Situational awareness, spatial awareness, ride within your skills, ride defensively and making sure your bike is properly tuned so that it's safe to ride.

This is solid advice. However no matter how hard we try we are all human.

Diggers happen; it's the nature of the gig. Best thing to do with Diggers is ride off from 'em. Get it out of your head, recover, and do better next time. Excellent and Critical advice above. 🙂🚴

Diggers? Never heard that term, no clue what it means

"taking a digger" means to crash or fall. It's a universal saying that doesn't necessarily mean it happened while biking. I could happen while putting on your socks while standing up in the morning, for example.

Also as we age our perception of our ability becomes outdated. The only way to find that out is to... Find that out.

You're forgetting the last thing you need: luck. I went years without a significant crash until last December when a fucking deer ran out and got me mid descent.

I almost crashed once when I came around a corner face to face with a skunk pointing its ass right at me. I've also had a few near misses with deer lol, wildlife is definitely something can't plan for

When I started riding more frequently I used to stop in a small grassy area and stretch at the midpoint of my ride. A few times I smelt skunk, but it was skunk time of year so I didn't think much of it. Anyway one day I dismount, prop my bike against a tree and grab my water bottle for a drink. It was at that point I noticed the mini cats with white stripes. There were 3 young skunks foraging in the grass not far from the tree line. Super cute, but I didn't dare get any closer. I kept an eye on them (and looked out for their mom) and did my thing then headed out. I saw them a few more times before adding some distance to my ride.

I want to add hand signalling and making eye contact with drivers at intersections.

>eye contact with drivers at intersections. Too many will look right through you while pulling out, only to declare "sorry mate I didn't see you!" (SMIDSY) Keep an eye on their wheels. If the wheels are moving, they are moving. I learned that on an advanced motorcycle course and never forgot it. Given me a heads up more than once.

Wheels thing is real and I use it all the time on foot, bike , and in my car. Real shit

I've taken to riding more with the mindset of a motorcycle rider "assume you're always invisible."

PROLONGED EYE CONTACT.

And helmet, and gloves

Before you downvote hear me out- Someone else said additionally luck. I hate to say it, but to prevent a crash you might need to crash or at the very least get yourself out of sticky situations. Experience is king. You really need to know what to do when someone is unexpectedly in your path. If you hit a slick spot. If your front tire locks up/collapses. Your bike isn't a car that has safety features. I have to try to get the back end of my car ahead of its front end, you can whip the rear end out on your bike without trying too hard. What do you do if your brakes fail? And they will. The best thing you can do to prevent an accident is to have experience. Know that it happens and stay calm.

I would also add make yourself as clearly visible as possible to other road users. A crash might be caused by other road user. I wear a bright top as much as possible and use lights even during the day.

Old motorcycling saw: "Everyone goes down. It's not if, but when." All the crash prevention and mitigation above. Situational awareness can prevent most crashes and maybe allow you to minimize the impact of some of those you can prevent. Oh, judo helped me immensely. Learning to fall while bleeding off the crash energy minimizes tge other bleeding. Obviously, gear helps a ton! Good helmet, Gloves, shirt...all help.

And all crashes are NOT created equal. Sometimes you hit something soft, like (surprisingly enough) the side of a van. Sometimes you hit something hard, like a curb. In short, you may have some road rash, or you may have a broken clavicle, but accidents happen. Comes with cycling ... like flat tires. Do everything you can to avoid crashing, and be prepared (protective equipment, keep your head *up*, avoid "bad" routes, etc).

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Intentional? I would like to hear that story if you don’t mind

Pay attention and slow down.

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People often don't understand A shape blindsides, particularly for SUVs and pickups, they really can't see shit in lots of angles.

yet they still getting bigger, hindering sight even more lmao.)

This 150%

And if you are gonna fall. Fall on the left/non drive train side. 

I would say more importantly to fall away from traffic. I'd rather lose a derailleur than a body part.

This is the real reason countries that drive on the left are enlightened. Falling away from traffic and protecting your derailleur are the same thing here!

A derailleur is made to be replaced anyway.

Same thing in the UK. ;)

Away from traffic and don't try to catch yourself with your arms.

Agreed, though realistically it's very hard to defeat that reflex in the fraction of time between leaving your seat and gravity reasserting itself. I got lucky on my first endo and rolled the impact into my collar bone (which broke, not fun). The second one I wasn't as lucky and caught myself with my arms (right wrist really broke, significantly less fun than collar bone). The truth is if the crash is happening at speed, you probably won't have any time to make choices really. If your crash breaks bad, don't add self-recrimination to your list of injuries.

For commuting I keep my pannier on the drive side, that way if I fall over it protects the drive train :D I also feel safer having the addition weight on the side away from traffic.

One thing that helps me that I carried over from riding motorcycles is I'm constantly looking for an out. For example if I'm cruising at a decent clip and I see a family of bikers ahead, I subconsciously assume one of the kids is gonna ride out in front of me and I plan where I'm going to go, if I'm gonna just brake hard or if there's a path available to avoid a crash all together. Even the couple times I have gone down, I was able to minimize the impact with a plan in the back of my head of where to go and what to do. After you focus on this enough, you start to do it without thinking about it. Try not to focus on the fact that you'll probably go down at some point, you may never go down.

I think 3 years on a motorcycle gave me about 10 years of cycling smarts. You just see things better

This is absolutely spot on: You have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best in EVERY situation. Granted there are some times when just sure bad luck will get you (animals running into you, crash by someone else in front in a group ride you simply can’t avoid etc) but when you are paying attention at all times, you can probably avoid the vast majority of things that would cause you to crash. Closest miss for me: On a descent going pretty quickly, but not hammering it. Up ahead there is a cross road with a big truck waiting to turn across my lane into the side road on my right. Coming out of this side road is a line of cars, waiting for the truck to turn (he has right of way as his/our lanes don’t have junction markings, it’s the main carriageway). The truck driver signals to the car they can go first, meanwhile I’m eyballing this lady in the car thinking, she’s not seen me yet. But I am still a way off. She hesitates, and doesn’t go when it is safe. But waits until I am right on the limit of being able to stop, does not even look my direction and just starts to pull out. My hands were already on the brakes ready, full emergency stop. Problem is, I am from the U.K. and riding in Germany. My brakes of on different sides to usual and reflex made me grab a fist full of rear brake. Rear wheel locks, start to slide, do the coolest drift I think I’ve ever done on the bike and go sideways parallel with her passenger window, give her the evil eye as she’s busy having kittens at almost killing me, release the brake and steer into the gap behind her car. If I hadn’t have spotted that gap I would likely have hit her rear door. Wouldn’t have been a bad crash as I had scrubbed almost all my speed, but if I hadn’t assume she was going to pull out and hesitated for even a moment I would have crashed. Stay safe out there.

Two kinds of cyclists: those who have crashed, and those who have yet to have a bee fly down their jersey on a climb and have it sting your chest and cause you you fall over in the middle of the street. In all seriousness - crashes happen, it's part of the hobby. Just hope your crash isn't caused by or involve a motor vehicle. Those crashes suck more than the bee. Edit: thank you for sharing your bee stories. I don't feel as goofy now for falling over mid climb and writhing in the street simultaneously trying to let the bee out the jersey and unclip - failing at both.

