Yeah, we can all say Rule #5, Rule #5 HTFU, and I bet you the majority of those who religiously stick by these rules and think your not a man if you let crashes get in the way is pretty dumb and brainless.  I’ll rather shorten my recovery period and save from broken bones after a crash as oppose to your mates calling you out for ride and you have to put a raincheck because you are still healing.  They might think its heroic and tough to use this as an excuse and his mates end up telling him about Rule #5 so he can’t pretend to be wuss so he goes out riding with unhealed wounds and sores and risk crashing again meaning more time out of the bike.

Its tough and cool but pretty fcken stupid, wake up and use your brains and ride smart, not ride tough!

Were you concussed?  I am having a heck of a time recovering from my concussion from my last crash.  Still not able to ride much at all or ride hard.

With that said, it must be stated that it is not *if* you will crash but *when.*  I have had at least 4 serious road crashes, half of them in races, the other half on training rides. A couple of weeks ago, on a spirited group road ride with some of my closest friends, I clipped out of my speedplay pedals on the downstroke, sprinting for a city limits sign.  We were going at least 45kph.  I could not control the bike and launched onto the tarmac, with my shoulders and head taking much of the blow.  My Bell helmet was destroyed in many places. There were pieces of it on the road.   I had no idea where or who I was until at least an hour later.  I did get a concussion, but after a week and a half am back at work and doing fine. Otherwise, I received some road rash and a pulled groin muscle.  I firmly believe that the helmet most likely saved from something terrible . . .

So, indeed, always wear that helmet!  This was a far worse crash than anything I’ve ever experienced in a high speed crit. Helmets are so important, even when training.

Particularly where he claims all pros have a fear of touching wheels and going down that “never leaves you”. Reminds me of the thing in professional cricket where all batsmen are scared of being hit by a 90mph bouncer to the head, but none of them admit it.

Like the dick who picked up Boonen’s bike, my dickhead driver didn’t think that he should look around for cyclists. It was a lovely May evening and there were dozens and dozens about and he would have driven past the start. I always wear a helmet now.

Polished my left thigh perfectly…not road rash, I mean perfect skimming off of the top few layers of skin.  Helmet saved my bonce and I got up and cycled on to work.  All day my new thigh seeped clear liquid periodically velcroing my trousers to my leg.  Bizarrely it was a particularly painful crash but it was my one and only (apart from the standard early mishaps with cleated shoes etc).

I have had a couple of near misses recently with traffic and thank my lucky starts I am still here, the only thing that has saved me is having modicum of caution and staying fully awake and alert at all times….daydream=donefor!

My favourite crash happened when I was quite young.  We lived down a modest hill, which allowed a decent turn of speed on my first bike, a green Dragster with a rear coaster brake.  You know, the kind where you have to do a quarter turn backwards before any braking happens.    I was riding as fast as I could down the hill, turning into our drive, and hitting the brakes, progressively leaving it later and later each time before I applied the brakes.

On the last fateful pass, I determined that I would not brake until I was actually inside the shed.

Can you guess what happened ?  Of yes, I came flying down the hill, counter-steered through a perfect turn into the drive and entered the shed at Warp V.   As I applied the brake, I had the pedals at 3 and 9, so after the quarter turn, they were at exactly 6 and 12, a position characterised by a complete inability to apply any braking pressure at all.

I analysed the situation in a flash.  Like the auto-pilot in the famous Bugs Bunny scene, I felt the situation was beyond redemption, and bailed off the bike.  The bike proceeded to arrive, riderless, into a dining setting at the end of the shed, right next to the open kitchen door, where my poor mother was washing up.  The noise was horrendous, and I have no idea why my mother did not die of fright.

As children do, I bounced.  I can’t even recall taking any skin off, though I probably did.  My growing years were characterised by a permanent revolving skinned knee which migrated from side to side on a regular basis.

These days, I’m a bit wary of crashing on descents, as the hills I ride on have steep drop-offs and big trees, as well as rough pave, and the results would not be pretty.  So, I descend like a pussy, mostly.

