How often do you crash?

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Three months ago I decided to get a new MTB and start bike commuting. It's the first bike I've had with clipless pedals, so in the first week I crashed twice by not getting a foot to the ground quick enough. Ouch. Then last week I took a header in the middle of a busy street at night. Front tire was fine when I put it in the bus rack for the last leg of the trip home. Got off the bus, hopped on the bike and headed downhill on a curve. About 2 seconds later I noticed the bike didn't feel right. I hit the brakes going about 15 mph and next thing I know I'm sprawled out in the middle of the street, broken shards of stuff everywhere, bike up on the curb and I'm dazed and confused and wondering who or what just sucker punched me. My best guess is that I hopped on the bike not realizing the front tire was completely flat. Hitting the front brake hard probably locked up the front wheel as the flat had a ton 'o traction.

So anyway now I'm like super paranoid of crashing again and I'm just wondering how common are these types of user-induced crashes and how often do cyclists get seriously injured this way.

Thanks,
Gordon
Portland, Oregon

i crash basically every time i go mtn. biking. i've fallen 3-4 times riding through town on my mtn. bike. and i've never fallen on my road bike. of course, i've only got 600 miles on it so far.

Well so far not very often.
Ive had a few bad ones commuting to work (running over kids) and failing to get feet out of SPD's quickly enough used to be common before i got used to them.
A few times out on the trail but nothing major.
I think all of us take a few tumbles now and then it comes with the territory especially if your riding pretty hard.
So i would say on average about once every 3 months, but i do use the bike every day so thats pretty good i think.
Be carefull all.

I'm pretty new to cycling but hadn't fallen off my bike at all until last week where I fell off twice. Both times were self-induced and weren't really serious. Techincally, you should never crash provided that you are careful and the people around you are careful. Having said that, next time I go out, I'll probably crash!

Oh! I was feeling quite confident through the summer, hadn't crashed once (daily 50km commute). But winters here, and roads were all iced up and the temperatures were too nice (below -20) to not commute, and so I've crashed 2 times this last week. Stupidity was the major factor. Ice is slippery, and letting adrenaline do the thinking was'nt all too bright. But my belief is through errors one learns most, and sometimes you have to crash to really get the feeling of environmental limits. :eek:

I crashed last month going through a neighborhood, makeing a 90 degree turn at a decent speed, about half way through it realize there's wet leaves 1/2 inch thick covering the road. BAM, it was faster then I thought it would be.

Didnt even scatch the bike, but I got a little scrapped up.

I don't crash very often. HOWEVER, a week ago on Wednesday we had a pretty good snow. I mounted my studded snows in the morning and headed off to work. Just as my safety glasses fogged over I hit a snow rut left by a car. Down I went. Before I made it safely to work I ended up falling 3 times. Fortunately the snow was deep enough to cushion my fall. The question is: Do you usualy laugh when you fall or NOT!

I crashed yesterday. I am cycling into town where the traffic is stationary but I am still going in the empty cycle lane. All of a sudden this bloke comes from inbetween the traffic and enters the lane without looking. I clamped on the brakes and just about missed him but of course braking that hard I went flying over the handlebars. He looked at me on the road, said,"I'm all right." and walked on leaving me to pick myself up. I now have a badly scraped and bruised right side.

i crash basically every time i go mtn. biking. i've fallen 3-4 times riding through town on my mtn. bike. and i've never fallen on my road bike. of course, i've only got 600 miles on it so far.

It's the other way around for me, probably because I've never really used my mountain bike to go mountain biking.

The question is: Do you usualy laugh when you fall or NOT!You've got to, after the pain subsides of course.

I took a sharp corner in a parking lot about a month ago going about...15mph? I thought my cyclocross tires made me invincible, but the completely smooth and very wet pavement proved me wrong. I lost traction in my lean and landed on my hip and elbow. My bike went sliding away, and I slid so long I had enough time to realize I had just crashed and was going to have to wait for myself to stop sliding before I could get up :-D. I slide so far that my sweatshirt sleeve was able to slide all the way from my wrist to the middle of my upper arm.

It was an emtpy parking lot, so no one ran over me as I lay there, and the hip bruise and elbow scrap are completely healed now. The problem is that although generally a courageous person, I now have phycological issues with leaning into a curve or corner while going fast at all. I can't trust my traction, and it sucks.

You've got to, after the pain subsides of course.
...
The problem is that although generally a courageous person, I now have phycological issues with leaning into a curve or corner while going fast at all. I can't trust my traction, and it sucks.

I have the same problem, but am hoping that this coming season I'll be able to overcome it.

I've been in a few fender benders over the years. All were caused by operator error. All were laughable and none resulted in injury, so I've been lucky.

Things will get better. I've not crashed where I didn't learn something so take what you've experienced as a valuable lesson.

I am the crash king.

Partly because my mind hasn't really figured out that my body isn't 12 yeasr old anymore and my bike isn't a BMX bike anymore, and partly because I just seem to have bad juju with gravity.

Example: The week before Christmas, I'm out with a buddy for a quick thirty miles or so. We're spinning along at 21 or 22 Mph thinking how cool it is that we live in upstate NY and we're still riding in December when, WHAM! I'm on the ground. Why you ask? Because my seat post-bolt sheared in two spontaneously, that's why. 1000 people could ride 1000 bikes for 1000 years and this would only happen to me.

