 19 you at least think you are indestructible. My first words on coming round were "can I get a new bike?" (I had been eyeing up a Dawes Atlantis) - and 6 weeks after the accident I cycled 5 miles to the next town & back on my Dad's old bike, to get a copy of Cycling (now Cycling Weekly) as I had seen the Atlantis in an advert there. Trouble was I had a full arm plaster on the left arm and this broke all the way round - the right arm was also meant to be in a sling contraption. So I had to go back to A&E and 'fess up so that the plaster could be fixed - dressing down from the Sister who did it almost hurt more than the accident!

Left arm never worked properly again (forearm bones fused) and right arm/collar bone still hurts at times, but otherwise no permanent physical harm. The Atlantis was my favourite bike ever (for the colour scheme if nothing else), until some toerag nicked it a few years later.....

Alibran

February last year, nice van driver pulled out in front of me on a roundabout. I was doing about 20mph, not sure what speed he was doing, but I'm told his windscreen shattered under the impact of my body hitting it. Bike was written off, and I've got scars on my knees and one ankle, still some pain in my left knee, but that's mostly gone now.

Why was he nice? Since the insurance paid out in September, I've bought 3 new bikes and a gaming PC. I can look back on it now and say "every cloud ..."

MARK311069

5 weeks ago slipped on ice stopped a junction to let a car pass pushed of just clipped my foot in and down I went. Broken hip three cannulated screws 4 days in hospital

Mikey23

My goodness, this has to be the most depressing thread ever... Never had a major off and don't intend to

Gruesomely fascinating reading though

smidsy

When I was 12. Was in mid modification mode on my 'going to school bike' and ran out of time. Consequently it had no brakes by the time I had to go to school the next day and I was late.

Long story short but coming out of the end of a 1 way street the wrong way 'with no brakes' and into a car coming from the right was not pleasant.

The police decided not to take matters further as a broken leg and ripped ear was considered sufficient punishment for my stupidity.

Oh well, live and learn.

FoldingJoe

smidsy wrote:

When I was 12. Was in mid modification mode on my 'going to school bike' and ran out of time. Consequently it had no brakes by the time I had to go to school the next day and I was late.

Long story short but coming out of the end of a 1 way street the wrong way 'with no brakes' and into a car coming from the right was not pleasant.

The police decided not to take matters further as a broken leg and ripped ear was considered sufficient punishment for my stupidity.

Oh well, live and learn.

What do you mean "no brakes"!! All you had to do was put your foot on your rear tyre just above the seatstay!!

smidsy

FoldingJoe wrote:

smidsy wrote:

When I was 12. Was in mid modification mode on my 'going to school bike' and ran out of time. Consequently it had no brakes by the time I had to go to school the next day and I was late.

Long story short but coming out of the end of a 1 way street the wrong way 'with no brakes' and into a car coming from the right was not pleasant.

The police decided not to take matters further as a broken leg and ripped ear was considered sufficient punishment for my stupidity.

Oh well, live and learn.

What do you mean "no brakes"!! All you had to do was put your foot on your rear tyre just above the seatstay!!

Thats fine on a BMX or similar but even at 12 I was not so supple that I could contort myself to be able to do that on a road racing bike !!!!

pride4ever

My abiding memory of crashes are those of guys staggering to their feet or moaning from the tarmac, more concerned with the state of their bikes than what they have inflicted on their bodies. Cyclists- rare breed.

Mike39496

Car turned right in front of me as I was coming down a hill, bike went under the car and I head first into the windscreen. Luckily no broken bones or significant brain damage!

It was a great bike...

dandrew

Chipped front tooth that went through front lip when I was 14
Broken jaw ( condile arm broken off ) and rather large hole in chin a couple of years ago.
Both painful but the first accident seemed an awful lot worse!!!!

pride4ever

Mike39496 wrote:

Car turned right in front of me as I was coming down a hill, bike went under the car and I head first into the windscreen. Luckily no broken bones or significant brain damage!

It was a great bike...

Niiiice Kinetic 1 wheels man.

slowandsteady

On a bmx track about 25 years ago whilst on holiday at a random caravan park. The hire bikes metal serated edged pedal span around and hit my shin exposing white flesh.

