biggest crash EVER!

let's hear those war stories. What was your biggest ever bike crash?

No car, motorbike or ride on mower accidents please.

Mmm...my biggest ones have all been on the road in my courier days.
Not too epic...

Cycling down hill at fair pace when, yes, you guessed it..a stationary car door starts to open....time slows down...hear myself shouting Noooooooooooo..then bang...somersault many times..then hit the road...hard.
Quite a few broken bones with that one...but 3 years later a nice cheque for £5K from the drivers insurance co.

My favourite funny one was cycling hard down the embankment behind a Fiat Punto.....up to a roundabout/all clear both keep going. Taxi parked on the roundabout before a Pelican crossing...people walk out onto the crossing. Punto does an emergency stop...so do I....with my head through the back window...ended up pretty much between driver and passenger. No broken bones...minor cuts. Oh how we laughed...not

Having completed a black run on my first day in the Alps, slowed down and looked back to see where my friends were only to hit a minor bump, fly over the handlebars and smash my collar bone into 3 parts! The walk down the mountain was fun, as was the 20 minute ride in the back of a land rover before getting into an ambulance for another 20 minutes. Upon arriving at the small doctors surgery I discovered the treatment room with bloody rags all over the floor and flies everywhere. When the doc came to treat me he was pissed and smoking in my face. It had been an hour since the crash and still no pain relief, so when he decided to put a figure of 8 harness over my shoulders before using a broom handle hooked through my elbows to pull my shoulders back whilst a nurse pulled the straps tightI was less than amused! He then returned to his lunch and left me sitting outside in 40 degree heat with no water (camelback punctured) to wait for another hour for my mate to get to the village in the car. When I finally got my hands on some painkillers 4 hours had passed and I could have eaten the lot!

All good fun though! Booked for the following year and broke my shoulder blade the week before the off!

In 1991 I was Demonstrating the new Lawwill Leader fork to the press and bike makers in Moab, Utah. We went up to the Slick Rock trail and on the first big bowl drop-in the fork failed and I did a face plant at about 30 mph. I was paralyzed for about 10 days and after 18 days in the hospital I was permitted to go back home to Marin, where it took me about 2 years to get better. I was lucky I did recover, as the docs thought I would be in a wheelchair for life! Needless to say, I won the award with my friends for the biggest crash ever!

Downhill, big root, over the bars, land on my back, broken rib, rib punctures lung, Paul goes to hospital.

Back when i was into BMX, we were bombing about on the track we'd built, i attempted a 360, landed all wrong and ended up getting staples in my chin, 5 i think. Fractured wrist and few good cuts and bruises.

This was prob the worst i had, i have always been fairly lucky when coming off(touch wood)

I should point out we had been indulging in some underage drinking and were being silly buggers. I didn't go home for a few hours until the drink wore off basically, at which point my dad drove me into the hospital with blood right down my t-shirt from my chin :roll:

Those were the days

I've had a couple of nasties.

Several years ago I was on the last leg of the Marin trail when i came to those BMX type humps on a downhill section. I was trying to wheelie over them but as the back wheel ran into the hump it kept kicking up and making me land on the front wheel. 'Hmm, I seem to be getting away with this' I thought, 'I'll go a bit faster' BIG mistake. Landed over vertical on the front wheel - what can you do then? I'll tell you. Massive face plant at the high end of 20 odd mile per hour, threw me into the side of the bank and spun me and the bike into a metal sign post. I lay there dazed for a few minutes rubbing my thigh until my mates caught up. When I tried to get up I couldn't! My leg just wouldn't support my weight. My mates helped me onto my bike (the rails of my saddle were leaning at a crazy angle) and I rolled down the last couple of miles of switchback STILL beating them to the bottom. I couldn't pedal though, couldn't hardly walk. A mate drove me home the next day my quad was like a huge inflated balloon, turns out it was ruptured and I also had damaged knee ligaments. Took months of painful physio to heal.

My other nasty one was going too fast in Sherwood Forest of all places. A similar incident (you think I'd learn) I wheelied over a log and the back wheel rebounded off it and chucked me over the front. I KNOW I should have bunny hopped it! I hit the ground and the bike hit me in the temple - knocked me out! When my mates caught up I was spark out but then apparently started groaning. I eventually got up and dusted myself down to find that my shoulder didn't work properly. Also it became apparent to my mates that something else was amiss. I kept repeating myself, the same thing over and over again. Back at the car my mate rang my home really worried now. My Mrs is a nurse in A&E and gave him some info. Turns out in was concussion and short term memory loss. Spent the evening in A&E, they only let me home because of the Mrs.

My friend Bob had given me a saddle to try out and it was in my other mates car who was driving me home from Sherwood. All the way back I was saying to him 'Nice saddle, whose is it?' Answer: 'It's yours, Bob gave it to ya.' 5 mins later, 'Nice saddle.... etc etc etc ad infinitum.

went to do a down hill...got halfway down and thought hmm dont need to use the brakes...sped up ....hit a sand hole and flew gracefully thru the air and landed on my head from 15 feet up.heard my neck crack and thought heh just broke me neck.thankfully i didnt(god knows how)...just lay there to stunned to move whilst my "friends " laughed at me.turns out as i flew/fell the big ring had dug into my leg down to the bone down my right leg......this scarred just in the shape of a 48 tooth chainring....and i still cant bend my neck properly.took 6 months before i could put my own shirt on.ps i should add that shorly after i landed so did the bike on me...bent the top tube a goodun.....

the dumbest was sprinting on a raleigh rsw mk2 on a downhill at 30 mph.back wheel locked up and i had to use my elbows to slow down....on rough tarmac....my elbows are a mess i have to say.needed skin grafts for that 1.

ive also been hit by a car at 50 mph of haven bridge in yarmouth....put me head thru his window and got sent down the road a fair way.got away without a scratch on this 1.

In december 2005, I was riding with some friends, going way too fast around a corner and came across some ice. Rear end slid out and high-sided me. 20 feet into the air, came down on my leg.

Split femur, shattered kneecap, general badness altogether.



Four 3-inch screws and I'm back together again.

*just realized, it was three years ago today. December 4th.

I've also broken my back twice in un-bike related injuries.

September 18th this year :shock:

Chicksands, going too fast down a singletrack descent, launched off a log at the bottom, flew over the bars landing on my head. Neck, shoulders and back still not right to this day. Biggest impact I have ever had on a bike. Bike was fine BTW