You are very lucky. If you hit, it wouldn't have been pretty. I've had several close calls like that with deer her in PA, and all of them have left me a little more cautious on the long descents. Be safe.

Glad you didn't T-bone the deer.

I'm now a veteran of many thousands of miles in the aerobars over the last three years. But I well recall the first time I got on a TT bike and rolled down the road and tried to get in and out of the aero position. It was terrifying. I think I made it about 2 miles before I turned back home and said "this is not for me." It's a bit like learning to ride a bike all over again. Even after I got more used to it, there were new experiences like the first 30 mph descent in my first race where there was a 3/4 inch hard bump at the edge of the bridge at the bottom and I took it in the aerobars ... and lived to tell about it. Or the first panic stop. Or the first surprise pothole in the deep shade under a tree on an unfamiliar road. Or the first time being surprised when a tractor-trailer blew by.

One thing I tell friends who are getting their first TT/Tri bikes is to go find a big church or business/shopping center parking lot and, after hours, use the open space to practice transitioning between the bars and the brakes. That's one of the hardest things, initially. Then set up some maneuvers to learn handling. Then find some bumps and get used to how they feel.

It doesn't take that long to build confidence if you practice the skills a little. Just going out on a long ride may not give you enough practice before you find yourself in an emergency without the skills to handle it.

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Bob C.

The "science" on any matter can never be settled until every possible variable is taken into account.

One of the earlier brands of one piece aero bars were basically flat, with a slight upturn at the ends. You were supposed to mount the brake levers on the outside of the curve. I was moving from the aero position back onto the flats and caught my glove on the left brake lever. This pulled the bar around to the right and brought the bike to a quick stop from about 35 km/hr. I had a broken helmet and a very sore hip. The hip just got worse and the bruise became a hematoma that ended up keeping my off the bike and run for about six months. I sure learned how boring seven days a week in the pool can be.

Tipped over at a stop light because I couldn't clip out fast enough. With traffic. And people asking me if I was alright.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

At least you didn't attempt to break your fall by reaching out to push off a lightpost, miss it with your hand and bounce your head off the pole instead, before tipping completely over. In front of a carload of milkshakes who were more than a little disconcerted.

Yeah.

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Team Javelin '05, '06, '07, '08

Hahaaaa! That has me laughing out loud. Oh geez....

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I had to do some films on a guy who basically DID hit the deer while he was riding downhill. The critter basically jumped out in front of him as he was riding downhill (the guy, that is, not the deer). The guy basically went ass over teakettle and cracked his helmet, but other than that and some road rash was all right. The deer staggered into the oncoming lane, was hit by a car and basically killed.

The slightly ironic thing is that the guy in question is an ER doc, and he took care of me after one of my own two embarassing bike crashes - actually ordered the exact same films that I did on him.

I'd tell you about my own crashes, but they're just too embarassing.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.

I've never hit a deer on the bike, but I have while running. short story is I was running by a blind ravine (on my left), looking at the deer across the road (on my right) when another one who couldn't see me (nor I him) jumped out on the sidewalk. No time to react... ran smack into his front shoulder. We both froze, giving each other that WTF look before he took off. Luckily his hooves didn't get me as he bolted.

Now for funny bike wrecks....

My first attempt at a flying mount resulted in me missing the seat, landing my stomach on the seat and doing a superman type thing as the race volunteers looked on in shock.

Then early this year I was doing a flying dismount (much easier to do) and still had my hand on the front brake when I dismounted. It's quite an interesting experience to jump off the bike and have the seat smack you in the back of the head.

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sometimes you just have to eat the cake

You can't leave us with the teaser that your accidents are too embarassing. C'mon. We won't laugh. Promise.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

1) Mile 99.9 of a century ride. I rounded the corner to finish and failed to note the deep gravel on the inside of the turn. The front wipes out and I fall in sight of all those waiting to see the finishers.

2) I was feeling like hot stuff when I went for a ride one day. I had to deal with some city streets before I hit the countryside roads. I had been drafting off a newspaper truck for most of the city portion of the ride. At a stop light I sat behind the truck waiting for the light to change. When it did, the truck started to roll and I, attempting to live of the that "hot stuff" feeling, broke into a full sprint from my track stand wait. The truck stopped short and I stopped by running into the back bumper. My pride was wounded, I had some nice gashes on my calf from my chain ring, and a felt more than a little humbled by the experience.