@luke
Not belittling what happened to you, but just think what would have happened if that truck had been full of turnips, or worse still large carrots – that said pretty poor form by the bee, to take you out whilst you were on the ground, sort of shoddy behaviour you would only expect out of a wasp

Dude, you’re lucky to be alive after the drunk faceplant in the dark, but the flying potato-in-the-testicles incident is Pure Fried Gold.

*cleans coffee off keyboard*

I think we should pass the hat around to invest in a helmet-cam for Luke.

We’ll make a fortune just from selling the clips to comedy TV shows.

A1 Classic.

FWIW when I get a new bike I’m such a pansy about crashing it, I kind of reset the risk taking I do on the bike and that has some interesting consequences. One greasy descent, I kind of cooked a couple of successive corners and ended up needing to make an emergency stop before I go over an edge. Due to my absolute genius with brakes, wet roads and being a massive chicken, I managed to come to a complete stop on the grass strip, a steep cliff on one side and the road on the other. Of course I unclip the wrong foot and end up tumbling down the bank, bike left at the top laid carefully on the grass.

You could look at this in one of two ways, firstly; given that they say these things come in threes, your best bet would be to pack up your shiny new bike and ship it to me. Then retire to bed, it’ll be safer that way.

On the other hand, while no crash is ever enjoyable, your telling of the second does have good comedy value. I look forward to hearing about the third.

With immense good fortune, I managed to slide over near the side, and went down on the sidewalk. Only some minor road rash.

A friend crashed on a similar bridge a few years ago and spent a long time in the hospital getting skin grafts, etc.

Sounds like a nasty little crash. I’ve been going harder and harder in the turns. I’m holding my breath.

My first thought as I slid across the tarmac was: “The bike! I hope the bike’s okay.”

Well, once your sweet Velominati kit comes, you’ll be thinking a dual thought – “The bike and kit! I hope they’re OK!”

We have all been in the situation where someone else on a training ride bombs down hills like their bike is made out of U-237, and you struggle to catch on. Eventually, you start disregarding your own safety and skill-set to reach this dude, and you either succeed, or fail. If you succeed, just like in a video game; you have just gained a few more experience points and leveled up. If not, you know that you were testing the odds, and risking everything you have.

One of my first road bike rides ever included a really twisty downhill averaging 12% for 900m, laden with grit, gravel, and hairpin turns. I ended at the bottom of the hill a minute or so slower than the collegiate racer I was with. I asked him what his technique is when he hits spots like this.

His reply?
“Are you one with your maker?”
‘Yes.’
“Just go, and leave the rest to the lord.”

BEST ADVICE EVER.

When I was a kid and raced motorcycles, same deal – off the back hanging on for life. I have no natural talent for this stuff, but still dig it.

On the road, I will give myself credit for being good at reading traffic and knowing what other people are going to do. Part of that comes from riding motorcycles on the street. You really gotta pay attention to what’s going on. Even so, have there been times I should have been tagged by a car? Sure, a few, but I lucked out. Nobody is invincible. Even driving a car, I’m good at looking ahead and reading the situtation. Same for scanning the road or trail ahead. That would be my only strong point.

Man, the talk of failing stems and other hardware – that scares the crap out me. Having a stem, handlebar or fork snap – ugly. Sometimes when I bombing a hill at 40+ mph, I think about that carbon steerer tube holding it all together….

I suspect he is in fact a Russian Prostitute who is embroiled in a hopelessly complicated plot to garner a Green Card into the US.

@ Frank: I later went back to the owner that evening, he witnessed the crash, and at the time I told him I would be back to kill his dog. I know what he was thinking when I pulled up his driveway that evening, but we had a civil conversation. Forgiveness is another part of the equation I found to be quite helpful. I had to let go of my anger and just ride it off. Quite actually, the dog was probably just out for a ‘play’, big…dumb and clumbsy like many of my friends, but if I were to be ill-prepared that day I would have been hurt worse.

