# What is the funniest way you have ever fallen?



## LyingGuide (Dec 17, 2005)

If anyone could have seen how I fell today! I was out riding some dirt and gravel roads - I didn't feel like riding anything technical - I just wanted to ride. I was going along and not paying much attention to the road of course - how much attention do you have to pay to a dirt road? I was blissfully inattentive - thinking about how I needed a new tub for my bathroom when I realized I was wandering off the side of the road. It had just been graded and it left this ledge of loose rock and dirt about a couple of feet high. I hit the ledge, overcorrected of course and face planted on the side of the road! As best as I can remember I went straight over the bars onto my shoulder and head and I remember my sunglasses hitting the dirt before the front of my helmet, then the top of my head - I was actually almost doing a head stand when I stopped! I just started to laugh as I took stock of body parts! If anyone could have seen that! Aside from a cut between my eyes and scrapes all over I was fine and continued on my way. But out of all the ways I have or could have fallen that was the funniest and most stupid! What's the most ridiculous way you have fallen?


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## mondaycurse (Nov 24, 2005)

LyingGuide said:


> If anyone could have seen how I fell today! I was out riding some dirt and gravel roads - I didn't feel like riding anything technical - I just wanted to ride. I was going along and not paying much attention to the road of course - how much attention do you have to pay to a dirt road? I was blissfully inattentive - thinking about how I needed a new tub for my bathroom when I realized I was wandering off the side of the road. It had just been graded and it left this ledge of loose rock and dirt about a couple of feet high. I hit the ledge, overcorrected of course and face planted on the side of the road! As best as I can remember I went straight over the bars onto my shoulder and head and I remember my sunglasses hitting the dirt before the front of my helmet, then the top of my head - I was actually almost doing a head stand when I stopped! I just started to laugh as I took stock of body parts! If anyone could have seen that! Aside from a cut between my eyes and scrapes all over I was fine and continued on my way. But out of all the ways I have or could have fallen that was the funniest and most stupid! What's the most ridiculous way you have fallen?


Last
week my brake lever came loose somehow and slid on up over my handlebars(in front of my grips. At some point, I wasn't paying attention and SLAMMED my hand on the brake lever(front brake) and did the biggest endo the group of skateboarders in front of me had ever seen. I had to have been around 10 feet away from my bike after I fell. No injuries, but I felt like the biggest retard ever.


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## ABQDave (Feb 25, 2005)

I had something similar happen to me on a dirt road awhile back. Like you just cruising along and next thing I know I am on my face and ended up with a broken elbow.


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## mateoway (Aug 24, 2004)

I was cruzzin down some single track with my brother behind me and I hit some wet clay no standing water but you could probably make an ash tray or a cool vase or somthing out of it and wham right OTBs.I came unclipped so fast the bike was still standing for a few seconds and I left a perfect impression of my camelback ,shoulders and helmet in the mud. My brother rides up and says hey your getting pretty good at unclipping from your pedals.
The same thing happen to a buudy of mine except he came right out of his shoes which were still connected to the pedals.


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## fred3 (Jan 12, 2004)

At my age nothings ever funny about falling(takes to long to heal), but since you find your falling so humorous I'd love to add my chuckles to your mishap. Might have been even more hilarious if you'd had a compound fracture eh? Maybe to your funny bone? ;-) Glad you're okay. Sure you didn't get a concussion?


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## jonnyp (Sep 1, 2005)

Alright this happened a few years back. Me and a couple friends were messin' around doing endos and ridin' wheelies. Well my Mom was in the truck, about to go shopping and she called me over to tell her what I wanted. So I rode over and tried to do a endo when I was next to the truck. I went to far and went over the bars into the side of the truck. Yeah my mom was ripping pissed, but the bike somehow didn't hit the truck.


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## 9.8m/s/s (Sep 26, 2005)

Out riding with group of my of people on my 4 in trailbike. They were all hitting a burly technical line to 3 foot drop with a lot of hesitation aboard their dual crown freeriding monsters. I hit the line and came away unscathed, and more than a little bit cocky. I turned around to comment on them needing big bikes to make it, but before I could say anything my wheel found a pothole and I was OTB. Guess I coulda used more suspension travel afterall.


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## huntforlife (Jun 11, 2004)

One of the better, although paintful happened this fall. I was heading down this wooded hill that had a nice little jump about half way down. I hit the jump nicely enough but got a bit too much speed going to manuever around these 3 trees....oh crap I'm thinking. So I slam on the breaks and begin to do an endo. One of the three trees however managed to catch my right shoulder and stop me in place (ouch!). I then somehow managed to land on my feet, othen looking down I see my bike nicely placed under me. No one was there to see it and my collar bone wasnt broken so life was good.


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## Tacoma4.0 (Dec 2, 2005)

*As I ...*

glided to a graceful stop on my new road bike next to the hottie in the convertable I tottered for a few seconds, turned, smiled, _winked_ and fell right over because I couldn't unclip from my new unfamiliar pedals. The three guys at Zanzibar coffee shop nearly peed themselves they laughed so hard...


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## Tacoma4.0 (Dec 2, 2005)

*Also*

At Lake Morena in SE San Diego I face planted a manzinita bush stump, hitting my chin perfectly. This caused my teeth to puncture two - 3 stitch holes through my face right below my lip. It didn't hurt too bad but I looked like Dracula for the rest of the ride. It was also fun to take a drink from my Camel Bak and squirt Gatorade through the holes at my riding partners the rest of the ride.


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## BetterRide (Apr 6, 2004)

I endoed going uphill in cross country race years ago. I stomped on the pedals and the chain derailed and I flipped over right in front of another racer. He almost wrecked from laughing so hard.


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## Upchuck (Jan 30, 2004)

My "backyard trail" has a couple short technical climbs with plenty of rocks, roots, etc. I've been riding there long enough, I can clean these sections at night without lights on...
One afternoon, as I was heading up the trail on my Kona Stinky Primo uber-bike, I came across a large group of riders at the bottom of one of the climbs discussing the best line. 
I just nodded to them as I charged up the hill with every intention of showing them how it's done.

As the grade increased, I stood up and shifted my body over the front of the bike to keep the front wheel from lifting off the ground. My baggie shorts got caught on the Rapid Fire shifter paddle as I mashed down on the right pedal. My handlebars suddenly turned 90 degrees to the right bringing me to a violent stop. I endo'd right over the bars and did a face plant in the dirt. I don't think they even tried to stifle the laughter...


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## kjfp (May 24, 2004)

I was coasting down dirt road with a gradual decline. I was popping wheelies standing up and my speed was rapidly increasing. On about the fourth wheelie, my bike completely rotated and I tumbled a whole bunch of times. Wendell State Forest - No Known Witnesses


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## macko (Dec 1, 2005)

I actually had a pretty good one earlier today. I was pedaling down the road (in transit from one bar to another) and pulled up to the first red light. I'm slowing in between two cars, still the bike lane, and as I try to unclip my foot swivles around on the pedal and timber!!! Somehow, one of the screws in my shoe/clip came out ... oops. I probably came up in dinner conversation for at least one family tonight...


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## CDtofer (Nov 4, 2004)

Talk about not paying attention, after a long ride on a then newly built bike I was very hungy. Cruised over to the local suburban strip mall and got a sandwich. After eating I went to hop on my bike, I had one foot clipped in and was bring the other leg over to do the same, but never made it. Looked left to check a car coming down the aisle and never saw the kid pushing a big line of shopping carts back to the supermarket - clipped the first one in the row with my handlebar and abruptly turned the bars 90 degrees. Immediate stop, cant really even call it an endo because I went immediately to the concrete, rolled together with the bike. Lots of pain, boy did I feel stupid must have been about 20 people around to see it...


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## Trevor! (Dec 23, 2003)

The funniest fall I had was when I literally came to a stand still on a very technical section. My brain was like ride the section but my impulse was stop and gravity pulled me down and I fell.


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## santacruzer (Nov 30, 2004)

After riding 8 miles to the trailhead then riding 24 miles at race pace, a buddy and I start on the return trek back to the house. I see a curb cut where a driveway goes to a house and at the last second decide to jump it. Something went drastically wrong as the tire hit a depression in the asphalt and then the edge of the curb and as I lay sprawled on the sidewalk unable to stand up because of my gut hurting from laughing so hard, I see my friend laughing just as hard. I came out of it just a little road rash.

On another occasion the same friend was with me again, we had gone on a 60 mile training ride (ride to the trails then back) in 95 degree heat. There is a one mile trail that shortcuts back to my neighborhood with a tricky creek crossing. We are at mile 59 when He mutters the famous words "I can ride it". Over the bars he went, the only thing going under water was his hands and face...A nice way to finish another long ride.


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## DiRt DeViL (Dec 24, 2003)

Mine were yesterday.

First one, we're going down a hill on a paved road with small dips and after crossing one the rear wheel slipped and I did a 180 degree turn while mounted, as soon as I was able to stop I fell backwards and tumbled down the road.

