Fell off today ...
Discussion
First real ride out off road with SPD's, got to the top of a climb feeling like my lungs were trying to get out via my mouth.
Unclipped left foot, leaned bike right and went over............ unluckily for me, my fall was broken by a dog egg.
The rest of the ride was filled with the pungent aroma emanating from my right shoulder as no amount of scraping on leaves was enough to remove it all.
Unclipped left foot, leaned bike right and went over............ unluckily for me, my fall was broken by a dog egg.
The rest of the ride was filled with the pungent aroma emanating from my right shoulder as no amount of scraping on leaves was enough to remove it all.
Aged 16/17, riding my 10speed Peugeot (I really miss that bike!) out of the school drive.
It was raining, the driveway had a right hand bend in it, I was flat out, leant over, right pedal up to clear the tarmac, when I reached the painted zebra crossing, which in the rain had considerably less grip than the tarmac
Bike skittered across to the far side of the drive, and I tore holes in my trousers and smashed my walkman. Right in front of my younger sisters maths class.
It actually hurt quite a bit but I just had to get up dust myself down and get the hell out of there as quickly as I could!
It was raining, the driveway had a right hand bend in it, I was flat out, leant over, right pedal up to clear the tarmac, when I reached the painted zebra crossing, which in the rain had considerably less grip than the tarmac

Bike skittered across to the far side of the drive, and I tore holes in my trousers and smashed my walkman. Right in front of my younger sisters maths class.
It actually hurt quite a bit but I just had to get up dust myself down and get the hell out of there as quickly as I could!
Cyling to work in the city, was about 8:20am on a weekday morning.
Got to the top if the hill on Tooley Street at the junction outside London Bridge Station and came to a stop....but forgot to in-clip...
Couldn't have been busier and I fell off on my left side, in front of hundreds of people walking to work...not my proudest moment!
Did similar on Cheapside a few moths later at a similar time, however I had just emergency stoppe owin to a ped stepping out on me...
Got to the top if the hill on Tooley Street at the junction outside London Bridge Station and came to a stop....but forgot to in-clip...
Couldn't have been busier and I fell off on my left side, in front of hundreds of people walking to work...not my proudest moment!
Did similar on Cheapside a few moths later at a similar time, however I had just emergency stoppe owin to a ped stepping out on me...
Nighthawk said:
First real ride out off road with SPD's, got to the top of a climb feeling like my lungs were trying to get out via my mouth.
Unclipped left foot, leaned bike right and went over
Snap - on road - top of hill - unclipped but went other side. Only one car passing and slight scratch to pedal. Unclipped left foot, leaned bike right and went over
Only a couple of weeks ago - but now I'm up to 14/600 on the same hill on Strava - two more seconds and I'm top 10.
Excellent bike - Enigma Evade 1.2 - only 48 more weeks on Cycle To Work and its paid.
Monday just gone. Was out for a rare jaunt on the mountain bike, fancied some off road. Headed out and had done only 5 miles when approached a nice wide gravel road on the moor. Gave a hello to a dog walker at the top of the bank before getting speed on the descent. Got some lift off a small rock, and then on coming down front wheel just hit a small channel in the road. Cue me, going down at 26mph. Dug into the gravel doing my best superman impression on my left side. Came to a stop and found I'd taken the skin off my elbow and left a good in it! Blood all over. Mixes in with a badly sprained thumb, egg on my shin and gravel rash all down my ribs. Couple of expletives, I could see the dog walker coming down but not sure if she saw it. Gave a sheepish glance as i rode past back to the van. Got some great scabs.
Possibly the only one i can remember; riding to paris as a groupd of about 50 of us, riding into a lovely village on a lovely sunny day, support car behind filming, came to set of lights with restaurant on corner and the lights went red, bollards even distance on pavement so slowed to stop, put out right hand to reach for top on bollard, misjudged and fell between two bollards on front of diners and film crew........... Fortunately in the days before youtube!
I was that excited about my new shiny pedals and shoes I quickly fitted them, clipped in and then subsequently fell off before I'd even left the garage! Luckily for me the I was the only one that witnessed the huge fail apart from the plastic washing basket that I destroyed in my fall.
Went to cross a wooden bridge over a stream, which was perpendicular to the trail, front wheel got onto thebridge, but the rear didn't and the bike dragged me in. There wasn't anyone there to see it, but I did have to ride home through town covered in mud.
The next time that the rucksack I was using on that ride was used, was by my mate at Coed y Brenin - he had a big OTB. He was riding behind me and the first I knew of it was the big "Oooooooh", then round of applause from a group of riders gathered near the trail.
The next time that the rucksack I was using on that ride was used, was by my mate at Coed y Brenin - he had a big OTB. He was riding behind me and the first I knew of it was the big "Oooooooh", then round of applause from a group of riders gathered near the trail.
my best/worst was at a crossroads with traffic lights with queuing traffic, I was on the pavement turning right at less than walking pace when a wasp (or something) flew between my glasses and eye ball and I panicked and went down like a sack of spud. no one else saw the wasp thingie so I looked like a total plumb for crashing at that speed.