The reality: I will crash again and think of it everytime I shave my legs in preparation of digging gravel and crap out of them

So true. I’ve been preaching that for years to whitewater paddling students. It’s also a handy metaphor for life.

The depth of your background never ceases to amaze me; always love hearing about it. Keep it coming!

The odd thing though, is that it does take a Zen like detachment, if your tense it only ups the chances so it is best to work on your skills and keep everything relaxed. Alcohol, pot, and sex are good but it is best to find it from within.

I agree the hoods is a dangerous place to ride anyway…very easy to fall off when standing. It’s good for climbing and for seated power, but really, Jens’ fall in the Tour last year might not have happened had he been descending in the drops; he was on the hoods and when his hands slipped, he crashed. It’s not as likely to happen in the drops.

Very cool, by the way, that you were at that stage. That is always a really cool experience, I think.

My last one was my hardest. Taken out by a 100lb dog who t-boned me, i was rolling along at ~45kph, never saw him coming. I was spinning in circles like a smashed cat on the pave. Split my bell sweep helmet in 5 places. But, I was ok. Rode home (stupidly), bloodied….pissed, then got stitched up, took 9 stitches to put my scalp back together as it was filleted open to the skull. The helmet saved my eggs.

I must admit, after this ride, I was in a fog…a flux if you will. I had to sit out of the saddle a few days to heal and missed the bike intensely. However, even after return, it was weird, almost sad in a way, and i too was a bit nervous and scared. However, a few days later maybe a couple weeks, I observed Rule #5 realizing I am a cyclist, I am who I am, and I crash. It was a wonderful thing to work through and get over and have ridden best since and enjoyed taking Pussies who never got through this.

I have crashed a good many times, probably less than most, but is simply happens. Its cycling, and accepting that we ARE cyclists, its part of the gig. Be prepared, and see Rule #5.

@frank the stem was Alu. The weld failed. To be fair to ITM I had been running the stem for over three racing seasons and a mate had the same failure 6 months earlier. I’m quite fastidious about checking and changing my bars and stem these days and I doubt you’ll ever find me on carbon ones

I’m a bit of a freak. After spending literally thousands of hours on two wheels, my injury rate is insanely low. I never seem to crash. Luck, skill, being a wimp – who knows…..

As a kid, tons of time on bicycles – playing BMX rider on clapped out Sting Rays, road rides on Huffys, and general cruising around – few crashes and no real injuries.

As a teenager, spent loads of time riding dirt motorcycles and dabbled with actual motocross racing and hare scrambles events (longer distance races). The occasional crash, nothing big. Tweaked back out once, x-ray on knee another time – nothing broken.

I’ve ridden thousands of miles on street motorcycles. For a few years, rode and commuted almost daily. I’ve never dropped or crashed a motorcycle on pavement – ever. I dressed for the event – full leathers, quality helmet, road race boots and gloves – never needed. Lucky and not normal.

Since 1984, as the alleged adult, a few zillion bicycle rides on road and dirt. The occasional mountain bike crash – that’s gonna happen. Besides a few scrapes and bruises, only two dirt related actual injuries – separated shoulder from a 3 mph fall in the ’90s (teaching a mountain bike class – ironic, eh?). Then about 3 years ago, crashed big time in a mountain bike race – slamming thigh on log. Not broken, but felt like it. Limped around for two weeks, 3+ weeks off the bike. Entire lower leg turned purple, yellow and blue as it healed. Freaky and scary.

I never crashed a road bicycle until a few years ago – my only pavement crash ever. Some goofball took me out on the Burke-Gilman Trail. I was headed to work, he was on the Cascade RSVP ride. Street intersection on the Burke in the U District. Dude was hugging the curb on the wrong side of the road, then cut onto the trail – in front of me. T-bone yard sale crash in the street….

