[Sooshee offline]

I had my first big crash yesterday... I was riding up the Crow Creek Trail at Curt Gowdy State Park. The side to my right is a drop off down to the reservoir, and it was already making me nervous. I was climbing, and some how got on a big rock, lost momentum, and started leaning to my right. I looked down, saw the tumble I was about to take. I bailed off the bike, some how pushed some sharp sticks and baby aspen trees out of the way in midair, and landed on my left side, jamming that ankle and wrist. Then my bike landed on me. I was about 10 feet down from where I started. Being the big baby I am, I started crying and my boyfriend bailed off his bike to come to my rescue . Luckily it's just mostly a small stab wound (LOL), scratch, cuts, and a sore wrist and ankle. I had a job interview today, so I was mostly worried about having to hobble into it. I'm just happy I wasn't clipped in...

[spazjensen offline]

Does anyone have any really good crash photos? Looking to put together a full week of MTB crash PODs!

Since i dont know how to include pics in my posts Im just pasting the link to my photo album where you will find three decent pics of the results of my bike wreck. You might like em in all seriousness. sorry but no pics of the actual wreck.

http://www.singletracks.com/mountain-bi ... &view=user

[ollysj offline]

Looks like this isn't my year. After me broke thumb was good again, I started my vacation at the Allgäu (a german area, east of the Lake Constance) and had some decent rides. On Monday, I was riding with my wife and daughter slowly on a paved road and since I was bored, I did some manuals until I landed flat on my back. I was lucky, to wear a backpack, so I didn't hurt anything but my butt, which has some nice bruises now. No more sports for the rest of my holidays....

[Jared13 offline]

Of course it happens when you're on an 'easy' ride.

Thank you for not posting pics!

[Bubblehead10MM offline]

2 pretty lame crashes from TX.
Riding in Huntsville state park. Just easing down a trail, where I met traffic coming the other way, so I pulled of to the side immediately so this young couple could pass. So there I was, dead stop, standing on flat pedals, for about half a second. Nothing hurt but my pride.
Then riding Kit McConnico in Lufkin. pretty easy so I was hauling mail when a skinny tree pair got me. hit one side of handle bars, pretty much went airborne and landed on left chest across a 2 ft log. nice solid one to, nothing rotted about it. It was a good 6 weeks to get back to 100%.

[ollysj offline]

Thank you for not posting pics!

I didn't want to pay for everybodies therapy

[jtorlando25 offline]

Bubblehead - Nice!

I'm still recovering from a wreck on the 4th of July. Was riding unfamiliar rocky/rooty trails and came around a turn way too hot into a section of roots which caused the entire bike to wash out underneath of me. I was sliding down a hill and my left arm caught a root and got pulled back behind me. Sprained my rotator cuff. Still hurts pretty bad after rides, when I put weight on it, and if I move it in certain directions

[Fitch offline]

I’ve been very fortunate to not have any tumbles lately, but I did find this fall quite funny… I did about a two hour ride up at Musquash Conservation Area in NH with two friends, weaving our way through perfect weather and great singletrack intermixed with the typical roots and New England rocks.

No issues, no falling… about 15 minutes left for the ride, we wrapped up a break and I clipped in one foot and immediately tilted over, falling into my riding buddy because I couldn’t get out. You know… wiped out from a dead stop.

That's when you know you're tired.

[thoops6 offline]

Hey all - killing time at work and came across this thread, thought I'd sign up and share!

I had my first serious crash riding the Hydrocut in Waterloo, Ontario about a week and a half ago. Weather had been super dry and trails were extremely hard packed so I had my slicks on to give myself some more speed and a bit of a challenge. Anyways, it rained a little the night before my ride - nothing substantial, but enough to leave a few small puddles on the trail.

So I'm having a great ride, ripping through my fav sections and pushing myself harder and harder with each section. So I get about 3/4 of the way through my ride and decide I should head back to my car. This is where it got scary.

Approx 5-10 minutes later I woke up in the forest, bike beside me (it survived the crash), helmet shattered, neck is excrutiating pain and I have no idea where I am. I get up, stagger around and realize I'm mountain biking. I try not to panic and decide the best thing to do is to pick up my bike and walk the rest of trail until I can find somehwere to sit down and figure out what happened. Anyways, long story short - I come across some riders who claimed I was muttering incoherently and completely dazed - one of them was kind enough to walk me back to my where he called EMS and the cops. EMS said I had a mild concussion and a serious case of whiplash, but it was up to me whether I wanted to ride in the ambulance. - I opted not too, not sure why, but just didn't. Long story short, drove him, crushed a 6 pack and 2 advil and slept like a baby. Headache was constant for three days but its done and me neck is slowly getting better, but it's still tight. Worst part - I don't remember how or why I crashed: there's a 5 -10 minute interval where I don't remember anything...

Thank god for helmets!!

[Spartan offline]

I just crashed hard in my driveway on Wednesday while getting onto my bike to go for a ride...and I wasn't even clipped in yet ....Broke my Derailleur hangar and busted my front Derailleur

50 dollars down the drain...and a trashed elbow and knee.. good thing I can install them myself or it would be another 50 lost.

[Fitch offline]

Hey all - killing time at work and came across this thread, thought I'd sign up and share!
...................
Thank god for helmets!!

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes! That's effing SCARY, man! Take it easy on that brain of yours - I had a severe concussion in 2008 that had permanent effect on how my brain works. I was recommended to take 2-3 days off of work and only took 1... you need to literally try and not think for awhile.

And yeah, helmets FTW...