Close the thread, that's the worst pain any man can feel.

Ginjafro

Definitely my own fault this one! When I was a teenager I thought it would be a good idea to lower my bum over the rear wheel, when traveling at some pace. I just managed to avoid getting my balls trapped between the seat stays and the wheel but got into a huge wobble and thrown off anyway, sustaining a few bruises and grazes. Thankfully though, balls intact but no dignity.....

More recently though was a smashed shoulder resulting in torn ligaments and a chipped ankle bone when my front end washed out during a MTB race 5 years ago. It was very painful on the moment of impact and I had to wait half an hour to be rescued (there was no way I could make my own way back, I was that stunned, pained and crippled). I finally got stretchered off with the help of the local air cadets who were marshaling. My agony did not end there though because the streak of pee who was carrying the head end of the stretcher had probably never carried anything heavier than a bag of potatoes before and dropped me on the way to a fire track, ouch.

nunowoolmez

Flip me!!! These are horrific & I am wincing at them all. Muchos kudos to those who have continued to ride...

gcs

Last summer 04.30 on the way to work across the ranges, just at the start of a downhill bit approaching 25mph.
All I remember is looking down briefly, then back up to see a big deer had jumped off the bank straight into the road, about a foot in front of the handlebars. No time to react, just remember grabbing the brakes and thinking this I's going to hurt.
Hit it square in the ribs and went over the bars. it landed on top of me, then got up and started to run off with my bike wrapped up in its legs.
Didn't fair too badly considering, got a dislocated jaw, bad bruising and some impressive gravel rash. Bike was ok, not a mark on it , all I found was a load of deer hair in the spokes.
Crash helmet was absolutely blown to pieces tho, bet the people at Madison had a good laugh reading my claim for a new one under the crash replacement scheme......

zakstory

Descending behind another rider (around 25mph), as we were passing driveways to several houses on the left, a dog runs out from nowhere barking its head off. Needless to say the rider in front of me slams on his brakes and that's the last I remember. I went straight into the back of him and went flying down the road on my face. Next thing I remember was waking up in the ambulance with that brace they place around your head. Luckily I walked out of hospital that evening with only a fractured wrist, skinless face, and a lot of grazes. Although my bike was a write-off

Apparently the owner of the dog was very apologetic (I should bloody well hope so). The dog had just run out of his driveway, and the owner was INSIDE his house... what on earth!?! This is the ridiculous part.. A few months later I'm driving down the same road, and the dog runs out again, luckily I had plenty enough time to slow down to avoid hitting it.

I could have taken this case further, what with the owner not having any control of his dog that caused me injury. I just wanted to forget the whole thing!

Whenever I see a dog when I'm out on a ride now, I slow the f**k down!

andi1363

Corner fail! Iliace crest fracture.

mike6

What is significant about this thread is the number of "incidents" that were not the cyclists fault.

Personally I have has four accidents on the bike, and three of them involved being driven into by cars. Te other, ahem, involved me doing a gimp fall the first time I used clipless pedals. No injuries, but maximum lack of cool.

Joeblack

Iv had the obligatory gimp fall, it happens, not been off since though, anyone never had a accident???

tlw1

A few incidents and trips to A&E but the main ones are:

Night ride on the mountain bike and my father in law says "Your not going down that are you", therefore I did - what I didn't see is where someone had dug a hole and the front wheel dropped in. I flew over and ripped my leg open on the x-lite bar ends, resulting in this:

http://www.pbase.com/the2matts/image/68770277

Had to have an op to sort it out. Looking back the funnest part was cycling 4 miles back to the car one legged and beating the FIL who got lost!

The roadbike crash was a result of getting down to the sister in laws too early (80 mile ride) so had breakfast and a haircut in a nearby town and then did a relaxed 5 mile to theirs. My coat was tied round the bar and fell loose into the front wheel. Went over the bars and landed on the road. Much road rash, cuts and my ear needed sowing back on at the top:

http://www.pbase.com/bentleyboys/image/118088479

aberdeen_lune

Car driven into me SMIDSY style late December, turning right failing to give way to me the oncoming vehicle. Garmin speed was 27.5 mph. I woke up 2 days later in intensive care.