Second one, on our way down the hill on a wet clay like section of trail was a crossing with a log in the middle (filling a rut) with some rocks on both sides of the log. I think, crossing this it's going to be easy, as I approach the log the front wheel suddenly stop when I hit the first rock sending me OTB like superman. The witnesses could not stop laughing for such puny attempt but I got a 10 for style.

You can see the log on this pic, not big at all.









The guy with the flames jersey also tried it and his rear wheel slipped on the long sending him on a very weird way to the ground.


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## Bikehigh (Jan 14, 2004)

Last ride of last year, I was going for this uphill log over, about 2 feet high, steeply ramply, when I somehow managed to get too far over the bars, and/or compressed the fork too much. Ended up getting the the rear wheel off the ground, and doing a nose wheelie back down the log the way I came, while my body kept on going over the bars and I face planted at the base of the log while still clipped in. I just couldn't help but laugh my ass off at myself.


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## namaSSte (Dec 19, 2003)

Tacoma4.0 said:


> glided to a graceful stop on my new road bike next to the hottie in the convertable I tottered for a few seconds, turned, smiled, _winked_ and fell right over because I couldn't unclip from my new unfamiliar pedals. The three guys at Zanzibar coffee shop nearly peed themselves they laughed so hard...


that's awesome. funny story but the fact that you actually _winked_ is what really makes it. who winks? lmao! thanks for sharing bud.

just to show some humility...Ill add one of my own. 2 Mile Run in western PA, beautiful early fall day as we wheel away from the parking area towards the trailhead. You have to cross a fairly large field before you begin climbing to the trail and this day found the field occupied by a few rather attractive ladies playing frisbee and suntanning but still, the ride beckoned. Flash forward a few hours and my bud and I are nearing the field on our ride back to the cars and the ladies are still there. Now, Im married so its not biggie but Id still like to make a good impression. I take the hands off the bars (the field is completely flat with newly cut grass so it sure seemed safe) and talk casually with my bud as we cross right by them. The next thing I actually recall is a quick and successive view of earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, and so on until I land roughly 10ft away from the girls. What the...? Turns out there was a small drainage ditch the the grass concealed. My bud was so embarassed he didn't even stop to see if I was okay. The girls felt sorry for me but I suspect it wasn't because I hurt myself.....


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## metaldork (Oct 13, 2004)

mine also includes women, though not necessarily hotties.

halfway through a road ride, back when i was still using toe straps, i stopped to let some sort of walk against cancer or something pass through the intersection. i unstrapped one of the toe straps, then promptly fell over to the other side. my friend looked at me like i was an idiot, but the worst part was all the middle aged women turned to look, and most embarassingly, i'm sure at least half of them wanted to run over and mother me.


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## Dave. (Apr 12, 2004)

*postride parking lot pain*

Funny coincidence you put this thread up 2 days after my stupidest wreck of all time!

I'm riding into the parking lot after doing a 16 mile loop ... 20 feet from my van ... there's this parking block (a little bigger than the pic below) ... I decide for whatever dumbass reason that I'm gonna ride it lengthwise along the ridge of it. So I pop up on it, get halfway, rear tire drops off the side and in about 1/100th of a second sends me falling hard off to the left. There's a splitrail fence there, no time to unclip and I miss grabbing it with my hand, end up full-on slamming directly onto my chest right over my heart. Couldn't breath, it knocked the wind out of me so bad. 2 days later now and it still hurts like hell whenever I laugh/sneeze/breath deeply.

At least nobody saw me do it


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## cbuchanan (May 18, 2004)

I had this nice steep singletrack downhill section that was fairly short, maybe 12-15 feet long, and I somehow went over the bars. I grabbed what was left of a tree on my way over the bars was met with a little surprise. The tree was actually probably closer to a stump, 8 inches in diameter, 8 feet tall, and dead. It broke of at the ground and I went down with the bike AND the tree. Nothing hurt, bike or me, but it was definately hilarious.


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## canadian-clydesdale (Oct 13, 2004)

I was trying to clear a log on one of the local trails, as I stall on top of the log, as I'm not going to make it over, I put out my hand to steady myself on a upright neighbouring tree (which is about 12inches in diameter). Then all of a sudden the damn tree falls over (upon later inspection the tree was absolutely rotten inside, and the top had fallen off previously to my escapade) My buddy starts laughing his a$$ off at me with comments in regard to my weight and lumber jack abilities, and I'm laughing while trying to extricate myself from my bike and the pile of lumber I've just created.


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## iliveonnitro (Jul 9, 2005)

....see current end of post


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## iliveonnitro (Jul 9, 2005)

I got my clipless pedals in the middle of fall (05). I was getting used to them still and I took a trip down Michigan Ave in Chicago on a Friday afternoon/night - tourists/people everywhere. The crosswalk had a big group of people waiting to cross the street, so I unclipped my right foot. Right when I was ready to put my right foot down, someone came out of nowhere on the right, scared the crap out of me, and I jumped to the left. My left foot was still clipped in, so, in EXTREMELY SLOW motion, I fell to the left side, taking out some poor couple in the process. I felt like such an ass...


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## lightplay (Oct 10, 2005)

*Stream crossing*

Last year my wife and I are riding unknown single track and it's about 30 degrees out. So we are just riding along having a good time and we come to a stream crossing that's about 4 to 5 feet wide. with a 2x6 across it. We stop and check it out. The water looks about 6 inches deep with a leafy bottom.I look at the 2x6 and say what the h**l is that stupid thing needed for. You could jump this if hiking No probemo! I turn to the wife and say I ll go first. I back up get a running start and pull a seated wheely to show off and to add some spice to blasting through the stream. Well everything is going fine until I get about foot into the stream. The leaves hid the true depth of the stream. The damn thing was deep  . The back wheel goes down not thru the stream my butts starts making a wake like a barge and I come to a graceful stop dead center in the stream, a beautiful trackstand manual. (The first and only time I've been able to do one), I then proceed to slowly and I mean slowly I fall over, I end up completely drenched. My wife is now roaring, tears in her eyes, She looks at the 2x6 and says I think I'll take the "stupid bridge" if you don't mind, your way looks a little to wet for my tastes.  Good times!!


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## PaMtnBkr (Feb 28, 2005)

*Full 1.5 second Superman impression!*

For me it was my attempt to fly like Superman! I was crossing a creek w/some friends and 3/4 the way across you jump up on a huge rock and then wheelie drop off the other side. I went to do the powerstroke for the wheelie drop and the rear wheel spins in place thanks to water on rock! Needless to say, the front wheel dropped off and I got launched like Superman over the bars. 1.5 seconds later my flying lessons ended w/me sprawled in my Superman flying position in 1 foot of water! Damn near drowned from laughing!


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

decided at somepoint that i needed to be wearing sunglasses...so i went out and purchased the cheapest one i could find. dont do this it distorts your vision i felt like i was 10 feet off the ground...anyways not 20 feet into the trail i somehow clip a tree, my cables get caught up in it and before i know whats goin on im flyin through the air upside down and perpendicular to the direction in which i was originally headed


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## brianthebiker (Nov 1, 2005)

I remember a ride a few years back when I was riding a favorite trail and was approaching a steep section which I knew was there.....it was a trail in Jim Thorpe, PA, where rocks are common. Because I knew the hill was there, I hammered on the pedals to get momentum to get me most of the way up. Well halfway up the hill, a rock came loose from the trail and went just behind my front shock.....I endoed going up a very steep hill and sat there in a daze for awhile. A rider going by asked if I was okay, presumably wondering how I could have fallen going up this section.

To this day, I am very careful on trails with alot of large, loose rocks.


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## 9.8m/s/s (Sep 26, 2005)

Just thought of another one: I had just gotten my gf into riding and we were exploring only the second place she had ever been to. She was on a very old low end Gary fisher and I was on my old stumpjumper. We came to a stream crossing about 50 feet wide and .5 foot deep. After convincing her it would be easy and fun for about 10 minutes, she set off and got across no prob, no dabs, nothing. I waited till she reached the other side and then took off myself. I hit the water at an awkard angel with wayy too much speed. About half way across I felt the bike tipping over so I tryed to dab. My foot spilled on a slimy rock and I proceeded to go all the way down, somehow submerging about 75% of my body in 6 inches of water. That was at the very beginning of the ride, so I did the whole ride wet, with her openly laughing at me everytime she heard a "squish" from my wet clothes.


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## johnbspinnen' (Dec 13, 2004)

*Ouch*

Last year at the Middle Mountain Momma I was having one of those days when everything is wrong. New shoes - only would clip in on my right foot, on egg beaters that made the 4,000+ feet of climbing a real struggle. Then the side that clipped in wouldn't release cause the cleat screws loosened. Realized just before the race I'd forgotten my camelback bladder and I only had 1 water bottle. After the first 12 miles and 2100 feet of climbing I was bonked, frustrated, and just flat POed. BUT, I hadn't fallen......YET.

