Yes, an infinite number of bikers, riding infinite miles will eventually have one person crash and die. But each of us is not inifinite. We're one of infinity. The likely scenario is someone else will die, just like someone else will die in a plane crash, not likely you!!! one person divided by infinite global bike miles actually = zero (division by infinity)....so you WON'T DIE FROM BIKE CRASHES if there are infinite bike miles out there....if there is one death per 10,000,000 cycling miles, then during each of your miles, the probability is 1/10,000,000. As you see this is not zero...but nearly.

Statistically some people will die, but the almost infinite majority of cyclist miles don't result in a death causing crash. You are free to believe that if you get on a bike you will die, but you can walk out your front door, slip on ice and crack your head open, trip over your dog's leash and crack your head open, get hit by lightening, get in your car and end in a crash an all of these May also cause death but the large majority of the time, they won't. It is OK if people don't want to take the risk, it is certain that by sitting at home long enough continuously you WILL DIE....we all will. Life is not infinite. Staying home and avoiding the risks of the external world may extend life, but also staying at home may not for a number of reasons, but that's another topic since when we are staying home and sitting on trainers or rollers, we're actually strengthening our bodies.

As I said, it is perfectly OK to not bike outdoors. I do when the risk is higher than what I want to take (dark, rainy night, on bad roads in traffic....used to do that all the time bike commuting home, not really interested in that any more....would rather drive and sit on trainer after work)

Actually, theoretically, if you ride an infinite number of miles on a bike, you will eventually crash and die. But that’s not going to happen.

The last commercial passenger airline crash in the USA was on February 12, 2009. People die on bikes daily.

...ahhh...but there are likely more bicycle hours on aggregate per year than passenger hours (I don't know the math). In any case, people are more than welcome to manage their own risk exposure, but don't be spreading misinformation with wrong data. Yes people will die on bike because there is an aggregate number of bicycle hours that exceed the deaths/bike hours stat. It's just really really really low for ANY of us and if you look at all the other things you may die from your time on the bike is not one to worry about. Rather than packaged food that will give you cancer or a heart attack is your high risk daily event, along with second hand smoke, alcohol and a fairly large number of high risk things that we all do daily. I don't get people who won't ride on roads due to risk and are quite happy to have a daily or weekly drink....now we're on another topic, but you get the picture

Actually Dev, you are very wrong. Commercial air travel is much safer than riding a bike. Don't take my word for it, Google is your friend.
https://www.businessinsider.com/...-occupant-of-a-car-4
There is a reason why most of us know people who were hospitalized after a bike accident (you and me included), but few of us know anyone injured in a commercial airline accident.

Around the world there are 1B or so estimated number of people who use a bike per day and worldwide aviation moves only 6M passengers per day. With 1B per day using bikes, bad things will happen between the number of incompetent bikers mixing with the number of incompetent drivers. Aviation which was my first career is blessed with almost no randomness (traffic) after getting out of the airport, and highly competent and trained operators. Then when you flip aviation on a "per kilometer basis" an airplane will be 800-900km per hour....the bike barely 10 kph. So on a per mile basis aviation will look really really good. But per hour not as good, since you need to divide airplane miles by 75-90 to compare with bike miles.

In any case, they are both really low probabilty of death activities. Put down your beer or wine if you want to improve your death odds, not your outdoor riding!!! Get on a flight, go to a race, ride on the local streets, do the race, fly home. Let other people drink the beer :-)

I used to parrot this same thing, and I believed it

But then I thought about it. I have FIVE friends / acquaintances that have been killed on bikes since I moved to Texas 8 years ago. These are all 18-45 year olds. That doesn’t count bike on car accidents that didn’t result in death.

Fortunately, i don’t even know 5 others in that age group that have died in the same period.

Cycling is dangerous…. Tho I still do it, albeit I make very deliberate choices to minimize my risk where possible

We will just have to agree to disagree. I (and several of my friends) ended up in the hospital as the result of a bike crash. So have you. There has not been a commercial passenger airline crash in the United States since 2009. I don’t know anyone who was hospitalized as a result of a commercial airline crash. I’m guessing you don’t either. Make two columns. In one column list everyone you know who has been hospitalized as the result of a bike crash. In the other column, list everyone you know who has been hospitalized as the result of a commercial airline crash. Let me know what you find out. As for the 1 billion bike riders a day, they are not riding racing triathlon bikes. It’s a very different situation.

I see you posted earlier this week about a friend who was hospitalized after suffering very serious injuries while biking. I hope his recovery goes well.

Biking is dangerous. That is why you, I, and a number of people we each know, have ended up in hospitals after crashing. What other sport can you say that about?

I wish your friend a speedy recovery.

Your story sounds a lot like mine.

I was heading southeast and a car heading northwest ( opposite direction of me ) turned left and bam, too late.

