How often do you crash?

[ed.lazda]

Two significant "offs" in the last 5 years. I fell off in a ford -- the first two thirds was a concrete base and OK to ride on, then it turned into algae-covered cobbles with zero grip and down I went. The other time I was riding fast (downhill) on a wet road into low sun, and didn't see a water-filled pothole, got diverted into the verge and cartwheeled into the hedge. No damage to self or bike, but a hedge branch went into one of the slots in my helmet and almost tore it in two.

[Lance Dopestrong]

I’ll take your word for it

Probably wise, as I've been teaching it for almost two decades.

[Bmblbzzz]

When I first used SPDs, I found the clipping in easy enough and liked the secure feeling of being attached to the pedals while riding, but the unclipping motion was alien to me. I actually used to unclip by twisting my heels inwards rather than outwards; it was easier for me! I think in retrospect part of the problem might have been that I had my saddle set a little too high, so my foot wanted to lift up as soon as I started twisting it. Nevertheless, it took me several months of using them to have my first clipless moment (and of course after playing in the woods out of sight, it happened on the road in town with people all around!)

The solution, for me, was to use dual-release cleats, which unclip with a wider variety of motions; in, out, up... And I've been using them happily for 15 years now. Nevertheless, for daily riding, which inevitably is combined with some off-bike walking and stuff, I now use 'civilian' shoes and toe clips.

[Bmblbzzz]

Ooh, I love that we're discussing pedals and shoes in the helmet board!

[drossall]

In approaching 60 years:

1. When I was a child on my first bike, there was a fashion for attaching bits of cardboard to your forks and seat stays, because they made nice whirring sounds in the wheels. One of the front ones came out, and I tried to put it back with my foot. You can guess the rest.
2. As a teenager, I had a foot slip off a rubber pedal, and ended up in hospital for a concussion check. That's one of the reasons I feel safer on clipless pedals (or toe clips, either will do).
3. As a student, riding back into Leeds from home in Cheshire, I hit a pot-hole and came off.
4. Around the same time, a gear slipped sprinting out of a roundabout in a hilly time trial, and I piled into the road to the horror of the marshal. I was able to finish, however. This was the first of my three racing crashes, which all happened in two months for some reason.
5. II also hit a pot-hole when time trialling in Cheshire.
6. And I broke a crank in a team TT. Luckily I was on the back at the time. This resulted in a story I've told before about my physics project supervisor getting the crank tested by a colleague.
7. I don't really count this, but I broke a sprocket on a Regina freewheel in a hilly time trial at the Harrogate Festival of Cycling, and I found my pedals suddenly freewheeling forwards. Since I was going up a steep hill, which accounted for the breakage, I was just dumped unceremoniously in the road, and had to finish the race while avoiding that particular gear.
8. Decades later, another cyclist pulled out of a blind turning across my priority on the Stevenage cycle paths. My bike was written off, but luckily for me I landed on him.
9. Some years later, I had the first of only two incidents in which I have been knocked off by motorists.
10. The second followed at a different junction within a relatively short time (months or a year or two, can't remember). Since, as a CTC member, I had insurance and access to legal services, both resulted in claims that were handled for me.
11. Riding out to an ACME event in Great Dunmow, I went through a new mini-roundabout on the B1256. There must have been oil from the new tarmac or something, because I lost the back end. I recovered that, but was now off-line and heading for the kerb, so I touched the brakes and lost the front end instead. Passers by called the police and an ambulance, and looked after my bike for me for a few days.
12. In 2018, my Dahon folder broke in half when I was cycling past the local station, and dumped me in the road. Dragging two halves of a bike home turned out to be surprisingly difficult and I had to call my wife for a lift.

That was interesting. Turned out to be a few more than I thought. For clarity however, only 2, 3, 9 and 11 resulted in hospital outpatient treatment. 9 (the crash with a car) was for a broken finger, but for the other three I think I was checked for concussion. The others were more minor first aid. Looking at it, it's not obvious that the more "serious" crashes had the worse results. Crashes are like that - you can walk away from the spectacular, and break something in the trivial.

Although 2-7, so half the incidents, happened in six years out of 60, those were also the years in which I did easily my highest annual mileages, so I'd imagine that the distribution per mile ridden is a bit more even than the dates would suggest.

[TrevA]

I very rarely crash. I’ve been knocked off by a car twice in 50 years - once whilst riding a time trial on the A1, a car was approaching too fast from the rear and hit my back wheel, shunted me 10 yards up the road. I left my bike with a marshal and got a lift back with the driver who knocked me off, no broken bones but quite sore and stiff for a few days. The other was whilst commuting to work, a car turned across my path into an entrance and I T-boned it. Slightly buckled front wheel but managed to carry on to work. Stiffened up through the day and got a lift home.