Wasps 1 Me nil
Wasps 1 Me nil
Edited by pjfamilyguy1 on Wednesday 12th August 12:03
Edited by pjfamilyguy1 on Wednesday 12th August 12:04
1st -
Cwmcarn about 2008 on the uplift - been having a pretty good day, I am by no means a killer DH rider, but with every run confidence and speed it building so after lunch I'm looking for new ways to push myself - there was a sneaky little line that was unsigned and hard to spot about mid-way down that shoots up into the woods, incredibly wet, root and narrow - I rode it once before about a year previously but hated it and never wanted to ride it again, up to that point - so with everyone milling around at the top of the track I waited for a gap and set off with 2 mates in two "watch this!". I didn't lead the whole bus off (16 riders) just my little group, but it seems 2-3 other riders over-heard me talking and followed us to see this line through the trees. The entry is 'blink and you'll miss it' so everyone was tight in - over a table top, and hard right between two trees - it was 10 times worse than I remember, I was moving but with little gravity, no room to pedal and my cautious approach meant I was losing speed all the time - towards the end of this route I remembered the real reason why I hated it - you had to complete a small drop, maybe 2ft - piss easy on a DH bike, but it was right into the trail at 90 degrees meaning you couldn't do it straight you had to drop and turn which is hard work - so... I bottled it, hit the brakes, slid and came to a stop with my front wheel hanging over the edge - then I heard it... sliiiiiiiide and my mate came to a stop just tapping my back wheel, then sliiiiiiide, tap, my other mate tapped him, then sliiiiiide the couple of guys we didn't know came to a stop, then sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide BANG, slliiiiiiiiiiide bang "OW, sorry!"
It seems that the guys who followed us were spotted by another group who followed them, who where spotted by another group who followed in - in total all 16 riders from the Van had followed me (or at least each other) into this 'secret line' as it had now been named - including World Cup winner Fionn Griffiths and everyone was now either waiting patiently or laying on the group in deep mud wondering how to get out of this mess I got us all into - finally I half rolled, half dropped off the end, missed the trail completely, fell on my arse, jumped up and went down the flew down the trail about as fast as I ever have, at least for a while until I could find a switch-back to hide behind.
2nd - Again at Cwmcarn - a few years later, I 'tweaked' my ankle on a crap landing, it felt okay so I carried on and rolled into the area where the bus was, I was knackered anyway so I rolled straight past the bus and to my car for a rest - just as I got their the bus was passing and I stepped of the side of the bike - it seems my ankle was far from okay because I folder over the moment my foot hit the deck and I land in a heap on the floor with what felt like an ice pick stuck in my ankle - all the riders on the buss saw was a slightly over-weight 30 something guy fall of the side of his bike a 1mph and shout like he'd been stabbed. THEY ACTUALLY STOPPED TO LAUGH AT ME!
3RD - this one isn't too bad, and it's not really my fault - at Antur Stiniog this weekend, for my first real bit of DH in 5 years, taking it easy on the blues my mate spotted another 'secret line' on the outside of a turn, turns out it was anything but - and we ended up in a working quarry...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj5xQf_lQnY
Cwmcarn about 2008 on the uplift - been having a pretty good day, I am by no means a killer DH rider, but with every run confidence and speed it building so after lunch I'm looking for new ways to push myself - there was a sneaky little line that was unsigned and hard to spot about mid-way down that shoots up into the woods, incredibly wet, root and narrow - I rode it once before about a year previously but hated it and never wanted to ride it again, up to that point - so with everyone milling around at the top of the track I waited for a gap and set off with 2 mates in two "watch this!". I didn't lead the whole bus off (16 riders) just my little group, but it seems 2-3 other riders over-heard me talking and followed us to see this line through the trees. The entry is 'blink and you'll miss it' so everyone was tight in - over a table top, and hard right between two trees - it was 10 times worse than I remember, I was moving but with little gravity, no room to pedal and my cautious approach meant I was losing speed all the time - towards the end of this route I remembered the real reason why I hated it - you had to complete a small drop, maybe 2ft - piss easy on a DH bike, but it was right into the trail at 90 degrees meaning you couldn't do it straight you had to drop and turn which is hard work - so... I bottled it, hit the brakes, slid and came to a stop with my front wheel hanging over the edge - then I heard it... sliiiiiiiide and my mate came to a stop just tapping my back wheel, then sliiiiiiide, tap, my other mate tapped him, then sliiiiiide the couple of guys we didn't know came to a stop, then sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide BANG, slliiiiiiiiiiide bang "OW, sorry!"
It seems that the guys who followed us were spotted by another group who followed them, who where spotted by another group who followed in - in total all 16 riders from the Van had followed me (or at least each other) into this 'secret line' as it had now been named - including World Cup winner Fionn Griffiths and everyone was now either waiting patiently or laying on the group in deep mud wondering how to get out of this mess I got us all into - finally I half rolled, half dropped off the end, missed the trail completely, fell on my arse, jumped up and went down the flew down the trail about as fast as I ever have, at least for a while until I could find a switch-back to hide behind.
2nd - Again at Cwmcarn - a few years later, I 'tweaked' my ankle on a crap landing, it felt okay so I carried on and rolled into the area where the bus was, I was knackered anyway so I rolled straight past the bus and to my car for a rest - just as I got their the bus was passing and I stepped of the side of the bike - it seems my ankle was far from okay because I folder over the moment my foot hit the deck and I land in a heap on the floor with what felt like an ice pick stuck in my ankle - all the riders on the buss saw was a slightly over-weight 30 something guy fall of the side of his bike a 1mph and shout like he'd been stabbed. THEY ACTUALLY STOPPED TO LAUGH AT ME!
3RD - this one isn't too bad, and it's not really my fault - at Antur Stiniog this weekend, for my first real bit of DH in 5 years, taking it easy on the blues my mate spotted another 'secret line' on the outside of a turn, turns out it was anything but - and we ended up in a working quarry...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj5xQf_lQnY
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