Coming off your bike is not something you forget. It's happened to me on three occasions in recent years. The worst was at some temporary traffic lights when I caught the cable that was stretched across the road and was somehow lassoed into the air. I had time to think about the best way to land and decided that having broken my wrist once I wasn't going to stick my hand out and do it again. So I twisted my body round mid-flight and broke my shoulder blade instead. It was agony, but I still I think it was a good decision.
Second time someone stepped off the pavement right in front of me - it wasn't nice for me, and it was even less nice for her. And the third time I simply overcooked on a corner. When I got up I had road rash that a pro would have been proud of.
We've had some real falling-off weather lately. Wintry surfaces that glisten menacingly with an amalgamation of grease and ice. Nasty. A friend of mine went down twice in the space of minutes the other day. He wasn't even going round a corner. The bike just went from under him. My worst fear is reserved for man-hole covers, which are lethal in the wet. Then there are those drains with slots that seem specifically designed to snare your front wheel.
In his latest end-of-year diary in the London Review of Books Alan Bennett tells a nice story about how his coat got caught up in his back wheel and the next thing he knew he was sprawled in the road. "I lie there for a moment or two like Kafka's beetle, waving my legs in the air." It can happen to the best of us, eh.
I've only come off twice, both times as a student - first time car simply brushed me aside, second time a bus pulled up right in front of me. Neither terrible, but the car driver at least stopped and came back to check on me. Bus driver simply drove off.
Posted by: Jane | Friday, 21 December 2007 at 09:22 AM
I had a bad fall in April and landed on my face - still got 4 months to go until my teeth are fixed. I agree with Simon though: you can always get new teeth but a badly broken wrist very rarely heals properly. On the slippery issue I reckon that fixed-wheel bikes are safer as you can, to an extent, control your speed without using your brakes, which tend to lock the front wheel if it's at all icy.
Posted by: Peter | Friday, 21 December 2007 at 04:20 PM
As if being knocked off your bike isn't bad enough (I was hit head on by a car making an illegal right turn, took 5 years before I got my nerve back) it would seem that Matthew Parris is advocating that cyclists should be decapitated with piano wire.....
Posted by: Kate | Thursday, 27 December 2007 at 11:12 PM
Ah, yes, the 'delightful' article by a certain Mr Parris of a different publication. I do hope the Old Bill take an interest in his possible incitement to murder cyclists - based on utter speculation and not a shred of actual evidence to support his assertion as to why he thinks it a good idea to decapitate cyclists!
Posted by: wafflycat | Saturday, 29 December 2007 at 08:29 PM
Having been pulled off my bike by an motorist who wound down their window, with me landing in front of a bus, I still haven't got on a bike since, I'm not best pleased by Mr Paris' article.
Posted by: Matt | Thursday, 03 January 2008 at 04:24 PM
Batman-style, found myself in a perfect position for the racing dive I practiced to perfection for school swimming team back in the 50's. Thumbs linked, about 2 feet before I hit I raised my hands and slammed them hard on the road - which must have broken a large part of my fall. No palms on gloves after. Injuries? Nerves and a calf the size of a rugby ball for several weeks. Cause? Never ascertained. Suspects? Black Toyota moving away as I flew. Close shave? Yes: oncoming double-decker got stopped only about 1.5 metres from where I sprawled on his side of road. This on Peckham Rye. Second fall was down to used chip oil leaked from skip where dumped by company claiming to see to removal. Sore bum for a couple of weeks. Able to cycle away from both incidents. V lucky, thank goodness.
Posted by: emissionary | Tuesday, 08 January 2008 at 06:31 PM
White van pulls out as if to pass, draws level, and then jinks hard left into me. My shoulder and the top of the sliding door connect with a thump and a crunch. I end up sliding on my side, downhill at around 18-20mph while the van drives off, never having braked.
A broken collarbone, strained ankle, severely bruised calf and gravel rash were the result.
Police couldn't find the driver as I didn't get enough of the plate and now I have to deal with the infernal MIB (Motor Insurer's Bureau).
And no, I didn't put my hands out to break my fall, preferring the clasp hands to chest and tuck head approach. I think it worked.
I'm back cycling already - through snow and ice! I must be bonkers...
Posted by: Stonehead | Wednesday, 09 January 2008 at 03:05 PM
Just chillout & enjoy riding your bike(s)!
I've had a brain haemorrhage & broken collar bone riding/crashing bikes. Get over it :-)
Posted by: Andy | Friday, 01 February 2008 at 10:53 PM
Cycling up Oxford high street. I was almost level with a side lane when a cyclist coming the other way turned right. Into the lane. In front of me. No warning, no signal, no right of way, just swept round. I braked, hard, and swore as his rear wheel just cleared my front one. Then I was in the air, over the handlebars, the bike swinging left and me slamming into the tarmac, right knee and elbow taking all the impact. Slam, scrape, pain - then bike joining me, hitting hard. Best of all, the bus behind me had a chance to try out its brakes. They worked, I'm not dead under a bus.
Of course, i have stories of car-related incidents too, but i think this one's most interesting.
I had incredible staphylococcal growth on my elbow for a couple of weeks after this. The other cyclist wasn't my favourite person.
Posted by: PJ | Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 06:12 PM