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Hey guys, in the spirit of the MTB season starting up, I’ve been thinking about nothing except pure biking, however we all know that even the best of us crash. It’s unavoidable, so I figured we could all open ourselves up and tell those stories about how we wiped, crashed, bashed, dove, spilled, wrecked, and possibly flew off the bike.
It can be any crash, but try and make it your best, for some of us crash more often than others. I’ll post mine later once somebody else takes the stages. 😛
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I personaly have stalled out, fallen over, then rolled down a hill, which was quite comical. I’ve run into a tree on a downhill when rounding a corner which wasn’t as funny. A few years ago my friend and I were riding Hooper Rd trails in Baton Rouge, La. It had been raining all day and we were hard headed and didn’t want to cancel our ride. We were the only ones out on the trails which were super slick, being a clay based soil. (Yes I know… it’s not proper to ride rain soaked trails). Anyway, my friend was riding a down hil section when his bike tires started to slide instead of roll. He ended up hitting an exposed root and went a** over handle bars. He wasn’t able to unclip so the bike went with him. I watched from the top of the hill as he tucked his head and led with his shoulder. I heard a loud pop as he landed and knew that somthing was wrong. When I got down to him he was in alot of pain. He toughed it out and rode one handed to the trail head. At the hospital we learned that he had sepearted his shoulder and broken his collar bone. Later we laughed a joked about it all an swore we would always follow proper trail etiquette and only ride dry trails. Unfortunately that was the last time we ever rode together as his injuries prevented him from rididng and before he healed he died during Hurricane Katrina.
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ok well not MTB specific but…fell through a plate glass window being a fool and cut three fingers off pulling my hand out of the window. Good ol DR. yee fixed me up and I delivered pizza’s with one hand for the next 8 months (this was 9 years ago). Then joined the ARMY where I lucked out and did not hurt myself. Practicing heel flips down a set of six stairs i roled over my right foot which ended in taired tendons. I ended up hopping home useing my skateboard as a crutch for the 4 mile walk home before geting a ride to the hospital. Practicing indy grabs over an eight foot tall six foot wide gab and broke my fibula which had to be repaired with a metal plate to hold my foot to my leg. Both wristes have been broken the latest one being last summer which was the second time I broke my right wriste (damn it!) in a ditch. went to work to have that fixed (I work in the ER). There are some sick trails at the ski area that you can ride with in 30 min. of the house. They switch back through the ski area. Bombing down the ski area last november I was inches from auger ending into a downed tree stump but luckly the high bank on the trail saved my ass as I slide down the trail. On the same ride only minutes after, I was happy that there was tall grass growing on the slop to catch me as I did it again lol.
Wish I could say I was tuff as nails but……..I’m only human
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So far I can only say, OWW, anyways here’s a quick version of one my pain staking falls.
About two years ago I was riding down the Flo Trail and around some point hit some rocks yada yada yada, I swear my frame must have had a fracture or cracked somewhere, because the damn thing broke into two pieces. I didn’t really go flying as much as I just kinda fell straight on top of my bike which is now in half under me and half on me. My face was full of rocks, dirt, mud, and of course blood, my friend said I looked like I just escaped a grenade attack and still had shrapnel still in me. I had to work later that day, so my friend brought me in and my bike was in the back seat of my car, so when I got into work my boss asked why I was late as I was walking through the door just as I’m placing my two piece bike on the ground, he just stops in mid-sentence. haha. Anyways it sucked and luckily I healed alright for the most part.
