How often do you crash?

nich

I seem to be having an off about once a year commuting...problem is I don't bounce anymore, and always seem to hurt myself.

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Also does anyone wear extra pads? I'm considering elbow pads as I've got metal in my elbow from a couple of years ago and it's always in the back of my mind (it also hurts a lot when it hits anything solid!).

And finally, has anyone gone from spds back to flats or to those flat/spd combined pedals? I've used spds for years and doubt I can even pedal properly on flats, but I'm sure that millisecond of unclipping hinders me from a graceful dismount...

rick_chasey

Twice in 12 years.

Once on black ice (bruised).

Once broke some ribs ( so carried on commuting) > my fault that one - ran into the back of someone who I'd assumed wasn't going to stop - looked over my shoulder because a moped was coming up too close and hit the cyclist in front who'd slowed.

vpnikolov

nich wrote:

I seem to be having an off about once a year commuting...problem is I don't bounce anymore, and always seem to hurt myself.

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Also does anyone wear extra pads? I'm considering elbow pads as I've got metal in my elbow from a couple of years ago and it's always in the back of my mind (it also hurts a lot when it hits anything solid!).

And finally, has anyone gone from spds back to flats or to those flat/spd combined pedals? I've used spds for years and doubt I can even pedal properly on flats, but I'm sure that millisecond of unclipping hinders me from a graceful dismount...

There is an art to it - it's called "not falling from the bike".

My last fall was early 2015 when I peeled most of the skin on my knee. Thankfully nothing broken, but a very nasty scar left. But I have had a couple of near misses where I saved myself from falling by unclipping quite fast.

Never considered going back to flat pedals, doesn't make sense.

rick_chasey

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/r ... ies-24316/

itboffin

seems to be once or twice every Jan, goodbye Jan 2017

likewise i'm not bouncing much and running out of things to break/rebreak

meanredspider

Once every 2-3 years-ish - nearly always on diesel. Never broken anything (so far)

nich

January is not a good month for me either

I'm reading the how to crash your bike article, looks like I fall into the 'The sack of spuds' category

anonymousblackfg

10 years. Once where the royal parks chip and sealed a corner and left no sign (fvcking queen) once by a non indicating van from a standstill so all slow mo (plus vaulted my handlebars) and last week on a very greasy bit of road where I took the corner a touch to fast for the conditions. Thankfully all bruises and grazes.

roger_merriman

nich wrote:

I seem to be having an off about once a year commuting...problem is I don't bounce anymore, and always seem to hurt myself.

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Also does anyone wear extra pads? I'm considering elbow pads as I've got metal in my elbow from a couple of years ago and it's always in the back of my mind (it also hurts a lot when it hits anything solid!).

And finally, has anyone gone from spds back to flats or to those flat/spd combined pedals? I've used spds for years and doubt I can even pedal properly on flats, but I'm sure that millisecond of unclipping hinders me from a graceful dismount...

What sort of crashes are you having? I have gone back to flats from SPD but that's because I'm a old MTBer at heart.

I give myself time, I filter deliberately and carefully, and not at speed, to give both myself and others thinking time and so on.

kingstongraham

Twice only in several years, once hit by a car while in cycle lane passing stationary traffic, once last year when chain shipped due to lack of maintenance on the same bike. That one hurt more.

I haven't thought about how to fall better, just try not to in the first place. I learned lessons from both of mine.

ManiaMuse

2013 - x2

- Filtering on right of stationary traffic, car decides to do an abrupt U-turn without indicating just as I am alongside and I go over the bonnet
- Classic right hook with a car, could have been worse

2014 - x1

- Tram tracks. Evil things, best avoided

2016 - x1

- Suicidal pedestrian decided to step out right in front of me when I was going about 20mph. Thankfully she cushioned the impact

secretsam

I hit the deck on average once a year. So I've had this year's crash, OK, fate?

xbnm

2011
Worse accident car flashed out from a school entrance by vehicle coming the other pulled out in front of me without looking thankfully scrubbed some speed before impact but smashed the windscreen and had a trip over the bonnet. Injury thankfully minor though still have a small scar on my face.

Same year virtually the same place car overtook pulled in and stopped to let a little darling out. Minor impact with the rear end some nice scratches on the car. They drove off.

Changed my route since to avoid said school and had no on road accidents since. I'm also i think a lot more aware of what can go wrong and I'm more assertive in positioning and don't mine shouting if i think someones going to do something stupid.

hopkinb

3 times in 4 years.

