# Do you remember your first crash?



## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

I still remember my first crash. It was going down hill on Rough Go Trail in Annadel SP, I did an endo, landing between a few big rocks with no damage but a bended handlebar, (the picture is showing some rider going across the easy part of the trail) since then I had many crashes, one almost fatal, but that first one made me love the sport even more ...


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## Brown_Teeth (Jan 15, 2004)

Yes I remember, what was the question again?

Multiple crashes a few head vacations but still mtn bike riding, But some betch on a cell phone almost killed me last year, roads are not for riding


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## 2clue (Jun 9, 2007)

my cell phone absorb the crash for me last time when i hit a tree and now half the screen is blacked out


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Last crashes are welcome...


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## pebblehoppertj (Sep 25, 2006)

uhhh I bro ke 2 ribs on my first crash ! Then I had to work for 17 days ...talk about pain !


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## Hiramson (Aug 5, 2007)

I remember it perfectly as one of the most important days of my MTB life. Was an endo trying to favor the front whell into a fluffy stones trail after a non-controlled mini down hill.

I tasted the hard rocked floor & after dozens of crashes more I learned much more than only riding.

Crash is Learn. Do not forget it guys.

I'm wrong?

_PD: I'll post the pics of the injuries. Not much serious, but were the first in a crash. A "great day"._


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## jeffj (Jan 13, 2004)

Sure do. I was 8 years old and riding a fireroad near what was soon to become Colima Rd. (in Whittier - just east of Los Angeles). My dad worked for So Cal Edison and had keys to all the gates up in the hills so he would take us riding. At that time the housing tracts were just being built and we would jump from terraced lot to terraced lot and then cruise the fireroads. I washed out the front wheel on a gravelly turn and skinned up my elbow pretty good.

He also let us cruise down Colima before it was opened to traffic. The cable driven speedo on my 20" Schwinn Sting Ray with the springer fork was pegged at slightly over 45mph. After we ran out at the bottom, we each grabbed onto the side of the truck bed of his '56 Ford F100 with one hand and the other holding the h-bar and got a 'lift' back to the top to do it again. 

I don't think bike helmets existed at that time and if they did, we hadn't seen them. That was around 1966.


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## PANyteRider (Jul 31, 2007)

My first crash on a bike in general, no, that is lost to the annals of my past. My first crash on a Mtb on the other hand, yeah. It was 93, some friends and I were riding around in the Frederick Watershed, and I had just put new pads on the day before. They turned out to be defective, and as soon as they got a little use, went hard as a rock, glazed badly, and were almost useless. I managed the trails pretty well. Afterwards, we decided to shoot back down one of the roads (really more like a gravel fire road, but it's an official road open to traffic), and speeds were getting upwards of 35+. I came to a hard right curve, with lots of loose gravel,and new I would wash, but there was a little run off trail at the apex, headed over to the creek, so I figured to take that, and scrub speeed, then return to the road. Little did I know that in the trail was a dip, hidden by leaves, complete with hidden stump.
Bent back the rigid forks three inches, sent me 15 feet through the air, landed on my face, rolled up over my helmet, then slid another 5 feet on my back, with my bike landing about 5 feet behind me. Tore up my face, pulled every muscle in my neck and left my back sore as hell. I was walking down the mountain, until another Mtb rider gave me a lift down, who was driving down the hill in a pickup and saw me pushing and bleeding all over.

I never knew who the guy was, but I am thankful he saved me several miles of pushing. Of course, day after I had to go back to school, with my face a mess of scabs, and unable to move my neck for a week at least. 

Two weeks later, back on the bike, new forks (replaced under warranty), and never lost the love of pedaling two wheels.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2007)

First crash, four years old. My father was teaching me to ride in a parking lot and it was the first day that I really got it (no training wheels here). I was so excited that I was looking backwards trying to see if he was watching (what else would he have been doing right?) and I didn't see the light pole that I was heading straight for. I can still remember, like it was yesterday, him flailing his arms and shouting at me to watch where I was going then...Whamo!! I don't remember how bad it hurt, but I do remember that we didn't go home 'cause I wanted to keep riding!


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## jimmydean012 (Mar 31, 2007)

My first crash was not very memorable, just a slow speed OTB. My hardest/most painful crash just happened 2 days ago, and my hand is still telling me about it. I was riding a gnarly downhill section at the Kentucky Camp trail in AZ, when enough oil had leaked out of my fork to cause me to lose rebound damping. I also had severely diminished front brakes (from the oil getting all over the rim), and was unable to stop fast enough. Got bucked off the bike, fell down the embankment a ways... Good times.


