Oddest fall? Tell all!

What is the oddest fall you've taken from a bike, or the oddest position you landed in?

Today I was riding a beginners mountain bike trail, and this wasn't the trail's fault. The trail was ridable, just a little tacky. My attention wavered and I wound up in some mud along the trail, lost traction, fell over. SOMEHOW I wound up with the top of my head on the ground bent over a small log :eek: :o :rolleyes: It was just soft/tacky loam, nothing hard hit my helmet - which is good because I suspect they don't focus the protection for the tippy-top of the helmet!

It is good a photo doesn't exist, but it would have been a prize-winner :)

I can't be the only one who has had an odd fall like this, so who is next?

Oddest - I endoed on flat trail, seriously flat and wide. How? My Camelbak line somehow got tangled in the bars. How? Don't know!

Funniest - A regular occurrence is for me to end up on my side with the opposite foot still somehow clipped into the bike. So basically I become trail kill. Sprawled,tangled and usually just more confused at the odd position than anything. This happened in a race, I clipped a tight tree and was kind of tangled in in the middle of the two trees. A more experienced rider asked if I was okay. My response "yes, other than I am in your way." He said no problem and was super nice. It has happened more than once with my husband, I tell him to take a photo next time but he always says he is worried about me. :)

I was riding at night and decided to show off by wheelie dropping off the end of a small bridge. Instead, I totally misjudged the edge of the bridge. My wheel dropped into a large hole at the end and I endoed, summersaulting over a tangle of headlight wires and a Camelbak tube.

Two incidents that I can remember. First time I used clippless pedals outdoors. (everyone remember's their "first time"). I've been practicing clipping in and out more than a dozen time on the trainer at home and short ride around my block.

First time going out on a group ride, day after getting the new pedals. I chanted to myself, CLIP OUT, CLIP OUT...100 yards from start line, I just stopped, and just stalled and didn't clip out and fell right on my hips. A few people quipped, "New pedals?". Embarrassing.

Second time - There was a bike trail that adruptly ended before the street, so there was a small ditch of gravel. I saw it, and I was just saying to myself, "you won't fall, just ride through it, and you'll be fine." Felt like my life flashed before my eyes. I remember thinking, "Who is the idiot that made the trail?! And I remember thinking, "land on your left!!" Believe me, it took some wobbling and TIME and I fell to the right side. My right foot got unclipped and wedged itself between the chains, causing me to get tangled up. How? I have no idea!! Suffered palm bruising, ego bruising (I should have just gotten off and walked over it), scrapes on my knee, and the pedals got VERY tight (it was easily fixed).

I was hit head on by another cyclist on a bike trail once... she'd been looking down (I think looking at her feet, perhaps trying to clip in) and drifted onto the wrong side of the trail right around a corner. I came around said corner and encountered her handlebar to handlebar.... fortunately I was not going super fast. I tipped over into a wall that was on my right and sort of slid down it. The shoulder strap from my messenger bag slipped down my left arm and trapped it to my side... so there I was, both feet still clipped in, right arm trapped against the wall, left arm pinned to my side by my messenger bag - I was totally immobilized... Poor lady was mortified, her friend eventually helped me up.

A couple of years ago, I was invited on a ride one cold March day witha group of guys to celebrate one of the rider's birthdays. He didn't know it at the time, but the ride was to end with a surprise party for him. Well, the weather was all kinds of nasty. I think we encountered every form of precipitation, from rain, to snow, to sleet. To get to the party, we had to cross a number of railroad tracks in an urban/industrial area of town. I bit it one one of them and went down on my hip, hitting the track hard. I laid there for about a two seconds before some jerk of a driver started honking like crazy. So, I barely had time to take a breath before I was up and on my bike again. Oddly, the first thought that went through my mind was whether I'd ripped my Gore jacket (I love that thing). Anyway, I felt embarrassed at first, but the guys were impressed that I picked myself up so quickly and got moving. My hip was fine; just really bruised. I still get nervous going over tracks now.

My oddest fall was probably just a failure to unclip ... except I really thought I had unclipped. It was in a group ride, just heading out of town, not in too tight of a paceline since we were still warming up and the road was a little rough. Someone up ahead went down, I don't remember why. He was fine. But in the confusion, I forgot I hadn't unclipped, and when I went.to stop, I keeled right over. :rolleyes:

Recent falls: clipped in and I wrestled the bike all the way to the ground. Hands never came off handlebars, I think I was literally trying to torque myself back upright, like a dummy.

The first weekend I had the bike, I was riding around a cul-de-sac, trying to get used to it. My front wheel somehow hit a storm drain. Not a manhole cover, a storm drain. I don't know how I fell (endo, presumably), but I landed on my chest, unscathed. (The bike was less lucky--scuffed up the bar tape and took a chunk out of the plug.) Gave DBF a heart attack, though.

