# What is your worst crash ever!!!



## GiantAC1 (Mar 25, 2004)

What is your worst crash ever   
Descried it!!! What were you doing, what happen to you and you bike. got pictures of it put them on.

My biggest crash was last 2003 wim season. I was going about 25MPH, I hit the last jump that was 1'6" with 15' of flat to a down slop right before the finish. I flew 35 feet then over the bars and rolled 50 feet or so then ran across the finish. All I got was a big fat scratch on my lower back and my bike was fine. I didn't get last ether.


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## ghr7891 (Feb 27, 2004)

The pics didnt work, but I wnat to see them.


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## Banshee Rider (Jan 19, 2004)

Had a messed up runup on this drop and washed out instantly, my whole body just kinda all hit at once, its be similar to dropping a cow on its side from a roof and watching it land. Heres a pic of the drop.


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## gigamanx (Feb 26, 2004)

worst crash would have to be when I was about 12....it was raining light, nice wet road....went down a loooong hill on my trendy banana seat chopper bike....took a 90 degree sweeping turn to go to my house and my bike slid out from under me. I had gravel rash (which, as we all know, is the most painful of all body part loss) from my calves all the way to my shoulder and across my back....I had to sleep on one side for about 3 weeks.


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## kept man (Jan 13, 2004)

*i don't remember*

really, i don't. it was that bad. 1994. listen up, children.

what i do remember is starting the ride with my buddy: it was two days before my first xc race which he was dragging me along to, and we were getting in one last fast training ride (see if we could make it around the lake - freeride-ish for the time, as there weren't trails all the way around the lake).

so, we were going faster than usual. there were some nice 'obstacles' we'd set up along our favourite route, including a couple jumps. here's where my memories stop. best guess is that i (following behind my buddy) took the big second jump too fast and off-kilter. we do know that i hit a tree before hitting the ground. lots of woods 'round that spot.

my buddy stopped after he heard something, waited a minute, and walked back to find my bike bashed up and me walking in circles, with blood coming from my nose, mouth, etc.. helmet flattened, sunglasses smashed, mumbling incoherently. he actually carried me back out to the camp we were at and from there it was to the hospital.

i don't really remember the next few days - it was a reasonably serious concussion. but swelling went down, no serious internal bleeding, and they cut me loose after spending a couple nights in hospital. apparently i could remember my name, etc; i was just in rough shape still. there are pictures of me looking pretty ghoulish at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary the day i got out, but i'll be damned if i remember being there.

as this predates the digital era, there are no photos i can post. but somewhere there is a picture of my bike and helmet, complete with bloodstains. and pics of me looking like the sopranos crew just worked my face over goood. so play safe, whippersnappers.


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## Acme54321 (Oct 8, 2003)

When I was like 12 I slammed into a palm tree. We have those ones here in FL with HUGE thorns on the stem of the fronds. Then there is this rare type with thorns that are not only HUGE but they are double sided, kinda like little horns. I hit one going pretty fast, blacked out, the woke up with my left are anf the left side of my head all bloody. I stumbled down the street to some random guy who was mowing his lawn. Then he took me home, the whole time I was dizzy, kinda like you are when you get COMPLETELY wasted and are about to pass out, lol. Then took a trip to the emergency room and ended up with like 24 stiched or something. I still got a big 'ol scar on my arm.


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## DOWNHILLING MACHINE (Jan 28, 2004)

*yea*

Yeah mine happened about 2 months ago, was doing some gaps right well it didnt go so well, i was hittin a 20 foot gap, and well lets just say i never made it to the otherside the only thing i remember was flying off my bike and wakking up on the ground in pain with a dislocated shoulder and a bad concussion, i am still getting over that crash my shoulder is starting to feel better.


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## mosplat (Jan 21, 2004)

never had a high-speed crash thus far, not looking forward to it.

had a bad low-speed bail though,
off a loading dock, otb, head to pavement, flipped onto back.
no helmet of course, in my ingenuity.
low level concussion i guess.
didn't get knocked out, but i bloodied the left side of my head,
got a minor case of whiplash, and was dizzy for days..
the er doc said to have someone wake me up every 3 hours that night,
to make sure i was alright.
now THAT part scared me the most..

stayed off my bike for a little bit after that,
and always wear a helmet now...


