Oddest fall? Tell all!

[Aggie_Ama]

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.

[bluebug32]

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.

[CyborgQueen]

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).

[Eden]

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.

[indysteel]

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.

[OakLeaf]

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.

[skywalkerbeth]

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.

[Owlie]

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...

[NaeNae]

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.