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Back in ’93 I and a friend were pre-riding a race course in North Cheyenne Canyon, west of Colorado Springs (Capt. Jacks). He was a XC rider and I was a DH’er and when we go t to the downhill portion, he moved out of the way and I shot past him like a rocket. I remember coming up to a bend and I remember looking down at my cyclo-computer (42mph) and that was also the last thing I remember as I went into the curve I lost traction and went down. My friend told me later that he saw me up, then a cloud of dust. He said it looked like I exploded. He helped me up, retreived my bike and we finished the ride, at a much slower pace, of course. When we returned to the parking area, I remember my socks being red (blood from my highly damaged knees and legs) and removing rocks from underneath my skin. Apparently we were also talking to a couple other riders, but I don’t recall that. About 3 years later, while living in Durango, I was talking to some people at my favorite LBS (Hassle Free Sports) and I related that same story. One of the guys at the store said "that was you?" "I was one of the guys talking to you at the trailhead". He even described my friends vehicle, so I believe him. I had a concusiion and some gnarley cuts and punctures but nothing serious. I’ve never broken anyting and have been very lucky in all of my crashes. It is my belief that my training as a paratrooper, which taught me the proper way to fall in an emergency, has kept me from doing any serious damage.
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Does wounded pride count as an injury? 😏 There was also a little bit of blood, so here goes…
Couple months ago I was out mapping a new set of trails with lots of real steep and loose climbs and descents. I had gotten real tired of constantly messing with the seat height, so when I crested the top of one of the final climbs and faced the downside, I thought "Well this one’s not all that long and it’s straight, lets just leave it…" Partway down it got a fair bit steeper, so I slid off the back of the seat for more weight transfer. I thought "No sweat, I must be getting a little better" as I approached the 2/3 point or so. Then, as things started to get a little less steep, I started to move back forward only to snag the crotch of my shorts (baggy fox mt) on the rear of the seat. As I worked to get freed, the only thing I managed to accomplish was to accidentally clip both feet back in. Yippy. So here I am, cursing myself for not dropping the seat and spending way too much attention on the predicament while ignoring the fact that I should probably be braking still. A moment later I realize that I’m now stuck, and going way too fast. I grabbed a handful of brakes and promptly roll some loose rocks, washing out the front end. Splat, scrape.
Here I am, tangled up with the bike, slightly bloody, thoroughly racked by the rear tire, extremely ticked off at myself, and yes… still clipped in. It’s just then that a couple of runners jog by with the passing comment: "Gnarly sht dude." 😳 Wanted to melt into the rocks…Oh, and I scratched the GPS screen too. Darn it! Til then the GPS had survived my all to frequent stupid human tricks with only case damage.
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Last fall, I went for a ride with a lady friend in central MA and it wasn’t anything consequential. When cycling through the parking lot, I hit a quick horseshoe loop that ended with a couple of pump holes and then a gravel pile you can get some air off of. I got cooking to 19mph and right before I hit the pile, I saw thought it had been plowed down and was basically a rock wall with a deep drop behind it.
I went straight up and over so fast I through the bike 15′ away. Broke my helmet and almost my neck… suffered a significant consucssion and lost consciousness twice within the next few minutes. Awesome. 😳
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That was the sound my clavical made when it tried to occupy the same space an old oak tree claimed. Anyhow going down hill clearing a log and traveling way to far down the braking zone, which didn’t allow me enough time to lay on the binders when I was poised with a choice….Go off a 20 ft cliff or have the tree stop me…The actual corner was out of the question…Blew that corner right off. Anyhow I tried my best to spread the load when I impacted the tree…Unfortunately for me I was paying attention to my bike and my right shoulder moved forward and impacted the tree first….Snapp!! Then my arm wrapped around the tree…..Crackel….Finally i tried to support my bike…POP!… Well needless to say i have a 6" scar on my neck and a steel bar holding everything in place…Basically it was a clavical that was totally shattered.. The Hospital had to take a chunk of my pelvis to fill in the gap of the fragmented area.
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It’s a toss up for me. Back in ’94 I knocked out 7 teeth after going over the bars. Then in ’02 I was riding in downtown Boston, jumped a gap, hit a concrete pole – I broke my hand, collar bone, shoulder blade, tore my rotator cuff and got a doz. staples in the back of my head. My buddy called the ambulance but since I was uninsured at the time, I opted to [slowly] walk home to Roxbury. Ughhh.