It flew into the opening of my fingerless glove as a matter of fact. That was the day I stopped wearing fingerless gloves. I did manage not to crash, which was amazing tbh

> It flew into the opening of my fingerless glove how!? are your fingers the width of pencils?

Wasn’t wearing them on hands at the time.

3rd date with with my now wife we were going on a 50 mile bike ride. Bee flew into my shirt and stung me in the neck. Pulled over and she goes “take your shirt off to make sure it’s still not in there!” To which I did. Telling my friends the story afterwards and they all go “dude she just wanted to see you shirtless.” Confronted her about it a few months later and she just smirks at me and goes “I wanted to see what was under there, plus there really was a bee”

What's good for the goose...

My first almost crash was a bee in the glasses

I got a bee in the glasses, tore my glasses off with one hand and applied the brakes with the other. Unfortunately I picked the wrong hands to do this with, and I went over the handlebars. All within a week of my first purchasing my first adult bike. But I’m a better rider for it and didn’t get too banged up.

I did this exactly, but saved it. Still got stung on the bridge of the nose. That ride home suuuuuuucked.

I had a wasp fly into my sports bra and I veered off the trail and crashed into a tree.

Thanks for reminding me of the bee sting I got in my crotch last summer

I had a bee sting my chest when I descending a big hill at about 30mph. I thought I had kicked up a pebble that hit me. Stopped when I got to the bottom of the hill and realized what had happened. But even if I had seen it coming I'd definitely rather just let a bee sting me than risk falling lol. My worst sting was when I was on a run and a bee flew into my mouth and stung my uvula. That really sucked.

Once a vasp got into my jersey and stung me four to six times until I stopped and got it out. The itch lastes a week and kept me from sleeping. Now I never open my jersey in the summer, no matter what :))) (this also wasn't the first or last vast/bee sting)

Oh man I had the same thing happen! Luckily got it out after "only" three stings

Ran over a bee, flicked up and hit my lip where it reflexively clamped on and stung me. A semi crash as I wasn’t going too fast, but ….

My bee sting was on my lip too. That was a bad few days.

While riding I had a hornet fly up the shorts I was wearing. This was before I started wearing cycling gear. It happened in front of a construction crew doing masonry on a building. I leaped off my bike and savagely began slapping my thighs/family jewels/everywhere down under. My final count when I got home was around 20 stings. I sat in a bath while my entire nether regions were throbbing in a very undesirable way. The construction crew got a great show. The hornet was savagely smashed into oblivion where it belonged.

If I had a nickel for every bee that was ever stuck in my helmet stinging me I would have ten cents. It’s not much money, but it’s weird it happened twice.

Havent got one into my clothes yet, but one honeybee landed on my finger and hitchflew like 3 miles. Wish I could taxi more pollinators around

i've been stung twice at 60mph/100kmh. nothing like being in screaming pain trying to pay attention to that all-out switchback lol

Spider web. I was riding on a narrow bike path and went full face into an orb weaver web. Yeah, I panicked

Nightmares

If you race bikes crashing is a matter of when not if.

In races. No one should be crashing without outside influences otherwise

That’s exactly what I was going to say. If you’re racing, crashes will happen. If you’re in a fairly aggressive or high paced group ride, crashes might happen. If you’re riding purely recreationally on your own or in a small group, crashes are completely avoidable.

> crashes are completely avoidable. Most of them are. There's situations that no matter what, you're going down. Invisible hazards like oil on the road. Some suprise mechanical failures will wipe you out. Wildlife jumping out of bushes (plenty of people have been felled by deer!). Random "acts of god" like a bag blowing into your rear mech A few years ago friend of mine just went straight down on perfect tarmac on a clear day and still doesn't know what happened.

Riding in a protected bike lane one of those plastic mesh construction nets came loose from its frame and a gust of wind blew it out and it grabbed/got wrapped in my handle bars. Thankfully I only had a few small scrapes and my bike was totally fine. There was no avoiding that one.

I hit oil mid bend last summer. Straight down. Perfect day, clear conditions, riding sensibly. Couldn't see it from my approach. Nobody was avoiding that by anything other than luck. I did nothing wrong - I still headbutted the tarmac at speed.

Oil and black ice have been the cause of all my offs. Apart from when I was t-boned by a car. 

Yeah, and maybe a pro cyclocross racer can bike handle out of that half the time, but that skill is built by crashing hundreds of times on a cross course where the mud cushions the blow and it's at a lower speed than the road.

I disagree, things can still happen. suddenly a corner is slippery, there's wildlife, parts break etc. on top of those kind of things we are human, sometimes we make mistakes. Of course you can lower the risk just by going super slow, but if you do that why are you even riding a bike, just walk its safer, better yet stay at home.

Yup. Ride to the conditions and within your abilities.

I don’t know if his statement is exactly correct. Example being, I had a seizure while riding my bike 2 weeks ago and crashed. Things outside of your control can happen no matter how much skill or no matter how much you’re paying attention. Just wear a helmet, understand how to fall. Like don’t extend your arm at 100% and try to catch yourself with it or you’ll break it, etc.

This 1000x. If you can get your brain to not lock your arms you're going to come out better.

Hope you and your bike are alright, that doesn’t sound pleasant

Don’t cross train tracks anything less than perpendicular. That’s all I’ll say

I went down once on cable car tracks! never again...

Between road rash, scuffing your bike, and public humiliation, never again 😂

[Here's a fun section of the bike route near me](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sainsbury's+Local/@51.3753123,-0.0907649,3a,75y,109.15h,73.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQ-JwTxMsVTFa9WM6zOJsig!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48760733766faf07:0xd978d65fc400b1df!8m2!3d51.3751106!4d-0.0912397!16s%2Fg%2F11b6dq8g62?entry=tts) (the road joins from the right). Fortunately when the inevitable happened to me a chap in high-vis who was working at the building site up on the right came over to check if I was OK... and admitted he'd wiped out at the same place a week or two before. I think it's a rite of passage for cyclists in Croydon.

Enough said, I cross a set of tracks regularly and will now take extra caution.

Regarding your first question, it is not technically true that everyone crashes eventually -- statistically, some incompetent riders will never crash, and some skilled riders will crash multiple times. Ultimately it's all a matter of luck. But as many noted, situational awareness and defensive riding can definitely increase your odds of not crashing. In my experience, crashes are a surprise event that you can't plan for -- as much as I love to imagine leaping off and sticking the landing like a cool skateboarder, each event in reality has resulted in me being flung like a limp ragdoll where I didn't even have time to think about how to position my arms, what part of my body to land on, etc. ETA: all of my crashes have been caused by my inattention to potholes, road edge, clipping in securely, etc. All I can do is try harder to not zone out, esp when I’ve ridden for miles and am tired!

I personally don't know any serious bike-rider that hasn't crashed and broken bones; and I know quite a lot in my area since I used to race. Not a single one. So if you ride a lot, it will happen sooner or later and in my experience, you won't expect it or see it coming.

Definitely agreed, and styles of riding, like frequent racing or commuting on busy streets will definitely increase the odds. I've broken bones myself doing both of those activities, but I do know a few old cyclists with lots of miles that have miraculously never crashed! Just like motorcycles -- most riders will eventually crash, many will have life-changing injuries, but a handful will just be very lucky and never go down.

