Just wondering about falls on the road only and not in a race - just recreational or training rides.
Would you describe them as newbie-type falls or $hit happens kind of falls?
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Just wondering about falls on the road only and not in a race - just recreational or training rides.
Would you describe them as newbie-type falls or $hit happens kind of falls?
I fell once on my hybrid when turning around (after the dog chase) in big chunky white gravel.
I fell once on my roadbike (after that @#%! woman nearly obliterated me) - well, that was the crash which was fairly significant.
That is an easy one for me. Riding clipless! I was having a splendid ride, stopped to get a drink and chat with my husband. I unclipped right first, when I usually unclip left. So, when my left leg went to stand, I fell, since it was still clipped. Sadly, that has happened not once, not twice, but three times. sigh
Six-time-slow-motion-tip-over-veteran!
(Should I vote 6 times?)
I used to bike to work a lot. One time a woman opened her car door into me. I was concentrating on the bus going by and didn't see the door open. The end of the door caught my foot and I flew through the air.
Another time I was behind a car making a left turn. A pedestrian stopped in front of the driver, which I didn't realize. He stopped, and I plowed into the back of his car. I went over the handlebars and landed on the trunk. The driver apparently didn't hear the thud that this created, and drove off. I then hit the pavement.
I was probably 22 years old when these happened, and the force of gravity didn't affect me quite as much then as it does now. :)
I also had the obligatory beginner clipless fall... slowly stop and fall over.
Hey, all you lurkers! An awful lot of viewing and not a lot of voting. The best result comes from a large statistical sampling.
Don't be shy!
228 views and 8 votes? I'm going to start lurking on "who's on line" and calling out names of you slackers that look and don't vote. :cool: :D
Come on! My assumption is that most most falls are low speed and not career ending. Sure $hit happens. It happens in all sports and daily life. Is my assumption true? Can we reassure the timid that they can persevere and enjoy the ride?
I have only fallen twice. Once was a low speed tip over the first time I used toe clips, and the other was a sideways slide on some rotten leaves. The second one hurt a lot more.
Low speed tipper-overer here!
I voted!
Only one fall so far. Kim saw it. It was our last day of the Yellowstone tour and my pedals were filthy...
That's why my knee warmers have a patch.
V.
So far, I've only had one tip-over in less than a month since going clipless. Similar to bmo3: Clipped out the left foot (the one I put down first) as I slowed coming towards a bench. Braced my arms, pulled on the front brake, shifted my weight forward to ease off the saddle, and somehow leaned too much to the right. Since the right foot was still clipped...
Sad thing was, I had just had my handlebars perfectly re-taped, and the right bar tape is now gashed from scraping the side of the bench :(
Since the question specified road riding, can I mention the two times I slid and fell in the mud on the C&O Canal towpath after heavy rain?
I voted, too!
I tipped over trying to start uphill.
I voted. My most recent crash was Wednesday, actually. Panicked and slammed on the brakes. Usually I can pull sideways into a slide-stop with [relative] grace. However, this was on gravel. Loose gravel. With Spot barking and tearing after me, I pull sideways and extend my leg... but I'm going too fast (and the brakes aren't helping, because of the gravel) so I crash onto one leg and panic (more) because I'm having a hard time getting up, and the dog's still behind me. He panicked when he saw me wipe and ran off (always does... but I'm always so afraid of what might happen should he catch me someday) ugh. Still dealing with the gravel roadrash. I just hope all the 'holes' look right when they heal.:(
My only real crash was in April. Sunday morning in the park. I had told my self not to ride there anymore, too many children. Sure enough I dodged a child, went left when I shoulda went right. Hit a cornered curb. Front wheel went over the first part of the curb, but not the second. Of course I kept going, up and over, and came down in the parking lot with my left arm underneath me, which broke my ribs and gave me a big old hematoma on my arm. Thank goodness for the helmet because the next day I realized I had a knot on my head too.
People came rushing up, thinking I had broken my shoulder. All I could do was try to gasp, "ribs, ribs." I was very proud of myself. My first complete sentence was to ask if my bike was OK. Some very nice people loaded my bike and took me home after I declined an ambulance (which really wasn't a good move as I came to find out.)