1. Wet manhole cover on the apex of a corner - I didn't have time to even register it before I was sprawled across the road - shoulder hurt for about a year
2. Yute on a bmx bunnyhopped from the pavement in to the road without looking, right into my path. Stinging road rash, bent derailleur hanger.
3. Lost front wheel while braking on Stockwell ice rink about 6 weeks ago. Road rash.

I'm not counting the clipless moment in front of a ped crossing full of yummy mummies. How they laughed as I lay on my back with my legs in the air with my bike still attached to my feet.

veronese68

hopkinb wrote:

2. Yute on a bmx bunnyhopped from the pavement in to the road without looking, right into my path. Stinging road rash, bent derailleur hanger.

Narrowly avoided one doing something similar once, he was all over the place so I rang my bell and said coming through quite loudly. He still jumped across the front of me and I somehow managed to avoid him. Had a go at him further up and he completely blanked me, I shouted at him and still nothing, yelled "oi!" really loudly to no response. Tapped him on the shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Hood up and headphones on so loud he couldn't hear anything. Had a go at him and he shrugged his shoulders and put his headphones back on. I nearly through him and his bike under a lorry. He was old enough to have a full beard so I wasn't having a go at a child.
So beware yoofs on tiny bicycles.
To answer the original question probably once every couple of years. One bad one was the car door, nothing I could have done differently to avoid that as it wasn't in what would normally be considered a possible dooring area. Others have been minor and my often own fault for doing something daft.

rick_chasey

nich wrote:

I seem to be having an off about once a year commuting...problem is I don't bounce anymore, and always seem to hurt myself.

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Also does anyone wear extra pads? I'm considering elbow pads as I've got metal in my elbow from a couple of years ago and it's always in the back of my mind (it also hurts a lot when it hits anything solid!).

And finally, has anyone gone from spds back to flats or to those flat/spd combined pedals? I've used spds for years and doubt I can even pedal properly on flats, but I'm sure that millisecond of unclipping hinders me from a graceful dismount...

If you're looking to unclip before you crash you're doing it wrong.

Pufftmw

Twice in 7 years but a I had a mini-crash last night strangely.

Bridge expansion joint in New Cross (like a tram line), lovely skin rash on my thigh. The other was two cyclists yacking as they moved off from lights on Tower Hill and one swerved into my path which twisted my handlebar to the left and I hit the deck - knackered helmet and cracked Playbook.

Last night I was filtering through traffic on Lewisham Way and I was going from the outside, through a car sized gap in a line of stationary traffic to the empty bus lane. Either the trailer clipped the bumper of the car I was moving between (about 10mph) or the dog was standing up and got thrown to the right when I turned but the result was the trailer flipped over and dragged on the roof. I stayed upright and stopped. Dog was absolutely fine but a bit panicked for a few mins.

MrSweary

About 4 times in 15 years for me. Two serious, two minor. Last serious one was last summer courtesy of a homicidal maniac. The previous serious one was just a cabbie pulling an illegal u-turn into me.

Less serious was a low speed where a van wasn't looking and pulled into me and before that losing a front wheel on a slippery path.

What has probably saved me in both serious crashes was having a backpack on which cushioned my fall. Also, holding on to the bars and not sticking an arm out hence avoiding a broken collar bone.

MrSweary

Rick Chasey wrote:

nich wrote:

I seem to be having an off about once a year commuting...problem is I don't bounce anymore, and always seem to hurt myself.

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Also does anyone wear extra pads? I'm considering elbow pads as I've got metal in my elbow from a couple of years ago and it's always in the back of my mind (it also hurts a lot when it hits anything solid!).

And finally, has anyone gone from spds back to flats or to those flat/spd combined pedals? I've used spds for years and doubt I can even pedal properly on flats, but I'm sure that millisecond of unclipping hinders me from a graceful dismount...

If you're looking to unclip before you crash you're doing it wrong.

Yeah, unclipping isn't something you need to worry about in a crash.

Pufftmw

nich wrote:

Is there an art to falling off your bike and not getting hurt?

Try and tuck your head and your shoulder facing the tarmac down and roll. Instinctive for me after years of judo as a kid and its saved from a number of more serious injuries on both bikes and motorbikes over time. Also why my Playbook broke when I rolled and landed on my rucksack

jds_1981

Wow,

Let's just say if I've not come off my bike in the last three months i feel I'm doing well...

