I admittedly have at least one good crash a year, mostly simple commuting in the snow/ice crashes that might dent my helmet a bit, but don't really rise to the level of a good story.
That said, one of my "best" bike crash stories is the traditional young kid, fast bike, big hill story. It starts with me "borrowing" (kind of) my cousin's new Trek something (this was a 1980 or so model). 23 or 25mm tires, superlight (compared to my Mongoose BMX or Huffy 10 speed) and fast; so very fast... I was out for a ride on this new bike when I saw an El Camino with a couple of tough, older high school students in it turn on the street behind me. Admittedly, I knew their reputation as troublemakers from the neighborhood, so I immediately thought I should bike quickly away from them. "Fortunately" I was at the top of hill when I started pedaling quickly down the street to a riverside bike trail that was only a block (and a cross street) away. As I started descending the hill I heard the El Camino rev it's engine so I pedaled even faster. I was easily going faster than I ever had (and likely ever will) on a bike. Now that soon to be crossed cross-street I mentioned earlier was fairly untrafficed so I wasn't very worried about it when I started my sprint (I was also about 14 years old), but as I was about 3/4 of the way down the hill I notice a white panel van moving in my direction along this cross-street at a rate of speed that made it eminently clear that I was not going to be able to cross the street unimpeded by several thousands of pounds of very solid, if slightly rusty, American manufactured steel in the form of this van. (I should also mention here that I also had a stop sign, whereas the driver of the van did not.) Thankfully, my early teenage brain did the proper risk-assessment and immediately jammed the brakes of the narrow tired Trek, causing me to go into (what was probably a pretty cool) skid. Fortunately I was able to shed enough speed to not become a hood ornament of the van, but instead simply added some aftermarket body modifications to the side door of the van which I bounced off at about 20 miles per hour or so. The next minute or so is a bit of a blur, but the couple that was in the van get out and immediately start gesturing to me, but not saying anything that I could hear outside of some mumbling. My 14 year-old self thinks, "Oh Sh!!!T, I'm deaf". Thankfully the woman who lives on the corner where the accident occurred had a daughter I grew up with (and was the lunch lady at my elementary school) so she immediately runs out of the house and starts yelling, "Scott, Scott are you OK!" so I get a sense that I'm not deaf at least, but in still in a lot of pain. Also, the kids in the El Camino stopped to check on me and validate that I'm not deaf just dumb. The usual follow-up happens, police are called, ambulance comes, parents come, etc.. I have a separated shoulder, but no real damage. I also find out that the couple who's van I damaged, were deaf / mute so I feel pretty bad then (and now) about injecting my idiocy on them. Worst of all, the bike was trashed. Fork, front wheel, and frame were all scrap and my cool bike access was gone until I purchased a used High Sierra in college. Scott M. (Chicago - Hyde Park) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f4575abf-610f-45f3-aedf-9ef04dbbaa09%40googlegroups.com.