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## KRob (Jan 13, 2004)

I don't even remember my last crash, let alone my first. A short memory for crashes and pain keeps me pushing hard and trying to advance......or, Maybe that's just stupidity or Alzheimer's.:skep:


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## Jisch (Jan 12, 2004)

I don't recall if it was my "first" crash, but I remember a spectacular crash at this spot about 20 years ago:









Well actually, about 20 yards down the trail from that spot. Me on my fully rigid bike, I tried to ride over one of the squarish, black rocks and didn't quite make it. OTB I went landing on my knees on the rocks. Ouch, I tell you.

I got up and my buds went back to investigate the scene of the accident. I left a bit of my knee skin on two rocks, which you could clearly see afterwards, little hunks of hamburger with hair sticking out of them. Yuck.

I did the rest of the ride (another hour or so) got home and hobbled around for a week. It was painful. After that I pledged never to crash again and I have kept that promise to this day. (yeah right).

John


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## Three Phase (May 15, 2006)

I have eaten it on rough go before. It,s not a good place to do a Pete Rose head first dive over the bars let me tell you. Those big rocks are unforgiving. :madman: 

I remember my first crash, riding down the street thinking my dad was holding on to the back of my seat keeping me upright, only to look back and realize he wasnt running with me anymore.....then, (smack) face plant to the asphalt.... oh to be 6 again.:thumbsup:

TP


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## lownslo (Mar 28, 2007)

I was comming down from this 90ft. jump and splat or wait was that when i jumped out of the plane?..... any who all I remember is going between two trees and waking up in the e.r. Oh what fun haha. but just a minor concussion!


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

*My first no MTB crash*

Well, when I was four, a family friend gave me a red 16'' bike. My house was on a hill side. One day I took that bike and went down hill on the road beside my house losing control and jumping a 6' drop landing on a top of a shack, no injuries at all.,My mother was screaming like crazy, she took my bike and chained inside the shack and I never saw it again ...


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## Beolin (Apr 19, 2006)

10 years old, bmx bike, no helmet, chain falls off riding down a hill with no brakes, 6 foot drop at the end of the hill, large boulders at the bottom of the drop, picking up speed, faster faster, I see a skinny little tree right before the edge and I bail and try to grab the tree. I think the tree grabbed me actually, my bike ended up over the edge, but I stayed above. I like trees.


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## seis66 (Nov 17, 2006)

My first Urban DH attempt with one of my girlfriend's best friend in Sept 06. I had a Raleigh Mojave 4.0with a fork that had written "I suck" in the bottles, and my friend a Kona Stinky. 
It took me three attempts to fly over the bar, hitting my right shin with the seat - which I bent totally. I coudn't ride for a month and I just started to feel that part of my leg 2 months ago. Oh, memories....


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## Ben99r1 (Jan 26, 2007)

Not the first but the best one. Coming down a fireroad size trail that had ruts and rock all over. I told my self not to go into the ruts. Well that was right where I was heading for. The front wheel came to a dead stop at about 30mph. Sending me over the bars head first. I was in the air for so long I was able to tell myself that I better try to flip over or will be in trouble. When I land luckly on my back I was 30 feet from where the bike first stopped. I landed on a rock that I thought for sure had cause my kidney to bleed. When the 1st person that stopped ask me if I was ok. I answered by asking him if my kidney area was puple or red. That day I was given the nick name "KING TACO". Which is perfect for me because I am Mexican/American and tacod the hell out of the rim. I will never live that down with my riding friends. Ben AKA "KING TACO" After the endo pic http://www.pmbc.org/gallery/v/Ray/Turnbul+8/IMG_001919.jpg.html


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## nOOby (Jul 20, 2007)

first one this week, or ever?


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## carrot_top (Aug 22, 2007)

well...i havent crashed too much...in fact, i havent crashed at all since i started riding markham a few weeks ago...i know im not riding fast/hard enough, but my bike usually breaks before i can get that far...i did almost go over the bars one time when i was quickly approaching a small steep downhill section when a bug flew in my mouth and i lost concentration trying to spit it out when i went over the downhill too fast and lost my footing on my pedals...i ended up running with the bike between my legs for about 10-15 feet before i was able to stop...

but my first crash happened along time ago...i was only about 7-8 (or something like that) so i dont remember much, but i think what happened is a lost control going really fast on a dirt/loose rock feild and scraped my leg up pretty bad...although that field is now a bunch of houses now...


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## Hiramson (Aug 5, 2007)

nOOby said:


> first one this week, or ever?