Bikes have got two frigging wheels, they're not stable and can't be expected to start upright.

kingstongraham

Both times for me I didn't know they were happening until I was already on the ground/bonnet. It would need to be reflex action if there was a way to fall to prevent injury, so judo might be the answer.

slowbike

Hmm ... last commuting crash was over 20 years ago before I was a cyclist - I just used the bike to get to/from college.
Only recent crash wasn't commuting but was messing about with my brother who was towing a trailer (with his bike) - I grabbed the trailer for a tow, he steered into my path and I didn't move over accordingly or let go soon enough ... ooops! Bit stupid really - although it was on a bike path with only our better halves and sister around ...

Perhaps I'm not trying hard enough? (or more likely - have reasonable roads with minimal interaction with other road users!)

rick_chasey

jds_1981 wrote:

Wow,

Let's just say if I've not come off my bike in the last three months i feel I'm doing well...

What on earth are you doing?!?!

rower63

Veronese68 wrote:

... nothing I could have done differently to avoid that as it wasn't in what would normally be considered a possible dooring area...

did it fall from an aeroplane?

dyrlac

Hmm, during my modern cycling career (since Oct 2013, about 32,000 km) I've failed to keep the rubber side down on quite a few occasions. Amusingly and/or presciently, rower warned me about this shortly after my very first post (viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12575770&start=47460#p18615136)

Clipless moments - SPD: 3, Speedplay 3. None serious. User error on the spds and one of the speedplays, total exhaustion on the other speedplays and failing to have hired soigneurs to catch me at the pretend finish line.

Ice - 1. Richmond gate in RP, actually saw two guys go down, then wondered why they were waving at me so excitedly.

Endos - 2. First was pretty bad, swerved to avoid debris in the rain, lost the rear wheel, recovered with a drifting slide, got back upright thinking I am amazing and possibly the greatest cyclist of all time, failed to notice the wing mirror of a parked car. Game over. Tore the UCL in my thumb when I landed (must have splayed my hands to break the fall). Second was less serious, black cab stopped short on New Kings Road (still not sure why), was boxed in on both sides, fistfull of brakes led to flipsville. Knee scrape, suspected minor concussion, bent RD hanger, torn bar tape.

Hooks/attempted murder - 1. Oncoming car turns through a gap at speed, fails to see I'm already there, and T-bones me. Right femur snapped in half. Bike RIP.

So all in all pretty successful, I've only needed surgery requiring general anaesthesia twice. :? While I try to be more careful, I think the lesson is don't do what dyrlac don't does.

hopkinb

Dyrlac wrote:

I think the lesson is don't do what dyrlac don't does.

hopkinb

rower63 wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

... nothing I could have done differently to avoid that as it wasn't in what would normally be considered a possible dooring area...

did it fall from an aeroplane?

I was also a bit puzzled by the idea of being doored in a non-dooring zone!

keef66

I don't commute, which is probably why I don't crash.

I'm not counting 2 clipless incidents, one sideways into a field and one on the footpath at the end of the drive, even though the second one left me with a large hole in my knee, bleeding knuckles and a bent derailleur hanger.

Nor am I counting going over the bars on a rental MTB in Tenerife because I was behaving like a dickhead trying to impress my colleagues. I think I impressed them by how much blood my elbow produced though.

Nearest to an accident on a road bike was when a yoof in a tarted up Citroen AX tried to wipe me out on a mini roundabout I was already crossing. He emerged from my left, looked right and we made eye contact, then he tried to run me over. By some miracle I swerved to avoid him and stayed upright and on the bike, by now cycling along the white line with him to my left so I hammered on the roof of the car. He did look surprised, and stopped. His predictable response was SMIDSY. I pointed out my lights and brightly coloured clothing and suggested he track down a Specsavers.

warreng

Twice in 20,000 km. Once braking on a wet manhole cover & once into the side of a van

I think I've consciously slowed down and never give it full effort unless I'm absolutely sure it's safe. I've come to the conclusion that commuting is about getting to work in one piece rather than training

graeme_s-2

keef66 wrote:

I don't commute, which is probably why I don't crash.

I can recall having one clipless fall and one fall on a hill when my chain jammed while not commuting, but every other crash I've had in the nearly 11 years I've been cycling has been on a commute.

I was managing to get myself knocked off roughly once every two years I think, then I had two proper crashes (hit by vehicles) within a few months of each other in 2011/2012 and have been clear since (touch wood). Since then I have had at least two clipless falls (one on my driveway) and a recent one when I got caught out by the extra toe overlap in my new winter boots.

Worst injury I've suffered was a long term shoulder injury from being knocked off deliberately by a driver in 2009, but everything else has been mild concussion, bruises and grazes.

I don't feel that any of my vehicle collisions were my fault, and I couldn't put my finger on specific things I could have done differently, but I do think as I've gained experience I've had fewer crashes, and that's probably not a coincidence.