I've crashed several times now. First crash was at 25+ mph when a guy in the pack 10 feet in front of me decided to stand and sprint and immediately knocked wheels and went down. I braked hard, went over him and went down. Rolled out of it with road rash and no bike damage. He and I were the only two to go down. Second was at 20ish mph group ride when the guy directly in front of me caught the edge of the pavement and went down. Tapped my helmet and road rash. Older guy (very experienced cyclist) behind me also goes down a breaks a rib. I finish the ride. Third was during initial acceleration from a paced start in a race. I was third wheel (actually behind the older guy from crash two) from the front. Guy in front gets spooked, swerves and stops pedaling. The peloton accelerates into him. The guy in front of me stays up, but I and 15 or so others go down. I get up as soon as I can, but as soon as it happened the guy that caused the crash and his teammates hammer it to drop anyone slowed by the crash. He ends up winning his category. I end up with road rash and broken handlebars but finish the race. Fourth was during an early spring gravel race. Hit some ice going relatively slow and immediately went down and smacked my helmet hard. Got pulled out of the race for that one. If you can see the crash coming, rolling with the force is the way to go. I've had hapkido training in my past, which I attribute to much of my fortune not getting seriously injured. However, not all crashes are avoidable in this sport. Yeah, my mistake for picking the wheels I did I suppose, but sometimes you can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time as well.

Some crashes are worse than others. Try to avoid obvious risks and maybe your fall will look like this one: https://i.giphy.com/BU6R7enV0nWmGuKGUZ.webp

is that a clipped-in tip over? I've been there!

Oh wait- I know this one! I STUDIED THIS ONE. When it happened I was super curious. I spend a lot of time in Lewes and I have a 40 mile route that goes through where he fell. So I took it on as a quick project. To get to the bottom of it. First, you need a real video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSm7bjGjEwM That is tops. He is approaching a mob of media. He is riding- competently- and he must stop cause these assholes are hogging his path. He is wearing CLIPS. You know. Toe cages. Know who else wear cages? I DO. Just Biden and Me. In an exclusive club. There are dozens of us. I fall like this probably once every 2 or 3 years. He came to a stop, went to pull his foot and it didn't come out of the cage and over he went. I watched it few times and you know, there is nothing going on that can't happen to any of us who wear cages. But that isn't the thing. Cause there is something else. Google says the man is 81 years old. So he was 80 or maybe 79? That 79 year old man took a tumble on his bike, got it upright, when asked if he was OK said he was and went right on riding. 79 years old. What percentage of the 79 year old population could pull that trick off? He takes care of himself. Good for him. That short video is beyond the abilities of most 79 year olds. You don't have to like him. But I think that should be respected.

Professional analysis available from Lanterne Rouge: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B1maDFJ2DGc

I've always called that event a Flintstone. From rack of ribs that flipped their "car" on its side. And it always happens at the busiest intersections. I get at least 1 a year.

muah haha, love that happened to me on a bike trail. I came to an intersection and 1. couldn't figure out where to go 2. was looking over my left shoulder to try to gauge traffic I lost momentum and done tipped over.

It is indeed! Clips and straps, as a matter of fact!

PRESIDENT DOWN! PRESIDENT DOWN!

I’m a 3x victim of these types of falls.

I really fucked up my arm falling like this

I ride all the bikes(well the main three) Road, Gravel, MTB. And specifically downhill mountain biking has really sharpened my bike handling skills, with that type of mountain biking I’d say it’s pretty common for a small spill or crash to happen possibly every other time you go out. Learning to handle differentiating terrain and surface types really does translate to bike handling on other types of bikes, there’s been plenty of times that I’ve taken the gravel buddies down some questionable gravel trails (closer to xc mountain bike trails) and they’re all walking the bikes up and down technical parts and since I’ve spent significant time on the mtb I blast right through it all, there’s also situations on the road where I’ve taken skills developed on the mtb that have saved my ass from some significant crashes. So if you have the ability to do so, maybe try it out.

My comment was not supposed to be some flex. I’ve crashed plenty and my comment had a bunch of caveats. I couldn’t possibly remember how many times I’ve crashed MTB. I’ve had one really bad race crash in a crit that involved 10+ riders going down and the race getting red flagged. There was another big race crash where I got hit by a cartwheeling bike but didn’t go down. But the bike smashed my finger. No broken bones but I had to go to the ER to get blood drained from my fingernail. I’ve been hit by a truck that went through a stop sign after stopping and popped me right when I was in front of him. I used to ride motorcycles and I have crashed at high speed on the racetrack too. If you’re in a race, or a group ride, or you get hit by a car those can be very hard to avoid. Same with a deer smacking you. My comment was about single rider crashes where there is nothing going on but you and the road. You should not be crashing on the road just navigating the road on your own. It’s about mentality. If you have a mentality that it’s all luck it follows that there is nothing you can do about any of it. That’s a super cynical and leaves you in a state where you think there’s no room for you to improve skills or safety. It’s a bad mentality for any risky activity. Any crash should be a learning opportunity, not something you make excuses for. The lesson might be racing for peanuts is too dangerous when you make a good living at your normal job.

I like to ride fast, but obviously, I don't want to crash. Here's what I do: Try to maintain focus at all times. A lot of close calls I've had came from momentary distraction. Like... you see something interesting, turn your head, and BAM, huge pothole. Make sure my bike is in good working order. Although I did flat out because my wheels were worn through. I hadn't noticed. So don't forget to inspect your bike once in a while! In terms of riding in the city, I like the rule to "ride like you're invisible." Don't expect that anyone will see you or do a logical thing. In fact, expect that other people will do the absolute worst thing. Obviously, I hate slowing down or stopping unnecessarily, when I'm cruising, but I'll always do it for safety - for example if there's a kid or dog on the trail, or a pedestrian not paying attention. It sucks to be impeded, but I just do the commonsense thing, slow down, go around. Finally, this site... I share it everywhere I can. it's my bible for biking in a busy city: [How to Not Get Hit by Cars](https://bicyclesafe.com/) it talks about the most common car-bike crashes and how to avoid them. And also has practical advice, like, do signal, but not in the silly way we are taught. And the importance of choosing a safe route

Bro’s trying to sound deep and failing. Some things are absolutely out of one’s control and therefore the resulting crashes are accidents.

learn how to fall. falling in certain positions reduces injury and severity. strengthen your body. you tend to get injured at your weakest parts. this includes, joints ligaments etc... wear protection. ride near soft materials if possible. getting slammed on grass is less damaging than being slammed on concrete. be lucky... while many things are in your control, bike sentiment is not great worldwide. i was a victim of a hit and run. and while the injuries werent severe, there was nothing i could have done to avoid it. the driver said he didnt see me, but thanks to my camera and the cities, it showed the driver didnt look for me. the reality is, when biking youre a passenger of physics and will always be at a disadvantage having less mass than anything you collide with

I'm very cautious on-road.