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## Moriority (Jan 29, 2004)

This one probably isn't my worst but it was the scariest. It was my first practice run at Durango last summer. It was something like 8:00 in the morning. We had driven all night the night before from salt lake. The year before there was little coffee shops open at the bottom of the lift. But not last year. So I didn't get any coffee. This is why I tell everyone this retarded crash even happened. No coffee!! My buddies and I were taking it easy just cruising down checking out the course. I come pounding up the hill to the first and bigger of the drops on the course and there are a ton of guys standing around checking it out. I just say "is it clear?" then just go for it without looking at all. This is the poor judgement part. I remember thinking don't go too fast because guys were flat landing it and crashing the year before so I went nice and slow right off the right edge of the takeoff. This is probably something like a 7 ft drop. I went so damn slow that I didn't even clear the big rock at the bottom and just stuffed my front wheel behind it sending me over the bars for a video quality scorpion to flip to smash the back of the head and roll down the rest of the tranny. I thought I broke my back. And it still hurts now. I crushed the front in and cracked the back of my nice Vigor carbon. After that I was done. I was spaced out the rest of the day. I rode and raced but just really wanted to go home. That one sucked because I really could have broken my neck or my back all because of a non coffee drinking induced fog in the morning.


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## McGRP01 (Jan 2, 2003)

I was riding some local trails in VT. with my buddy Travis. We were going down this trail at a pretty steep grade towards Lake Bomoseen. The trail passed right inbetween a large oak tree and a cottage on the hillside above the lake. I didn't see it at the time, but there was a exposed root that stuck up between the tree and the cottage. I hit the root and went over the bars. Luckily I had a helmet, because I went head first into the corner of the cottage and cracked the helmet in half. I landed about 10 feet below the cottage and then the bike came down on top of me. The large ring cut open and split the calf on my right leg like a filet. I lifted the bike off me (not realizing at first that I was cut open) and tried to stand up, that's when I felt it. I sat back down and looked at my calf. I was split open and cut to the bone. I could see the bone in my leg! YUCK!! There was no blood. Not sure why? I took off my shirt and covered the cut because I felt sick looking at it. Had my buddy run back up the hill and find a phone at one of the cottages to call my girlfriend. She to where we were and drove me to the ER. I ended up with 14 staples in my calf. To this day, I have no feeling in the whole front (shin) area of my right leg. This all happened in 1991.


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## Locoman (Jan 12, 2004)

When I was about 10.. maybe younger I was riding down my street (a steep hill) barefoot and I decided to stand up on the seat. Instead I managed to stick both my feet into the rear wheel at the same time (not intentionally). Needless to say I stopped short, messed up my spokes and turned my feet into burger all at the same time.


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## Get_Outside_N_Ride (Mar 23, 2004)

*clicked too many times*

clicked too many times


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## Get_Outside_N_Ride (Mar 23, 2004)

*clicked too many times*

clicked too many times


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## Get_Outside_N_Ride (Mar 23, 2004)

*not bike related, but a good story just the same*

Got off the bus in 5th grade, wanted to impress this chic(Katie Fiest) so I hoped on my skate at the top of Goldenstein hill in Bozeman, MT and started to bomb. Hill is about 3 football fields long...I got about halfway down where the hill flattens out a bit and then drops down again when all of a sudden a car comes up the other side(I was in the middle of the road), at the same time I start getting the death wobble so I just bailed to miss the car, clipped the drivers side mirror and went down for the baseball home base slide at 30 mph. The funny thing was(not at the time) our house was right on the middle portion of the hill so this all happened as my mom and sisters were outside raking grass watching. I had a scab from wrist to ankle on my left side...

Got back on the horse some 6 years later when I returned for a snowboard season after H.S.(we had moved to Ohio, grrrrr) and conquered the hill on a long board. Friends behind me in a car clocked me at 40 mph.


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## traxxas (Mar 13, 2004)

*not on a bike but dumb none the less*

I haven't really crashed hard on a bike yet, but Sunday I did do a 10 foot baseball slide down a rock going over 20mph. Weak, but my favorite crash story happened on foot. I was a little nuts in elementry school because I really enjoyed spending my lunchtime being chased by people. Well one day I was running away from this kid and gaining distance from him so I looked back to see how far away he was, when I returned my head to see what was coming up I ran head first into a 5 inch steel pole. Knocked my self out cold for a few minutes and got to go home early. Funny thing is the next day a school I ran into the bathroom wall pretty much the same way. Since then I have learned to always watch where your going, except for that time I ran into a parked car riding my bike to school. Damn now that I think about it my younger years where full of me running in to stuff.


