Taking a tumble on your bicycle.
By koopharper
@koopharper (7523)
Canada
July 14, 2012 7:49pm CST
If you have done any kind of bicycle riding, you've likely taken a tumble or two or maybe more. Spectacular, horrifying or funny, I want to hear about your spills.
My scariest and probably most spectacular happened riding home from work for lunch in a light drizzle. Minivan pulled out of a parking lot in front of me while I was clipping along. Didn't even have time to touch the brakes. Wrenched the handlebars one way. Sprained my right wrist deflecting myself past the windshield pillar. Probably saved myself a broken collarbone with that move. Hit the pavement somewhere just on the other side of the road's centre line shoulder first and rolled. Besides the wrist I bruised up a lot of my bony corners and had a long deep s shaped scratch carved into my leg by the vehicle's hood ornament. My bike's frame is a little tweaked from that one. Can't ride no hands anymore. The front wheel was screwed up as well. We both survived to ride another day.
One of my goofier close up and personal moments with a roadway happened in the middle of the winter. I needed to get to my brother's place for an overnight which was about a fifteen mile jaunt. I needed to get me and my briefcase there so that I could spend the night sleeping under the dining room table (nobody steps on you there during the night on their way to the bathroom). To say the roads were slick was a gross understatement. Most people were smart enough to stay home so there wasn't hardly any traffic to deal with. On one deserted back country road my front wheel got caught in a bit of a groove and my rear wheel got caught in a different groove. These two grooves of course separated and I found myself ripping along completely sideways. I was afraid I would get some traction all of a sudden a hit the ground hard so I tried to slow myself down by a foot down. Didn't even start slowing down. I went down on one knee and still didn't slow down. Finally I lay down on the road bike in one hand briefcase in the other and slid like that all the way to the end of the incline I was riding down. When I finally came to a stop I got back on and kept going. Thankfully there were no witnesses to that one. I'm sure it was just hysterical to watch.
4 responses
@Troublegum (641)
• United States
15 Jul 12
I could write a book. So we will start with "the college kid" crash. Riding through the snow with one hand on the bars and one on the pizza I hit a pile of snow that the plow had left across an intersection.
This left me with a split second decision, bike or pizza.
So I let go of the bike and piled head first into the snowbank with BOTH hands on the pizza. i was able to hold the box high so the was no damage to or snow on the pizza.
@Troublegum (641)
• United States
17 Jul 12
My school story involves the fact it impossible to look cool when you are a high school kid wearing spandex. Nevertheless I was giving it a try when I rolled up on front of the school and casually put my hand on a fence post so I could talk to a pack of girls without clipping out. Needless to say I missed the post and fell on my head.
1 person likes this
@Troublegum (641)
• United States
17 Jul 12
Oh and yes, high school girls travel in packs.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
17 Jul 12
Never wore spandex till I was over forty. Wore it to work for sports day in a call centre. Not cool either but funny as h3ll.
My girl/cycling encounters were few and far between although I have cycled quite a lot with my wife and kids.
I did cross the Nevada desert on a bicycle after college. Baked my brain pretty badly. Was down to four word sentences. Met an absolutely gorgeous babe in Salt Lake City (at least that's how I remember it). She attempted intelligent conversation with me. I could hear her thoughts loud and clear though. Nice guy... athletic... to bad he's a halfwit.
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
15 Jul 12
I still have a chipped tooth and some faded scars from going over the handlebars as a teen..Didn't put me off,I've still got a bike!
Though It didn't result in a crash, my most recent scary experience on 2 wheels was going around quite a narrow one way system in town,and keeping up with the traffic..only to realise the car coming up behind and drawing level was so close to me the door mirror was touching my handlebars! a real "Woah!" moment..there were ornamental bollards all along the kerb to keep the pedestrians aware of the traffic that I could visualise getting up close and personal with very quickly..I managed to pull ahead out of the way before my day took a turn for the worse..
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
16 Jul 12
Yep..flipflops should come with a "Do NOT cycle in these" Warning!
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
15 Jul 12
I'm astonished how well some of my childhood bike injuries have healed. My knees should be a mass of scars. Stupidest thing I did was ride with flip flops. Skinned my big toe really bad doing that.
Ornamental bollards - those would hurt.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
15 Jul 12
that was some scare for sure. It is a good thing you don't do those things anymore it is too dangerous.
1 person likes this
@chelley (129)
• Philippines
15 Jul 12
I also had so many tumbles on my mountain bike especially on trails. Some are fun and some are not because it really hurts when you fall from your bike and probably had bruises. But after the ride you and your friends will laugh about it and tell stories over and over again ^_^
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
15 Jul 12
Once you survive and you've gotten over the bumps and bruises they usually do make great stories with the gang. That's precisely why I started this discussion. The more stories the better.