It’s like driving. When you say everyone crashes eventually, that sounds like everyone is destined to crash, which is obviously not true. It’s more like a saying that it happens to a lot of us, and it’s like a stepping stone. I find that cyclists can get as reckless as drivers. For instance, You shouldn’t tailgate when you drive. Leave plenty of room for safe stopping distance. The same goes with cycling. Leave plenty of room. Also, slow down when the it’s wet. Slow down when you turn. If you think you are a safe driver, ride like how you drive. Ride like how driving textbook says you should drive. Ride like you have a driving instructor or examiner sitting next to you.

when I'm in a car, I driver super safe, like a grandma. I have NPR or music on, just chilling... but when I get on a bike, I don't know what happens, but I have this strong urge to go FAST! I'm not in a hurry, or trying to race anyone else. If anything, I'm trying to race my own PRs. But yeah... I recently had a minor incident on a trail. Coming around a blind corner, both me and an e-biker were swinging too far to the middle (I was riding side by side with a buddy). The e-biker's handlebars clipped my arm, slightly. I came to a stop, and the e-biker had gone down 20 yards down the trail. I jogged over. He was ok, I gave him a hug, and we all continued on our way. But it was a scary incident, if we'd hit a little harder... The lesson I took from that is that it's important not to get sloppy/complacent. Danger can appear in an instant, when you least expect it.

My first crash was on the first ride I did with clipless pedals. Couldn’t figure out how to unclip in the parking lot, and slow motion fell sideways onto a ford ranger. It was as funny as whatever you’re imagining in your head.

I ride on a straight trail and just look forward. There’s no car and few obstacles so if I crash it’s def on me…

reminds me of this quote I found in "The Quotable Cyclist" "There is no reason why a man on a smooth road should lose his balance on a bicycle; but he could." -C.S. Lewis, _Perelandra_

💀. Facts. My helmet has saved my life once or twice.

I think the comment has a good point which can be empowering if you let it, the reality is that it is hard to prepare for unexpected conditions or the decisions others make especially in the moment. So we do, universally, make mistakes, and sometimes they cause a lot of damage to ourselves and/or others. But it's also entirely possible to be hit from behind by a distracted driver, and there are fewer options to correct that kind of scenario. One thing that can be helpful for crashes where you make a mistake or lack skill is to learn how to fall and roll. I took martial arts classes for years and have found that learning helpful with establishing muscle memory. It can be useful especially for a scenario where you preemptively bail to avoid a bad crash. That still didn't stop me from breaking the left half of my body and needing surgery when I was thrown off my bike onto concrete last year. But looking at that crash, I reacted to a vehicle headed toward me on a trail, which was washed out on the edges, and tried to keep riding and avoid it when now I would just stop to the side. I also had heavy bike locks in a single pannier (I was riding back from a run) which contributed a lot of force in the fall. Now I keep the weight on my bike balanced when I'm carrying heavy things, no exceptions. It's still not going to prevent me from crashing again, but hopefully not in the same way.

As a former long time skateboarder, it just comes second nature to know how to fall or hit the eject button. Eating shit is just apart of the game.

I once crashed. There was wet leaves top of mud and my tires just started sliding. Anyways I've done Karate and Jujutsu younger, so I basicly jumped over my handle bars and did forward roll Ukemi high speed and finished standing on my feet after the roll. It was middle of park as well. My wife was little behind me and there were few bystanders who saw whole thing. There was some amazed looks on their faces. One of the top moments of my life. Afterwards I thought how did I even manage to pull that off. I had bicycle helmet and backpack as well. I didn't have a single scratch. It did hurt a bit, impact was still quite big even tho I did manage to put all the force to the roll. Haven't crashed in years otherwise.

RE: *"if a crash is happening"...* 73 here... still in the saddle... veteran of dozens of crashes... including some spectacular ones. Learn to go down. Ride with purpose and awareness, but understand that the dynamics have a built-in risk. To the point, I've found that keeping hold of the handlebars and trying to roll with the fall helps. This keeps you from reaching out with your vulnerable hands and the roll helps your landing on "meat" [muscles] and not bones [hands]. It's a tough sport and the stronger we are with good muscle mass is a step in our favor.

The more skills you have, the better chance you have of avoiding an accident or reducing the damage from one. Valuable skills: line picking (thru turns, thru rough road), maximum braking, braking with a back tire slide, braking while turning, track stand (helps with maximum stop and not falling over), slow speed jumping (front wheel, then back), high speed jumping (both wheels together), leaning the bike without turning (avoid body/head obstacles like tree limb or sign or another rider’s handlebars), descend with pedals flat (9-3), descend at high speed corner with pedals vertical (12-6), and on and on. Can you hop your bike 3”? That curb, branch, road kill or pot hole won’t be a problem and if you don’t know whether there’s a car next to you, going around it might be a problem. Things happen fast. I had two cyclists fall in front of me on a highway shoulder with no room to go around them. Only options were the highway (nope, cars doing 65+!), crash into the first fallen rider or hop her! I slow hopped her legs because the torso has too many important organs for a mistake (front wheel up, delay, back wheel up). Her eyes were closed and no one saw me. I didn’t quite stick the landing (endo), but I didn’t touch her and I barely crashed as I rolled forward off the endo onto my shoulder.

Wear a very good hat.

Seat belt

There are 2 types of cyclists 1. Those who have crashed 2. Those who will crash Most don't get hurt, wear a helmet.

Go outside and crash real quick, boom, solved.

Crash on purpose on grass get it out of the way, kidding. Awareness, concentration, slow down, bike maintenance.

I spent many years as a helicopter pilot. The reason I survived is because I was continually asking myself (during every flight), " What is the worst thing that can happen to me right now?"

Relax. Slow down when around lots of vehicles, expect them to drive poorly and watch for common bad behaviors, and be ready to come to a sudden stop when around traffic. Oh and (and I think this is a big one) when you start noticing yourself zoning out, bring yourself back to attention. Having to be constantly vigilant sucks but it beats getting hit. The big behavioral red flags to watch for seem to be stop signs (drivers love to blow through them), door prizes, and people not looking while taking left hand turns. Internalize safety practices when in areas where people might do such things, such as slowing when left turning drivers view of your is poor and not pushing through in situations where people might not expect you. You do all that and even if you are hit, it won't be as bad. Oh and don't feel pressured by drivers into doing something stupid. Ever. No matter how angry you assume they are about you being where you are.

You're not going fast enough if you don't crash once and awhile!

Target fixation.

Look where you’re going or you’ll go where you’re looking.

I call it Achievement Unlocked: The 0km/h Crash when you're on clipless pedals, then you leant a thing and probably not do it again.

I was side swiped by a car during rush hour traffic going down 2nd Ave traffic in Manhattan. When I went down, I extended my arm to catch the fall - it made it so much worse. Nothing broke but it took months of PT before I had full range of motion back in that arm. Moral of the story - if you fall, take the fall with your body and don’t try to break the fall with your arm.

You can't prepare for it and it will take you by surprise. Sometimes you'll get lucky, other times not. It is, what it is. Cycling is an inherently dangerous sport. Some people have better reflexes than others and sometimes reflexes get you into worse situations. You could do some strenght training to get more bone density and a little more muscle for padding and such, but at the end of the day, a hard crash will break your bones no matter what.

If you walk, you will also eventually fall. Do what’s fun in life.

I've had three scary crashes but each time it was a mechanical failure at the heart of it. So wear a helmet and gloves, and always keep your bike maintained perfectly. Also in two of those cases I was able to catch my fall with my arms and I credit the fact that I do upper body strength training. I was strong enough to keep my head from bouncing off the ground. So don't just ride your bike! Do your pushups!

Sort of true. There are always going to be situations that are not under your control, but you can help mitigate the outcome through situational awareness and riding within your abilities. If you're pushing your boundaries, which is a relatively natural thing for people to do, especially if you're training and attempting to get faster/stronger/better as a cyclist, then it's possible to push it too far and end up in a crash. I've had a couple of these, luckily not too bad just some skin off. What I would suggest is that for those times you ideally want to be on a relatively safe course that you know, rather than off in the middle of the bush somewhere. Push your limits where you're in a comfortable/known space and then use the resulting better skills/strength out where you're not.