At the bottom of the next climb was a stream crossing. I was stoked to have cleaned it, then the trail turns right uphill along the bank of the same stream. My excitelment was premature 'cause I got my weight a little too far right, couldn't unclip and did a slow roll over down the 4 foot bank into the stream, landing upside down, still clipped in with one foot and the other flailing about as I tried to get my head out of the water, my bike still attached upsidedown above me. Got a nice chain ring bite on my LEFT leg trying to kick free. HA. 

But the icing on the cake was seeing a guy with his 8 year old son a few feet up the trail (he was photoing his youngster blasting down the SAME path) They looked at me dripping wet, and were obviously doing their damdest not to break out laughing.

To this day when I see the scar on my leg I just have to laugh.


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## SuperNewb (Mar 6, 2004)

I was riding on the sidewalk and went to cross the road and other side was the usual lil ramp/grade change for wheelchairs and whatnot else. It was ever so slight cause the curbw as low too but somehow when I started going up it my tire turned and I ended up on the ground. Didnt get hurt much other then wondering how that couldve happened. cause hell you could easily ride up and down it no hands and not worry about losing control.


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## LyNx (Oct 26, 2004)

Well there are defintiely some doozers here so I'll add my 2 - both on the road.

1st one happened while I was doing job-training in Miami after I left college. I only lived about 10mins away via bike so I rode to work unless it was poaring rain. On this day I decided I'd head home for lunch as funds were tight - get a nice double PB&J and a big glass of milk. Well lunch is only 45 mins 'cept for Fridays so I'm hauling ass home from downtown to just by the Omni just going under the overpass to Miami Beach and there's this hot as hell chick hitching. Well I was only 19 and couldn't help myself and turn and watch her as I'm riding by, when I turn to watch where I'm going (I'm on Biscayne Blvd and it's lunch time busy) I notice I've drifted into the gutter. Well there's 2 options try to get out towards the road (where a car might hit me if I fall) or try to hop onto the curb - I picked option 2 and wiped out, luckily I always wore my trusty Levi's and they took the brunt of it. Hard thing was I still had to pick myslef up, get home, make lunch and ride back to work on time.

2nd time I was doing a round the island ride and just crusing on a flatishcurvy section, reach down for the water bottle and have a drink. When I'm trying to put the water bottle back it gives trouble and I look down, when I look up I'm heading off the edge of the road (which has at this point a little 6 ft drop into a DH field) as I came to a corner without realising it, so I bailed as fast as I could to avoid going full into the field. Didn't want to loose time on the guys in front so I hurry up and catch up to them on the big hill a couple minutes later. Well I'm at the top and it's hot so I decide to douse myself with the remainig water in the top mounted bottle as I know I have a completely full bottle under the downtube and don't even bother to check it. I'm going down the road and decide I need a drink and reach for the lower bottle to find it had fallen out in the fall


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## KarateChicken (Dec 11, 2005)

The parking lot crash is always the worst, which is why I enjoy watching geeks do wheelies and such in parking lots.


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## Burning off Beer (Dec 16, 2005)

I was riding down a level dirt path and there was a mud puddle ahead. I decided to ride through it, because it looked rather shallow. It turns out it was about 8 inches deep and just wide enough to swallow my front wheel. I was caught completely unprepared and endo'd. While flying through the air, I was able to unclip from my pedals, twist 180 degrees, land on my feet on the other side of the puddle, and catch my rear tire as it came at me. I was the craziest/nirvana-like crash I've ever had. After I realized what I had done, I had no idea how I pulled it off.


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## DirtDummy (Aug 22, 2005)

*Stay Away From the Edges Dear*

I'm riding with new pedals uphill on a heavily switchbacked portion of a trail that hikers also occaisonally use. As I attempt to clear a small 1 foot runoff diversion lift, back tire stalls, then spins on the sharp outer edge of a rock and I fall slow motion over and toward a downhill slope and of course cannot get out of the pedals. As I do this, a woman and her two kids were above me hiking down and see the entire spectacle. As I attempt to unclip and assess the damage she says "Please be careful, and stay away from the edges dear". Great confidence builder...


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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

*Bowling pin choice.*

Went into quick track stand to avoid being run over by a black and yellow Batman themed van running a red light, and got t-boned by a woman running same light on a bike. I stopped in time to avoid the van, and next was a high piched voice saying "oh my god what am I doing". It was college aged girl running the same red light on her bike. She just freaked and did not brake, and I had to choose whether I would be her's or the BatVan's bowling pin.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Dec 2, 2005)

I was out this past fall cruising the trails. The section ahead of me was turning out to be more mud than anything, and I didn't want to destroy that section of trail. So i got off my bike and hiked it maybe 30 feet off the trail towards the road. I get to the edge of the woods and jump back on my bike thinking I would simply ride down the ditch and up the other side. I begin to coast down and get to the bottom. I endo instantly and flip onto my back with my head facing down hill right above my bike. I start laughing and get up. I turn around and a car with a few guys in it is stopped and laughing their asses off at me. They drive away. I hang my head and laugh some more. No injuries, just a little embarassed.


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## BLS439 (Jan 16, 2004)

ZoSoSwiM said:


> I was out this past fall cruising the trails. The section ahead of me was turning out to be more mud than anything, and I didn't want to destroy that section of trail. So i got off my bike and hiked it maybe 30 feet off the trail towards the road. I get to the edge of the woods and jump back on my bike thinking I would simply ride down the ditch and up the other side. I begin to coast down and get to the bottom. I endo instantly and flip onto my back with my head facing down hill right above my bike. I start laughing and get up. I turn around and a car with a few guys in it is stopped and laughing their asses off at me. They drive away. I hang my head and laugh some more. No injuries, just a little embarassed.


A couple of years ago, when I first started riding, I always took this short little technical loop near my house. The trail is pure single track with lots of roots, ruts, small drops, and steep climbs. Well anyway, I was coming up to a short steep uphil with lots of exposed trees roots and little curb size bumps. One way or another, I manage to go over the bars on to my shoulder and head. Got up and felt some pain in my shoulder and saw that my helmet met the root at a weird angle and cracked. I was bummed the rest of the ride home. Worst off all, this was all less than 5 minutes from home and basically the very end of the ride.


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## tkblazer (Sep 18, 2005)

both of mine happened on my first day of tryin out clipless pedals... so i'm in the parking lot practicing clipping out when low and behold i'm too busy trying to unclip, when i end up riding too slow and fall over. i fell in the presense of another group of riders  

second time was when i was climbing an extremely steep hill and my front end lifts and i go tumbling back down the hill with my bike still attached to my feet  at least my camelbak cushioned the fall


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## me. (Dec 29, 2005)

Oh well I'll have to add...

Not far from where I live is a really nice riding area. It has a set of "main trails" that everyone rides and the "little know/forgotten". The latter being some that are too technical or maybe unrideable for too much of the year due to rain.

Last spring we decided that the trails should be dry enough for an adventure. It was beautiful. The leaves are green, you could smell honeysuckle, flowers and all kind wonderful spring smells.

As we are riding we get to this gulley/valley between two small hills. 100 foot down, couple hundred feet across. I am leading, trying to make out the trail due to the leaves and lack of use. I notice that two small trees have fallen across the trail over the winter and pass the word back to the rest of the group. These trees should be no problem as they are only about 8" - 10" in diameter and 10 to 12 foot apart. It will be great practice for the new people in the group.

I get to the first tree, gently lift my wheel over and prepare for the back wheel to hit. That is when I find out that behind the log is a rather deep hole created from the rain run-off. Down in the hole goes my front wheel. Down goes all the travel in my front fork. The front wheel stops, I don't. OTB I go. But I don't unclip, I don't let go of the handlebars. I go OTB then on to my back with a thud and a bounce. (still looking like I'm riding except upside down). Somehow due to the incline or speed or both the bounce sends me back onto my wheels again headed in the right direction! I think, "holey [email protected]# that was coo..." 

Remember there were two trees right? Well about this time I found the second tree. I wasn't ready. I only had to lift my front wheel a little. I didn't. My front wheel slammed into the the second tree. The suspension compressed and I went OTB (again). I bounced a couple of times before I managed to unclip and toss the bike. (it looked pissed as it went down the hill).

There was silence (except for the bike still going down the hill). Soon there were snickers. Then giggles. Then full blown laughter. "How the hell did you do that? That was cool! Why didn't you jump the second one? Why didn't you tell me you were going to do that? I only took one picture!" (thank goodness) " can you do it again?" (hell no)

So that was that. Not as exciting as some but fun none the less.