:shocked:  :lol:


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## nOOby (Jul 20, 2007)

if legs could talk they would tell a sordid tale


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## KeepTheRubberSideDown (Dec 1, 2006)

I do remember some of my earlier and harder crashes that I have had on my bike. One that sticks out in my mind was crashing into a big hole in the middle of the trail. Well off to the side. But it was huge my whole bike fit in it!


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## sacto (Aug 30, 2006)

*over the bars*

I was in a duathlon race... not paying attention, hit a root, over the bars - THUD. I laid there for a moment laughing at myself as 4-5 folks went by asking if I was OK. My body was fine, my pride was just a little thrashed.

First crash ever? As a kid, bit it hard on the pavement, had road rash on my FACE... I'll have to see if I can find that picture!


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## corndogggy (Apr 20, 2004)

First bad crash was when I first learned to halfway bunny hop. I hopped too early when coming up to a bridge that had no transition, only an 8" platform squared off. My front wheel came down too early and landed right in the corner. It launched me face first onto the bridge faster than I thought was possible, just immediately I landed squarely on my nose. To add insult to injury, my bike came over and landed on my back. Somehow I was still clipped in, or at least tangled up, so I couldn't move. I was about knocked silly anyway, just laying there motionless for a few minutes face down with a bike mangled up on my back.


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## Acme54321 (Oct 8, 2003)

I was 10 and I slammed into a thorny palmetto, 38 stitches later I was good to go.


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## Brown_Teeth (Jan 15, 2004)

Mine was at 9, new xmas bike, paved steep hill right after the snow melted. Like april and all that sand they put down all winter made for nice carving skids. OTB low side and face first, ground down and cracked my two front teeth, chin took a might hit but I didn't get knocked out. Rode home and Mom after the initial scream was not happy for days, I'd just sneak out and ride.


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## k0y0te (Oct 29, 2006)

Belive it or not, my first was in 1980. Pre-helmet days, and I was 3 years old. My mom had an old 10 speed with a banana seat clamped to the top tube (for me) and a child seat on the back (for my 1 year old brother). We were coasting down a fairly long hill when my foot got caught in the front spokes. Not sure how fast we were going, but i've been told that we flipped twice before pavement skidding to a stop. 

I have to admit, i don't remember the crash, but i do remember the fireman cutting the spokes out of the front wheel to get my foot out. lucky for us, nobody was seriously injured (my cowboy boots did a good job of holding my foot on). 

the moral of the story, always keep your boots on.... ummmm and a helmet.


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## mb_ (Jun 5, 2006)

First crash I remember was when I was 9 or 10, me and the neighborhood kids were playing a fun little game. 2 of us would ride our bikes toward each other. As we made a pass, the kid on the sidewalk would throw a stick at our wheels to try to crash us. Me and my buddy both dodged the same way and hit head on. That was my first exposure to slow-mo crash memory, and that weird feeling you get when you smash your face into something.

Another memorable one was in my road racing days. I was clipping right along about 25 mph through an intersection when a lady thought "it's just a bike" and turned left right in front of me. My cool self was fully decked in lycra shorts, Oakleys, and Axo cleats - no, socks, shirt, or helmet. I did a nice flip over the hood of her car and landed flat on my back in the middle of the intersection. As she is trying to drive off, she asks if I'm OK. I reply, "(wheeez)." Trashed my Pinarello.


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## LyNx (Oct 26, 2004)

Guess my first crash would have been as a kid about 10 years old trying to get away from my bro swinging hard left onto a gravel road a wiping out, getting gravel rash all up my left leg. Then finding out 1 year later that indent I had in my upper thigh actually was housing a small (1/8") pebble.

First MTB crash since I started MTBing on a real MTB was on wet tarmac full of mud and cost me quite a bit in physio bills to get my shoulder back in order after the "auto" arm out reaction and pulling the muscles under my shoulder blade.


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## Psycho Mike (Apr 2, 2006)

I remember my first "real" crash that actually left a scar. Sixty-Fiver and I had been out for a fairly good ride and were heading back along some MUTs to go back to his car. He was leading and we were both flying low as the light was fading fast.

We came around a blind corner that leads to a pretty good climb and just as I'm about to come through, I hear "Oh Sh!t!!!" from 65'er. Some homeless person had left their shopping cart right in the middle of the trail. 65'er bailed one way, I realized I wasn't going to be able to stop or bunny hop it, so I bailed the other way. Managed a little gravel rash on one of my elbows.

Gotta say, that was the last thing I would have expected to almost run into on the trail.