I do laugh at my mishaps though. On that last one I laughed all 7 miles home riding out of the saddle the whole way. Haha. One advantage of riding a 160 gram saddle is that they are so light that should you ever have to ride home with the damn thing in your pocket, you won't even know it's there.

Cheers,

NW

Today when I was taking my bike for a test ride some retard riding the wrong way down a one way street came around the corner, I grabbed both brakes not thinking and flew over the handlebars. The asshole didn't even get off of his bike to see if I was okay. :mad: ARG! I was alright but a little pissed at that guy. I did end up buying the bike though...:)

When I was a kid I used to crash a lot cause I liked to attempt lots of crazy maneuvers. Not any more - it seems I am really bulletproof now (or just too cautious?). :-) My last crash was about two years ago, when I got my present bike. I was just riding it back home from the store, and forgot for a second this wasn't my old bike. So I just tried to grab a handlebar where it would've been on my old bike, without looking - and, surprise, surprise, it wasn't there, and I took a spill right in the middle of a quiet, perfectly paved road.

The time before that was when I braked with the front brake too hard on a steep downhill - and did the classic flight over the handlebars (no injuries sustained). And before that - I can't even remember any crashes except for the childhood ones. I must be lucky - I see the people I bike with fall quite regularly, whether it is due to bad road surface, or a collision with a car, or whatever. Perhaps my bike is easier to balance and control then theirs - it's got a suspension fork, so it's less responsive, but also allows for sloppier steering.

All the time, mostly MTBing though.

5 incidents with cars (only one leading to significant injury), maybe about 6-10 self-inflicted on-road crashes (some alcohol influenced :o )(one leading to injury other than cuts & scrapes), and too many to count off-road (I think only once causing real injury though)

I'm almost 50 years old. I had one minor crash when I was about 8 years old. I took a curve to fast. Hit some loose gravel and slid down. Luckily I didn't get hurt. I got back up, and got on the bicycle and went home.

I continued to ride a bike until I was about 15 with no accidents. When I was about 23 I purchased a road bike and rode it for about 3 months with no accidents or crashes. I sold the roadbike after about 3 months because I was working so many hours, I didn't have any time to ride.

I started cycling again in december of 2003. I purchased a mongoose xr-100 mountain bike. I rode it until august of 2004 with no crashes or accidents. I rode this bike on the road only. No downhill racing or nothing like that. In august 2004 I purchased a trek 7100 hybrid. I'm still riding this bike, and have had no crashes or accidents. To sum it up I've had one crash in my entire life.

I ride my bike like I drive my car. I obey the traffic laws. I'm always expect the unexpected. I don't swerve in and out of traffic. I don't get inside the door zones. Most importantly I stay at speeds where I can stop immediately. I usually cruise around 12 - 15 mph. Bicycle accidents like car accidents are 99% driver error.

Simply put, I just use common sence. I watch out for the other guy. And keep a sharp lookout at all intersections, driveways, anywhere a car or child could pull or run out in front of me.

I look out for curbs, loose gravel, rocks, and drive appropiately when encountering situations.

I'm just a recreational cyclist. However, I'm about to purchase a roadbike. I will probably crash on it.http://cyclingforums.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I'm almost 50 years old. I had one minor crash when I was about 8 years old. I took a curve to fast. Hit some loose gravel and slid down. Luckily I didn't get hurt. I got back up, and got on the bicycle and went home.

I continued to ride a bike until I was about 15 with no accidents. When I was about 23 I purchased a road bike and rode it for about 3 months with no accidents or crashes. I sold the roadbike after about 3 months because I was working so many hours, I didn't have any time to ride.

I started cycling again in december of 2003. I purchased a mongoose xr-100 mountain bike. I rode it until august of 2004 with no crashes or accidents. I rode this bike on the road only. No downhill racing or nothing like that. In august 2004 I purchased a trek 7100 hybrid. I'm still riding this bike, and have had no crashes or accidents. To sum it up I've had one crash in my entire life.

I ride my bike like I drive my car. I obey the traffic laws. I'm always expect the unexpected. I don't swerve in and out of traffic. I don't get inside the door zones. Most importantly I stay at speeds where I can stop immediately. I usually cruise around 12 - 15 mph. Bicycle accidents like car accidents are 99% driver error.

Simply put, I just use common sence. I watch out for the other guy. And keep a sharp lookout at all intersections, driveways, anywhere a car or child could pull or run out in front of me.

I look out for curbs, loose gravel, rocks, and drive appropiately when encountering situations.

I'm just a recreational cyclist. However, I'm about to purchase a roadbike. I will probably crash on it.http://cyclingforums.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
I almost never fall over!

I hesitate to say "crash", because these very rare instances were all "horizontal track stands" when I was unable to get out of the pedals fast enough and/or caught myslef on the bike and/or its cargo. So far...knock on wood!...a true crash, at speed, has just NOT happened. Yet.

Your story is similar to mine, and the reason we both avoid crashes is the same: Thinking ahead and staying within the limits of what one can do.

Even on a road bike! :)

I don't crash often, but when I do, it's usually spectacular. :(

Well, for a while my nickname was "Crash".