Depends. I'm old with a short memory so it doesn't take long to forget a mishap.

I've been down 3 times, one kept me off the bike for 5 months, but you just have to take it easy and build up that confidence and before you know it you'll be back to riding how you did prior to your spill. It just takes time, don't sweat it

I like to take the "rationale" approach to such things. Rather than think about the one time you messed up and crashed, thinking about the 100's of times you were out there without a problem.

I've had a crash where I put a 1" crack in the side of my helmet, and never even knew my head hit the ground. Had a few bumps and bruised, but more than anything it was a reminder how important a helmet is.

The old cycling cliche is "it's not if you're going to crash, but when", perhaps you can fully embrace this and getting your crash out of the way, and be grateful that there were no serious consequences.

Start back with a non-technical, non-hilly ride and just get some saddle time in, and it won't take long to feel comfy again.

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John Hartpence, Athlete & Coach
tripence@gmail.com, @coachpence

Took about a minute or so </pink>


No really, last time I crashed and only damaged skin and soft tissue I was riding again about 2 days later. I was a little more timid on curves (the crash happened because my rear tire slipped out during a turn on wet pavement), but other than that I had no particular fear of riding.

I went down on a wet road. After I healed up I got back on the bike. The first few times I rode I would always get the sensation that my back wheel was starting to slide out. Once I was in the saddle for awhile my mind would wander elsewhere and I wouldn't feel the sensation anymore. Just takes some time.

Top Gun is your best resource here. Maverick has some great lessons on how to re-engage. Maybe you can find Goose's dog tags to help you out :)

As others have said, just take it easy, and you will get your confidence back soon enough. I like the suggestion of remembering the 100's of times you didn't go down, great advise.

Ride on a trainer as soon as injuries allow.

Then ride on a MUP away from traffic until you regain confidence. You could pretty well do this in just a few days or a week.

Then hit the roads again.

Yeah never get complacent no matter how well you know the route. Eyes on the road at all times. Any wet patch or debris is suspicious enough to avoid, unless avoiding it will place you in the path of a vehicle. Or into a ditch. I just saw a roadie hit an 80s camcorder (Great Scott Marty! No wonder it broke it says Made in Japan!) discarded in a bike lane and he crashed pretty badly.

Broke my shoulder blade in a 40 mph crash that put me through barbed wire back in September. Was on an indoor bike within 3 weeks, a road by 4 week (very easy riding), and back up to 50 mile rides by week 6. I completed a half ironman almost 90 days to the date. However, the crash happened because the intersection I came into looked different going down the hill than going up, so I went with the intention of stoping only to realize that it was a full intersection without stop signs so instead took the turn wide and I think my tires rolled out of the rim as they were shredded on the sides.

For a while, I would have shots of anxiety if I took a left turn too fast (not right turns) and after a while they still happened but rarer. Havent had one in a while.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

How long does it take you to get comfortable on the bike after going down?

I was on a solo bicycle trip around the world and in 2014, was hit from behind in Oregon. I had 2 collapsed lungs, a concussion, a knee injury that required surgery, major bruises (the truck's mirror hit me in the back while he was going 100 kmh) and 12 broken ribs.

That was in August 2014 and I haven't been on a bike since.

As much as I want to "demand" that drivers be more respectful, it simply isn't going to happen. I'm sticking to hiking in the mountains now. :)

 
Works like this...


Warning: Higher confidence levels often correlate with increased severity of injuries in inevitable crash.

Unfortunately for me, my road and and MTB confidence is at an all time high. Must mean I am in for a doozy of a crash!

I'm definitely more careful than before a crash, but it's probably also a function of my age - I feel my mortality more than I used to. That said I haven't crashed going down a hill yet so I still bomb down those!

That's good.

For me, it was much easier than I expected. I was in a crash in a tri last June where I rider went down ahead and to the left of me and I couldn't avoid his bike sliding into my path. Several broken bones, week in the hospital, not pretty at all. I was off the bike outside for 3 or 4 months recovering from the surgery, but honestly can't recall my first outside ride. I was more nervous going into Oceanside 70.3 this year riding with other athletes than I was on the road, to be honest. The guy that went down is extremely experienced and a great biker, which almost made it worse, since it wasn't just the poor bike handlers and newbies I had to be aware of.

But everything went fine, and couple weeks ago did Chattanooga 70.3, and didn't even think about it. So Aaron's image is pretty spot on (hoping not to reach that next peak....)

"How long does it take you to get comfortable on the bike after going down?"

I ride crits so......it take me about 2 seconds! The worse crash was several years ago when I was knocked out and ended up with a broken hand. Back on he bike after 4-5 days (with a heavily bandaged hand and gauze from all of the road rash).