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## Moriority (Jan 29, 2004)

Locoman said:


> When I was about 10.. maybe younger I was riding down my street (a steep hill) barefoot and I decided to stand up on the seat. Instead I managed to stick both my feet into the rear wheel at the same time (not intentionally). Needless to say I stopped short, messed up my spokes and turned my feet into burger all at the same time.


 That is sick man!! I once saw a little girl in the ER that was riding her little bike or tricycle and sucked her bare foot through the front chainring. It just perferated her foot. That one looked like it really hurt.


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## Felpur (Jan 22, 2004)

*Worst crash!*

When I thing about worst crash there are 2 different things that come to mind... the most recent thing was end of last summer. I was out putzing around on my bike by the local school. Next to their basball field they have this retaining wall that is like 6 ft high to flat or very slight tranny.... Usually when I hit that drop I go kinda slow and wheelie drop off it, so the next step of course is to bomb off it at speed. Lone behold I get flying and my front wheel kinda hits a lip I never noticed on the top causing me to face plant the drop going to fast, it dislocated or sprained my shoulder ( the common biker injury). .I couldnt use my arm much for a couple weeks, it sucked.... the other wipe out I've had that also blows, was when I had just bought my xc bike ( jamis dakaar expert) and my buddy and I where cruising up by UMO (university of maine) we we on a flat paved road in close to our highest gear (really movin) and I saw this slight mound that I thought would be cool to jump...so being the genuis that I am I hit the jump (wrong) and came down on the front wheel and skidded my t-shirt and shorts a$$ across a whole bunch of asphalt ( tar is always the worst to wipe out on!)...road rash boo!..... the impact actually blew up my fork the side on the lower stanchions blew out like a 1/4 of the leg... on the positive side.the fork sucked from the get go....it made me upgrade my fork which preformed flawless


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

one time i wrecked so hard, i died


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## gigamanx (Feb 26, 2004)

.WestCoastHucker. said:


> one time i wrecked so hard, i died


Damn that happened to a friend of a friend of mine....he had two accidents in the same week...

1. Riding down a hill after a night of partying and hit a parked ice cream truck.
2. 4 days later, riding at night without lights on the wrong side of the street and was hit by a car going the opposite direction.....remember kiddies, wear a helmet, drivers are out to get you!

He died twice but he's ok now.


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

*I watched a real good one*

Ive had some pretty good crashes, but nothing worth posting, but as a kid I remember watching this guy that was mentaly retarded wreck nasty. In our small town in Wa. the city crew was re-paving the roads, at the bottom of a small hill they left a man-hole cover off and had put orange cones around it. Well this guy (Jeff was his name) was riding his bike down the hill and I guess he didnt know what the cones ment and rode his bike right into the man hole, he was going pretty fast and went end over end about 3 times. Try to picture a guy that already was kind of goofy looking, kind of like a cro-magnum man from the stone age, with a baseball sized lump on his forhead. I remember hereing him just wale, he couldnt talk anyway, but you sure knew what he was saying then, I seen him a couple of days later with 2 black eyes and that black and blue baseball on his forhead. now he looks like a cro-magnum frankenstein. Hes really lucky that he didnt get hurt worse than he did, Im sure the lack of mental capacity helped alot, kind of like when drunk people crash, they never get hurt.


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## GiantAC1 (Mar 25, 2004)

*Got my crash pics working!!!*

Hope they worked!!! the first pic is the first thing I did after I finished 
Funniest thing about that crash is I ran backwards throw the finish. I was so dazes I ran in to the fence next to the finish so I ran around and finish ran throw the back side of the finish. How many people can say they finished a DH race backwards? I can!!!


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## Dirtdemon (Jan 26, 2004)

Dude! I am f***ing rolling! Can you imagine how that looked? Reminds me of when I was a kid, my older bro was riding me on the handlebars of his broke ass 10 speed. I go "Can't you go any faster?" so he picks up speed, and with his foot shoves my foot into the front spokes. At least he ate [email protected] too!


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

*Nice!*

The look on the guys' face watching you (2nd pic) is HILARIOUS!!!
Almost as good as my favorite show, World's Most XTreme Elimination Challenge!