This is what taught me to carry my cell.
I'm not a slacker!!! I am still awaiting my first serious crash. I had a tip-over in June that still really frikin' hurts when I kneel on that knee...
My crash (as an adult) was sliding out on a patch of gravel when taking a turn. That was 3 years ago, and to this day I still get kind of freaked out about gravel on the road.
Despite having my clipless pedels for over a year, I still haven't done the slow motion tip over thing, although I've come close. Of course, having said that I'll probably forget to clip out the next time I ride. :)
I voted. Sideways low speed tip over.
not counting the slow speed blunders, two falls, one because i turned too hard
on uneven pavement, the other, because i couldnt decide which way to go i fell down on a curb cut.
The slow ones are just stupid.. so half and half.
Fell over on my side... on a very slick muddy road. Once the brakes were applied the bike just slipped out from under me.
The damage to myself and my bike were minimal... and I was very lucky.
No clipless tip-overs. One over-the-bars accident in May 2005 that broke my collarbone. I'm assuming it was over-the-bars because I came to 6 feet from the road with a bumped head, a broken collarbone, and dirt ground into my jersey on the back of my shoulder. It was my own d##m fault too - wasn't watching the road and (I presume) hit the curb.
The only other accidents which I'm not counting because they were decades ago were (1) a toe clip and cleat tipover back in the old days when the cleat was nailed to your shoe and you had to loosen the strap by hand to get out, and (2) getting hit by a slow-moving car on a 3-speed (minor damage to me, bent the bike).
i voted! no slo-mo falls from the clipless pedals, but went down hard approaching a street light, my front wheel went into the groove between asphalt and sidewalk - as it will do!! - lotsa road rash but nothing major. i've watched my DH fall from the same thing and once from riding thru a dark parking lot hitting a median he never saw. my old bike commuter buddy also did the front-wheel-in-a-road-groove thing, he went over the bars. never anything serious.
Yep, mine was riding clipless the first time. I totally forgot that I was clipped in and feel over like a ton of rock. The second time it happened, I was in the road (no cars luckily) and I hurried to get off my butt and pretend nothing happened! I had the biggest bruise on my hip for days...but of course, that was at a slow speed...Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
3 falls that I can remember. One was a "right hook" - hit by a car many years ago. One fall test riding a new bike - it had clipless, but don't remember if I had bike shoes or was riding in tennis shoes.
Then the official obligatory FALL when I put clipless on my my own bike. And when I realized I was going to fall, I announced "I'm going to fall," did just that, after saying a few choice words I just broke out laughing. There I was laying on my back with the bike between my legs, STILL CLIPPED IN WITH BOTH FEET. And I didn't have a prayer of getting out of the pedals. Well I suppose I could have gotten the shoes off and crawled out. Fortunately I was with others, and one rider was able to lift the bike up so I could get the right angle to unclip A car stopped, and the people ran out to see if I needed help and I was laughing so hard they didn't know what to think. I was pathetic!. I almost wish someone had a camera that day. LOL. Anyway I dusted myself off and did the rest of the ride. When I got home I did discover a small bit of road rash. Didn't rip the tights but ripped up my leg when the end of the handlebar hit it. I was still laughing about it so at least I provided great entertainment for the group that day.
So I guess "most" of my falls go into the "slow speed timber" category. I hope that's the last one cause falling hurts more when you get older. :(
I've had two of the "early days of clipless" falls. The first one I was stopping on purpose and totally forgot I was clipless. I just went side ways onto the curb. The other time I lost momentum on a hill.
not counting the falls people have because of clipping in or out, it looks like most falls happen AFTER people have slowed down or... before they speed up.
Sounds good. that's why we're still all riding!
:D
I have had falls for various reasons. The worse occurred 7/4/2003. I had ridden 36 miles to Huntington Beach to watch the 4th of July parade. After was riding home (the ride total was around 50 miles) when I slowed for a red light. I didn't notice that in the bike lane there was a mound of asphalt. I was going so slow that the bike just went sideways and I was launched over the bars, landed on my head and knocked myself out, continued onto my shoulder breaking my collarbone. The whole adventure was not good. I ended up in the hospital disoriented, sweaty, in icky bike clothes. Had I been speeding and ran the light I wouldn't have fallen. Oh well.