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you guys win but my worst wreck was on pavement i loive on a big hill and bombing the hills fun plus theres no trees n roots to mess me up till one day there was a car… slammed the brakes and just slid i caved in their front fend broke the bike frame me and the bike went up and over bike landed on me and cookie cuttered me it was cool all i had was a broke wrist and the nike swoosh check mark thing scar between the nips lol
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My scariest and funniest crash happened when I was riding on a trail called Sneaky Snake…I foolishly took my eyes off the trail to look for a gator that usually sat right by the trail just out of the water. That spot on the trail is a narrow ledge a few feet above the water so I looked forward just in time to hit a tree that leans out with my shoulder and it knocked me to the left with no room to play my front tire went off the ledge and in I went headfirst fully submerged. I couldn’t scramble out quick enough with visions of that gator nearby. I had to stop at the end of the trail to wring out my socks. The only injury was to my pride.
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ha to hell with gaters man lol
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Mmmmm, gator meat!!!! They make one heck of a meal and fun to wrestle.
Mongoose,did you know we have a gator farm right in colorado?I got a buddy that goes up there and wrestles em once in awhile.Have yet to go myself but am interested in wrestleing and trying the taste.Do they taste like chicken????hahahahahahaha.
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"Mongoose" wrote
Is that at Carter cujo??? I think I remember that name from one of Carters trails. I like rollercoaster at Carter, pretty awesome trail.
Yup. There are some BIG gators out there.
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hmmm. I’m fairly new to mtb and had not had the opportunity for some gnarly crashes until just the other day. Coming through a nice straight away on some singletrack I was running 20-25 when i hit a dropdown in the trail. As I came out of it I somehow managed to be riding on nothing but my front wheel. I have to say, I sure as hell didn’t move the tree that jumped out in front of me. Oh and it demolished my new Niterider Classic. I’m still hurting 2 weeks later
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Thanks Goose. Got it straightened out now. Gimmie a call tomorrow so we can plan that cookout this sunday 😃
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well im typing one handed over the barred tucked and rolled landed on my left shoulder and i cant move it now hurts like hell but i WILL be back to try it again i will not be defeated… i was going to fast and i was only doing a roll up anyways and couldent stop and went off the jump… ouchhhhhhhhhh
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my worst wreck on pavement at the ripe old age of 8, I waved at a friend and a lady flew around a corner and hit me. Thought my right arm was broke, but never went to the doctor because it wasn’t. I think it did some nerve damage though because sometimes it will just start hurting and even a lite hit in the rite spot on my forearm will about drop me on the spot. But my coolest overall injury was either breaking my middle finger and filleting it with a steel door or fracturing my pointer and same middle finger getting them pulled into a weight machine with about 180lbs on it lucky for me it got pulled into a pully not under the weights.
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I suffered a really bad crash about three years ago; I hit a berm on a downhill portion of a fire road at about 30MPH, and I wasn’t paying attention, hadn’t set up for it, and therefore went @$$ over teakettle about 20 feet out and 8 feet down, landing on my head, shoulder and left hand.
I broke my collarbone, pinky knuckle and had some nasty road rash on the back of my shoulder.
I asked the orthopedist when it would be safe to ride again, and he said have my wife hang my bike up in the garage (it hangs upside down from the ceiling) and I could ride when I could get it down by myself.
Anyway, let the x-ray speak for itself:
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"maddslacker" wrote
I suffered a really bad crash about three years ago; I hit a berm on a downhill portion of a fire road at about 30MPH, and I wasn’t paying attention, hadn’t set up for it, and therefore went @$$ over teakettle about 20 feet out and 8 feet down, landing on my head, shoulder and left hand.
I broke my collarbone, pinky knuckle and had some nasty road rash on the back of my shoulder.