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## Dr_nwa (Jan 19, 2006)

Burning off Beer said:


> I was riding down a level dirt path and there was a mud puddle ahead. I decided to ride through it, because it looked rather shallow. It turns out it was about 8 inches deep and just wide enough to swallow my front wheel. I was caught completely unprepared and endo'd. While flying through the air, I was able to unclip from my pedals, twist 180 degrees, land on my feet on the other side of the puddle, and catch my rear tire as it came at me. I was the craziest/nirvana-like crash I've ever had. After I realized what I had done, I had no idea how I pulled it off.


Done something similar, except i landed up on my back, with the bike landing on my crotch. that hurt... What made it worse was the rest of the guys I was riding pissing themselves.

My younger brother has had a couple of good ones, mostly related to showing off to girls.
In the carpark before a ride, he was showing off to a pair of girls by pulling wheelies and generally trying to be cool. After doing a fairly impressive (for him) 50ft wheelie he over balanced it and went straight off the back. Right in front of the girls... At that point we left the carpark very quickly, with the sounds of laughter ringing in his ears.


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## SeanL (May 4, 2005)

While not humiliating (which lets be honest, those are the funniest!), this particular incident got me laughing...I still laugh about it.

This one section of trail was a series of switchbacks with a gradual increase in elevation. At one of the corners was a nice soft patch of sand. I used a little too much body english and I went down, hitting my shoulder and head on a small tree. My head took the brunt of it, but since I had my helmet on I didn't feel a thing, at least not yet. When I hit that tree I dislodged something, because a big ole branch landed right on my head. I chuckle every time I go past that section.


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## todd_freeride (Aug 9, 2005)

allright, I've had my fair share of funny falls. but I think the best was... when I was riding with a bunch of friends. we were doing an AM-trail ride. and I was riding my P.2. talk about overkill, but we were doing this pretty technacal log ride. now i'm not sure sompletly what happened. but I was going pretty slow, and I pressed a little too hard on the front brake, and it stopped me. But to keep my balance I tryed to put my foot down, and it went on the log just fine, but I started to tip over and my platform pedal trapped my foot. so I couldent dive off or anything. I just completly fell over. like ...straight over ... not even letting go of my bars. it looked pretty funny.


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## iviguy (Oct 26, 2004)

Tacoma4.0 said:


> glided to a graceful stop on my new road bike next to the hottie in the convertable I tottered for a few seconds, turned, smiled, _winked_ and fell right over because I couldn't unclip from my new unfamiliar pedals. The three guys at Zanzibar coffee shop nearly peed themselves they laughed so hard...


Yup. Been there. I was riding with my fiance' at the time and had gotten pretty far ahead of her. We were on a road by a lake on the way to find some trails. I stopped and was going to turn around to see where she was and wait for her but couldn't get out my pedals and just fell over. She still laughs to this day about that.

On another occassion, I was with her and trying to ride a wheelie on a flat road and went a little too high in the front and fell back hard on my back on the asphalt. She must think I am an idiot... LOL

Last one, I was going up a steep incline and ran out of steam toward the top so I was going to stop and walk but as I stopped I was unable to click out so I fell over. It was steep so when I fell I started to slide back down the hill and my bike seat got caught on a tree so I was dangling with both feet clicked in and my bike caught on a tree. I was so fatigued I couldn't click out and was going to wait until my buddy came up behind to help me get out but after about 5 minutes of thought I figured I needed to fight to get out so I wouldn't get the teasing that would come next. I finally got clicked out and rolled down the hill. That was pretty funny.


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## iviguy (Oct 26, 2004)

lightplay said:


> Last year my wife and I are riding unknown single track and it's about 30 degrees out. So we are just riding along having a good time and we come to a stream crossing that's about 4 to 5 feet wide. with a 2x6 across it. We stop and check it out. The water looks about 6 inches deep with a leafy bottom.I look at the 2x6 and say what the h**l is that stupid thing needed for. You could jump this if hiking No probemo! I turn to the wife and say I ll go first. I back up get a running start and pull a seated wheely to show off and to add some spice to blasting through the stream. Well everything is going fine until I get about foot into the stream. The leaves hid the true depth of the stream. The damn thing was deep  . The back wheel goes down not thru the stream my butts starts making a wake like a barge and I come to a graceful stop dead center in the stream, a beautiful trackstand manual. (The first and only time I've been able to do one), I then proceed to slowly and I mean slowly I fall over, I end up completely drenched. My wife is now roaring, tears in her eyes, She looks at the 2x6 and says I think I'll take the "stupid bridge" if you don't mind, your way looks a little to wet for my tastes.  Good times!!


That is funny. It reminded me of a fall a buddy of mine took. We were riding a course that I ride regularly but he had never been. There were bodies of water that I wouldn't call streams because the water didn't run, it just sat stagnated and nasty rotten. I stayed ahead of him most of the ride but had waited for him at a fork in the trail because I wanted to make sure he didn't take the expert loop by accident. We took off and got to a bridge that goes about 2' over the stagnated water. I went over and as I went ahead a bit I hear an "Oh crap" followed by a big splash. He somehow fell over the bridge straight into the nasty stagnated water and was covered head to toe. I was trying very hard to contain the laughter but man he STUNK! He had driven in his family minivan also and didn't have a way to clean up before going back home. It was pretty dang funny and after that I really couldn't get near him because of the nausiating smell.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Night riding....*

I was coming down a short techy section, very bumpy. My front wheel made its way into a crater that I didn't see. THe shadows hid it pretty well. I was way behind the seat. So the front wheel goes into the hole and dead stops. My nutz slam into the seat, and there I am in mid endo. I fell backwards and clutched my crotch for a couple minutes.

One other time I was riding in SoCal with Aosty. THey went off ahead, and I was brining up the rear. Railing down some loose stuff, my front wheel washes off the low side of the trail and pitches me OTB at a pretty good clip. I'm rolling through the dirt and bushes for what seemed like forever, trying to stay loose until I came to a stop so I don't inure myself. I thought I was broken for sure.

So I roll to a stop, breathe for a second, and take stock. Yep, all my limbs are straight, in joint, my teeth are all there. Granted, nothing hurt, but sometimes it doesn't hurt until you realize what happened. So I get up, climb back up to the trail (prolly about 8 feet) and dust myself off. I look back up the trial, and my bike is about 30 feet back up the trail flipped around in the bushes. I was pitched pretty good, and all I had to show for it was a small scrape on my knee, which didn't hurt, no pulled muscles, no bruises, no sore back, nothing! I was blowing sandy dirty snot rockets for days after that. It was amazing, the amount of dirt I got up my nose.


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## Black Bart (Apr 19, 2004)

pimpbot said:


> One other time I was riding in SoCal with Aosty. .....It was amazing, the amount of dirt I got up my nose.


Was that the fall you took on the Bulldog/Malibu Creek loop? If so, that was a good day for funny falls...
<img src=https://www.pbase.com/blackbart/image/49264384/large.jpg>

If I felt like sharing I'd tell the story about me crashing into a parked truck in front of a few hundred other riders on this month's Midnight Ridazz, but I don't.


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## k.buz (Feb 10, 2005)

*The helmet cam incident...*

This one was on a trail I had ridden many times, wasn't that technical, very fast, and very fun. So what went wrong? I had a new helmet cam on. That should explain the rest...

The first part of the trail is fast, straight, and fairly smooth. I was following my husband, right on his wheel, going as fast as I could. So, we bomb the first part with no problems. Great, great footage. OK, so we cross the road, and start the second section, which is tighter, with more turns. Within the first 200 feet there's a small drop that leads to a 90 degree turn. It's easy, just brake, drop, land, brake, turn. Cake. Except that I had the helmet cam on. When I hit that section, I'm already going too fast. My brain says: "Just swing to the left before the drop to set up for the hard right, and get on the brakes after you land." This would have worked fine except my body didn't listen, and I grabbed a handfull of front brake while I was in the air! When I landed the drop, I immediately went into superman mode, OTB, landed really hard, and slid about 10 feet on my stomach. Knocked the wind right out of me, cuts and bruises all over, but I'm OK. Until the hubby points to my new jersey I'm wearing. I look down to see about 40 little blood spots seeping through the material. What the heck??? As I pull off the jersey, hubby bursts into laughter...I have about 40 pine needles stuck in my stomach!!! OOWWWW!!!
But hey, the helmet cam got a great shot of the crash!!!


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## MtnSpectre (Nov 21, 2004)

I'm not sure if it was funny to look at but It was the start of a terrible ride and I felt pretty stupid......I had been riding about a total of 10 minutes and decided to hit a pretty technical section on the templeton trail in Colorado Springs well ahead of my son and his friend so I would be able to take pictures of them coming down the section. Well, I cleared the technical section and at the bottom where it smoothed out. I wasn't carrying enough speed and had just enough of my weight forward and stopped dead on a hmmmmmm, I would say a two inch high rock. I remember the rear tire coming up and me trying to get my weight back and felt like a bronc rider leaning back. Needless to say, I did go over the bars and when I started to get up, I put my left hand in a small cactus bush. That was the first of three times in about 15 minutes that I hit the dirt. That ride ended pretty quickly.