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## lidarman (Jan 12, 2004)

Actually I don't. Sixteen stitches and a concussion. I just remember being at my parents house 10 hrs after the accident wondering what happened. I did remember weird visuals like I was having a dream about being in the hospital with a facial laceration.

All I know is that it was 1986 before lawyer tabs, and my front wheel on my Bridgestone MB-3 came off somehow.


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## zrm (Oct 11, 2006)

I'm not sure I remember my first crash, but I sure remember my first _bad_ crash. I was flying down the Humbug hill hillclimb after the race with a couple guys (the road is a jeep raod that climbs almost 900 vertical in .8 miles, so it's _steep_) when I got crossed up my front wheel. I slammed so hard that I thought I broke my pelvis. No fractures, but to this day, 23 years later, I still have the hematoma on my hip. I've had lots of crashes with lots of lost skin -but never a broken bone - and bruise's since then, but that crash still ranks near the top in terms of hard body slams.


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## Jorgemonkey (Mar 10, 2004)

My first MTB crash I can remember was in 2001 I was riding down a rocky trail at Monte Sereno in Huntsville, AL and I was heading down a trail for the second time, going faster than the first. I bunny hopped a rock, didn't look where I was going, hit the second rock with the rear tire, which allowed me to ride a nose wheelie until I hit the third rock. That rock sent me OTB, sliding on my knees over rocky terrain into a tree. Chipped my kneecap on that one, and a pinchflat


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## TheotherH (Jan 21, 2004)

Lesson: don't wear white pants riding a bike. 

I was about 11 years old, riding home on my five speed on a paved road with gravel shoulders. Was going too fast for a corner and wiped out. I think I was crying harder over the fact I'd have to face the music at home for having ripped and bloodied my nice white pants than the fact I had a gashed a hole in my knee (and that scar is still there).


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## Petrol (Aug 7, 2007)

my first 'Real-Mountain-Bike' crash?

sure... it was the first time I rode it, and the first time I had ever worn 'clipless-pedals'


nothing spectacular, but plenty embarassing...

just an entertaining topple as I stopped to allow a female rider approaching from the oppisate direction pass


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## btadlock (Oct 3, 2005)

*no, not at all*

in my "adult" phase of riding, which has been the last 24 years, can't recall the first, but I have acquired a litany of scars, 3 shoulder separations, mild concussion and a broken arm.


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## Dragoneyes (Aug 12, 2007)

As a kid it was at least once a month. We used to jump our sting rays over all sorts of stuff before suspension was even thought of. I remember jumping over this mound of dirt that was at the bottom of a hill on my street. I ended up busting my frame and my nads. Fortunately, It didn't sterilize me so I have kids. As an adult my worse crash I had 2 broken ribs and 2 bruised kidneys. Peeing blood for a week sucked...


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## nynx (Mar 1, 2007)

All I can remember is the Hutch beartrap and the Crupi cage.... Man those things were sharp!


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## TheMauler (Aug 13, 2007)

*Oh boy do i remember my first crash*

was on my first ride on the first turn, it was some loose dirt i slid i went over the bars and tumbled, it sucked but eh what are you gonna do


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## strangeland2 (Apr 8, 2006)

First significant crash was when i was about 4. Riding my bike around a roundish stone picnic table. Ended up going to fast and turning to low and tight and smacked my head on a corner of one of the stone benches. That was about 2 weeks after getting stitches removed from a screw on a jungle gym sticking in the otherside of my head. The next significant crash (about 10) was riding a friends GT Freestyle (I think thats what they were called) down a huge hill with no hands. Sure enough the whole front end was loose add to the beat up country road we were on and sure enough over the bars down the pavement on my face I went. Fortunately for me It was one of those paved road they used to coat with oil and throw sand on so there was plenty of sand and peebles to embed in all the road rash. The nurse almost got sick from scrubbing them. As it turns out I was quite the shade of white by the time it was done also. To the doctors every day for about 2 weeks for bandages changed it sucked pretty good. 

As far as mtb crash they all kind of blend together so I dont remember it.


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## Anonymous (Mar 3, 2005)

Hell I'm so old,I don't remember my _last_ crash.


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## DM-SC (Jan 12, 2004)

My first real crash was on asphalt when I was 13. I was riding my bike down our street (it was down hill) and a dog ran across the street in front of me. Over the bars I went! I had a concussion and other wounds from that one.

My first real dirt crash was a LONG time later...I was 35 at the time. Again, going down hill, I hit a brand new water bar and over the bars I went! This time, I broke my right collar bone into four pieces...