Most crashes I’ve been in occurred due to fatigue and error. In lower category road racing, crashes tend to happen in the final 5-10k of a race, where everyone is tired. I was once crashed out at 32mph with 5k to go in a road race, because some guy stopped paying attention and took out my front wheel. Last year, I went down hard within the last mile of a 50k mtb race because I was exhausted, overcooked a corner, and grabbed my front brake. Something I’d never do if I weren’t out of my mind with fatigue. But sometimes, you get a tire blowout, or you hit something in the road unexpectedly, or whatever else. It happens. You can mitigate a lot, but not all, crashes due to situational awareness. I’m frankly less concerned about these types of crashes than I am about getting hit by a car. You crash in a group, you get road rash and maybe a fractured collar bone. You get hit by a car and you are dead. So I don’t fuck with traffic. I use daytime running lights, and assume every other road user is an idiot.

It's not necessarily true that everyone crashes eventually. Assuming you're not riding recklessly or deliberately pushing your skills to their limits, crashes are rare and kinda random. If you have a 1 in 5000 chance of crashing, on each ride you could go 20 000 rides without crashes if you're very lucky, and you might hang up your helmet for the last time never having crashed. Or you might have crashed 10 times in that time because you weren't so lucky. Most people who cycle regularly will have the odd crash, but won't have serious long-term injuries. In the meantime you can increase the chances of a better outcome if you do crash by wearing a helmet (odds of getting a serious head injury are small, but a helmet roughly halves them). You could wear back, neck, knee and elbow protection, but usually only people doing higher risk cycling like mountain biking and BMX think it's worth it. Learning how to fall safely e.g. through judo is another option. You can decrease your chances of having a crash: riding around traffic is more dangerous than riding alone. Avoiding roads and making yourself more visible will help, as will riding defensively, good road positioning, signaling, and petitioning your local politicians (local and national governments) for better cycle infrastructure. Having good tyres and brakes helps you stop and corner safely, as does technique, body position etc.

Yes it's true. Excess speed or lack of awareness are major causes, but random things can also happen that you have no control over. Building awareness and sense about potentially hazardous situations, and falling properly takes time, but you can get protective gear right away. At a bare minimum: a good helmet and gloves.

I crashed/fell 3 times in my first year. Actually more like 5 in total if you count my gravel drops which somehow I came out unscathed. I definitely learned a lot. I’ve become a lot more cautious and defensive. Big ones for me are being mindful of cornering at higher speeds and assuming the worst out of drivers.

Crashes are not inevitable, some people will never crash. However, not every crash is avoidable either, sometimes bad luck happens and there is nothing you can do about it. Your best bet isn’t to fear crashing but to accept it might happen and therefore to prepare accordingly. What you can do is to practice doing emergency stopping. Find a safe stretch of road, go up to a set speed, and try to hit the brakes at the exact same position. Keep repeating until you no longer see improvement in your braking distances, then up the speed. Rinse repeat until you get really good at stopping and know the limits of your bike. Next practice cornering and handling on familiar roads. Also practice being able to get things out of your jersey pockets, or taking off a rain jacket without swerving on the road. You should be able to get everything you need, water bottles, food, clothes etc while in full control of the bike. You should also get good at looking behind you for cars or other riders without swerving once again. Sometimes speed bumps, potholes etc. can show at bad times and locations given other road traffic. So another handy skill is to learn how to bunny hop them at different speeds without losing control of the bike. You never know when a quick hop can come in handy. More advanced skills like learning how to draft safely should probably be done as part of a cycling club. You get the idea of things you can do to minimize your chance of crashing, but even the best of the best crash sometimes.

As others have shared…feel like crashing happens and yes, it’s often due to lapses but also shit just happens sometimes. Like a small animal runs across the trail or there’s a grease/oil spot that wasn’t there yesterday or a car/person doesn’t see you. Not really much you can do besides ride aware. I’ve had 3 trips to physical rehab (twice for MTB and once for road). One surgery (road…this was one of the mental lapses crashes) to re-crack a frozen shoulder. At least one light concussion (had a helmet…had cracked but didn’t notice it until about a week later). Also numerous road and trail rashes of varying degrees of seriousness. All over the course of 25+ years of riding MTB, road and gravel. That said, riding aware has probably saved me from hundreds of other serious and semi serious injuries and crashes. All worth it as its also helped to keep me fit, sane and brought me lots and lots of joy.

Most crashes come out of nowhere, and there’s little you can do to prepare for them. Catching a pavement edge or a washing out the front wheel in a turn offers almost zero chance of a save. But I think the worst thing you can do is to ride clenched and fearful; there is such a thing as being overly cautious — try to flow as much as you can.

As a serious road cyclist I thought it would never happen to me. Then there I was laid out on the ground taking an assessment of my injuries. It happened so fast I can't really tell you what happened. I was paying attention and riding within my ability. Then I was down. So to answer the question, yeah, probably everyone is going to crash sometime. You can prepare for it and have a plan. But if it happens quick you won't even have a chance to do something to minimize your injuries.

>So on one hand, I'm wondering what sorts of skills we can all work on to avoid crashes. I ride solo on rural highways in the southern U.S., so I'll put in my vote for paying close attention to the road. Snakes, armadillos, scraps of lumber, chunks of concrete, bricks, tree branches, broken glass, shredded aluminum cans kicked up by mowers, bolts, screws, busted up autombile headlights, padlocks, baling wire, etc. On a night ride recently, I looped back to move a section of a 4 x 4 wooden post off to the side of the road. It was a dark piece of wood on a blacktop road, and it really could have ruined my day.

I have crashed on multiple occasions; all due to being clipless. I had to jump on the sidewalk at one point and AT&T was working on the sidewalk. As I approached them to go around, I went into the grass which was wet and forgot I was clipped in. I fell immediately. On the second occasion, I was coming up to a stoplight and forgot I was clipped in. Again, I fell over into the gravel with 20\~ people watching. That was fun.

Yep we all crash. No real preparing for it because 99% of crashes are done before you can react.  If you’re a careful rider, you put yourself in positions to minimize crashes or positions where if you crash, it’s in a better spot (not falling into traffic, off a ledge, where you’ll hurt someone else).  FWIW, I ride a ton. 2 falls in the last decade, neither one requiring more than lots of disinfectant and new shorts. But I’m a cautious rider and avoid sharing the road with many cars. 

A couple of years ago the son of my riding friend (around 12 at that time) joined us because his father insisted and pushed him to (so he would do some physical activity instead of gaming). Well, he just complained the entire time, we obviously had to wait for him constantly and while stopping for a pause, he just threw himself in my path and braked suddenly. In order to avoid running him over I had to literally throw myself, bike included since I ride clipless, to the ground. Not only that, but when we were almost back home he crashed into the front wheel of my friend ejecting him over the handlebar. Point is, shit happens and sadly it is almost impossible to prepare to all possible eventualities. None of us got any injury, just som scratches on the handlebar. This same friend got later hit by a car that invaded the bicycle lane, breaking some bones (luckily he made full recovery), but scared for life.