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Lou Battaglia

Why didn't I retire last year?

During my first ride with aerobars on my road bike, I went for a ride on a multi-use recreational trail. There were several curves and tight turns that I managed to maneuver without incident. I was heading home and nearly off the trail, but had one last curve to negotiate. Well, I took it too fast, drifted out wide, went into the shoulder on the opposite side of the trail, and scraped up against some temporary construction fencing. At about the same time my front wheel hit a cinder block that was holding up one of the fence panels, my brake lever and handle bar wedged in between two the fence panels.

I went from 17 mph to 0 mph in the blink of an eye. Before I knew what was happening, I went over top of the bars and my left leg hit one of the elbow pads which caused me to flip in the air. I landed in the middle of the trail, on the seat of my pants with the back of my helmet gently tapping the ground. My leg was pretty sore from hitting the elbow pad, but other than that I was fine.

To add insult to injury, my front wheel was trashed, so I had to walk home 4 miles in my bare feet. Good Times!

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Mike Sparks


I have competed well, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Okay, quick summary of my last few summers:

2005: Really getting the knack of cornering hard. Made a right turn from the shoulder at approx. 25 MPH. Saw oncoming vehicle (though in opposite lane) and reflexively (stupidly) tapped brakes. Skidded out. Trashed the rear derailleur and got worst road rash of my life. Jumped back on the bike and rode away before anybody could stop and ask "are you OK?" Took a hot shower when I got home (yes, it really was that bad), and looking down at the drain reminded me of that scene in psycho. Good to have friends in the OR, though - fixed me up with some really big tegaderms.

2006: Crossing a busy road, had been waiting for several minutes for a gap in traffic. Finally saw (I thought) a gap and went for it.

The gap had a minivan in it.

Went flying up over the hood, and time just sort of stopped while I was looking up at the sky. Thought to myself, "I must be dead." Then I hit the ground, and it hurt, and I realized that I wasn't dead.

Totalled a brand new Aegis Victory with less than 200 miles on it. I was pretty sore for a week, but otherwise unscathed. Decided not to work as a stuntman.

2007: Just starting my taper for the Zone Urban Epic, a race I was really excited to do. Went out for a short, fast ride on a route I've done a few thousand times. Cruising right along in the shoulder, alongside the lake, working pretty hard. I must've been distracted for a moment, or maybe I was just getting a little too hypoxic, but next thing I know, there's a pickup truck parked in the shoulder in front of me. (In my defense, it's a no parking area, and for crissake, there's a place specifically to pull off the road only about 200 feet farther up the road.) I briefly consider swerving around, but I don't know what's behind me, so I opt to brake hard and hope for the best.

Put a dent in his tailgate with my helmet, the left elbow cup drove into my thigh right down to the bone (without breaking the skin), bashed my left knee, and somehow got a huge bruise across my chest. Limped over to the guardrail and sat down. Started to see double. Went back to visit my friends at the hospital. Spent the night there.

Missed six weeks of work because of the knee. Got lots of minor secondary injuries over the winter, trying to get back into biking and running. Got fat.

2008: Unscathed, so far. Note sig line below.

I've been telling everyone that the whole crashing into stuff thing was just a phase. Hope so. It hurts.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.

Was in the last mile or so of a ride when I saw my roommate pull onto the street heading back towards our house. After hauling ass I caught him just as he pulled into the driveway. I stopped behind him and reached my hand out to balance on the rear dash... only to find I had stopped about 2 inches short of actually reaching it. So in what seemed like slow motion while completely clipped in, completely stopped, and just in time for him to check his rear view mirror, I just sort of toppled over to the side about as gracefully as I could.

Oh yeah then my girlfriend pulled up.

Between your deer story and the tipping over and hitting a lightpost story I was giggling during my entire 2 hour run today.

Thank you. I was on a really boring route and this helped very much.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Ok...I'm not laughing....promise....





LOL!

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Yeah, you know, my coworkers still think it's hysterical to ask me whether I've crashed into anything lately.

Ha, ha, ha.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.