Comminuted intertrochanteric hip fracture ( shattered the femoral neck ) had emergency hip surgery, 2 intramedullary rods inserted. ( 2 rods inside the bone ) as well as a couple screws.

My rods stick out in 2 places right in the meaty part of the glutes, and to this day I have an imbalance due to it.

Other injury was a collarbone which made using a walker or crutches impossible.

7 months 50 % weight bearing.

I had similar thoughts, but eventually just let them go.

I don't want to be defined by my injury, I just want to learn from it and be stronger despite it.

It took me quite a while to work through things enough to get back to triathlon, but have since then grown to be fitter and more accomplished than I ever was pre-injury.

Most people are blown away when I talk about my past injuries and how well I have come back.

That said, that's partly cause I don't make it part of my identity. I am just a strong triathlete, a strong cyclist, a strong person, despite the injuries.

All the more to talk about over coffee when comparing battle wounds.

Also, eventually we all meet someone who's had it worse who isn't walking around advertising it, lol.

There isn't really a "right" answer, I just decided I was better off just doing what I can to improve, and not let it define or limit what I think is possible.

I had this happen this past September - mine was a pickup truck that made the left in front of me, and I ended up with 2 broken ribs, broken scapula, and an obliterated collarbone. I *just* this week graduated from outpatient PT, and sent on my way with a home program.

I have zero desire to memorialize it in any way. The scar, the plate and screws, and the unrelenting muscle issues are all the reminder I need. But I wouldn't say that I suppressed it either. I am still fucking furious at the driver (the chickenshit fled the scene), but I have talked about it with other people. I finally got back out on the road a couple weeks ago. That's still kind of hard for me to do, but I'm working on it.

Basically, you do you. If you want to memorialize it/incorporate something about it in to your life, then do it. Maybe stay away from a tattoo, but if you're talking about adding an image to a bike? You can always remove it if you decide you hate it in a few years. One of my teammates was in a horrific crash a few years ago, and he mounted his destroyed bike frame. He rationed "If I ever decide I don't want to see it ever again, I can take it off the wall."

I'm so sorry you had an accident.
Got hit in Oregon by a driver who saw me and thought she had enough time to turn. Two sacrum fractures, fortunately no surgery.
Maximizing the insurance payout on their end helped me heal emotionally...

keep us updated.

I'll try to write more later for you.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I got hit this past weekend, ended up with a broken nose, jaw, wrist, and a few teeth, along with 55 stitches on my face. I was training for a couple of TTs and a tri next month, obviously all of those are off the table. The only ways I intend to memorialize this are a) whatever scarring is left from all those stitches, and b) finishing the next TT or tri down the line at the same pace or faster than I had estimated I could do at the ones I'm forced to miss...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I wanted to post an update from the crash and some random musings related to recovery and such.

The Good

• Pretty much a textbook recovery in terms of getting gait back to normal and started riding outside about two weeks ago. Fitness clearly down, but pain free for the most part.
• Received tremendous support from about 5-7 buddies, some cyclists and some not, over the course of the recovery. They frequently checked in on my physical and mental health. I bring this up as a potential reminder to not only reach out to those in need at the onset of their issue, but maintain a level of connection if you are close to them. I missed our cycling trip to Mallorca and, for me, it felt better when those who went on the trip and text me about the ride or wine or something that day.

The Bad

• Driver was not cited by the Portage County Police department, despite being identified as at fault. I have been progressing (slowly) through the chain of command and it is frustrating to say the least. Two parts have been the most difficult are: 1) when I asked the officer if I had been driving my car and this happened, would of the driver been cited? His response was, "well yes, because there would have been damages." I then reminded him that I was damaged and listed my injuries again to which I was greeted with the sound of crickets. His superior said that the officer must have mis-spoked. yeah right. 2) I have a 17 year old son who i am constantly talking to about driver safety and responsibility and turning your back on bad decisions when driving, I have asked all of the officers to date to please provide me with talking points or what they would say to a room full of teenage drivers to justify the lack of a ticket to this driver? The response has been underwhelming: "we don't have to tell you how we educate young drivers" to "we have 1,000s of traffic encounters every year and we don't give tickets to all the speeders either." These are literally quotes and when pushed or challenged, they just repeat the exact same thing like a wind-up doll.
• Because of the ineptness of the policing, I did have a few allusions of taking a Next of Kin approach, when you are laying there and not really able to move and basic activities of daily living are compromised and you think of the driver waking up that day the same as every other day, for me, it triggered the I will take care of this myself response. Fortunately, understanding the consequences of those actions would far outweigh any satisfaction and not having any buddies who have a bus full of snakes prevented me from activating that plan.