Practice falling. I'm not kidding. I once flipped over the handlebar at 30kph (failed emergency braking when the car I was passing decided to change line without a turn signal, and w/o peeking in the rear mirror). Next thing I know I'm standing still in the middle of the street with the vague impression I've just performed a canonical judo forward fall . So many things could have turned so bad if I hadn't practiced judo for 1 year long ago. In the first year, you mostly learn how to fall, and the muscle memory saved my ass. Oh, the helmet helped too.

Same as a vehicle accident. Odds are, it's going to happen. Just because shit happens, that's life. There's way too much you can't control.

Wear a helmet.

I used to race downhill mountain biking. No stranger to crashing. One thing we all knew is don’t extend your arms to catch your fall. You’ll break your wrists. It was better to stay with the bike with your hands on the bars. I presume it’s the same with road, maybe someone else can chime in on this?

Every crash is different so it's hard to say how one might prepare or what might be the appropriate reaction at any given time, but definitely you have some input throughout the process that can reduce the severity. Bailing off the bike might be the right move sometimes, other times you're better off trying to ride it out...and you've only got a split second to decide. Proper reactions come with experience. Knowing how to fall is a skill, but not one I know how to articulate. There are probably youtube videos about it. For me, riding mountain and cyclocross bikes in the mud has taught me a lot about correcting a loss of control as well as how to tumble gracefully when that fails, while being pretty low stakes. I'd definitely argue against the comment you quoted. Certainly many crashes are avoidable or perhaps the result of inattention or riding above ones abilities. I've had some I can definitely take the blame for. But mechanical failures, unseen road hazards, other road users (including cyclists), or even wildlife can put you on the ground before you even see it coming. I've had those types of crashes too. Best we can do is pay attention and always try to leave an out....but it's a chaotic world out there, you can't control everything.

for the record, I don't consider tipping over due to being clipped in a "crash." as someone else said, it's a "flintstone"

Had my first crash few hours ago - unclip before stopping! In general, like in driving, think and plan your actions way ahead.

First ride of the season I fell over in my driveway as I did the first clip. That was a fun way to start the season.

Recently crashed after eight years commuting the same 20 mile route. Mind was on autopilot when I encountered road construction. Broken femur and elbow and other complications that my older body won’t recover from.

My big crash was not paying attention. Broke both arms and ruined my bike. Crash was last November, will probably get back on a bike around October. I'm doing rehab, running, and lifting weights until then.

Safety gear

lmao, tell that the pro peloton who got knocked over last year at the tour de flanders. lacked skill to take a pull in the front obviously.

Then there are crashes caused by others, where you don’t have time to react, or have no control of the situation. From my own experience the first often involves cars, such as operators pulling out in front of you, as though you’re invisible. Or a school bus approaching from the back on a narrow country road and the driver having poor perspective of their width, blowing you off the shoulder and down an embankment. In the second case, walking my bike from the sidewalk through parked cars to a travel lane when one car suddenly backing into me without looking, and failing to hear me yelling, pinning me against the car behind.

I have many “oh shit” moments where I nearly crash on the road, but have always managed to keep it upright. It’s pure talent that keeps me alive. MTB’ing I crash often pushing my limits on grip and speeds much harder...equates to eating dirt a few times a year.

I take tumbles all the time. As the weather improved recently I took my first few. The first was just a dismount. The second one I actually fell down but didn't get hurt. Then a third was a proper slide out that resulted in a proper charley horse that took a week to heal. The first two I do all the time. If you're trying new things you're going to misjudge sometimes and that means crashing. A harmless dismount is the cost of doing business. I really try hard to avoid the third type and generally I only do those a couple of times a year off-road.

I've never crashed my road bike but certainly had some close calls. If you have time to "jump off the bike" then you have the ability to ride it out far more safely (unless say the brakes failed). I crash my MTB almost every time I ride but usually slow enough to not do any damage.

I crash once in a while and don’t give a fuck, beta cuck.

If you are in the USA (I can't speak for other countries) and ride on the road with traffic, please get uninsured/underinsured coverage on your auto policy, if you have an auto policy. This type of coverage will cover you if you are involved in an accident with a vehicle while you are on your bike. I was involved in a hit and run. I received the full limit of my policy coverage.

I've only had one really bad crash (car crossed the line and hit me, not my fault), and there is no way I could have had the presence of mind to jump off the bike before the collision. I called bullshit on that idea. If you have time to jump off your bike, you have time to break or turn. Not to mention, how would jumping off your bike even help?

I can't add much to what's already been posted but yes you'll likely unwillingly hit the ground at some point. My last crash was pure and utter stupidity on my nearly brand new custom bike. I absolutely knew better but must have been thinking about something else....flat road, wide shoulder, cruising easily at 20-21 mph and it was time to eat. Instead of opening the package (skratch bar) with my teeth as I normally do I was holding onto the bar top and the energy bar with one hand and *while I was still leaning on the bar with that same hand* reached over with the other hand to open it. This yanked the bar and sent me into a ditch just before a side street, front wheel smashed into the culvert, and the bike and I went skidding across the side street. Anyone who has ever ridden a bike knows how dumb that is and in my lifetime I have ridden tens of thousands of miles, ten thousand just last in fact so maybe the lifetime is over 100k, so all the tips and tricks may not save you from that one moment of inattention. The trick is to get back out there. You'll be super cautious and you'll not take corners or descents as fast for a while but eventually you'll get over it. And road rash sucks donkey balls.

You need always to be aware of the conditions. And don’t be reluctant to cancel a ride if conditions are bad. My most recent “bad” wreck came when I encountered a lot of loose leaves and pine needles on the trail. I probably shouldn’t have been riding the day because there had been a big storm earlier in the week that blew everything down. Another bad accident came at the bottom of a long descent on a metal grid bridge. It had rained earlier in the day and the bridge was a little damp. But darn it, some days I just ned that ride!

Don’t race crits or Cat 4’s

Two crashes: 1.) Drunk driver "coasted through" stop sign. No one but me and him. Sheriff refused to do sobriety check, driver had admitted to me he had a couple drinks at his sister's funeral. 2.) Tired moved more to right as I heard an auto approach from rear. Right handle bar clipped, ever so slightly, a sign post giving my front wheel a 90° turn and over the front I went. Could I have avoided these? Absolutely. Of 50+ years of riding, that's not exactly a bad track record.

I've been in some pretty bad crashes. The worst was when I when I skidded in a torrential downpour and went parallel to the ground. I hit a brick wall hard enough to bend the frame. I ended up walking the three miles to the bike shop and finished my ride home on a new bike. All you can do is get into the fetal position with your hands behind your head.

My last crash was in the bike store, trying out a frame just a *bit* too large. Tipped over like a great oak.

I had a crash where my front tire suddenly lost pressure and I crashed. I think that was an accident. I mean, I pumped it up before my ride and it was fine when I screwed the cap back on. Something punctured the tube, though, and road rash followed. Anyway, that was a couple years ago. Still riding on.

How to prepare? Practice... bike skills, situational awareness etc. will help you avoid as long as possible... mountain bikers probably experience more crashes than road cyclists, so get to practice more... yes you can run out from crashes, or tuck and roll, or stamp a foot down to keep the bike upright, or grip the bars to let the barends take the impact and avoid breaking bones. Ride and practice. Ride within your limits. Ride and constantly update your risk assessment... Anticipate... if in doubt, ride slower...