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## mtnbikerx (Jan 30, 2004)

I didn't think I had any bad crashes until I remembered "when I was 10". AAAaaargh. I was riding my souped up Schwinn singlespeed around the neighborhood and saw a group of girls down the hill from me. AHHhh, the male ego. I leaned into the turn and pedaled that puppy to warp speed. (Gonna jump the curb in front of 'em) About 20 feet from the group my chain comes off and I lose a pedal. That sets up a headshake and with no way to stop(coasterbrake!), I plow headon into the group. I still have the vision of my front wheel catching Virginia ( not after this day) right in the crotch. The shreeking and screaming was nearly as debillitating for me as the impact was for poor Virginia. Oh man, what did you have to remind me of THAT for?


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## mtbManiak (Jan 13, 2004)

The worst crash that I had was when I first started mountain biking. I had just gotten my GT xcr le and went to West Virginia with my Venture Crew. We built a two foot kicker ramp out of wood and set it up on the side of a parking lot, there was a nice slope serving as a tranny on the other side with some nice soft grass. I watched a couple of other people go, and decided that I could do it, it would be my first ramp. Right before I went another kid went before me who was a beginner too, and this would also be his first ramp. He went pretty fast, but didn't pull up at all, he nose dived really bad. In mid air he put his hands out so when he hit the ground he broke his collarbone. This is his picture in midair, you can see that he's pretty high up there, and his hands are already out...










Then it was my turn to go, I was pretty confident in myself, so I started pedaling, I went as fast as I could, I was tuned out so I didn't hear when everybody was yelling that I was going too fast, I hit the ramp and tried to pull up, but did the same thing as the kid who went before me, but I didn't put my hands out, I hit the ground head first and tucked and rolled for a couple of feet. My head hurt a whole lot, I took the helmet off and noticed that I had craked it through in three places, and this was my brothers brand new helmet, he was pretty angry... Then the next day I actually went biking again, my front tire slipped out in some mud, and I did a superman into a mud puddle that was about a foot deep, and slid into some poison Ivy, I was in a lot of discomfort for a couple of months...


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## greenchops (Mar 17, 2004)

^^ gees dude... props for still riding if that was your intro to biking


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## AKRida (Feb 26, 2004)

i dont really have to many bad bike crashes, i broke a foot once that was DHing on my old Trek Y frame, lol, i did the cool splash into water before to  was about grade 7 me and a friend were exploring some old trails we found this neat little creek that was a nice little jump so we both went for it him infront of me, and me right behind him he slid out before the creak and ended up half in the water, me going as fast as i could came up behind him to close to pull out but couldn't just run him over so i slammed on the brakes went over the handlebars and did a huge belly flop into the creek that was about 2 1/2 feet deep, we than continued on our biking journey me soaking wet, got lost and spent the next 7 or 8 hrs finding our way out, i came out around 12:30 at night about 10 miles from my house oops.


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## TrialsKing (Mar 31, 2004)

I've only ever had one crash on a mtb that was bad. i was about 10 and i was comeing down the neighbours driveway(bout 100 feet long). the drive way was wet and all of a sudden the bike slid out from under me. i had major road rash up my back.
the worst crash of all time ive ever had was december 22, 2002. i was out motorbiking and was doing jumps on my 91 ty250 trials bike. my foot slipped of the peg over a tabletop and the rear tire landed on it. i broke both bones in my lower leg in 5 place. was i hospital for 3 days. My lesson: always wear riding boots.
steve


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## Raptordude (Mar 30, 2004)

My worst crash.

It was at Northstar at Tahoe. I was riding really friggin fast on Dogbone and I was coming to a steep part. I wanted to get a little pop off of it and fly down a lil bit. But my tires got jammed between two rocks, I slammed my nuts into the stem, went over the handlebars and flew down the steep part. I landed on the flats on a few rocks, and rolled into a tree stump. I laid there for what seemed like an hour, it was so bad, I was hurting everywhere. I got up to keep riding, and I couldn't find my bike for about 15 minutes. It was in a bush hehe.


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## roee (Jan 24, 2004)

Raptordude said:


> My worst crash.
> 
> It was at Northstar at Tahoe. I was riding really friggin fast on Dogbone and I was coming to a steep part. I wanted to get a little pop off of it and fly down a lil bit. But my tires got jammed between two rocks, I slammed my nuts into the stem, went over the handlebars and flew down the steep part. I landed on the flats on a few rocks, and rolled into a tree stump. I laid there for what seemed like an hour, it was so bad, I was hurting everywhere. I got up to keep riding, and I couldn't find my bike for about 15 minutes. It was in a bush hehe.