Other crashes usually involved falling off on ice or gravel. One bizarre crash, cycling home from work in the dark, on a country lane - it had recently snowed but the roads were clear. A small diameter electricity cable had come down and was lying across the top of the hedges each side of the lane. I rode straight into it, it caught me on the bridge of my nose and threw me backwards onto the road. I picked myself up and carried on, but became aware of something wet on my face, I was bleeding profusely, so called my heavily pregnant wife to come and pick me up. I suffered a cut across the bridge of my nose but was otherwise uninjured. I’d recently start wearing a helmet, which was cracked but probably save me from a minor head injury.

[cyclist]

It varies, I had 3 in one year, then a few years without. It depended on the territory, lights, speed, and bike. I came off my Raleigh Chopper quite often when I cornered. I had a cheap fixie bike that was not structurally sound that was more prone to fall.

This is my crash history

Crashes

• As a child of 10 years old, I was riding my Raleigh Chopper, I was going at a T-junction. A car emerged, I tried to brake but, the brakes did not work. I cycled as fast as I could to cross the road, I ended up flying over a short brick fence. I cut both my knees and elbows, but, I was generally safe

• As an adult, my lights went off on a downhill, a construction fence fell due to wind before my bike, it jumped over it and I landed on my head. The helmet cracked, I blackedout for a split second and had a headache all day.

• On a downhill shared bike/foot path, a car emerged in a split second and stopped before me. I brake as hard as I could but, the bike hit the side of the car, I flew and landed on the car boot with the bike's triangle above the bottom bracket twisting my ankle. I cycled quickly home, before my ankle gets bad (10 miles) by the time I arrived my ankle started swelling, and I used crutches for three weeks.

• While commuting to work in the early morning a construction fence fell due to wind on my arm, its hook clipped my arm causing a horizontal cut. I came off my bike.

Falls
I came off my BMX on a fly over, and on a folding bike a cycled over black ice and immediately went off my bike. I fell on mud while trying to cycle on it with my folding bike in winter.

Fom my experience, disc brakes, longer wheelbase, wheelwidth, and overall bike construction play a role in reducing crashes. Selecting the route & time could help reduce the odds. Small wheeled bikes seemed a bit safer as they have lower top tube possibly lower centre of gravity

[axel_knutt]

Without a definition of what's a crash, and a mileage for the denominator, the stats on here don't mean a lot.

It's the same problem that you run up against with the DoT injury stats, the reporting threshold is subjective, and varies according to the manpower available for pen pushing. The lower the threshold the greater the numbers, so tiny variations in threshold result in large fluctuations in the data recorded. Fatalities are the only reliable metric for measuring risk.

[cycle tramp]

...and burn?
Recently, almost every post I've made on this forum for the last three months...

[Navrig]

I have had three significant "offs", all of which resulted in a broken bone or a suspected broken bone and all of which had a degree of rider stupidity.

In order of stupidity:

1. After a morning riding around Caerlaverock Castle MTB trails my wife and I were heading back to the car, along the castle driveway. She was not riding fast enough for me so, from behind, I started to come alongside and as I passed her rear wheel I gave her buttock a (gentle) smack. This caught her by surprise, she wobbled to the right, clashed with me, our handlebars locked together and we went down in a tangled heap to the right. I got my arm out quickly and broke my radial head!!

2. I bought a fancy new hard-tail MTB for Xmas. After New Year my buddies suggested we head to Glen Tress for the day. Off we set with my, never-ever-ridden (not even on the street) MTB. Straight to the top and then straight back down on the red rides. My suspension locked out on undulations, at speed, and I went over the handlebars with my right thumb still behind the RH grip. I landed heavily on my head and left shoulder resulting in a concussion and a very sore collar bone area and right hand. X-rays showed that nothing was broken but my thumb took 2 years to recover. I still have a lump on the second joint and, to this day, I cannot ride with thumb push gears for more than a couple of hours before my thumb aches. I am convinced it was broken. Never go out on difficult trails on a brand new bike.

3. Out for a wet Saturday morning road ride when I was very fit. I was pushing on when we came to a right turn. I took it (far) too fast and the front wheel slide out and I went down on my left. My left arm shot out in reaction but after landing on the ground I continued to slide. Everything felt fine except my left hand. My wife collected me in the car and we went home. After changing, my left hand was still feeling funny, not exactly sore just weird. Off to A&E where after an x-ray they confirmed I had Hillend Thumb. Hillend is a local (to Edinburgh) dry ski slope where lots of people fall catching their thumb in the honeycomb mesh of the dry slope whilst still sliding downhill - hence the diagnosis. I explained I was cycling, not skiing. My thumb was pinned (under a GA) for 6 weeks.

Bizarrely all of the above happened after I reached the age of 49. Prior to that I had never broken any bones.