Fractured larynx so they gave me a tracheostomy. Fractured C6, chin degloving , bashed teeth and one front tooth lost. Two fractures on right hand metacarpal head little finger and ring finger. Nice metalwork repairs there. Spent seven nights in hospital.

Back on the turbo now got to get in shape for race season. Only trouble is the annoying hole in my airway.

Bike may be a write off waiting on bike shop report. Alloy handlebars snapped and mangled so must have been a fair impact.

grimpeur74

March 2011. Hit by a speeding minicab on Highbury Corner Roundabout. Broken left ankle and right wrist. Took six operations to fix and wiped out my lovely Condor Agio, now replaced by a souless Boardman CX. The driver was done though which was some satisfaction.

WarrenT

Had a bad one in September last year.

Was cycling along Upper Richmond Road when an sweet 90 year old lady decided to turn right from the oncoming traffic and smash straight into the side of me. Was catapulted down the road landing face first on the ground. Lost 6 teeth and tore the skin off my lips which resulted in my needing plastic surgery. Busted my lower jaw.

Completely wrote off my bike and still waiting on her insurers to pay up for that and my dental implants. Taking forever even though they admitted liabilty.

solosuperia

Just the unfairness got me..........
The other winter, had been zooming around the South Downs for about three hours risking life and limb.
Riding up my drive at almost zero mph, ice went down like a sack of potatoes!
Laying there, couldn't move, calling out trying to attract attention of the family indoors.....All to no avail!
Got to my mobile phone rang the house......I could hear the phone ringing in the hall
Could anyone else, of course not!
The wife pops out to do something......."Oh what are you doing down there?"
*&^&^%$^&&^%$%^&***
"There is no need to be like that!
Broken hip.....I did squeal a bit when they put me on the stretcher.
Screwed back together fine now.
They took the plaster off or whateverand tell me the leg is a bit shorter....It happens, wear a pad under you heel to counteract it. Limped about for a month or so threw the pad away
Spot on, reckon that leg has always been a bit shorter???????

neeb

Chr*st, I hate these threads but can never resist reading them...

I've been very lucky, just the usual clutch of hip & elbow road rash incidents & severe bruising, and a couple of smashed helmets with very mild concussion (diesel on a corner and a wet wooden bridge). The only time I've been hit by a car was directly from behind when I was stationary at lights - the rear wheel crumpled and absorbed most of the impact so just minor cuts and bruises.

Hopefully other people who haven't had major injuries will contribute too so we're not all scared to get on our bikes...

<edit> Oh, forgot my other lucky escape - someone opened a door on me on Chiswick High Road, I managed to brake enough to avoid injury but not enough to avoid ending up doubled up over the top of the door - I had to ask the driver to help me down. It was quite funny because he thought I had been impaled and was in a right state.

pride4ever

Again...we get back on and carry on regardless. Does anyone know of a rider who just couldnt get back on the bike so to say after a crash, someone who lost his bottle to such a degree that they just couldnt face it?

dodger421

I've got a non-serious experience.

Last weekend pulled away from group on longish gradual climb. Realised my mistake and tried to pull over into a layby to let them catch up. Didn't notice the slightly raised cobbles lining the road/layby join until I was alongside and moving too slowly to avoid hitting side on. Had enough time to think "I'm going to fall over, this is going to hurt" before hitting the ground.

Picked myself up to assess damage just in time for closest riders to pull up laughing their heads off. Minorly grazed knee, ripped tights and overshoes and slightly scuffed shifters. Purple bruise on left hip and shoulder showed up a couple of days later. After much ribbing from group got back on and finished ride.

My first, and touch wood only, off on a road bike. My own fault for paying too much attention to the group behind me and not enough to where I was going. I've come to accept that I will have a much worse crash at some point, and it will hurt a lot more. Not looking forward to it, but accepted it'll happen.

fossyant

Wow,

Nothing as bad as these.

Split nose from stone kicked up by car, broken bone in hand from SMIDSY, and a damaged shoulder from another SMIDSY - took lots of physio, an op for decompression, more physio, steroids - all OK now.

I have a 'mate' that was knocked off (I saw the accident) and he wasn't badly injured, but it's fecked up one of his fingers - can't bend it properly 10 months later. He's not been on the bike on the road since.