When did you last crash?

[Miller]

Prompted by what seemed to me to be a startling remark in another topic, and of course it is a sensitive subject that we probably skirt around with our loved ones, but I am curious: when did you last crash and what happened?

I'm thinking specifically of road cycling, and of purely cycling crashes that were not related to appalling driving, although not ruling those out either. And if you can bear to talk about it.

[Konsi]

Last crash where I hit the ground was July 2021. Was looking back over my shoulder where the rest of the group is, front wheel got caught in a pothole/crack on the bike path, and I highsided. Didn't think it was that bad at first, cycled another 20something kilometres, then found out later that I had broken my femur (fully, not only a hairline or compression fracture).

Two surgeries, 200 or so Physio sessions, but I am still cycling. The bike was unharmed

[Leviathan]

Road must be 3 years ago, descending hairpin off Orient which was, and still is, one of the very few poor tarmac roads here in Mallorca. As a ride group we descend slowly, even the ex pro who says regularly "you want me to descend fast you pay me!"
Gravel, I fell like every other week. Fell two weeks ago and dislocated a finger, popped it back in and off we jolly well went.

[Miller]

Thanks for the responses, interesting. I see it's a subject people are reticent about, understandable I suppose.

It's been a while since I've had a road off but, as noted, gravel is a whole different game. Last summer on a little-used green lane a rut tossed me into a hedgerow full of nettles and brambles. My backside was stinging from that for days.

[smartyiak]

Last crash where I hit the ground was July 2021. Was looking back over my shoulder where the rest of the group is, front wheel got caught in a pothole/crack on the bike path.... The bike was unharmed

That's funny....the last road crash I had was July 2021...when I hit a pothole. I was going downhill at appx 30mph.

I was pretty much demolished,...adrenaline is a hell of a thing. I don't remember most of it, but was told by the passing motorist that he saw my bike laying off the side of the road and stopped. By the time he stopped his car, called 911, and was walking toward the bike, I had got to the bike and was preparing to leave. Apparently, I kept saying "I'm fine....I only live a few miles away...I'm just gonna ride home." He said that once he saw I was covered in blood and my helmet was crushed, he held my bars and asked me random questions...whatever he could think of...to keep me from leaving.

The ambulance arrived a whisked me away. I "woke up" in the ER as my clothes were being cut off. The damages, from top to bottom: concussion and brain bleed (48hrs in a darkroom is THE WORST), 7 broken ribs, collapsed lung, 8 stitches in knee, and "road rash over entire right side of body."

Bike was unharmed...just replaced the bar tape.

Took a long while to recover, but back to riding normally...but with a lot more gravel and a lot less road.

[aerozy]

Been cycling for 25 years now and Ive noticed a constant periodic trend of road crashes. I tend to have a light crash on average every two years (one is due) and a more serious crash every 10years (broken both my collar boans and all AC ligaments). My last serious crash was in 2022 when I was over taking a teenager on his BMX. He swerved into the middle of the road, did all I could to avoid a collision but my bike got caught on his. As a result I summersalted into the air and landed vertically upside down on my shoulder. Collar bone evaporated Was lucky we did not collide head on. Probably wouldnt be here to tell the story. Thanks to the Man upstairs Was in Brazil on holidays and my health insurance did crap. I had to wait 2x weeks before I could get treated. Operation was even worse and my collar bone never healed. Im feel relatively fine now but never recovered my full strength in my left arm. Cycling is a tough sport thats for sure. Some may even say cyclists are masochists. We never lay down! Not even when the doctor says so (or wife) jajaja

[diecast]

Has anyone ever noticed a pattern to the side on which they fall/crash?

Two months ago I was rushing, late for a group ride and I slid out on some ice. No serious injury other than damaging my pride and a brand new pair of winter tights.

I fell onto my left side and also banged my shoulder. This is the same side where I had a clavicle plated 15 months previously. And so this set me thinking about my foolishness in general.

Looking back over other historic incidents and various scars I have accumulated, I suspect a trend for me to fall to the left.

I cannot say if this is causative due to an imbalance or skill deficit or perhaps consequent to some instinctive protective mechanism. Of course it's possible that my observation is wrong, and no such pattern exists. Thankfully, crashing is rare enough that data points are lacking.