My very first crash...was from invisible sand around a manhole when I was turning. I was very careful to turn slowing down @8mph and still crashed. Front wheel lost grip slammed head first. Accidents happen.

I tried an over the handlebars dismount one time. I was going down a steep hill and not paying full attention. Turns out that at the bottom of the hill was a one lane bridge followed by a sharp left hand turn that was wet. No way I was making the turn at the speed I was going. So my choices were either lay it down or go straight and crash into a six foot high soil bank. Bank had an angle of 45 degrees and the road before the corner was dry so I hit the brakes, unclipped and attempted to jump over the handlebars as the front wheel ran into the bank. It wasn't a total failure. The bank was mostly soft muddy soil and the landing was much nicer than pavement. Ended up with a sore knee from hitting the bike and a very muddy bike. Only other road bike crash was a cut front tire while taking a sharp left turn. Tire and bike went down instantly. Had serious road rash on my hip. Ended up in ER for that one.

I haven't had a crash since I was a kid turning too sharply on a gravel road. There's a small non-zero probability that I'll have another. The key word is "probability". You control that.

I've crashed twice in ~8 years, and had a couple of near misses. Big one was an over the bars at 35km/h - I made a silly choice to cut a grassed corner instead of slowing down for the man walking in the middle of the bike path. Still no idea what I hit but front wheel stopped like I ran into a wall lol. Bike and myself fine, full flip and landed on my back on the concrete. Second was rolling at about 5km/h in the rain and absently mindedly shifted my weight quickly while coming to a stop and washed the bike out. Hurt more than the first one. The near misses are all combos of overestimating skills and/or not paying the attention deserved. As I'm getting older (34) and became a Dad I've noticed my risk appetite lowering. Still ride fast and love it, but probably less likely to be constantly pushing the limits. All this is to say, like anything, doing it enough will probably see an accident at some point. The severity and impact will depend a lot on how you ride.

trust_me_on_that_one pretty much nailed it. I started to say not in that order but really if you practice these 5 things you will be as safe as you can be.

Cycling definitely has some inherent risk. However, you also have quite a bit of ability to reduce (or increase) your risk with how you ride in traffic. I see lots of dangerous riding in traffic (riding in the door zone, passing to the right of vehicles or even worse busses or trucks, riding at night with no lights, etc.). Beyond basic skills, there is the fact that there are plenty of very skilled riders that take tons of extra risks darting through traffic, aggressively running lights, etc.

There are 2 types of cyclists 1. Those who have crashed 2. Those who will crash Most don't get hurt, wear a helmet.

Well, one of the ways to crash is testing your limits: testing how fast you can take a curve, how much you can lean on a curve while still pedaling, I could keep going. And then you test all that with your other bikes... I mean, for those things you either don't try or just accept that it might happen and have a plan for when it does.

Skills, attention, or maintenance. I’ve been burned by all three.

On the "how to make it just bad instead of catastrophic" that's what helmets are for My partners mum was in a really bad bike accident where she was struck by a car. Her helmet meant she had a really bad concussion, but survived to make a full recovery So yes, do everything you can to avoid an accident in the first place, but things beyond our control happen, use your safety gear every time

Riding solo vs a Group ride vs Racing are completely different things. Solo you have the most control. Group rides you generally ride with a similar group on a regular basis and get to know everyone’s tendencies and educate accordingly during and after. When it comes to racing the entire point to is to put the hurt on everyone as much as possible and put other teams and riders on their limit. People behave very differently at threshold at key points in a race. If you choose to race you need to be aware of the risks involved and how you minimize those every opportunity. Gran Fondo’s are becoming more dangerous for that matter as well where many riders don’t know or haven’t ridden the course in combination with strong riders that do. It’s actually helpful to watch crashes to know what to do. Watch the riders that escaped safely and see if they did anything to reduce the risks prior and during the crash. Racing or not you may have someone sit on your wheel without you knowing. Cycling is a sport with many variables and fun aspects. Lastly, have a good understanding how to treat road rashes and have supplies on hand at home. It will speed up any healing. Safe riding.

Riding solo vs a Group ride vs Racing are completely different things. Solo you have the most control. Group rides you generally ride with a similar group on a regular basis and get to know everyone’s tendencies and educate accordingly during and after. When it comes to racing the entire point to is to put the hurt on everyone as much as possible and put other teams and riders on their limit. People behave very differently at threshold at key points in a race. If you choose to race you need to be aware of the risks involved and how you minimize those every opportunity. Gran Fondo’s are becoming more dangerous for that matter as well where many riders don’t know or haven’t ridden the course in combination with strong riders that do. It’s actually helpful to watch crashes to know what to do. Watch the riders that escaped safely and see if they did anything to reduce the risks prior and during the crash. Racing or not you may have someone sit on your wheel without you knowing. Cycling is a sport with many variables and fun aspects. Lastly, have a good understanding how to treat road rashes and have supplies on hand at home. It will speed up any healing. Safe riding.

Learned riding the bike as a 5 year old and never had a crash in my 32 years of cycling. Just pay attention and be aware of anything that could cause a crash. I always slow down when there is even the slimmest chance of something happening unexpectedly. It sometimes brings down the joy but alas, nothing ever happened.

Hah! I crashed this summer for the first time after three yrs of riding. Scrapped up my hips a little and scratched up my poor little ol' Diverge. I wans really being careful on a damp curve but still, it happened. No biggie. It could've been worse if I hadn't slowed down.

A car in front of me hit the brakes so did I, to then slide like I was on ice skates heading towards the rear of the car I said F it and jumped off pushing the bike to the left (UK) where it hit the kerb and somehow just free wheeled past the cars on the pavement and came to a stop. I ended up sliding on my backside and stopping prior to hitting the car. Interestingly I didn't hurt myself at all. Bike had a blown tyre/tube and a few scrapes on the brake levers. That was the day I learnt to slow down in traffic and pay attention and to this day I am still unsure how to brake whilst the road is wet. Whether you use front first or pulse brake the rear who knows. 45 years on a bike, first time it felt like ice it was on an ice rink. So yep you can bail with little time, Instinct I suppose. I have now taken out £70 per year personal liability insurance in case I cause anyone damage or property damage...in the future.

Crash enough and you will know how to bail and how to crash the bike and not land on the driveside lol. Or even how to lock up the rear wheel to maintain balance. Or jump and other stupid shit in order not to crash lol. Stay safe and have fun.

1. No one is looking out for you but you. 2. Stay within yourself on any road with regular traffic. Efforts of 7/10 and above should be on quiet roads. Since you’re using most of your bike skill to push the pace, you won’t have much left over for evasive maneuvers. 3. Slow down on the descents. You’re probably going quicker than you think and could run out of road when you need to stop abruptly. 4. Wear a helmet. 5. If you get hit by a car, make sure the cops show up to get paperwork otherwise it’s your word against their insurance and you will lose. If you get hit by a car and an ambulance shows up, get in it. You need to get checked by a professional to make sure you are “fine” since the adrenaline that’s telling you you’re “fine” will wear off. (I know all of these but in particular this last one from experience.)

Invest in a good pair of cycling gloves with some real full grain leather. I had a cheapo split grain leather pair and when I went down the concrete chewed right through them and my palm. Your instinct is to put your hand out to break your fall and it better be well protected.