Then there was the clipless fall where I somehow ended up sitting on top of the rear triangle...

I was riding a mountain bike trail that was/is challenging for me, and had yet to ride the entire thing without falling. The trail also has a very tricky, curvy descent JUST before the end. I mean, you can see the parking lot, it's that close to the end.

So...riding along with my boyfriend, hadn't yet fallen this particular day... Get to this tricky spot, which is nerve-wracking. I'm working my way through it, get through the hardest part, start celebrating just before the last curve..."Wa-hoooooo ohhhhhhh &%!@!" I had hit a very loose patch of very black dirt, almost mulch. Over the handlebars, land on my face.

Boyfriend comes over to check on me, he starts digging dirt out of my ear. He says, "You may want to go clean up in the bathroom." I asked him, "Why, am I really that dirty?" He nodded. So I go into the bathroom, and just absolutely cracked up. My face was absolutely covered in pitch black dirt.

I don't celebrate too early anymore. ;)

Not so much an odd fall, but a funny one. Maybe 15 years ago DH and I got crappy Schwinn mtn. bikes with nashbar-brand SPD pedals. After the first ride or two I found that the tension wasn't quite enough, so I asked him to tighten them JUST A HAIR for me.

Well, his definition of "just a hair" and mine differed. We got up to a stop sign and I couldn't unclip either foot. For what seemed like an eternity I was motionless, then said shitshitshitshit as I topped-over in slow-motion.

I have to go way back to riding my stingray; my friend Grace and I decided to hold hands. I'm sure you get the picture.

This was long ago on the Alameda Creek Trail. At the start of one of the trailheads is a little whoop dee do, steep drop, then a sharp blind turn, then a climb. We (my ex, who was not my ex at the time :rolleyes:) and I were returning from a ride and on the descent.

As we approached the turn a Dad and his young (12'ish maybe) daughter approached. He was steady, she was nervous and wobbly.

I was watching her and did not see the boulder the size of my head on the trail. He was in front of her and did not call it out. :mad:

I went head over heels with my hands still on the hoods, picture perfect forward roll ON the bike. :eek: :) :)

On the way down mid roll I remember calling out "I'm ok" because somehow even rolling over boulders I knew I would be.

Dude did not help me up the cliff (about 10' down), thank me for missing the fruit of his loins, ask if I was ok .... just rode on. My wheels were
taco'd.

In the future faced with that choice I'm hitting the kid. :rolleyes: They have those soft green bones, they will be ok. New Mavic Open Sup Pro rims were sweeeeeet but expensive.

Yesterday my husband lost the clip he uses to anchor his pants leg somewhere along the MUP we were riding. We went back along the trail, looking for it as we rode, going slowly. He somehow hit the edge of the pavement and fell over. He didn't hurt himself. What was odd was that off the side of the trail, where he ended up falling, was the clip down in the grass.

We still wonder if the clip hadn't fall off but was hiding on him somewhere until he had the fall.

When I was on the second to last day of my tour in the Czech Republic/Austria, we got on a bike path. We were riding along, when we climbed up a hill and came to a stop. We had to cross a busy street and get back on the path, which was now on the other side of the road. I was feeling very good about zipping up the hill, so I didn't really scope out what I had to do, or I just got cocky. I have very bad handling skills for right turns, especially sharp ones. So, normally, I would have rolled up the curb cut, unclipped, and scooted with my foot down, through the turn to get back on the path. But, I didn't. I am not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was rolling down the side of a ravine, into the woods, through a bunch of brambles. I was laughing, as I knew I was OK, the ground was soft. I finally stopped, and I screamed, "I'm OK," but I was still clipped in and I couldn't get up; I was afraid I would get dirt in my cleats and not be able to ride. One of the other guys on the trip got down to me before DH did, extricated my feet from the pedals and told me to forget about my cleats! I used my water bottle to clean them, and my skinned knee, and since I had brought my own seat bag, I had my leader supplies and put some antibiotic ointment on.
The trip leaders didn't even know it had happened until I told them on the last night. And the guy who rescued me, took a picture and showed everyone....

My funniest fall didn't even involve a bicycle.

Back in the "put your heavy stuff high" backpacking days, after resting against a tree with my pack on, someone gave me an energetic hand up, and I toppled straight over and got head and shoulders stuck under my pack, butt in the air.

Funniest rather than oddest.

Merrily chatting to our Breeze Ride leader on the inaugural Blackpool Breeze Ride, we were talking about clipless vs cages.

As we drew the end of our ride I had no sooner said "I take a foot out of the cage blah, blah" when I applied the brakes and promptly failed to take a foot out of either of the cages...Doh!