Other factors which may possibly be relevant include handedness of the rider and the side of the road on which they must commonly ride.

[TobinHatesYou]

the side of the road on which they must commonly ride.

This is the main contributing factor. In RHT regions like Europe, the US, China, etc. right-hand corners on descents 1) have a smaller radius, 2) are more likely to be covered in debris from slides, 3) force you into the oncoming lane if you screw up. If you set up wide and exit wide, you will also transition on and off the crown in the middle of the road. Almost all of my solo crashes are from lowsides to the right.

[usr]

Plus all those crashes from trying to traverse a lowered curb at too sharp an angle. The infuriating way bike infrastructure is built in Germany you'd need a fatbike to be safe from that kind of mishap.

For regular curves, there's 4) worse view lines, so the debris will be more surprising if it's there. But I'd rate your third point as an advantage of curve to the right: you *can* set up wide, using the entire opposite lane if you feel like it, because you'll already be gone long before traffic you can't see before will be at the point you'd intersect. You just need to make sure that your exit is sufficiently less wide, by placing the inflection point later than you'd do on a closed track.

Sight lines also affect the curb slide crash by the way: two of two of my crashes to the right side were just from trying to go up a curb for a stop, truly user error not approaching in the proper angle. One of them was from a surprise appearance of bakery, so it's sight lines again. My reptile brain can't be trusted with complicated stuff like angles when it's hungry!

(one of my left side crashes was also in a curve to the right, highside apparently. So much worse than just wiping out)

[CarlosFerreiro]

In 16 years now I've only had what i'd consider to be one real on-road crash, in a TT in heavy rain when the standing water hid that a road patch had about a 80mm lip on it. Trying to move sideways across that meant the front wheel didn't and I was skiming along the road on the standing water at about 50kph thinking "Oh! You do slide!"
The only other things on road have been a couple of random surprise situations of not getting unclipped at zero speed and "taking the knee".
Very regular gravel and mtb things on rough off-road, but nothing with real injuries, or even damaging bike or kit.

[justkeepedaling]

Three years ago, I touched wheels with the guy in front of me as he faded and angled into my wheel. This was at 26 mph. I could tell I was going down in slow motion, but everything after I touched the ground is a blur. Apparently my bike and I, still clipped in, flipped around through the air and into the oncoming lane. I was lucky there was no traffic and that cars are light on that road. My sunglasses were twenty feet to my right and my headphones and phone were fifteen feet the other way. I had road rash all over my left knee and a little on the elbow, but no head impact, no broken bones. I got up after five minutes with the rest of the group around me, turned my brake levers straight, and rode home ten miles.

ps, that guy is known to be a knucklehead and I never follow his wheel anymore. I stopped doing group rides for about a half year before I got comfortable again. Previous time I crashed was maybe ten years prior sliding out

[Tifosiphil]

Gravel and cyclocross probably 2/3 a year but I've never been injured off-road since I stopped mountain biking (touch wood!).

On road I normally end up with one every 10-12,000km. The last fall was last February, incredibly lucky with my timing. I was descending around 70km/h and came round the corner to mud all over the road from a tractor pulling out of a field, lowsided and slid to a stop at the curb on the oppposite side of the road. Came out with road rash and damaged tights, jacket, jersey, bar tape and shifter and that was it, if a car was coming the opposite way I wouldn't like to guess

[C36]

Last summer, 4 weeks before the Etape du Tour. Descending one of the passes on this very Tour de France stage, 200m before crashing, I told myself, "I haven't felt the tire limits on these perfect roads," and by the time I reached the curve, I had forgotten to brake properly and lost the front wheel... Nothing too severe, but I managed to leave skin on the road from 6 parts of my body: knee, hips, fingers, elbow, shoulder, and chin.

[Miller]

Certainly in group riding you need to assess the capability of the people in front of you, there's a few people I ride with occasionally that I leave more of a gap to.

[Juanmoretime]

Last crash would have been a slow fall over when riding in snow on the fat bike. I was in a turn and there was ice under the snow. Tires kicked out and down I went. No damage to me or the bike.