The Musings

• I have a lawyer who has dealt with the insurance company. Not sure what final settlement will look like as the driver was 42 years old, car registered to his father (presumably), and has had 10 moving violations over the past couple of years and his employment status is unclear. Clearly, upside for me is that the lawyer has done everything and I simply send him receipts and other missed opportunities because of the crash. Ironically, when I mentioned the driving record to the cops, they were more concerned about how I found out that information.
• The lack of a ticket to the driver really caused me more emotional stress than I thought it would. When they first told me they were not going to give him a ticket, I kind of felt like they were saying I was at fault or that we were equally at fault. I made that interpretation on my own and it took a bit of talking with my buddies who were reaching out on a regular basis to break that line of thinking.
• In my original post, I asked if I should memorialize this and integrate into the new bike. I thought about screws on the seat post or something from the x-ray. After reading the various comments and having to see the scars every morning after my shower, I decided that was enough of a reminder of the crash or surviving the crash.
• I am more aware of cars coming at me than I was before, even if they would not have the opportunity to turn in front of me.
• I bought the brightest headlight (Lezeyne strip) to supplement my garmin headlight. Probably overkill, but provides a bit of peace of mind.
• I have become much more aware of driving behaviors; broad brush painting here, but the worst drivers (in NE Ohio) are those with lifted diesel pickups with a bit of rust and Tesla drivers. Most likely for different reasons.
• When I first walked into my house after surgery, I saw the family picture we took at Christmas and was a bit choked up and glad that was not the last family pic with me in it. Now, whenever we are all together, (daughter in college) we take a family pic.
• I had a bottle of George T. Stagg from 2016 that was given to me as a gift a number of years ago. I had been saving it for a special occasion. No longer. I cracked it open when some of those friends above came over about three weeks after the crash and we enjoyed a glass (small) together. No longer saving "stuff" for a special occasions that may never come.

Be safe out there and thanks for the responses to the original post as I would occasionally come back to them during the rehab/recovery phase for insight and encouragement. Glad to be in the rebuilding phase now.
J

"Scars are like tattoos, but with better stories"

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I got in around as minor a bike-hit-by-car as there is, 2008 I think. I wasn't hurt (didn't even hit the ground), & the bike I was riding was a 1980s 12-speed univega. Still, dude went through a stop sign, hit & run, several people came up to me with his license plate and told me how to get a hold of them, etc. So Good Citizen That I Am, made a police report. They didn't do anything at all, seemed surprised I expected them to. Sometimes cops just DGAF.

You've given a great update (great as in comprehensive) and I hope you're getting there, in mind and body (don't call it a 'comeback'). This Inside Tri interview (Helen) with Kat Matthews has just popped up / been posted: worth a long listen:
https://www.insidetrishow.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0bQ3Yr3VXk

Actually made an account here to talk about this, firstly seeking rehab advice and to hear from people who suffered the same injury.

1.5 years ago I was riding my bike to school and a truck blew a stop sign and I panicked and hit my brakes and swerved, flew over my handlebars and shattered my patella. He didn't even hit me, so there was no case. Just had him drive me home and I never saw him again.

Went to the hospital, waited 5 hours to find out that I did in fact break it and I cried at the diagnosis, was really upsetting. I'd say I was truly mad for the first few months. Losing the ability to walk, watching my leg wither away by the day, I had a lot of anger for the driver, myself and my own luck. I also went through the "one second earlier, I'd be fine, one second later I'd be dead" and it was a mixture of anger and sadness for what could have just been a little avoidance. This metastasized especially when I started going through physiotherapy and it was as if I had to relearn how to use my leg. Struggling to do 5 pounds on the leg press at only 20 degrees range of motion put me in a hole of despair I didn't know existed.

Eventually I came to realize that I had two options, either continue to stay frustrated about what happened or move on and become better for it. It sucks, but there's nothing I can do to change the past and all I can do is work to change my future. It sounds silly but I read some books on Stoicism during my recovery and it really helped my mental wellbeing during that really tough time.

Now I'd say I'm pretty neutral about it. It still affects me in daily life but I know that with time and effort the knee will get stronger. Hearing other's experiences who have gone through the same injury or worse has also really helped me. I think I'll always memorialize the incident since it's 100% my worst ever injury and recovery journey I've had to endure. I'm always up for a challenge though and I think that by the end of it all, I'll be stronger for it.

having gotten away from a car coming from a side street and cutting me off, with "only" 3 compression fractures, I still have PTSD 2 years later when in the same situation, even when driving a car. If I try to remember it consciously and think about in the present, I'd probably never ride a bike again.

as for changing things, until we can get a coalition that will lobby every state to actually impose criminal consequences for this (In NYS it's a $250 fine, I think) nothing will change. When a few people go to jail for multiple years for injuring or killing someone, then other drivers will start to respect cyclists. Drivers have no problem slowing, stopping, waiting when it's an emergency vehicle, construction or even delivery vehicle, but when they spandex, their blood pressure goes up