Have you ever crashed?

[DebW]

I've never gotten road rash. Never crashed in that manner. Sand and gravel on the road aren't a big hazard as long as you see them ahead of time and ride ride straight (no lean to the bike) across them. My accidents:

1) hit by car in 1977. I was on a 3 speed and got hit at an intersection by a car going very slowly. Bike fork got bent. I was fine except for ripping a seam in my jeans.

2) solo accident May 2005. Hit a curb due to not watching where I was going, did an endo and broke collarbone. Have no memory of actual crash. Bike was fine. I was riding again in 4 months. Shoulder is now almost normal again.

[Jo-n-NY]

. Shoulder is now almost normal again.[/QUOTE]

That is so good to hear Deb. I am still getting better and going back to the orthopedic in a couple of weeks to make sure all going ok. I continue to improve so I feel good about that.

~ JoAnn

[bcipam]

I've had my share of nasty crashes both road and mountain. The worse was 7/4/2004 when I hit a bump in the pavement, was tossed off my bike and landed on my head, knocked out cold for 20 minutes, came to was rushed to the hospital, Cat-scanned and then sent home. The next day, as I was driving my stick swift car, I heard a loud crack and realized I also fractured my right collarbone. Back to the hospital, off the bike 10 weeks and have just recently had surgery to repair the fracture which never healed. Again off the bike this time for 12 weeks. I just started riding again. 4 months post surgery and the fracture still has not healed. I pray by 6 months it's OK. I also have some residue post-concussion head injury but I'm probably not any more ditzy now than I was then.

About 8 years ago I tumbled down a short cliff while mountain biking and jammed the bar end into my right thigh. It caused a hematoma the size of a basketball which did not subside for almost 8 months. That was attractive. I now have a permanent indention in that thigh. Last summer, while tackling a rock garden I again flipped over, came down on my back, sat up and thought I was OK until I saw the blood running down my arm and leg. Turns out I busted my elbow open. The blood made me pass out a few moments. My buddy, an experienced rider who had charged down the hill, knew to come back looking for me. There just weren't enough bandages in either of our packs to stop the bleeding. I do carry, and don't laugh because it is effective, a small sanitary pad in my first aid kit and that help absorb alot of blood but I still had to walk out of the park were we were riding another 12 miles (I ended up riding most of it blood flying everywhere. My bike was covered). Elbow required 10 stitches.

So both knees, both elbows and both shoulders have permanent road rash/injury scars for all my falls. But as my buddy says "if you ain't falling, you ain't trying" so guess I've been trying alot!

[DeniseGoldberg]

Unfortunately, my answer is yes too. I've only fallen a few times, but the last one was a doozy. Before that one, it was an exercise in picking myself up, checking the bike for damage, getting back on and starting to ride again.

My crash in May of 2004 was different. I don't know what caused the crash since I have no memory of that day or the next few either. I suspect my wheel got caught in or on something. I know that the bike flipped over the front wheel and I rode it over and landed on my head. I had a skull fracture, brain injury, broken bones (pelvic bone, a couple of ribs, bones around one eye), and a lot of bruises. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet I don't believe I would have survived. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital, and worked up from walking very short distances to walking for longer periods of time, to riding my bike again just 6 weeks after the accident (much to the dismay of some of my docs!).

It took the better part of a year for me to work back to what I consider normal from an endurance standpoint, but I proved to myself by the end of last year that I truly was back (over 4000 miles on my bike did that for me!).

But I sense that your question is more than finding out who has crashed. It seems to be more of "how do I get over being afraid of crashing". I think it's important to look at how much time we spend on our bikes and how many rides we have taken and will continue to take without crashes. I've been riding a long time. At first it was more an occasional thing, but since I started touring back in 1988, riding my bike has become something that I do all of the time. I refuse to let the possibility of crashing scare me away. Like JoAnn pointed out, coming back after a crash can bring more care in riding style or location. But for most of us, that extra care doesn't stop us from enjoying riding.

--- Denise