I asked the orthopedist when it would be safe to ride again, and he said have my wife hang my bike up in the garage (it hangs upside down from the ceiling) and I could ride when I could get it down by myself.
Anyway, let the x-ray speak for itself:
Oww…. Well I’m guessing you are riding again, since it’s been three years. But did you make a full recovery? *Hate* the collarbone, seems like it breaks too easily. I’m always hearing that from people/friends.
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Yes, that crash was in April, literally on the first ride of the season. I was riding again by Sept. of that year.
The collarbone healed ok, as in it doesn’t hurt, but it’s uncomfortable sometimes.
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Check out my pic/avatar for my profile. it was the latest of my injuries.
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😮 Ouch!
Spazjensen, were you wearing a helmet? Doesn’t look like it.
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It was actaully the helmet that did it. I fell pretty hard down a drop off like slope and when I stopped the back of head landed on a tree. The doc said that the helmet pushed up the back my head and with the pressure and force of the impact it caused the skin to split and a massive hemotoma to form. It took sixteen staples and alot of pain meds to get it to heal up over a time of six weeks. During that six weeks the junk (partly dried blood) kept building up between my scalp and my skull. So the huge hole kept opening up everytime I would lay my head down to sleep at night. This all happened at the beginning of March. I also had a severe loss of blood. I was pretty weak from the blood loss for a while. Now I have no real feeling in the back of the head. Its just that I put pressure on the trench it feels like getting pricked with fifty needles in one spot.
But now its just another story to tell and something to laugh about.
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Wow, Spaz!
I guess the lesson learned here is dont’ ride in front of anyone carrying a machette on their bike. Perfect viewing while I’m eating lunch I might add.
Here’s to stitches!
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I hope you heal up soon. Imagine if you weren’t wearing a helmet. The helmet may have saved your life, or at least prevented serious brain injury. I always shake my head when I see people riding expert trails without a helmet.
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Yeah i guess you ar right about me wearing a helmet. Good thing I was or it could have been worse. The really weird thing is that when felt the back of my head my entire middle finger went down to my skull. Talk about a nauses feeling. Try having a finger touching your skull while awake.
Oh yeah I’m all healed as it is going to get. I’ve been back riding since then for about four weeks now. 😃
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I’ll bet you messed up some pillows while you were healing.
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[size=200:3qpjn1mz]Ah quit your crying! That’s just a flesh wound. WALK IT OFF![/size:3qpjn1mz]
No really, that’s pretty nasty looking.
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😆 HAHA Yeah I did. But mostly pillow cases. The helmet is still in one piece but I won’t wear it anymore. I got a new one now that is bit more comfortable and is full face so it covers the back of my head entirely.
Plus it just looks plain sweet when I’m doing my thing. -
I was just going to say, probably a full faced helmet wouldn’t have done that
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What happened to the awesome head shot, Spaz? I was going to show it off to some folks at work who can appreciate that sort of stuff.
😢 (disappointed now) 😢
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"GoldenGoose" wrote
What happened to the awesome head shot, Spaz? I was going to show it off to some folks at work who can appreciate that sort of stuff.
😢 (disappointed now) 😢
What head shot were you exactly talking about?
If you were wanting the actual pic of the injury then I can email it to you if you want me to (just PM your email address if so). Or are you talking about what it looks like now?
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In January I entered a downhill mtb race at a ski mountain in Maine, it was a slalom type course with a 4′ jump at the finish line. I was doing about 15-20mph at the jump and my front tire broke through the snow at the top of the jump 😮 I ended up passing my bike in the air and landed on my head/face. Was out cold on impact and was being loaded into the rescue before I knew what was happening. After 5 hrs in the ER and CT scans of my head, spine, and abdomen was told I got a concusion and banged up my inards pretty good. After 5 days of p’ing blood everything was OK.
Now I’m a 3 season biker At least no downhill in the snow 😉
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