No real injuries, but I did sport a black eye the next day – bonked my helmeted head harder then I thought. I did continue to work that morning and rode home. Dude’s RSVP ride was over with a totally taco’d front wheel. The RSVP ride is my most dangerous commute day of the year. Hundreds of riders headed in the opposite direction on the BG Trail. Some years require yelling at riders to avoid a head on crash. Lots of fun….

Beside the commute crash, I’ve never touched tarmac on a road bike – after 25+ years and thousands of miles. Must be some sort of bizarre record. I’ve never raced on the road though, if I did, would have eventually crashed for sure – and be dropped regularly as well.

Crashes scare and fascinate all cyclists. Nobody wants to go down, but you can’t help watching those that do.

My most “Fun” crash was going for a prime 2 up in pouring rain (yesterdays stage in the Giro reminded me of it) heading down a slight hill into the last wide open corner in the lead losing it as I started the turn and sliding (strapped in old school) with about 75 feet between me and a telephone pole. All I remember is trying to get my hip and knees off the road with my gloved hands and spray coming out between my fingers as I slowed thinking “am I not slowing fast enough so I’m going to hit this telephone pole?” I did stop at 2 mph at the curb jumped up unhurt and got back on as the pack passed and very little road rash that time. But boy I was pissed about missing that free tire.

Ok so all the other crashes are boring run of the mill and I am either lucky or brilliant but they never stopped me finishing a race and I am intimately acquainted with road rash – trying to sleep was the worst of it.
So after a few seasons of racing the crash thing just becomes a background little thought in your head but its sort of like thinking about if you might catch the clap or crabs its not going to stop you enjoying what your doing.

In the crash I described in this article, the guy who dove through the non-existent gap made it out unscathed, who knows what place he got. It was like 25 minutes from the end of a 50 minute crit or whatever. He dove through, clipped my and the guy to my right’s bars, we fell into eachother and went down with a shitfuck of other guys. One dude split his gorgeous Look 525 in half; my (first) XLEV2 was fallen on by some fatass who spaghetti’d it. The thinest part of those tubes are butted to like .75mm. Light, but not burly. The greatest bit was that, on the way out to the race, I remember thinking, “Hey, I got rid of that last noise! My bike is finally silient!

Thanks for that.

Was your stem aluminum? Carbon gets such a bad rap for breakages, but aluminum generally doesn’t give any warning before failing, either. Handlebars, stems, forks. Three things I don’t want breaking.

What the fuck? Jens has got a saddlebag in that pic. Burn him…

Close one, but no – it’s not. It’s one of those devices that transmits effort data to the broadcast stations for display. Why one would do that, I’m not sure…but at least it’s not a saddlebag. There would be questions.

My paranoia tends to be more of being driven over from behind. I tend to figure my bike will look after itself, a cursory glance over the QR’s and general well-being and the first few potholes will tell me if anything more is wrong. I should be more thorough, like frank, because equipment failure is what caused my worst crash.

Oddly, I was riding that day without a helmet (a very rare occurance) and with prescription glasses (equally rare because I normally wear contacts). Riding out of the saddle on the flat at 30kph, the stem snapped. I hit the deck with my face and buried my glass-lensed glasses into my face. Obviously I lived and after a hospital visit to have glass pulled out of my face and an overnight, I walked away with no other injuries. Thankfully I didn’t remember anything about it, but I wear a helmet all the time now.

The occasional races I’ve done in the last couple of years have highlighted a yawning skills gap at the lower end of the racing spectrum. Until, or if, I have enough fitness to contest sprints from near the front, I’ll race to try to get away or make people hurt, but I’ll duck out of the last few km when people start getting silly.

A far as Voigt goes, we rode up Le Petit Grand Bernard last year to watch the Tour come over, near the top I bumped up a realy large ripple in the road surface, it was a good couple of inches, and thought that could be nasty to catch wrong. I guess Jens caught it wrong. Didn’t join the masses racing down afterwards though.

I walked away with some road rash on my back and pair of broken glasses. Bike was fine. I raced again two weeks later.

SGW’s big crash