PS: I had surgery November 2005 to repair the collarbone fx which did not heal and also now have a permanent brain injury - fun huh?
And yes I am an experienced rider. Never fell as a newbie.
I had two minor clipless falls ions ago. My worst was in April when I slipped on mud and slid forever. That was a broken wrist, bruised cheek, bruised hip and broken helmet. I voted for the slide out since it had the most impact on me. I don't count the clipless tips as falls - just my stupidity.:o
I voted!
My first fall was about a year after I got clipless pedals. It was the old "have one foot out but end up leaning the other way" type of fall. My second fall (just last year) was because of me being stupid and trying out my front brake. Duh!! No injuries on either one...not counting pride, of course!
I voted sideways slide, but it was really something inbetween tip over and slide. :p
One fall on my road bike (countless on the mtn bike). I was at the bottom of a hill and in too low of a gear. Started to mash, hit some gravel, and slid out sideways. I wasn't going very fast, but it wasn't a tip over.
As a child, my most memorable fall involved trying to use a jump rope to steer my bike.
As an adult, ALL my falls involved uncooperative clipless pedals.
I'd classify my only really bad crash as a "sometimes **** happens" kind of thing. Unfortunately due to head injuries I'm missing the actual memory of that occurrence, but my suspicion is that I somehow hit a crack in the road wrong (as in my tire got stuck...). I can't really imagine how that happened, but something stopped my bike in her tracks.
--- Denise
Slow motion tipover grrl here. But mine had to do with getting used to actual toeclips rather than clipless pedals.
I had just started riding with toeclips and straps, learned how to route the straps in the buckles so I could tighten them by pulling up on them after I got moving, and I even got the tension dialed in so the clip/strap/pedal would hold my foot well enough to ride but I could still get it out by wiggling my foot backward, without reaching down to loosen the strap. Well I thought I was the smartest thing on the road and was just having a grand old time.
Then, I slowed for a stop and...simply forgot about the clips entirely. Wham! On the ground and feeling foolish, but nothing bruised other than my pride. So I learned the not-too-hard way to remember to pull my foot out of the clip before stopping.
Every which way but loose...?
I've probably had 5 falls, only one of them a low speed tip over and due more to inattention than a clipless issue as I'd been riding cliplesson a MTB for 4 years by then. Here are the other ones I can remember, roughly in order:
1. 2002 - Rode into a pole at the Tahoe century whil so captivated by the singing and poetry of the person I was riding with (a dear friend and TNT honoree) that I failed to notice the ONLY ONE of the darned poles they left in the bike path. Endo'ed and almost landed on my feet.
2. 2002 - Touched a wheel on Silverade at about 24 mph in a tight pack. I've touched wheels a bunch of times, and this is my only fall - due probably to complete exhaustion, dehydration, inability to recover (it was high 90's and we'd sone about 95 miles of a Death Ride training ride. Bent bars, scraped up. Nothing serious.
3. 2005 - Rode into a ditch in the midst of an 85 miler in sideways driving rain on Hwy. 1. Again probably due to exhaustion, inability to recover. Maybe I just wanted a nap. It was nice soft grass!! No injury or bike damage.
4. 2005 - coaching Tucson race (El Tour de Tucson for TNT - the only one I really do as a race). NEVER AGAIN. At mile ONE, Newbie rider crashed right in front of me as he shrieked like a little girl and locked his brakes trying to avoid that SCARY water bottle that rolled across the road. I could have avoided the water bottle but not the 200 pound cylist. I went down, hard and ended up DNF-ing that race after about 40 miles because my back was killing me. That one was the hardest recovery - for months my back hurt on climbs. No bike damage.
I think that's it. My husband jokes that I crash a lot - I really don't - I just crash dramatically. Seems like most are due to pushing myself so hard that I am beyond my ability to recover from silly things.
For 5 years of serious riding (3000 - 6000 miles per year), that pretty good I think.
I'm going to take the risk of jinxing myself here.
If I wipe out in my tri next week, we'll know the real cause, won't we? ;)
OK.
