Pretty timely that this thread just got bumped; this article was published today on EC: Egan Bernal’s near-death crash is now a medical case study
A paper was recently published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Reports which details Egan Bernal’s injuries, treatment, and recovery from his January 2022 crash. It’s incredible what he went through and pretty amazing what a recovery Egan’s made thanks to modern medicine and his determination and attitude.
Only a couple in 140,000km, 2018. They were T2, T3 and a rib though. Car turned in front of me without looking when I was 50kph down a small hill. I was pretty lucky and am very glad to be riding again. The worst was the concussion and not realising I wasn’t quite back to normal for almost a year.
Gosh!
Since last summer I almost stopped ridding on roads. Keeping TR workouts inside and MTB rides on sundays.
Got some stupid drivers thinking they own the road here and others that are just too absort in themselves that they dont even care to go to the other lane when no one is coming and just go by cyclist with only a few inches apart.
I havent had an accident with a motor veihcle yet and I dont intend to so road cycling is the minimum for me right now.
Uh-oh, got another hugey to add to the list:
MTB - 2025, knocked out for 3-4 minutes and a lacerated kidney resulting in an all-inclusive stay at one of the NHS finest for 6 days. 
Wow, hope you’re recovered now!
Cycling for 50 years, race cyclo x ,gravel and mtb, marathon and ultra and xc.
1st seroius accident, 1987 in a Triathlon, rode into the back of a parked car (no fault of car owner). Concussion ,and ended up in Poole hospital . My speech was affected and used wrong words for things. Was off work for several weeks and had dizzy spells for some time after.
Next was the World MTB champs at Mont-st-Anne (GB had Masters athletes competing at the same venue as the elites) I went over the bars but my foot got stuck in the cleat and I tore my inner knee ligament. I got strapped up and rode the race the next day, managed to come 8th, but I was one of 2 favourites to win, so very disappointed.
Next was recently (2013) when I had an open fracture in my elbow (crashed onto rocks avoiding a huge tractor and trailer) in the Scott Marathon in Wales. I rode 5 mies on the course to the finish, bandaged it up and went to the post race party. I didn’t know it was an open fracture (you cant see your elbow!) but a physio at the race noticed how I was carrying my arm and told me to go to A+E, which I did. Operated on that evening and put on antibiotic drip. Took 6 weeks recovery, and I can’t fully straighten my arm to this day.
Next, MTB crash into hidden ditch on bridleway.
Banged my (bad) knee hard on bike’s top tube, then it landed on my other knee.
Knee swelled up like a football and was agony. But recovered quite quickly.
Next fell onto the pedal of my friend’s cx bike and damaged ribs. Couldn’t breath properly so painful. Took about 4 weeks recovery.
Came off horse recently and torn muscles in ribs round shoulder blade.
After 1 week I’m training on the turbo and some gentle jogging, but getting comfortable sleeping is difficult.
Hey, save some injuries for the rest of us!
But seriously, you’ve bounced back from some pretty bad bang-ups. Good luck on the current recovery.
crashed in an xc race(rain, slipped on a corner, put my face into a board to prevent erosion)- broke the right side of my face.
stupid fall on a green trail while riding with my then 4 yr old niece. She stopped unexpectedly in front of me when i was just starting to clip in. - broken collar bone.
crashed in a half iron triathlon (wet roads, farm equipment left grooves in the road, i had a new bike i only had 2 rides on)- broke the left side of my face. tore the right rotator cuff.
tripped over steps in a half iron because the water was 50 freedom units and they were numb. broke my toe.
mtb crash- right scaphoid fx
11-years this year, though only about 8 have been more focused rather than just riding “recreationally.” I ride road and gravel.
I have been lucky enough to have no crashes that required medical attention and no broken bones in ~70,000km outside now (111,000 on Strava but lots of that is indoors in the trainer).
The worst was descending a mountain in Europe. ADHD acting up and zoned out because I thought the road was straight. It was not and came into a turn way too fast and slid out. Lots of road rash including one I maybe should have gotten a skin graft for, but did eventually heal on its own after a few months. Did ride another 3h that day after the crash to get back to the hotel.
Other crashes have been due to debris on the road, or unexpected road surface faults (ex: hole). Same situation though, have usually been able to control things a bit and just end up with road rash.
The moral of the story is I don’t think I pay enough attention sometimes… and that’s not changing. So I tend to be more cautious about the situations I put myself into instead.
Gosh that must have been hard. Already at 100%?
I also broke my elbow and had a metalic plaque there for some time. Couldnt get the full motion on the arm with the plaque so removed it and got the movent back to 99%.
Lef side and righ of your face are now equal? Hope that isnt as bad as it sounds.
Started racing bikes when I was about 24 as a triathlete, then just bike racing in 2019 at age 41, so total of around 24 years as a bike racer of some type.
Raced triathlon and road racing a mix of long road races, circuit courses, criteriums, TTs and fondos. Dabble in MTB.
Injuries:
I recovered from all of them. Fortunately many of them were late season or off-season. The last one, the contusion, was mid-season and derailed what to that point had been a really good season of training and a pretty good start to my racing. Took me a lot of focus on shoulder strength with kettlebells to get my shoulders back to strong.
Bottom line as far as I’m concerned, we’re all likely to make our own mistakes and get hurt racing bikes, but the risk is always there, no matter how good or advanced you are, that someone else is gonna take you out, as well. That said, there are little pro “tweaks” and obvious rules of thumb (never turn around anywhere near a finish line) that can help you avoid issues even when someone else is doing dumb things.
What surprises me here is how few people have been injured in a car accident.
I never had a road bike crash. Crashed on the tarmac but with my MTB twice. But im leaving my road bike behid theese days because I dont feel safe with so many crazy drivers out there. A normal 3h ride and you get dozens of scary moves by cars and get really mad and upset and i ride bike to blow up steam jot get it more.
I hit a car (technically), but the driver passed me, pulled off to the side as if to park, and then flipped a U-turn right in front of me. I locked my breaks and all that happened was just a contusion on my knee and his broken side mirror from my elbow.
Unfortunately I know two riders who were killed by motorists and another two who were seriously injured and even disfigured. I also know one cyclist who hit a pothole in a paceline and was killed landing on his head.
Big factor in why the trainer was such a big part of my training for years.
There are a whole lot of “uncontrollables” out there for us. Be safe, guys.
Fractured a few ribs and fractured a collar bone in separate mountain bike spills.
Probably had a concussion from a crash in a gravel race, but never went to the doctor. Like 5 miles into a 50 mile race. At the moment I didn’t realize how hard I had hit the deck, jumped back on the bike and finished the race. Started having headaches towards the end of the race, but attributed it to nutrition/fatigue. When I got off the bike, I realized my helmet was cracked in half. Had headaches come and go for a few weeks after the race.
I’ve had a few close calls with cars on the road, but have never been hit. I’ve been down on the road bike a couple of times, but never had much more than a little road rash.
Thats scary. Dont know personally some one hit by a car that died but know several injured and Im always feeling danger several times during the road rides specially after COVID it seems everybody got even more crazy and hating cyclists. That also makes me ride more on the trainer and MTB.
In chronological order:
Left shoulder (broken)
Right collarbone (broken)
Two broken ribs on the right side
Puncture lung right side
Left wrist (broken)
2 fingers Left broken.
This all in 3 racing accidents.