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## Dave In Florida (Apr 4, 2007)

I remember my first "serious" crash because it just happened Monday. My wife and I hit the local paved bike trail since we got rained out of dirt riding all weekend. We got to the turn around point and while waiting for my wife to refill her water bottle, I saw a 6" curb up to a concrete side walk that looked like I could practice my bunny hopping on. So I build up a bit of speed and head right at the curb. As I was flying through the air, I was kinda wondering if I made it and what was actually happening, then I started tumbling. That answered the question of whether I made it or not :lol: 

I got some pretty nasty road rash on my knee and elbow, and my knee is swollen and "tight" feeling even now. It was a lesson learned though, I won't be "trying" anything new without a helmet and pads from now on.


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## CraigH (Dec 22, 2003)

Yup, my first big one anyway.

In the early 90's a friend of mine lived in Whistler. I was up there visiting him and we decided to ride up to Rainbow Lake (which was allowed back then).

This was back in the days of rigid HTs with skinny tires and no armour. I crashed so many times on the descent by the time I got down to the bottom I was bleeding from every limb.

I was picking gravel out of the wounds on my elbow for years. I still have scars from that ride too.


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## CraigH (Dec 22, 2003)

First bike crash wasn't long after I learned to ride a bike.

We lived at the top of a hill, and as it was a new subdivision the road was still gravel. I'm guessing I washed out on the gravel as I ended up with a gravel rashed face, I remember my parents cleaning the wound... and the scabs all over my face.

This was back in the days before bike helmets.


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## CraigH (Dec 22, 2003)

I have a vauge recollection of knocking myself out riding a bike a kid.
We were camping at a provincial park that was surrounded by a bunch of trails and gravel roads. Some how I crashed and knocked myself out. I remember some people in a motor home stopping and me riding back to the campsite.


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## CraigH (Dec 22, 2003)

As a kid I almost got killed by a dumptruck while riding. We lived close to the edge of town which meant there were lots of trails which we spent all our spare time riding. 

Came out of a trail and onto the street with out looking. Unfortunately a dump truck was heading up the street at the same time. I bounced off his front bumper, leaving a mark in the dust. 

I remember someone (site foreman, drivers boss?) walking me home towards my parents place, luckily I was able to convince him not to go all the way.

My parents heard about the incident anyway through the small town grapevine.


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## burtronix (Jun 5, 2006)

First significant bike crash was on my way home from a Little League game on my Sears stingray (metal-flake maroon) some time in the late 1960's. Our neighbor's dog came out to chase me & ran right in front of me. I hit the coaster brake & skidded the rear tire, but still hit the dog & flew over the handlebars. The dog broke my fall & I only had a small scrape on my hand. But the poor dog got it twice - once from the front wheel & once from me. He didn't seem to suffer any permanent damage, but I don't remember him chasing bikes anymore.

First significant mountain-bike crash was earlier this year after switching to clipless pedals. I tried to wheelie & flipped it over on myself.


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## Mikecito (Jun 2, 2007)

I just had my first "adult" crash yesterday since I got back into the sport. 
I read this thread in the morning, then went up to Galbraith Mt in the afternoon and pulled a superman after grabbing too much front brake on a little drop off in a turn (ultra noob move)
So I blame this thread for psyching me out and making me crash, and you each owe me a dollar to help replace my destroyed shirt


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## Christine (Feb 11, 2004)

Dad was teaching me to ride w/o training wheels, out in the street while holding the back of the banana seat. Suddenly I look back and realize he had let go :eekster: Oh crap, oh crap.....can't steer.....kept riding straight and directly into the back of a parked car. He came running over but I don't recall any injuries.


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## kcavtca (Mar 27, 2005)

The first crash I recall was 7yrs old or so. I had an orange flag on a 3ft fiberglass flexi-pole mounted to the rear axle to make me visible to cars. I was flying down a neighbor's long downhill driveway trying to go fast as i could and look at how the flag flapped...yeah, real smart. The driveway was lined every 10yrds or so with a basketball sized rock. Whammo, OTB and into a heap, but no permanant damage.

This thread is on its way to becoming stickyworthy next to "lamest bike injury" in the Rider Down forum.

-kcavt


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## walrus (Feb 13, 2004)

I remember the ones that resulted in broken bones or surgery. And the first one with clipless pedals.


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## SnowMongoose (Feb 18, 2007)

Heh...
Had just finished setting up my first SS bike since the time I was about four feet tall.
Halfway down the block, stand up and hit it.
Two pedal strokes later, chain comes off thanks to totally buggered chainline, sending me doooooown onto the pavement.
Bike 1, Rider 0


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## ryguy79 (Apr 12, 2007)

heck no.