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## lovemonkey (Jan 5, 2005)

The first link is my crash, the second is my friend Mackey, and I think that they're pretty self-explainatory. If any of you DC area guys see him, tell him he's famous.

http://gallery.mtbr.com/showphoto.php?photo=19292&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

http://gallery.mtbr.com/showphoto.php?photo=19291&password=&sort=1&size=medium&cat=500&page=1


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Yep...*

... and I'm surprised that the other pics in that series haven't been posted. I nearly forgot about that. That was funny as heck.

Thanks again for taking me around that day. Even the 5 hour 40% grade rocky climb was fun.


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## Fett (Jan 6, 2004)

*I did my best wreck in front of a crowd*

A few years ago, I was at a mountain bike festival and they were having a bunny hop contest over a bar. I made the first couple and they raised the bar to a heighth that I was unsure whether I could make. I decided to go balls out.

I lifted my front wheel, clearer the bar and then yanked the back wheel up as absolutely hard as I could, which turned out to be pretty damned hard as I lifted it over my head and did a self induced endo and landing on my head with the bike on top of me, which most of the crowd agreed was one the funniest things they had ever seen.


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## Black Bart (Apr 19, 2004)

pimpbot said:


> ... and I'm surprised that the other pics in that series haven't been posted. I nearly forgot about that. That was funny as heck.
> 
> Thanks again for taking me around that day. Even the 5 hour 40% grade rocky climb was fun.


Ask and you shall receive... this had disaster written all over it.

<img src=https://www.pbase.com/blackbart/image/49264381/large.jpg>


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## INTIMIDATOR (Dec 5, 2004)

There was this steep and sandy descent on a mountain, and after a few riders went down the descent (two of them crashed), it was my turn to go.
Well, I started slow and when my bike started sliding because of loose sand I locked up my rear wheel (biggest mistake) 
My bike went sideways and I fell off my bike. The rest of the descent I was sliding on my butt still holding on to my bike.

The funniest story is about those two riders who crashed before me. But I will get one of them to tell you about it.

Also, one time I went off the road and fell into nettle valley (not in US), which is a bushy plant that stings and gives you a rash when you touch it (feels like jelly fish bites). I could not get out because every time I moved, the grass would sting me more
(Note: it was summer time – shorts and t-shirt only). So I laid there and called for my friends to help me get out. My friends and I still laugh at that stupid crash.


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## dieselbikes (Dec 1, 2004)

*Funny Crash Story...*

This story happen at Mt. Attitash, NH. We were up at the mountain having some downhill fun. There was this trail called "Holy Chute" which was one of the more difficult downhill trails. On this trail there was a section that has a steep angled slop that was kind of sandy. No problem, but at the top of this section there is a large rock that blinds you on how steep this section is, plus you need to turn into this downward section as you go over the rock. At the bottom of this section there is a sharp right turn (at that time) with no burm to help control you speed. If you miss this turn, you are going to be in a world of hurt.

So here is the mental image. This is single-track on a mountain with the trail running through the wood on a steep sandy section about 50~75 feet long. We all stop at the top of this section a few yards away from the entrance and my friend turns to me and said&#8230;"Dude, show me how it's done". So I took off fast and went over the rock and down this sandy chute.

I was in the zone until I realized I was going a little to fast for the near 90 degree right hand turn at the bottom. I tried to slow down, but it felt like I keep accelerating. Need less to say I missed the turn, hit a tree was spun around and landed 20 feet further down (complete off the trail) from the trail with my leg stuck in a rock which keep me from falling further. I was dazed, in pain, but as I looked up to the trail I heard people yelling "ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT".

I said to myself "GUYS", there is only one but me, why are they saying that? Then I heard someone groaning. I looked behind me and about another 30 feet further down from where I was, was my friend who said show me how it's done. He decided to follow me down this section and did the same mistake I did, only thing, when I crashed and got stuck on the rock, my friend hit me and bounced off going further down the edge of the trail. He was about 50 down from the trail head and it was a pain to get the both of us out of that mess. We both walked away with cuts and bruises, but we both laughed in pain.

From that day on, he never follows me when I take the lead.


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## MCF (Apr 13, 2004)

*Typical...*

last year after completing a ride with a couple friends...riding back to our cars across a completely flat open field with a small 'trail' cut into it about 6" wide and a couple inches deeper than the grass....we were riding along and my friends had commented on how I made it through the ride without wrecking (the last couple rides I had wrecked at least once and was getting really irritated about it)....well, they were riding in the grass and I was riding on the 'trail'...you know what happened, my front wheel caught the lip and down I went....not 10 feet from the concrete parking lot. Guess my days of wrecking weren't up yet....we all had a good laugh (at my expense)...


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## charliemeehan (Oct 23, 2005)

*180 degree front end*

I was leading a pack of riders down a trail when I washed out on a sharp turn. I jumped up and hopped on my bike as fast as I could because the pack was about to come into the turn and t-bone me. I'm peddaling like a madman when I realize that my wheel and handle bars were turned 180 degrees! I freaked and grabbed both brake levers. ENDO!!!! Lots of scrapes, bruises, and endless mocking from my friends. I'm there for their amusement.


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## Tarekith (Mar 9, 2005)

Last week I was riding a paved trail at a local park (lots of snow here, singletrack is buried) and I come up to this wooden bridge crossing a small river. The bridge has a slight incline to it (we're talking 10-15% grade), and I don't realize it's still wet too. I'm not going fast, just cruising for fun, so I start pedalling up the bridge.

About halfway up, my rear tire starts spinning like I'm on a sheet of ice. I'm literally balanced in this one spot spinning my rear tire trying to make it up this very slight incline. Realize I'm not going to make it by pedalling, so I stop and go to put my foot down to dismount and walk it.

Apparently that's all it took to upset my delicate balance on this slippery surface, and the whole bike shoots out from under me sideways before I can even get a foot down. Managed to land on feet, congradulated myself for a split second before those shot out from under me too and I slide back down this tiny little bridge on my ass. 

That wet wood was REALLY slick apparently!


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## Judge Smails (Apr 7, 2004)

I've got two that come to mind:
1) was riding the upside of a 3 foot high downed log that had 2x4's on both sides, as I get to the top of the log and aim my front wheel at the downside 2x4 I missed and endo'd when my front tire hit the ground - which wouldn't have been so bad, but I landed in a wet trench on the side of the trail that was filled with sticker bushes. To top it off one of my feet didn't unclip from the pedals so I was stuck upside down in a wet sticker trench with my leg twisted just enough that I couldn't get up. I wasn't hurt, but I was stunned for a second, when my buddy comes around the bend and sees me he almost falls off of his bike laughing. They let me lay there for a minute or two before helping me get untangled.

2) I had just got my first FS bike and I was riding with a group of beginner riders on a pretty easy trail. Well there was a stream crossing where the banks were about 3-4 feet higher than the stream and everyone got off their bikes to figure out the best way to cross. Not me, hell I'd been riding for years, I'll just ride down the bank and go right through (the stream was only 4" deep). Well, I went down the bank and when my tire hit the stream bed it stopped dead - total sand. OTB I go flat on my back in the middle of the stream in front of all of the newbies. It was too funny.


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## AS.. the original (Jan 25, 2006)

*Ha ha*

After 2 years of switching to flats and not riding clipped, I decide to go back to clipless. I don't know if my cleats were rusty or maybe just my brain but I was having the worst time getting out of my pedals and fell over 4 or 5 times. But the funniest fall was when I was on the road, headed home. I stoped at a crosswalk to let some people pass, couldn't unclip and did the whole slow sideways fall - like when a tree topples over... TIMBER! I get up, clip back in to ride off but now have all these pedestrians in my way. So I go to clip out again but can't and do the whole slow fall to the opposite side. I don't stop for pedestrians anymore.


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## saviorself (Dec 15, 2004)

DiRt DeViL said:


> Mine were yesterday.
> 
> First one, we're going down a hill on a paved road with small dips and after crossing one the rear wheel slipped and I did a 180 degree turn while mounted, as soon as I was able to stop I fell backwards and tumbled down the road.
> 
> The guy with the flames jersey also tried it and his rear wheel slipped on the long sending him on a very weird way to the ground.


That picture just makes me laugh, its good to see people enjoying themselves


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## Dave B (Jan 13, 2004)

Wish I had a video of me preventing  a fall! My wife and I were riding in a park many years ago (think it was in Va, outside of DC maybe), when a stick, about as thick as a cigar got stuck between my tire and front fork. Locked up the front tire, back tire came off the ground. I was going fairly slowly when it happened, hooked the back of my knee over the top tube while hopping around on the ground with the other leg. Almost made a complete circle that way before coming to a stop. I couldn't get mad to Donna for lauging so hard when I did get stopped-must have looked hilarious!