Seriously, cycling is one of those activities where I've learned to develop a really short memory. Of course, you want to be cautious about potholes, water, etc.. However, I'd never ride again if I pondered what I've seen and experienced.

Try getting back in the swing of things by simply getting out and just riding again. The more you avoid it, the more timid you may become.

 
Buddy of mine was recently cruising along downhill with a tailwind at 28mph, he came to an intersection where he didn't have a stop sign but the other road did. Driver stopped at the intersection, looked right at him, then pulled out in front of him. T-boned the driver fender and over the car he went. Luckily the injuries were not too bad, but he was pretty damn nervous about riding by himself on the road after that. We got him out for a group ride and stuck him in the middle of 25 other riders and he was much more comfortable. Couple of those rides and he was back in the groove.

In many ways I am glad my accident didn't involve a car, that would have made getting back on the road more difficult

I have a friend who was descending a local road on Christmas Day, squirrel ran into his spokes at 30 mph, he went down face first on the road. He recovered, but that is just a case of doing everything right, you can still get whacked

Just goes to show that if it's your time, it's your time.

 
That is my biggest hang up with road or crit racing. You can do absolutely everything right, and you can still end up in the hospital. Often the guy who makes the big mistake pays nothing for it while others pay for it in pain, blood and broken carbon.

I am trying to get over it and race anyway, I always enjoy the race during and after the fact, but I still get really nervous before the start of a race and have a hard time controlling the "what if's" in my head.

Yup, or in tris too. I was doing everything right, and I gotten taken down by someone else's mistake. He was generally physically OK, but I basically rode over his bike, destroying the chainstays. I on the other hand was very much not physically OK, but bike had a couple scratches on the aerobar shift lever and the rear skewer.

Riding through a crowded tri field (like any Ironman race or the Chicago Tri), around a bunch of triathletes that don't know how to handle a road bike, much less one that's really only designed to go well in a straight line, makes me far more nervous than racing in a crit. Also being around crits a lot, you realize that the catastrophic crashes are actually not that common (except 2016 USAC nats apparently); in most cases, you have some road rash, maybe a bent shifter, you take your free lap and get back in the race the next time the pack comes around.

Yeah, we had a couple of bad ones last year in the local scene. One a Cat 1 rider went down and broke multiple ribs, collar bone, and even broke his femur. Ended his year and messed up this year pretty good too.

The we had another guy go down when the rider in front of him rolled his tubular tire off the rim and went into the barrier, his bike flew out and took this other guy down who broke his scapula, collar bone, ribs, concussion, etc.

Add two other guys from another local race who popped collar bones or scapulas and it really started to add up last year. I am in a relatively small area, we field 20-30 guys for a crit, so to have that much mayhem in one season was a lot for us locals to handle. Year before that wasn't bad at all, haven't heard of anything so far this year. Just the luck or lack of luck of the race.

This. I'm back racing and I'm now fairly timid from a crash, shoulder surgery, the usual. I've been on the ground once since and popped right back up. Then last week at Masters went off into the weeds to avoid a bad one. Fact of racing, you will crash. I'm starting to get back in the groove, giving myself all the time I need.

remind yourself to stay loose in your upper body. nervous tension/stiffness is not your friend. waggle your elbows every so often.
Stay alert and anticipate dangers. don't be unnecessarily scared. practice some handling skills in an empty car park (emergency braking, tight cornering etc).

In 2011 I was hit head on by a pickup truck, got to ride the helicopter med flight, and 2 months recovery. I built back up for a century within a couple months after that. However, five years on I've still got the case of occasional nerves for T-intersections (in my car or on the bike), placed in the middle on on group rides (I tend to be 1-3 up front or trail a bit further towards the back of the group so I can eyeball people, bikes, potholes) or leading/way further back in an unknown group ride. The occasional group interaction or weird car behavior will spring flashbacks.

So, a few months to never so far. I am significantly more cautious now as well; no hill bombs at 50+ mph.

Start MTBing - you'll get PLENTY of practice at getting back on the bike after crashing.
;-)

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float , hammer , and jog

I was in a sprint race about two weeks ago and the route was very well marked with police directing traffic at every intersection. It was an out and back. On my way back in, I see ambulance lights. When I get to the intersection, a car either wasn't paying attention to the cop, or the cop screwed up and let the car go. Guy t-boned the side of the car. From the looks of the dent in the side of the car, he wasn't lucky enough to fly over. He was on a spine board with neck brace when I went past. Very scary to know something like that would happen on a very well done course.

But I've always known about the outside dangers. The other bikes, cars, animals, etc.. I've had cars pull out right in front while I'm going 20+ in the aero bars puckering up. I guess this thread was more about when do you start to trust your bike again. When do you trust going into that turn. As I said, I was going slow (maybe 10 mph) and when that back tire went out, my body still hit the concrete fast, haha. Feel like I have whiplash.