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## jollybeggar (Feb 2, 2004)

*Slow but ouch!*

Everybody's had those slow speed crashes right! where you just stall and fall over.
I'm riding one of the easiest trails in our area, (rooty but fairly tame) going super slow about 50rpm when a root spike catches my front wheel and stops it dead. The root worked like a lever and pivoted me and the bike straight into the ground. It happened so fast I had no time to even do my normal flailing, smack I hit the ground with my hand still clutching the grip, my elbow driven into my ribs. I lay there gasping for air for I don't no how long, finally I pick myself up, pick up the bike climbed aboard and pedaled back to my car whincing at every breath. Only briused ribs but it hurt for a week, hurt to laugh, hurt to breath, it just hurt period.

Just one of many crashes but the most painfull. Bruised ribs suck!

Happy Trails
Jolly


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## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

It wasn't a crash so much as a fall, but my first one was my very first ride on a mtb in 1983. I was 'borrowing' (actually I didn't ask) my brothers bike and had a small fall and scratched the bike. I was concerned that my brother would have a fit about the scratches, but never noticed. heh-heh.

Pinguwin


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## nagatahawk (Jun 20, 2007)

I just purchase a Trek Y3 Y Frame full suspension bike. I was a couple of block from my house and was trying to transition from the street onto a driveway. Sounds simple? lol
I hit the drive way on an slight angle, the tires ware brand new and had a coating of slicone on them. the tires slipped on the driveway lip and I crashed on my right side. very embarrasing!

Most embarrasing was when I was riding on the sidewalk looking across the street. and failed to see the hole in the side walk in time. I fell on my shoulder and head. my shoulder still gives me problems today. Impact on the helmet cut me above the eybrow and cause the eye to swell a little. The next day I was starting a new job in a law firm! I showed up with a band aid over my eybrow. and I couldn raise my left arm. They told me later they thought I was in a fight. Great!!!
I got other embarassing crashes. more blood and pain!!!


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## corec (Jul 29, 2007)

My first crash was on my first bike the first time I ever rode it. I was however old kids are when you get them their first bike, and Dad had just finishished slapping the training wheels on my shiny red Huffy. He goes inside to get wife and camera, I can't wait and take off down the oh-so-steep driveway at a not-so-good angle. Twenty feet and one wipe-out later, I'm on the way to the hospital with my first broken arm. I can still remember staring at that darn bike for three months without being able to get on it.

After that, I was in 2nd grade and it was my brother and I racing down the sidewalk to be the first one over a handmade plywood / cinderblock jump on our twin Murray 2000's. I guess he thought it would be a good idea to assure his victory by giving me a little kick to the frame right near the end. That tree might be ok, but I swear my broken nose healed crooked. Sadly, I didn't learn and lost the same race again in the same way about a month later. Mom took our jumping block away.


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## corndogggy (Apr 20, 2004)

Actually I just remembered, my first crash was when I was 10. It was the first time I had ever been on a mountain bike. I took my dad's bike on an old dirt road behind our house then realized those 10 speeds go alot faster than my BMX bike. On my way back to the house I was hammering hard. I got next to the tall weeds in the field next to my yard, and my beagle dog walked out in front of me. I didn't even have time to consider what to do, I just ran him over, wheels went right over his midsection and me, the dog, and the bike just rolled several times. Shirt got all torn up but that's about it. I was probably going alot slower than it felt like.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Went today for a short ride with my son on my commute bike. I crashed on the road side because I forgot to tight the handlebars when I build it. What a silly mistake, had no wounds, just a lot of leaves on my shirt ... Was my first time on that bike...


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## dgaddis1 (Jul 1, 2007)

I had mannnnny bike crashes as a young kid, don't remember the first. But, back then I spent more time on my bike than I did walking around. My worst crash, I still remember, it was my freshman year of highschool. I was riding a Trek BMX set up for flatland, aka, very low gearing. I was riding at a BMX race track (for the first time) and I couldn't clear the first table top, which was about 20' from take off to landing. So, I started way back in the parking lot, pedaled as hard as I could, flew through a picnic area, through the starting gates, and off the launch, and I thought "I'M GONNA MAKE IT!!" And I did...well, I made it to the landing anyhow. My feet blew off the pedals, and I slid about 10 or 15 feet on the side of my head and my sholder. I had a helmet on (thank God!), but no other protection gear. I had a HUGE scrape on my sholder, and it had puss ozzing out for two days. I couldn't even wear a t-shirt until it scabbed up, so I missed a few days of school. Had a good story when I got back to school though.