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## MtbGeek (Aug 25, 2004)

I have had lots of falls that were probably funny but I will never forget the best one. I was biking with my daughter and we stopped by a log/jump so "I could show her a few things". After doing the jump I was explaining to her how to pull a wheelie and ride it. I was clipped in and I guess maybe the dialog disconnected the thinking part of my brain to remember to use the rear brake to prevent myself from going over (being clipped in of course). So as you can imagine I pulled the wheelie and in a second I was lying on my back with the wind knocked out of me (thank god for my Camelbak). Before I got a chance to catch my first breath she said "Hey dad you ok? That looked really geeky". I wish I had a video of this event!


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## huntforlife (Jun 11, 2004)

*MCF reminded me of another*

The first time out with my Fuel 80 last summer was going great till the very end. I hadent loosened up the spd's so they were hard to get in and worse: to get out of. Arriving back at the dorm, I hopped up the first of two large steps before realizing I didnt have enough speed to complete the second. I did a trailstand then tried unclipping. I couldnt, and then started to do the SLOW topple over. My wrist cought the corner of the second step, giving me a nice scrape from which I still have a scar. I dont think anyone saw that either, so all is well.


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## Breznak (Mar 11, 2005)

My funniest fall happened the day after Christmas this year. The weather had been lousy for quite some time, and finally there was a clear day--cold at about 27 degrees--but sunny, so I headed out. There was about 1mm of new snow covering everything, so I knew the biggest challenge was to avoid riding over snow-covered ice. The one place on the route where I was positive this would be a problem was the one place I got stupid and let my guard down. Sure enough, I hit the ice and the bike instantly went sideways and I fell fast and hard to the right.

Falling on ice is not like losing a front tire on some mud or going over the bars on a steep descent--in those cases you know it is coming and the falls almost seem to go in slow-motion. On ice, it was like some unseen hand threw me onto the ground instantly--I did get a knee and hand out, but managed to have a rock get under my helmet and hit me just above the eye. The hand and knee were badly bruised and hurt like hell, but the eye didn't hurt at all. However, I ended up with a dark purple eyelid for the holidays, and I looked like some cheap whore who only had enough cheap eyeshadow for one eye. Over time it went to shades of green and yellow and looked even worse, and I had to endure all sorts of jokes about how my wife beats me. Horrid.

The funniest fall I ever witnessed was in a race last year. The biggest MTB marathon in the Czech Republic is called the Kral Sumavy (see www.sumavanet.cz/triatlon if you are interested in more info). It is fun, but everyone rides it. On the "Jarkovicky descent," a 6km bomb that is rocky but fast and has some pretty technical sections in its lower portions, I got stuck behind a big guy where it got technical. He was a big guy and was having trouble navigating the all the wet rocks and roots here (I was having trouble going so slowly, and was wondering how this guy ended up still being in front of me so far into the course). Then it happened: he hit a root and endoed WAAAAY up on his front wheel. The smart thing would have been to let it keep going and simply walk off the bike to the side a bit, but he fought it hard and teetered there for what seemed like an eternity before the front wheel suddenly snapped side ways and the awkward construction of bike and big rider came tumbling down hard like a house of cards, the bike bouncing off the ground and the big rider dude ended up covered in mud. I couldn't help but laugh, but the capper was his comment: "aaah s$%#, that's the third time that happened to me today!" Get your weight back and lay off the front brake, big guy!


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## Bombardier (Jul 13, 2005)

The funniest was when I was trying to climb a small bank near the Rhine, and I was spinning my tire on some loose gravel about halfway up. I should've seen it coming, but as soon as I weighted my rear wheel down in an effort to hook back up, it did just that as I was putting a massive amount of power down.
So I tumbled backwards..... right into the thickest patch of stinging nettle I've ever encountered.
Normally I ride wearing longsleeves and pants, but on that day I had baggies and shortsleeves.

My wife didn't see me fall, and when she caught up to me, she thought it was pretty odd that I decided to stop riding and take a bath in the Rhine River fully clothed w/ helmet still on.


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## potsy (Jan 29, 2006)

It was a very hot day at Fort Rock in Exeter NH. I was blasting down nice long moderate downhill. My brother-in-law was in front of me and a friend was behind me when we came upon a rock in the middle of the trail that ramped up perfectly. Now, my bro dodged the rock but I thought I'd jump it. (With my second hand POS DiamondBack that I just replaced the grips on.  ) You guessed it...just as my back tire left the edge of the "rock\ramp", the right grip that I so expertly installed that afternoon decided to slip right off!!  Needless to say the ensuing crash was horriffic but also was hilarious because the friend that was behind me literally dumped his bike in a creek he was laughing so hard.


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## Just J (Feb 14, 2005)

The funniest way I've fallen!... Let me see, there have been so many! 

Here's probably the funniest two:

1) My first day with clipless pedals - fitted them to my Intense Tracer, pre-ride, without actually bothering to set them up, or knowing you are supposed to! So off I went! Parked the car, my freinds and I started a long, steep ascent up to our then favourite downhill. I was pretty much out of puff, and pedalling was slow, I wandered to the outer edge of the climb, stalled, and ended up toppling over into a ditch! There I was lying upside down, in a ditch with my bike still attached to both feet, after falling off directly in front of a group of facists, sorry I mean walkers, much to their delight! "Help" I feebily cried, until my friends came and helped me out of my clips and back onto the trail!

2) Funnily enough clipless pedals were to blame on this occassion too!

3 weeks before I got married last year, myself and a group of friends headed north into Scotland, Glentress to be exact for a celebratory stags/bucks ride! After about 2 hours of climbing we ended up in the "Ewok Village", a North Shore style part of the forest. I got myself onto the highest part of the platforms, and... You guessed it, stalled, and as I couldn't get my feet out of my clips, ended up falling onto a tree, breaking my ribs, almost my shoulder and what felt like my back at the time! I had to drag myself back down to the car park while my so-called friends finished their ride!  Took about 3 months before I was right again, and I was pretty much crippled for my wedding day, much to my Wife's unhappiness! 

Oh just thought of another funny one!!! 

This was about 6-7 years ago now, so is probably the oldest episode... I was on my Giant Hardtail, my friend was on his new Enduro, his first full susser.

I hadn't realised how much quicker full suspension bikes can be over a XC HT, so off I went in persuit of him down one of the most gnarly trails we have locally. I was on his back tyre until he sailed over a rather large rock, I tried sailing too, only to hook my back wheel on it, which in turn flung me about 15 feet down the section, it probably would have been more like 20-25ft if it wasn't for my good old camelbak finding a tree to slow me down, ripping my neck open in the process. Yup still got the rather cool scar from that one, and the dent in my leg where I fell on my mobile phone when I finally came to a halt!

Needless to say, I mainly ride full sus down hill and FR nowadays, and the clipless pedals have gone the journey!


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## free rider (Nov 14, 2005)

i have 3 funny crashes...and im lucky im not injured

1. me and my friends built aa dirt jump beside my garage and the garbage recepticle is 10 ft from the landing i went off the jump miscalculated went otb and face planted into the garbage container at about 20 mph....i was covered in garbage

2. i was riding along next to my girl friend and we were seeing who could wheelie longer as i was popping up my chain slipped and my feet slipped from the pedals as soon as my foot touched the ground it got stuck in a sewer cover and i went otb face first into the cement...she never stopped laughing and even to this day she brings it up when we are riding

3. my bike was in the shop and i was bored as hell so i used my moms bike to do a bit of easy trails...it was kinda raining and since this bike is super old it has those flat pads on the v brakes...me and my bro were biking down the hill and i tried to brake for the turn but since the brakes were wet they didnt work and i went straight into a tree

these are my 3 worst crashes and there were people there to see all of them and they still like to bring them up into conversations


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## DonutKing (Apr 4, 2005)

*Broken Fork at 25+ MPH!*

I was on a 30 mile ride in Moab (Gemini Bridges trail) and my buddies and I decided to keep the fairly boring ride interesting by doing a little "monkey-see-monkey-do" game for the first few miles - everyone following does exactly what the guy in front does. When the first guy did a big jump at full speed off a half-buried rock in the trail, I hit the rock too, but while I'm in the air I notice that my front wheel is rotating wildly even though my handlebars were pointing straight ahead. When I landed the wheel was pointed at about 10:00, so the bike went left and I kept going straight. We paced off my skidmark and it measured 20 feet. Luckily there were no broken bones, but I had trail rash along the whole right side of my body with red moab dirt ground into it that I was still picking out weeks later.

It turned out that my shock crown had cracked and one of the shock legs completely detached, leaving my wheel rotating around the other leg uncontrollably. I knew that the shock manufacturer, Marzocchi, had recalled the shock b/c the crown was not strong enough and was prone to breaking, but I had stupidly thought to myself that it would take a HUGE hit to do any damage - boy was I wrong. I was able to get the shock put together enough to keep my wheel pointed straight, but I couldn't ride faster than 5 mph. To make matters worse, we'd had another friend drop us off at the trailhead and she was going to meet us at the bottom a few hours later, so I couldn't turn back and had to do the remaining 25 miles in that condition. I've had bad rides, but this was the worst ride of my life.