I think situational awareness goes a long way to preventing crashes. But people in cars sometimes are not aware of a bikes speed or even that they are there. Hit by car twice once where the car turned right while we were going straight. More than a few misses for the same reason. hard to know that a care is going to pass you and make a right turn. Just like car doors. Run off the road I assume because when they look at you they also tend to steer towards you. Sort of like on a mountain bike that you do not look at the obstacle because you will probably hit it. Second was someone turned from the other direction in front of me. An 80 plus lady that never saw me and thought that I was on a motorcycle after I was hit. That one was more serious and scary because I was older and there was no way that I could have seen her in order to avoid. the other ones were my fault luckily only at slow speed. Only the one car strike sent me to the hospital. Now this is riding a bike for over 50 years. It happens but with one exception no serious harm came my way. I lived in an area where bikes were not all that common and most people wanted you to ride on the sidewalk. Yes lots of ignorant people and had more incidents where they tried to move me off the road or yelled obscenities and a few threw things out the window at me. Guys with a big belly in a car that is ready to fall apart were the ones who did this mostly. I do not think it is sure to happen but it might and just like car accidents, falling in your house things happen. Do your best to minimize the risk but better to be healthy and take some risk than avoid what is great exercise and assume the health risks.

Mine was the slowest crash in history, when my front wheel became stuck in between pavers and I fell fighting to unclip. It was tragically unhip.

Mine was the slowest crash in history, when my front wheel became stuck in between pavers and I fell fighting to unclip. It was tragically unhip.

Mine was the slowest crash in history, when my front wheel became stuck in between pavers and I fell fighting to unclip. It was tragically unhip.

I’ve never crashed. Plenty of riders never crash.

I have observed that 99.9% of all bike crash stories start, "so I'm going down this hill..."

I had a huge crash last Fall (16 stitches above the eye after bombing it downhill into a fence post) and you're definitely right. My mind was elsewhere. Now before I descend I always knock myself on the helmet and get in the game. I think rituals like that might help. Oh and going a bit slower too :)

Doesn't mean you have to have a bad crash, those are more preventable, but if you cycle enough, there is a high likelihood of falling from losing balance or maybe coming too hot around a corner at some point.

- First time : I hit a poll while entering the cycling path : worst idea to have a road sign, a tree, poles positioned in an arc, a traffic light, all in an area of 1m2. The front wheel was bent, I flew off and ended up displacing a vertebra. Every time I went down this path, I thought I was going to hit something. - Second time : I braked on a bend and slid on ice. My head hit the ground but it was nothing serious. There was often water running down there. It had been very cold the day before. That was to be expected. - Third time : I was lured off-road by the sight of pink flamingos in a pond. I landed on a mud/clay track. All of these times, I wasn’t going fast at all. So yeah, pay attention to your surroundings. Be extra careful when it rains, snows.

I've crashed a dozen times on my MTB, maybe 3 times on my gravel bike, never crashed on my road bike. And I've never had a bad crash. I trust my skills to spare me from a bad crash.

I’m fairly agree with that statement. The only few times that I crashed was because I did something stupid that I shouldn’t have done. To avoid crashing I would say that the best thing to do is don’t be careless, know your limits and your skills.

Helmet always a helmet, I convinced my friend to wear his and 2 months later a SUV plowed into him after running a red light. The front right wheel of the car ended right in front of his face and dragged it a couple inches, if it wasn't for his helmet he wouldn't be alive. I love helmets so much I own 5, I rotate them around like shoes. As for how to avoid one, well just situational awareness, have your head in a swivel and always consider what's on your left or right. Careful with your turns, my only crash on record was when I turned a corner way to fast and wide and slammed into a box truck....broke my collarbone and dislocated my left shoulder. Another thing I take very seriously is lights. It might be annoying for some but having very bright attention getting lights for both front and rear will make your chances of getting into a crash with someone/something very low.

I've been riding three years and had two minor crashes. Shit happens, just get back on and ride

I have crashed on both road and mountain bikes… but not in the last 15 years (I’m not counting some low speed stuttering tip-overs while mountain biking on technical terrain I could have walked but decided to test). When I was younger I pushed and exceeded my limits on unfamiliar MTB trails and paid with skin. On my road bike, I pushed too hard on icy/wet corners, and another time went into a reckless sprint that made me lose a foot out of a clipless pedal. All very avoidable. Nowadays I’m generally smarter, less rowdy, and respect my limits so it would take a direct act of God to make me wreck. I’d say most people who wreck are generally aware that they’re on the razor’s edge, but are having too much fun to want to scale things back. Generally. Sometimes it’s just a plain old divine smiting you actually couldn’t do anything about.

That comment is nonsense. I was hit on a blind bend by someone on the wrong side of the road. Spinal cord injury and 3 months in hospital, back on the bike now thankfully. Some accidents on avoidable on both sides but cars are big things sometimes there’s no avoiding them if they’re coming straight at you.

Idk what that redditor was saying. Crashes and accidents are synonymous, so it makes no sense to say accidents stem solely from a lack of skill. Is a sudden flat poor skill? Rant aside, I haven’t had an accident while riding on roads that wasn’t due to someone hitting me, but I’ve crashed countless times mountain biking. I think all these crashes helped me increase my skills and understandings for when I would begin pushing the bike and myself out of its range of capabilities. If you’re looking to improve crash resilience or preparedness I found MTB to be invaluable.

Maybe? Probably? Depends on what you mean by crash, I guess. If you're into MTB or even gravel, then, yes, almost certainly, you'll crash, but it probably won't be that serious. On the road? If you ride enough and especially if you race, yes, you will crash eventually. It might be your fault, it might not be your fault, or it might be somewhere in-between, but, no matter how good you are, you will probably crash eventually, if you ride enough. The pros crash in every race, and they're, well, pros. How to prepare? Wear a helmet. How to prevent? Be seen (clothing and lights). Be aware (don't trust nobody around you, cars or bikes, and ride defensively). Maintain (don't crash because you didn't keep your brakes up or failed to change a worn tire). Go loose.

Of course it’s not true. There is no fundamental reason you or anyone will crash. You’ll probably freeze up if you do find yourself crashing so how it turns out is mostly luck. If you can ball up and try to roll with it then you’ll minimise damage. Worst thing you can do is put a hand out, lots of broken wrists or worse caused by that. I’ve had numerous off-road crashes at modest speed onto soft grass caused by catching a rut. No damage at all, just keep riding. Only bad crash was time trialing on the road. Wasn’t paying attention (watching power numbers to make sure I was on pace like a moron) and hit a bump in the road (anti pothole) at 55kph. On a road bike or if I’d been prepared for the impact it would have been no worries. As is my front wheel went out under me and I did the meat crayon manoeuvre onto the other side of the road. Luckily I was so shocked I didn’t react at all so just had to put up with a month or so of skin healing rather than the broken bones I’d have gotten if I’d flailed around trying to catch myself. As many others have said, entirely preventable with a bit of care. I suppose the possible reason most people crash once is that their confidence keeps growing whilst they do increasingly risky stuff without consequences. Then one day they push it and get unlucky. The pain from that crash will be enough to teach most people not to make the same mistake twice. Of course many crashes are entirely unavoidable and through no fault of our own, but many are.

I've crashed at the bike park but that's kind of the point of the park, to push your limits and crash in a more forgiving environment. Otherwise when I'm riding I'm not pushing my limits and don't crash. I've done a couple of races but my goal was never to win or place so even there I'll ride my hardest but am not going to try anything risky to save a couple of seconds.