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## mrpercussive (Apr 4, 2006)

not really... i do remember the first one which i put me off my bike for 3 weeks due to a tacoed wheel though...


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## jarrod7219 (Jul 23, 2006)

So, I was 11 or so, and the family decided to go for a group ride to a small park near our house. we get there, and my dad wants to ride up, then down the steep hill. So, I decide to go with him. Up we go. So I make it up first, and decide to go down first.
I get going really fast, and start to get scared, so I slowly start applying the brakes, and realize the rear end is coming around; I let up, and get scared again, and pull on the brakes. Unfortunately, this time I held on for too long, and when the back end came around, it went too far, and the bike, and I went soaring in the air, and tumbled for many feet.
I still don't remember anything from the ride home, but I do remember standing in front of our house, and asking my mom, "where are we?" Off to the hospital we went.
BTW, this is everything I remember, and alot of things have been added in by family members who were there, as I don't really remember much from that whole day.

This was in no means my first, but one I will never forget.
The first one I remember was caused by a Big Wheel, and a friend. Big Wheel pedal vs. bike spokes equals un-concious trip to the hospital, with major road rash on my face, and not waking up for over eight hours.


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## MichH (Jul 28, 2006)

I musta fallen as a kid, but my first MTB fall was 2-3 months after getting a bike. Riding down a looong dirt road, a bit faster than I shoul've, when there was a dropoff from erosion. I still remember braking and looking through the line, so sure I'd make it. Problem was I'd moved forward on the bike for more 'control' and OTB I went. Taco'd the front wheel, dislocated my shoulder, doc tore it to Level 4, 5 months until I could ride again. When asked "Are you giving it up?", my answer was "HELL NO!!"

Most recent, Sunday's front wheel washout. Bent both rims. Casualty said my neck was fine but it sure hurt the next day!


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## nagatahawk (Jun 20, 2007)

I hate the front wheel wash out!!! the next hated is front wheel into a hole!


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*well....*



HTR4EVR said:


> Last crashes are welcome...


except the LAST last crash, knowwhadimean?

My first crash was when I was 4 or 5 and learning to ride my older sister's bike, a purple Sting Ray with ape hangar bars. Of course, it was WAY too big for me. Somebody forgot to connect the strap to the coaster brake. Naturally, nobody wore helmets back in the 70s, especially kids.

I went to apply the brake, the back wheel spun around and it shot me OTB and flat on my face on the sidewalk.

When I got back into mountian biking in 2000, I was got ditched off the back of an after work ride. Pushing hard on the downs to catch up, I came across a log across the trail... maybe 12" in diameter. I tried to hop it, big ring ate into the log and dead stopped me... and I went OTB. It jacked up my back for a few days, and had scrapes on my arm and knee, but I lived.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

My firs crash in Bidwell Park was a dead top fall over rocks with the cleats on, got a hole on my right knee, since then, I'm using knee protectors...


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## Walt Dizzy (Aug 18, 2003)

1st remembered crash: At about 5-6 years old I was riding my older sister's girl's bike around the driveway. Because the garage was set sideways to the slope of the hill, the concrete apron in front had an exposed edge on the downhill side. I was confident that the big wheels I was riding would take me up over the small end of this dropoff, but I wobbled and hit the big end instead. The bike stopped but I continued forward, and my groin slammed into the downtube/headtube area. Had to get the pee-pee checked out by Mom, who decided despite the blood there was no need to go to the doctor.

The next memorable crash, in some ways my all-time champion, was the time I decided to ride down the Big Hill (paved) with no-hands. There was a rock in the middle of the road I was sure I could steer around. I hit the pavement hard enough to bounce into a 180 vertical flip onto my back. The doctor insisted on pulling out the flap of skin that my teeth had punched into the inside of my mouth.

Years later I was transporting a tape recorder to my home by bicycle on the same route. Somehow my feet slipped off the pedals and I negotiated the bottom part of the hill sitting on my top tube steering one handed. I got the bike to the edge of the road then dove off into the grass, twisting as I fell so I wouldn't land on the tape recorder. It and I survived with minor scratches.

Most of my MTB crashes have been pretty lame in comparison.

Walt


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## Gary H (Dec 16, 2006)

I only remember one crash. 1974 at Ascott Park's MX track.


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## Killroy (Mar 9, 2006)

Jisch said:


> John


Shoot, you have a lot of junk in your trunk (back pack). What are you commuting?