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## da1edub (Dec 30, 2005)

*This one seared my soul*

Typical parking lot wheelie/clipless pedals overrotation disaster, but with three bonus features: a) torn shorts revealing roughly eight square inches of hamburgered butt cheek, b) banged up tailbone prompting me to lay whimpering for a good two minutes while holding said hamburger with both hands, and of course c) all under the observation of a busload of junior high students at the trailhead to start some sort of nature walk. That one almost made me sell all my bikes and take up tennis or something.


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## Jimtreeman (Feb 3, 2006)

*Maybe not the funnyest; but the coolest*

Last year riding trail ; came up to log jump; compress front fork pulled up ; looking good but JUMP too soon. Wheel hit log dead on ;me flying over handlebars, As luck would have it ; there is small tree on right side ; and was able to grap it and do my Tarzan impression and swing around it and land on my feets  
Of course this has happen 1 time;other times you will find me in the dirt,
Jim


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## Anonymous (Mar 3, 2005)

You mean, like when I looked down at my rear wheel and hit a parked car? Or when I looked over my left shoulder at a hottie and went off the right side of the trail. Or maybe when I went OTB on Basalt mnt, and tore my left nut? Maybe you mean the time my friend and I forgot to unclip andf fell into each other, forming an A frame at the stop sign. Or do you mean the time I crashed andf left a rotor burn on my left calf?
My whole life is a funny crash. It don't suck to be me.


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## MtnSpectre (Nov 21, 2004)

LMAO....sorry but that reminded me of one of mine. I was fooling around in front of my house getting ready for a ride with some friends that I was going to meet up with later. Clipped in and showing off in front of wife. Over rotated and wham! Only difference is I busted my ass bone. I did try to get back on the bike....that lasted about a whole 5 seconds. Sitting sucked for a while after that one. Wife was more worried about my elbow which looked as if it took the brunt of the fall. It swelled up pretty fast.


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## GroverGT (Feb 5, 2006)

They all look funny, so I'm told. The worst was playing around on a short down hill, maybe 150 yards at 45 degree slope. That was a piece of cake, it was the 2 foot ditch at the bottom full of leaves and sewage that sucked. If I had seen it wasn't really hard ground a second earlier I could have hopped it, but I didn't. I had to listen to how bad I stunk for the 3 mile ride home from all my buddies. The hose off with the garden hose before taking a shower.


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## ctkona75 (Apr 11, 2005)

*Clipless?*

First season with clipless pedals -- I swear everytime I stopped I ended up on my right elbow.

Now I can't live without 'em.

- ctk


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## Rootberry (Jul 27, 2005)

The other day I was really trying to improve my technique on this 1.5 mile section of very tight, rooty, twisty flat section with turns that are very sharp. There are 5-6 place where you have less than an inch on either side of the bars, in the middle of slow speed sharp turns. I fall all the time in this section, but this time I was truckin along and doing pretty well.. I was noticing that I kept cutting it real close to the inside on turns, but before I realized that it probably wasnt the best idea for this section, I found myself at a dead stop..... still upright.. I had clipped a tree with my left shoulder HARD at about 8mph. So I was able to push off the tree and not fall, but I was trying to be careful after that- so of course ten seconds later I clipped my bar on a tree going 15 and couldnt even unclip either foot or take my hands off my bars. Two hits on my left shoulder, big black (now yellowish) bruise.... fun


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## Whitefeather (Feb 17, 2005)

*Best crashes*

Alright, I was cruising down a sloped gravel path, oh, about 8 feet wide. There was a 90 degree turn at the bottom, with blackberry bushes to coax you into making the turn. I realized that I was kinda cookin' it, so I tried to do an emergency stop, but it was all to late, and I froze up. End product: with both wheels locked, I sailed into a bunch of blackberry bushes, much to the delight of my riding buddy. On another occasion, I did a spectacular crash off of a ladder. I was on a section that was just a solid board, and it had been raining a lot recently. My front wheel wandered off of the board, and I started to fall forwards. As I fell past the board, my head had a bit of collision with the board, thus causing my entire body to whip back. I then landed on my back and groaned, while everyone laughed. I had a severe headache for a while.

Well, those are my two best crashes.

David


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## Dangeruss (Jan 24, 2006)

'Bout a year after I started riding, I was enjoying a new-to-me trail at a State Park and had pulled about a 15 second lead on the group when I came to a Y in the trail. I wanted to stop and wait for the group to confirm, which way to go. There was this trail marker at the junction that looked just perfect for leaning against while remaining clipped in. What my feeble mind interpreted as a steel pole, was actually this ultra-thin flexy plastic tubing. So I roll up to it, and commit my still clipped in self to tipping into it, reaching out and catching myself with it. Said pole provided no resistance whatsoever as I came crashing down in full site of the trailing group who had arrived just in time for the show. perfect...


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## aliensporebomb (Feb 2, 2004)

*Ah.....*

Back four or five years at Hidden Valley in Ely, Minnesota.

I'm riding with a friend along this section at a good clip, probably 18-20
miles an hour when I suddenly hit a grassy area veering to the right with
some bushes to the immediate right of the trail and I notice myself leaning
a little too far to the right and I'm slowing angling down.

And angling down.

And angling down.

I think, slowly, like it is in most "about to crash" situations, "I'll hit the ground or
the bushes if I don't do something but I have too much speed to stop."

I ended up going body first into the bushes and I start laughing like a complete
idiot. I notice that my friend didn't see it and ride up the trail like nothing happened
but he starts laughing when he sees me because my jersey and bike have all kinds
of leaves stuck in various places.


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## unfluid one (Aug 15, 2005)

few weeks back I took a downhill steep switchback a bit fast, front tire gets lodged into a rut as my front wheel is turned, and i jump over the bars and right into a bush off the trail. I guess it was a flimy bush because I plow right through it and fall into the same trail about 10 feet downhill and nearly take out some hikers. 
lol..


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## ~TJ~ (Dec 30, 2003)

I had just finished adjusting chain line and derailleur at the house, go for a ride, not quite right on the setting yet. Far from home and the work stand. Soooooo, big flat parking lot...not looking where I'm going but at my cassette/rear derailleur as I shift (did I mention there's one lone telephone pole smack in the middle of this parking lot?...see where I'm going with this?)

I'm watching the cassette, 'prolly doing only 10mph, then I'm on the gound  

I gave one of those "hope nobody saw that" looks scrambling to my feet.

Night Ride

Approaching big double log (lights don't illuminate the back side, I go for it, I see my helmet light pattern getting smaller and smaller as my head nears the ground. The bike followed soon after and let me know it. It's funny, happens in slow mo as your head nears the ground, you can see it all.


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## mistermoto (Jan 22, 2006)

*A few years back*

I was guiding some friends on a trail they'd never been to. I had gotten a ways ahead of them on a very exposed portion of singletrack on the side of a steep canyon wall. At that point I decided I should stop and wait since this part of the ride could be quite sketchy. As I am deciding this I realize that I'm coming in pretty hot on this section. Not only am I coming in hot, i'm getting off line and very close to going off trail and down the side of this 30degree slope. I start scrubbing speed and get back on trail and then dismount, bars in hand. Well, I dismounted at about 10mph apparently, and my feet being in sidi shoes (you know they double so well as running shoes ) can't keep up, neither can my not a runner legs. The next thing I know am rolling with bars (and bike) down the side of this canyon slope. I stopped about 50' downslope upside down at the base of a pine tree, and my knee planted into a big rock, and my scoot all on top of me.

By the time I got back to the trail, these folks finally caught up...... i told em it was the most spectacular crash of my MTB career and nobody was around to see it. Damn!


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## rossp (Mar 7, 2005)

*Stationary trainers are dangerous*

Two stupid crashes I've had.....

1 - picking up a Blackburn trainer from a classified ad - less than a mile from my apt (in manhattan). It was a quiet summer evening so I took my road bike to try on the trainer. I guess I didn't realize how heavy it would be. On the way home i figured it wasn't too bad and thought I'd try riding with it - had it hanging off the right hand drops of the bar. Which was fine, until I moved slightly on the bike and it swung straight into my front spokes and jammed against the fork. Thankfully no traffic around, as the bike stopped dead, I flew / jumped (not sure how) straight OTB and somehow managed to survive with only a bruised foot. The woman walking with a stroller next to me at the time looked at me and said "nice save!". not my smartest moment.

2 - used to commute to and from work, parking the bike in the underground car park - was riding up the ramp out of the carpark, which had a 90degree turn halfway up. Anyway, was still getting used to clipless pedals and did the "fall right / unclip left" trick halfway up the ramp - I'm sure the security guys must have had a great laugh on the cctv monitors.....