UGH, I was actually shivering at the "balls meet stem" part.. dude.. That's nasty.
Glad you came out OK..


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## greenchops (Mar 17, 2004)

One night about 3 years ago we were on our way home from the pub (see the problem already?) and I decided to race my buddy down the dirt track that led back to the house. It was almost pitch black so we were basically racing from memory.

I slid out on the first corner with the bike on top of me, but thought nothing of it and jumped back on and kept racing. But then, just as i got back up to speed i slid down the side of a steepish bank beside the track and cracked my (helmetless) face into a rotted tree stump, which snapped (the tree stump).

I was ok though. I got a pretty good scab across the side of my face - but your face seems to heal pretty quick. If you look really hard you can just see a discoloured bit still. I also eventually found a big purple bruise on my leg from the bike in the 1st crash that had forgot about (bruise was a long line - like the top tube across my thigh).

So I now ride "carefully" when i am drunk


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## MTBsSd (Jan 12, 2004)

My worst crash (as far as pain) was probably on my 3rd or 4th run down our home-made DH track. Starts out with a nice 20ft dropin so you can get some serious speed going. I was going along right after the big hill where you're supposed to turn around the raised part. Me being my smart self decided to go over it. Ended up clipping a tree (not in pic) hitting that one little tree that's in the pic, flying through the air another 15ft, and landing on a small rock garden. Got right back up, but that was it for the day of riding in our back yard... Got a really funny movie of it too, that may be a bit too big for MTBR to handle though 










^P.S. My bike had kept going even after I flew off, so I actually started flying somewhere before the picture frame... Hard to judge the distance with the pic...


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## cmd (Feb 11, 2004)

*not my worst, but funny*

This is not my worst wreck, but the pic is pretty good. Washed out before going off the drop. Luckily sand is so soft.


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## cmd (Feb 11, 2004)

*try again*



cmd said:


> This is not my worst wreck, but the pic is pretty good. Washed out before going off the drop. Luckily sand is so soft.


 one more time


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## Stinky Wiz (Jan 27, 2004)

*Accidents always happen in Slo-mo*

Climbing along cliff face over stream. My handlebar clipped an ancient fence post left behind last time they re-did the trail. As my bar snapped back, it hopped my front tire over the cliff. I threw my weight to the inside, gave up on the bike instantly & chucked it away as I tried to claw at anything, but there was nothing but dust & loose rocks. My buddy looked back just in time to see me just dissappear straight down. A 20+ ft fall to what was thankfully a sandy part of the normally rocky stream below. Unfortunately, my bike made it there first & I landed on the handlebar! The end of the bar punctured into my inner thigh just below the dangly bits. Managed to suffer my way out, stitches were absolutely necessary at the local ER.

Hitting the chain at the bottom of the road that someone had strung up after we climbed it. I hit that at about 20mph. Never saw it, just found myself upside down before impact with asphalt. Luckily I rolled out of it. Did I mention it was night? Damaged wrist (& ego) for about six months though.

Skinned off half my back on asphalt after barend clipped a bush I thought I could plow through. Those wide area skin-loss ones are the worst. Changing dressings twice a day for over two weeks before the scab could finally cover the wound. Ouch

Broken leg at Big Bear when buddy cut off my passing attempt & forced me into wooden trail marker.

Tore meniscus in knee when bike jumped out of gear during hard big gear effort on main street in town. Lost control of the front when my weight was thrown forward & watched in horror as the front tire made contact with the pavement at a 90deg angle, in top gear.


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## singletrack (Feb 19, 2004)

*Not the worst - but still fun*

I was riding with some local boys in Sedona, going real fast on trail I didn't know. We hit some rock fast at a weird angle, and I bounced and hit the ground. No big deal but.... The sandstone had gravel on it so I slid on my back over the edge.... For a second I thought I was dead. Fortunately, I landed (on my back) on the next ledge down, only 4 feet or so.

Anyway, I felt like that guy in "The Gods Must Be Crazy" who's pushed blindfolded out of a helicopter..... that was sitting on the ground.


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## MTBsSd (Jan 12, 2004)

cmd said:


> one more time


 hahahha, wow, that's good


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## dwerre (Sep 9, 2004)

*out cold*



GiantAC1 said:


> What is your worst crash ever
> Descried it!!! What were you doing, what happen to you and you bike. got pictures of it put them on.
> 
> It was July 3rd of 02. I remember this now, but at the time this happened I couldn't tell the paramedics what month it was correctly. My buddy and myself had built some ns stunts in his back yard. Among this wooden bicycle jungle gym existed a skinny teeter about six feet off the ground. Riding this obstacle had become routine to me so I somewhat had my guard down the day of the accident.
> ...