[Cmonzert offline]

I have been riding for a few months and really getting into it. I felt completely confident on my bike everytime I hit the trails, and was trying to ride every chance I got. When I would visit my parents in New York, I would bring my bike home to ride some trails early in the morning. My dad noticed my enthusiasm, and being a good dad who wants to spend time with this son, he started tagging along. Problem was, I was riding a new Cannondale and he was riding a 1990's walmart-purchased bike. I would rip the trails, and he would be huffing and puffing trying to get around on this 50 pound piece of scrap metal. So father day rolls around, and I go to my local bike shop and pick him up a decent mountain bike. When I gave him the bike, I remember him looking at the bike with this look on his face like "Hey, this is pretty cool!!". I was psyched.
So we roll out Fathers Day morning to Stillwell woods on Long Island, and start riding around the trails. Im leading, and see a sign up ahead which gives you two options: Easy, or Most Difficult. Ive ridden the most difficult and thought to myself, "Well, he has shocks now. Lets see what he can do".
About a quarter mile down the trail, there is a section with some drop offs which could be pretty intimidating for a beginner rider, and I roll up to one and wait for him to catch up. When he rolls up to it and stops, looking at it, I say "Go for it. Just get some speed". He kinda smiles, saying "Speed? Are you crazy?", and proceeds to roll off this drop at about 3 MPH. I remember knowing things were gonna be bad when I saw his front wheel stop. So I stand there, watching my 58 year old dad go over the handlebars, hit his ribs on a rock sticking out of the ground from about 3 feet up, the bike falling on top of him, and him slding down the trail. With his brand new bike. I jumped off my bike and ran down and asked if he was OK, but he couldnt breathe. He sat there in a daze for a few minutes, and then insisted we keep going. I thought to myself, "No Way". We had to walk our bikes off the trail, sneak through some backyards, and ride about a half a mile back to the car. He refused to go to the hospital until about 2 weeks later, when he felt an itching sensation in his wrist. The diagnosis: Broken wrist, 2 broken ribs. Worst Father's Day gift ever.

[Bubblehead10MM offline]

First time on single track with my almost new Giant Talon 29"er HT. It was at the Slaughter Pens in Bentonville, AR. I huffed and puffed up these hills, with a death grip on the bar so bad my forearms started cramping. I came to a little bridge that was someones Eagle scout project, it had an OK approach in retrospect but there was a little drop and some roots leading in. "Well alright" I said and started to ride in, ...then chickened out trying to stop. I went head first down the steep hillside. fortunately I hit some stuff that stopped my fall. The baby head my knee landed on I could of done without. I road away feeling not too bad and made my way out, and back to my truck. As I road the knee swolled up and became painful but got better after a week or so, and I'm afraid I'm guilty of littering to the tune of a speedo Magnet. It must be there somewhere.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110267808319882951185/PhoneCam#5770701579994770434
https://picasaweb.google.com/1102678083 ... 3076937570

[Bubblehead10MM offline]

I Really messed up today riding this. Must not have been paying attention, because I didn't feel anything, just landed head first more or less, and on my left chest and arm pit, and hip, and right knee. Coughing hurts the worst, but nothing seems to be broken. I finished the loop...slowly, then had about an 8 mile ride to truck, and an 8 Hour drive to look forward to.
I have a pic of the scratch pattern on inside of left arm and left chest which I will spare you all from.

[ButchA offline]

Hmmmm... I don't really have a crash story regarding MTB's. But I do have one to share going back to around 1976 when I was a teenager, riding my Raleigh 10 speed.

I was out riding with my best friend/next door neighbor. We'd always take off and just...leave...you know? We'd both tell our mom's "See you later! I'll be home for dinner", and would ride 20 - 25 miles or more during the summer months.

Well that one fateful day, it had rained the day before, but was okay and the roads were dry. There were a few puddles on the sides of the roads though. We were cruising along and my best friend laughed at me, as I veered off to the side and went through a puddle and got my bike wet, my brakes wet, and put a wet stripe up my back. I slowed down and let him go ahead and then raced to catch up. Just up ahead, we descended down a WICKED steep hill. I'm talking so steep, that they'd probably close the road in the wintertime or heavily sand/salt it, so people could get up it. Anyway, my best friend whipped down the hill and then slammed on his brakes at the bottom at the sharp T intersection and turned left and stopped. I came flying down the steep hill too, but, my brakes were still soaking wet and my Raleigh 10 speed couldn't stop. You can just guess what happened next.... (Now remember, this was the 70's... No helmets, no anything...)

To this very day, all these decades later, all I remember is my Raleigh 10 speed trying to make that left turn with me dragging my left foot like a motorcross/dirt bike racer. Next thing I remember, I woke up being wheeled into the ER of the hospital with a neck brace on and my left hand all bandaged up and a huge bandage around my head!

My best friend said that I went off the road, went airborne like Evel Kinevel, and me and my Raleigh 10 speed crashed into the woods and my bike went head-on into a tree! What saved my life is that my left hand got caught in the handbrake, pulling me over the handlebars to the left side and not into the tree. I was told I dislocated my left thumb, ripped the webbing between my thumb and index finger of my left hand, and when I went over the handlebars, my head landed on a big rock, knocking me out cold, and caused a massive gash in my head. My best friend ran to the house nextdoor and the family all came running out and dragged me out of the woods and called the ambulance and called my parents.

Damage assessment:
8 stitches in my left hand.
My left thumb popped back in place and all bandaged up.
13 stitches in my head and all bandaged up.
A foam neck collar due to a mildly sprained neck.
A stay in the hospital (just overnight for observation).
A totally trashed, twisted and bent, Raleigh 10 speed bike.