Whilst commuting to work through the middle of the CBD, I stopped at some lights behind a (public transport) bus. It's been raining earlier so the roads are still wet. Through this section I ride in the middle of the lane as traffic is slower and I don't want to get pinned in against the kerb.

I see the lights change and I take off behind the bus with a lot of gusto, to demonstrate to the cars behind that I can go as quick as them here and as such deserve to be in the middle. There's a very short hill through the intersection (bridge on the side road) and when I come down the other side find myself in the draft of the bus, say 5m back and travelling around 35-40 km/h. I think to myself how nice the draft is but am wary of the slick roads. There's another set of lights 200m from the original set and as I am close behind the bus I cannot see them, but am watching its rear lights like a hawk, constantly feathing the brakes in anticipation.

We get to an area that I decide is the 'point of no return', that is, too close to the lights for the bus to stop if the lights change, so I begin to relax. At that very moment the rear brake lights glow bright red. I grab the brakes but instantly feel the back end fish tailing out of control. I release the brakes to regain control then reapply them, before accepting the inevitable, thinking to myself 'you d!ckhead, you're going to slam into the back of the bus in front of everybody', then putting out my hand and slamming into the back of the bus in front of everybody at about 15-20km/h. I fall to the ground and then leap up with a big grin on my face, thereby acknowledging to all the motorists that I am indeed a d!ckhead and having given them cause for laughter at my expense. THe brand new groupset has some blemishes, my helmet would later show it had taken quite a blow as my forehead had a red abrasion, though that could possibly be the castration scar from having just removed the d!ck from my head.

Gave a lot of laughs to my cycling cohorts later that morning...

the embarrassing part would have been it would have been just you and your bike found beside the road. The deer might have a bit confused for a moment but it would have been fine and took off running. Sometimes car collisions don't even kill deer, I think it could have survived a Cervelo

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"Oh you hate your job? There's a support group for that, it's called EVERYBODY and they meet at the bar."

okay here it is - ran into a parked truck ! Had just gotten into tri's, bought a road bike (did sprints for 2 yrs on mtn bike) Had just put aero bars on road bike, out practicing on causeway to Antelope Island,
middle of Great Salt Lake. Nobody is ever there so I'm tooling along 22 mph just looking 3 feet in front of my wheel. Whamo - I'm down on the shoulder wondering WTF; front tire then my head hit and do not flip; scared the beejeejus out of man and wife in the truck.
He told me he didn't even have time to hit the horn when he suddenly saw me bearing down in his rear view mirror. Put a helmet shaped dent in his Steel slated tailgate; I had just been diagnosed the week before with spinal stenosis in my neck but I basically walk away from this with bruises and some carbon fibers stuck in my leg. Bontrager tire not even out of true but the down tub is snapped in half.
He gives me and bike a ride back to my car - wants my car insurance info so he can get his tailgate fixed. I drive a company car, told him i wasn't driving, etc. Since this was on state, county park land forms are filled out, I get checked out by rangers and finally EMT's and released. Drive 35 miles home was ... not fun.
My home owners insurance paid to fix his tailgate and they replaced my bike, full value for new one. I feel like I was beaten by a 2X4 for a few days but learned a great lesson and am much more aware of all surroundings; I hope.

Did You have a bike accident or not?

I wouldn't have wasted my time reading this if you had been honest.

You basically told us about about some "dream" you had. Nothing more.

Sorry I wasted your time by not actually causing myself severe bodily injury. The incident I described actually happened.

Plus, you got to read about other poster's embarrassing incidents. Which was the point of the thread.

If you want something more gruesome that will make you reading worthwhile maybe you can find a website devoted to Nazi concentration camp atrocities.

If you want something more gruesome that will make you reading worthwhile maybe you can find a website devoted to Nazi concentration camp atrocities.


This thread has now basically concluded.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. I thought that we were all supposed to use the word "basically" a lot. You know, like how everybody said "Waaaaah!" on the "Cry like a little biatch" thread.

My bad.

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.

Tipped over at a stop light because I couldn't clip out fast enough

ditto.

Or, making a left hand turn with the light and tagging the outside curb, landing in the grass. Because I wasn't paying attention.

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king of the road says you move too slow
KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW