How many broken bones or serious injuries have you had in cycling?

Training
87

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.

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88

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.

89
  • how long you’ve been cycling for sport;
    Started in 2008
  • what kind of cycling you do;
    XC MTB, triathlon, gravel, now starting to dabble in road groups
  • what your falls or injuries were like or because of what;
    Most often because I did something dumb.
  • how you recovered from them;
    tincature of time fixes most things. also I had prp on my shoulder
  • and whatever else you feel like saying on the subject.

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

90
  • Cycling for 7 years, MTB for 5
  • 90% MTB, mostly XC, 10% gravel. Occasional park day
  • Currently nursing a broken collarbone that doesn’t require surgery. My first break of any kind in my life. Most likely a concussion or two, none diagnosed. Stitches once, plenty of pedals to the shin that could’ve used them too.
  • Time. Not much else you can do. I also had surgery on my spine (L4/L5) last year but I don’t attribute that to cycling, more shitty lifting in retail for years and golf.
91

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.

92

Gosh that must have been hard. Already at 100%?

93

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%.

94

Lef side and righ of your face are now equal? Hope that isnt as bad as it sounds.

95

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:

  • Severe road rash and a concussion from hitting a railroad track that was angled across the road doing TT intervals with my head down (on a mostly closed road on a military base, but I wasn’t familiar with it) in my first year of riding. Lesson learned.
  • Severe road rash and open wounds from a mechanical issue in a sprint during a group ride. Kept me out of work for a week.
  • Broken clavicle from getting clipped by a rider who made a really dumb move on a climb and took out my front wheel. That rider never showed his face at a local event again, as far as any of us know. :rofl:
  • Separated AC joint caused by a rider taking a dangerous inside line in a P12 criterium, he lost traction in the corner, took out three riders to the outside of him right in front of me. Rider in front of me braked and swerved, clipped my front wheel and flipped me over. (To avoid stuff like this, always try to keep your front wheel just inside the rear wheel ahead of you… if they F up and swerve they’re naturally going outside and you avoid their wheel… in retrospect on video my front was right in line with his rear and that was enough).
  • Massive thigh contusion from being t-boned by a racer finishing 7 minutes behind his field but in a full head-down sprint after I crossed the finish line. Was definitely also my fault for not paying attention as I slow-rolled across the finish at the back of our pack after being caught 150m prior to the line on my solo break. I had passed this rider on my breakaway as he was in a field that started before us, but didn’t expect him to be sprinting like he was trying for the win. I looked over my shoulder but missed seeing him, and turned around about 20 yards after the finish… way too soon. Should’ve rolled out a few hundred yards.

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.

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96

What surprises me here is how few people have been injured in a car accident.

97

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.

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98

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.

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99

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.

100

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.

101

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.

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TL;DR: Ask yourself if it’s worth being self-righteous about having done the right thing while lying in a hospital bed or your grave. This became my rule when evaluating the risks of doing certain things, even when I was “right.”

One was a guy who was training for Olympic trials in the US southeast. He was struck in the back of the head by the stanchion on the side of a boat trailer by someone who was legally blind in his right eye (the side on which this rider would be in the US).

The other was a rider who was killed when a motorcyclist lost control coming around a corner at over 100mph on an isolated road, struck him head on, killing both.

In both cases, irresponsible operators of motor vehicles where the rider did nothing wrong, and was riding where they were legally entitled to be. That said, both cases were relatively isolated “country” type roads with little to no shoulder. I used to frequently ride the road where my friend was killed by the motorcyclist. It was a really nice road to ride when fewer people lived in this part of the county, and lead to wonderful mountain roads. Now? You couldn’t pay me to ride that stretch of road. Too many cars, not enough room, and you STILL see tons of joyriding motorcyclists on that road in spite of the fact that multiple motorcyclists have killed themselves on that road in the last few years doing stupid things.

Sorry, derailing the thread… be careful out there, and make good use of your trainer.

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103

how long you’ve been cycling for sport;

First race was end of 2021, was a daily commuter since 2015.

what kind of cycling you do;

Ultra distance bikepack racing, gravel+. Plenty of underbiking on single track.

what your falls or injuries were like or because of what;

Worst wipeout was over the bars at 25mph. Totalled my helmet (cracked in two places) but head was relatively okay. Lost a bunch of skin to the pavement and started cycling in long sleeves after that. There was also a time I got my first mountain bike and went over the bars on a jump (figured new bike = new skills… incorrect). Had a massive thigh bruise for months. Worst injury was terrible carpal tunnel from two days of straight of stupid terrain with not enough sweep on bars. Alternatively, tearing my meniscus with some weird twisting motion/impact as a cleat came loose while I was dismounting. I tend to worry about kidney injury more than anything.

how you recovered from them

Time. Took two courses of methylprednisolone and did PT with a hand therapist for the carpal tunnel. I’m still not 100%, more like 95-98%. I’m stuck with the meniscus tear.

and whatever else you feel like saying on the subject

I’ve never broken a bone in my life (knock on wood), which I credit to a long history of contact sports and weightlifting. I’ve had all the same spills that I’ve seen break arms and collarbones of other riders.

You build bone density via 1) eccentric loading, 2) general impact. Cycling has neither of these. The fracture rate doesn’t surprise me. (EDIT: And the lit backs me up on this. Cyclists tend to have weak bones.)

To echo @kurt.braeckel , I do my absolute best to avoid being in situations where my life depends on every single vehicle noticing me. I much prefer riding at night on the no shoulder roads (less traffic and you can always tell when a vehicle is around the corner or behind you from their lights). I try to minimize time spent on roads with a large speed difference (eg, climbing up a 55mph road is worse than descending one). It’s all an odds game. Gravel is great for this reason.

I tend to calibrate my aggression on technical sections based on how screwed I would be if I got knocked unconscious. When would someone reasonably find me? How cold will it get overnight? If such a wipeout has a high enough chance of putting my life in danger I might just walk the section.

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104

20 years MTB, 2 x ACL reconstructions (left and right), broken collarbone (no surgery needed), rotator cuff surgery full tear supraspinatus, partial tear infra-spinatus.

All recovered 100%, I consider these an acceptable amount of injury for the rewards MTB gives me!

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105

i did the right side first, but yes my face is still symmetrical. I do retain a healthy respect for my helmet though.

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106

Your cycling journey sounds intense, especially with those tough injuries! It’s impressive how you’ve kept going despite the setbacks. Mountain biking and ultramarathons are no joke—stay safe out there, and here’s to many more rides without fractures!

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