I have not fallen off my bike since high school. I had two falls, both riding whatever cheap, skinny tired bike I had back then. (It was the 70s) One was a wipe out on ice on the way to school. I arrived all scraped up under my jeans. I guess it was probably early spring, with patches of ice still on the streets. I took a corner and .... down! The other was riding to work at a small bookstore, where I'd be the only employee in that day. Again, skinny tired bike. Rutted dirt path. Tire went one way, I went the other. Landed on the left side of my face. Nobody wore helmets back then, come to think of it. I was a mess, and I went to work anyway, tried to clean myself up as best I could. I can't remember how I got home. The bike was OK. Maybe I even rode home. I ended up needing derm treatment for infections on my face from the dirt. I've got three small scars to prove it. :cool:
I've had a couple of near misses with the clip ins, but have always gotten out in time.
Sooo...how to vote? That's one sideways slide and one over the bars.
Welp, the question was a little scary - "the majority of your falls" - sounds like they happen all the time!!!
My falls generally have a good reason, though not necessarily something I could change. In hmmm... definitely over 20,000 miles of riding:
- moved to sidewalk in a drizle when an ambulance was coming... went over wet RR tracks... does that count as side-slide or side-tip? Graceless splat that owuld have hurt the noggin proper w/o helmet.
- Fall on the ice and snow during the "Illini Chill" - defies category since I'm not sure I was upright anyway :-) WHen you fall into snow it doens't matter, though my keys were in my pocket and left a bruise and a hole in my sweats.
- Tip and splat going 5 mph carrying something and hitting a stick.
-over-the-bars... when the club said "Sue, you *gotta* see how fast you could go on a lighter bike!" and we didn't consider that a higher quality bike would have higher quality brakes... hello, gravel!
... but then, there were the roughly 15 falls that I *caused* in that messy clumpline I didn't realize (newbie thing) I was in, when the bike in front of me lost her light and I hit the brakes jsut hard enough to bring 'em all down behind me... I didn't go down at all, of course, 'cause it's the one in back who bumps wheels who goes down!
I think SK has jinxed me!
Today I was in 25mph paceline, crossed wheels, and have pretty new blue sling for my left arm (fractured Humerus)
My previous worst fall (which resulted in a Ambulance ride). Descend at 30 - hit a patch of gravel - slid out. Problem here was I wear clip-on over prescription glasses and the cut me to where I was bleeding bad enough that I could not see out of one eye. Had about 10 stitches (Knee got banged up pretty bad), Broke a finger, and destroyed a helmet.
I've never gone over the bars, and I used to do a lot of mountain biking. I remember think today That maybe should have gone OTB (The tandem couple I was with Can drop pro women(I.e. Amber Nieben) with ease. we had been going 20, but had attracted a few wheel suckers, and I think Tom and Sue upped the pace to shake them
With a sample set of only 4 road crashes (that I remember) I voted for every which way...thought I could have gone with variations on slow & high speed slides...
I'm not sure of the first, it may have been over the bars, or it may have been a high-speed slide. I was 5 or 6 at the time, the hill was steep, there was gravel, I hit the coaster brakes hard before trying to take the corner at the bottom. I got a bunch of stiches in my head and a scolding from a neighbor for damaging the curb with my head. (before the new scolding starts, it was the reckless 60's...I don't think they had bike helmets for kids then)
The second and third were variations of the slide, one from my rack coming un-bolted and getting jammed in my spokes, the second cornering on ice.
The 4th was the obligatory slow speed tip when getting used to clipless pedals.
The one crash... hit the gutter and Fell off right side... SLID on the road and still have a palm sized scar on my right calf... It's fading to look more like a birthmak
Yah, hard to count those silly tip over falls, being clipped in. How many have I had?? 4 or 5? And many close calls where a desperate yank of the foot has saved me.
My one fall in motion was my own newbie fault for trying to get as close to the edge as possible instead of asserting my presence on the road, and letting this sedan 'think' it could squeeze it, me, and the giant tomato truck coming the other way with no bike lane on a narrow country road. My tire fell off the edge of the hardstuff and into the soft gravel, and I slid for a while, kissing asphalt. Road rash on my cheek (hey! It erased some wrinkles!) and messed up my hand. I limped the 5 miles back home, shaking. Got a cell phone that week!