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## Manic (Feb 18, 2004)

my first crash was also my very first...
was going fast downhill, it was fast, and there was this jump, that i had nailed many times before, but for some reason this time was not one of them.. i jumped and when i came down the rear wheel went over, and i went over the handle bars.. rolled a bunch of times, with the bike on top of me...
result was a broken left radius, a plate to hold it with 6 screws, im still recovering, 2 month after surgury... 
that was my first crash, i sure there are a lot more to come..  

but it was all worht it


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## theotherloserkid (May 31, 2004)

*stitches between the eyes*



GiantAC1 said:


> What is your worst crash ever
> Descried it!!! What were you doing, what happen to you and you bike. got pictures of it put them on.
> 
> My biggest crash was last 2003 wim season. I was going about 25MPH, I hit the last jump that was 1'6" with 15' of flat to a down slop right before the finish. I flew 35 feet then over the bars and rolled 50 feet or so then ran across the finish. All I got was a big fat scratch on my lower back and my bike was fine. I didn't get last ether.


Ok i was 5 years old or something like that. And the neighborhood i had just moved into was still under construction for many of the houses. It was about a week after christmas and i had gotten a new bike(along with this fake chainsaw and goggles). So i decided to race this kid to the end of the street. So i put on the fake goggles and a batman cape and the kid and i raced. I tried to jump a parked van, it didnt work. I hit the back of the van and my goggles broke, splitting my nose open right between my eyes. The next thing i remember was being halfway down the street carried by a construction worker with blood all over my shirt and face and hair. The scar is still there.


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## M1_joel (Mar 9, 2004)

this is not my worst but the only one i have on "film". enjoy you blood sucking bastards!


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## AZRider (Aug 21, 2004)

Damn! Was everyone that was in your path (including yourself) come out ok?

Hehe, sucks to be those guys..


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## NRTH SHORE (Jan 24, 2004)

*looks like*

it kinda looks like the bikes tires is resting on that chick........


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## Frankenschwinn (Jan 20, 2004)

M1_joel said:


> this is not my worst but the only one i have on "film". enjoy you blood sucking bastards!


 Yeah that one was wild to watch... I expected much more carnage than that.

You gonna be at Devils Den?


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## Red Bull (Aug 27, 2004)

gigamanx said:


> Damn that happened to a friend of a friend of mine....he had two accidents in the same week...
> 
> 1. Riding down a hill after a night of partying and hit a parked ice cream truck.
> 2. 4 days later, riding at night without lights on the wrong side of the street and was hit by a car going the opposite direction.....remember kiddies, wear a helmet, drivers are out to get you!
> ...


    

im still laughing, Funny $hit man Funny $hit


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## Coldfire (Feb 9, 2004)

*Hey M1_joel*

Nice bike! With a brooklyn machine everything is allowed!


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## drdrug (Apr 24, 2004)

MTBsSd said:


> My worst crash (as far as pain) was probably on my 3rd or 4th run down our home-made DH track. Starts out with a nice 20ft dropin so you can get some serious speed going. I was going along right after the big hill where you're supposed to turn around the raised part. Me being my smart self decided to go over it. Ended up clipping a tree (not in pic) hitting that one little tree that's in the pic, flying through the air another 15ft, and landing on a small rock garden. Got right back up, but that was it for the day of riding in our back yard... Got a really funny movie of it too, that may be a bit too big for MTBR to handle though
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Did you get beheaded or what? Looks like you lost a leg too! No blood so I guess you lived.


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## drdrug (Apr 24, 2004)

When I was about 14 my brother and I were racing down this wide downhill trail. Near the top of the hill he passed me after I chose the wrong line. There was no friggin' way he was going to beat me down the mountain. I choose the biggest gear, stood up, hammered the pedals and screamed past him on a turn. I'll be damned if there wasn't a huge log lying across the road on that turn. Now try to bunny hop a log when your in the middle of a turn. I pulled up and thought I had made. When I landed, my tires washed out from under me and I belly flopped right on the dirt. I had so much force, I bounced in the air and played superman for what seemed like eternity. I launched over the embankment and plummeted down 20 feet into a sweet rock garden and bounced around the rocks like a pinball. 