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## motoenth (Mar 31, 2006)

Well - a few years back, I drove down to Atlanta to see a college roommate. I had just purchased a mountain bike with - TADA - front suspension! I thought this was great and, since I had a "serious" mountain bike (he and I rode on rigids back in college just a few years after mountain biking started getting popular) - I thought I would go ahead and get clipless pedals (sorry - dunno the lingo - gimme a break - it's my first post).

So, I'm doing my best to keep up and I see him stopped (do I recall gloating?) on this single-track - uphill on my right, downhill on my left. I planned on coming to a stop behind him but there was this big freakin' rock on the right and my eye's were glued to it. So much attention was given to the rock (after all, I didn't want to scratch my new bike), I came to a stop and tried to put my foot down. But, for some reason, I couldn't remove my foot from the pedal... 

Of course, since the big rock was uphill and I didn't want to scratch my bike, I made the only sensible decision and picked the downhill side. It all happened in slow motion. So slow, I was able to remember the service guy in the store saying "Yeah, the pedals are a little tight now but they'll loosen up when you ride a while" 

So, I rolled down the hill, my new bike clipped to my feet. Yeah, it got scratched.


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## mistermoto (Jan 22, 2006)

*I recall a trip to Moab*

I was riding with a large group of folks during the Moab Fat Tire Fest, out at Flat Pass. We had wlked through a creek and then about 25 yds of Utah sand. I clipped in and started up a pretty techy climb (it was techy for this group anyway). I'm the last one up the climb and I stuck every move. Except for... you guessed it. Getting unclipped . The combo of sand and water made some nice Utah concrete in my pedals. I stopped at the top and promptly fell over (since I couldn't get outta my concrete laden pedals), in front of a crowd of about 40 people, all of whom were watching everyone do this climb. Boy did I feel silly. That sucked. . I have lots of good tales of carnage involving myself and various locations around the southwest.

The moral of the story is that i've since switched to Time pedals and never had problem getting out of a pedal again


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## holycromoly (Aug 11, 2004)

Now this is the closest bike thing to synchronized swimming  Maybe it'll be an official sport in the next Olympics


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## ashpioletrev (Dec 6, 2005)

In Love.....


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## Locoman (Jan 12, 2004)

in slow motion on a gravel uphill with a high grade. by myself on a night ride when a group of 15 or so from the top shined down on me. I felt like I had to make the climb, but just spun out in the gravel and fell over clipped in. felt like an idiot. them bastids.


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## modest6hon (Mar 4, 2006)

Well, there are a couple that come to mind. One was when I was trying to get to the trail and you have to pass through a gate/fence. Gate was locked but thought I could squeeze between the gate post and fence. Handlebar was wider than the fence/gate gap and ended up wrapped around them. Another was when I was riding in front of my parents' house with my sister. Turn around to tell her to say out of the middle of the road because of cars. Turn around and WHAM, all over the back window of a parked car.


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## Nigel (Jan 13, 2004)

Black Bart said:


> Was that the fall you took on the Bulldog/Malibu Creek loop? If so, that was a good day for funny falls...
> <img src=https://www.pbase.com/blackbart/image/49264384/large.jpg>
> 
> If I felt like sharing I'd tell the story about me crashing into a parked truck in front of a few hundred other riders on this month's Midnight Ridazz, but I don't.


I bet you guys really liked laying on top of each other like that. Was there one guy there who kept saying, "guys, this is really gay."


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

*Falling in slow motion...*

And I'm only moving forward three feet. That sucks.


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## MtnBiker1978 (Sep 28, 2004)

So I'm still in the gravel parking lot, been on the bike less than 30 seconds. It's a multi-use parking lot, so there's lots of people with motocross bikes and ATV's who think that mountain bikers in general are retarded. So, I start across the lot to the trailhead across the gravel and into some bigger rocks. With great skill, I managed to ride over a rock and flip it up into my disc brake rotor. Apparently I'm so talented that I was able to keep the rock in the rotor long enough to have my front wheel rotate enough that the rock wedged between the rotor and my fork leg, stopping everything rather quickly, and I ended up doing a Superman over the bars as my bike flipped over me with all the people in the lot watching me go down. So, I got up, dusted myself off, checked to see if anything was dented or bent, and rode off into the sunset.


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## BrandonMiller (Mar 29, 2006)

I dunno bout funny for me but maybe for others..

Right in the middle of campus I put my "foot into it" and the chain snapped throwing me right over the handle bars.


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## carnage (Nov 17, 2005)

i fell flat on my butt in alafia a few weeks ago when i did a wheely and forgot to hit the brakes


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## ZoSoSwiM (Dec 2, 2005)

I got back from a ride the other day and right at the stairs leading up to my apartment I did a quick trackstand.. well.. I wasn't all there physically and just went... ttttttttimber in front of a few people. So I did the smart thing and started laughing instead of swearing and looking even worse


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## Breznak (Mar 11, 2005)

Definitely the funniest falls are the "new clipless pedal" falls. 

When I first went clipless all those years ago, I fell about 5 times because I simply couldn't release. You stop--you try to get off--simply can't do anything with your feet--teeter for a second or two--start to fall--realize your humiliation before it even happens--end up crashing down on your hip--hope no one sees you. Unfortunately that happened to me right at a huge intersection. Horns starting honking furiously as the guy at the front of the line was laughing so hard he failed to see that the light turned green.......


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## scale (Jul 14, 2005)

I had some hs33 racelines that were swapped so the front was actually on the right hand......let me tell you..i though i was used to the thing but i have ridden front left my entire left......needless to say at around 12mph in the gravel pits..........WHAM up and over and a quick get up to make sure nobody was around to see it  It had to look completely stupid.

I have this friend i ride with and for some reason he hasnt figured out balance very well on his bikes.......he is always clipped in on the trails and he will slow up almost to a stop and then just tip over. Its like he doesnt even try to get a leg out. It looks so funny. He does it once every ride go on....sometimes more. Ill never understand that .....


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## anthrax (Oct 27, 2004)

This happend when I was about 12 or so...

I used to take sailing lessons when I was young. You were required to ware a life jacket (of course) said life jacket was still wet at the end of the day. I did not want to put the wet life jacket back on so I hung it off of the end of the handel bar of my Norco mountain bike rode about 30' and the life jacket got sucked into the front wheel, and whamo next thing I know I am flat on my face with my bike on top of me. A couple of friends saw the whole thing and picked the bike up off of me. I had to walk the rest of the way home pushing my bike on its back wheel, front wheel in the air with the life jacket stuck between the fork and wheel.

The rest of my crashes have been rather mundane type stuff


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## Leland (Apr 6, 2006)

Best one to date happened last week, So im out riding on my new bike, Giant Trance 2. Any how i am on some winding singletrack that has several small vallys only about 3 feet deep that are creeks that only have water when it rains a lot. Any how one of them has 2 trees in the middle of it, and the one on the right is just leaning over the trail. As i ride through, i drop my right sholder and head to keep from getting clotheslined. Well guess what happened. I see my hand and feet all sticking out in front of me as my bike keeps going. I land about 2 feel off to the left of the trail. I sat there on my back for a min, then got up, walked to my bike pulled it to the side of the trail and ate a cliff bar. Kind of painfull crash, i have a huge black and blue on my right arm. But i cant help but laugh at myself, i wish that i could have seen myself do this.


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## iloveclimbinghills (Nov 19, 2005)

*stick in wheel*

I was riding beind my friend who had a bmx bike on the road going down a hill at 20mph. He ended up running over a stick, mean while i was thinking how much that would suck if it got caught in my wheels.Never the less his back wheel picks up the stick and sends it flying about 8 feet high.as the stick is comming down it ends up gettin caught in my front wheel. I hear some quick snapping noises (my spokes). Then before I knew what was going on i ended up flying over the handle bars tumbling down the road for about 6 feet. Then came the bike which landed on my head. Thank god for that helmet. The funnest part was the car that pull up to me while I was on the ground to see if I was alive.


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## Kary (Feb 15, 2004)

*I still laugh about this one*

This happened about 15 years ago. I was going downhill on a trail and came around a corner. There was a bush with tons of thorns across the trail at chest height. I got pulled off the bike and watched my bike continue to roll down the hill. After I pulled the thorns out of my chest and arms, I had to walk down to get my bike. I wish I had a video of that one. It still makes me laugh.


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## Trail_Mynx (Mar 6, 2006)

Burning off Beer said:


> I was riding down a level dirt path and there was a mud puddle ahead. I decided to ride through it, because it looked rather shallow. It turns out it was about 8 inches deep and just wide enough to swallow my front wheel. I was caught completely unprepared and endo'd. While flying through the air, I was able to unclip from my pedals, twist 180 degrees, land on my feet on the other side of the puddle, and catch my rear tire as it came at me. I was the craziest/nirvana-like crash I've ever had. After I realized what I had done, I had no idea how I pulled it off.


*In cheesy Chinese Kung-Fu voice* "Grasshopper has cat like reflexes" Either that or you have Neo-like powers.....


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