Let's just say that adrenalin can only cover-up some pain and not all of it. I hobbled back up the hill on my one good leg and one good arm. After the trip to the hospital, here was the tally:
1 concussion, 1 dislocated shoulder, 1 broken forearm (open to where you could see bone), 8 broken ribs and a hemo-pneumothorax (air and blood around my lung), 1 broken femur and a $28,283 hospital bill. thank god for insurance.


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## Racer9 (Mar 8, 2004)

.WestCoastHucker. said:


> one time i wrecked so hard, i died


Someone I know did so shut the hell up.


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## M1_joel (Mar 9, 2004)

frankenschwinn, yeah, i'll be at DD ! bring that tape of this crash so i can post the video online. infact, shoot me an email so i can get intouch with you guys. [email protected].

coldfire, thanks man!

Ok. my worst crash was during a practice run of my first ever DH event. jump went wrong and ditched the bike in the air and landed feet first and spit my heel bone out the side of my foot. Here are the totals. $70,000, 6 weeks in hospital, 5 operations, 3 months in bed, 6 months of walker, crutches, wheelchair, months of walking with pain. Broken heels are a major F up. anyway. the main issue was an infection that set in 3 weeks after my initial emergency room surgery. that resulted in 3 additional surgeries to cut out all the infection and infected tissue. the last and final surgery was a skin and muscle transplant. They took strands of muscle from my back and transplated the muscle to my foot and hooked up the blood supply to my lower shin area. the "THING" on my foot is very swollen muscle and tissue that was installed into the hole left by the infection. the mesh stuff is a skin graph that eventually fell off and was unsuccessful. you can see how much the "thing" has shrunk and grown over with skin. i still have a small amount of skin to grow. there was no way i was doing another skin graph cause that sh*t hurt really bad. eventhough this has been going on for 2.5 years. one of the pics has a pic of a heel cut open, revealing the Ti plate and screws - this is not my foot but gives you an idea of what they have to do. the infection operation are alot more invasive. anyway, yall wear good shoes and DO NOT THROW YOUR BIKES AWAY AND LAND ON YOUR FEET. just ride it out and let your bike hit first and break your fall. SURE you might still get hurt and break an arm or wrist or leg but those breaks cannot compare to a heel bone. take care of your feet. hopefully in another 6-8 months, i can go swimming or wear sandals with out bandages.

peace!
joel


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## LandonVega (Jul 14, 2004)

OH DEAR GOD that is disgusting. That will replace the serial killer in my dreams.


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## Racerx336 (Aug 9, 2004)

Joel, you make me sick. haha


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## Chikity China (May 3, 2004)

..........  ..........


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## BJ- (Jan 28, 2004)

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...thats grose man...


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## Manic (Feb 18, 2004)

LandonVega said:


> OH DEAR GOD that is disgusting. That will replace the serial killer in my dreams.


lol

thats hilarious


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## konabiker (Jan 19, 2004)

holy sh!t. that is so gross. that fully sucks that you had to go through with that. in the one pic it looks f'in huge, like some kind of massive leach.


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## BJ- (Jan 28, 2004)

konabiker said:


> like some kind of massive leach.


ahhhhhhhh...OMFG...its alive...


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## Phatchenny (Jun 27, 2004)

I felt like vomitting after seeing that infection you got. Hopefully you feel better and will be able to ride again.


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## eman (May 2, 2004)

m1 joel. DAMN. Thats insane, how high up did you bail from?
good luck with getting your heal back to normal(or as close to it as possible). Did you have insurance to cover that huge bill(i hope so). 
DAMNNN. That is nasty. I cant imagine having to see that all the time. Congrats on getting through the worst of it all!!


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## M1_joel (Mar 9, 2004)

This heel fracture happened to me in the spring of 2002. i got to ride again in the summer of 2003. As you can see from the pic i took today, I'm almost done healing up and have raced alot in 2004, 7 DH races total. i should be 100% healed in 2005. I have only busted myself twice this year and both times i held on to the bike as long as i could - no ditching and my worst injury was a broken collar bone. no big deal. and yes i did have health insurance. Thankfully i did had alittle $ in the bank, a way cool boss (missed almost a year of work) and a very supportive family that helped me through my recovery, therapy, dr. appts ETC. it affected more than just me that is for sure! 

Phatchenny, that is not infection, re-read me post.

that is all.


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