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## WorldWind (Oct 31, 2006)

It was a nice enough day, a tad on the cool side with the smell of new cut lawn in the air. I had made a couple of really significant passes on my brand new bike, each one faster than the last. It felt good, and it peddled like a dream. I had made big sweeping turns at the end of each pass but when I made the sharp turn into the driveway the inboard training wheel folded and I went down hard. There was screaming there were tears and there was a frantic wringing of hands all by my mother, but she did stay up on the porch as my father has requested. 
“How do you feel?” asked my dad calmly. “Do you need a band-aid for that?” 
I rolled my eyes and said “No!” wiping some dirt from my palm onto my bleeding elbow. “Can we take these stupid things off now?” I said kicking at the bolt on abominations that had been foisted upon me Just Because I Didn’t Yet Know How To Ride a Two Wheel.
“Sure, I’ll get the wrench.”


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## Truckee Trash (Sep 18, 2007)

Here goes. . . Lower Jackass Ridge in Tahoe. . . just started trying drops and jumps on my new Enduro Pro. . . previously just a casual cross country rider on a Kikapu. . .

Took a 5 to 6 foot boulder drop and nailed it, did it again and went endo, breaking the front brake. 5 minutes later down the trail there was a steep downhill section in some super loose Tahoe Sand, lined up a launch from the end of the downhill, which was the steepest part and said **** it and went for it. Didn't really control my speed and hit it flying. . . came up off the bike and my feet lost the pedals. Fell to the right, foot, then hip (which took most of the impact), then my head (which took the rest of it). . . shattered my helmet (which Fox wouldnt replace) and knocked my self silly. Didnt know where I was or what I was doing the rest of the ride down. Adding insult to injury i busted my seat so I had to ride either standing up or rather crookedly through some quite technical terrain. Nothing that a few Wet Woodies from Garwoods wouldnt fix.


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

No, nor do I remeber the preceding 10 minutes thanks to the concussion. Where a helmet kids. 


But I will say the next 6-8 weeks with one arm in a cast and the other in a sling sucked.


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## Maniak84 (Sep 9, 2007)

I think I was about 8 riding my cousins Frankenstein bike. I think my uncle had just gone to the dump and found parts and made the thing. Anyways this bike was still the coolest because one of my older cousins had a batman stencil and sprayed a nice bright yellow batman symbol on the seat. Ahh the batman bike... we were going along t he dirt road that they lived on and planning on going swimming at a small pond about 2 miles down the road. I was keeping up with my other two cousins, but i kept noticing the front wheel doing this cool wobbly thing whenever i shook the handle bars. I played with the wobble a bit before i decided to do a bunnyhop over this small pothole in the road. That bunny hop was so clean I totally cleared the pothole and then it was like a cartoon where you see what happened but you don't accept it. So yeah I watched the front tire keep rolling along just fine and then the fork ground into the dirt road and I went OTB and down a 6' bank landing with a nice faceplant into the mud at the side of the little stream. My cousins were all amazed and shocked. The injury wasn't too bad and we just slapped the wheel back on and went swimming. ah that was a good day.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Any new crash adventure out there?


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## longman (May 9, 2007)

*5 years old...*

on my Raleigh Budgie looking for my cousin's missing dog. There was a 5 foot height difference (not quite a drop)between the pub car park and the school field but there was rocky singletrack so I thought I could ride it....it was steeper than it looked and when I hit the bottom I went OTB, the bike landed on top of me and the brake lever went THROUGH MY CHEEK! Got a ride home from some random guy stumbling out of the pub, yeah genius move I know, My old man sh!t himself when I took my hand away from the hole! He was pissed because he was getting ready to go to the pub and now he had to take me to the hospital. Went to the hospital with what seemed like half my cheek hanging open, got 13 stitches, 7 on the inside, I still remember seeing the surgeon putting this needle in my mouth, pulling the thread through the hole and yanking on my cheek like he'd just hooked a fish!!!

That was the first of many


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## G.G. (Jul 16, 2006)

First real mtb crash, yup. 1990, riding my MB-3, it was an endo coming from a small jump at speed to a relatively flat transition. I managed to leap frog over the bars and land running. I was hooked. It was also later on that ride I experienced my front end washing out on a fast loose decent. I went down, sliding head first. A very surreal moment, where time slowed... coming to a stop about an inch from a decent sized boulder. An equally powerful moment. And still hooked.


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## Calvissimo (Oct 7, 2007)

I was going downhill on a fire road and got the front tire into a rut. I just sort of steered myself off the bike. The chain popped off and a passerby asked me if I could fix the chain. I said, "Well, apart from just putting it back on, no." :thumbsup:


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## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

It wasn't my first crash but it's extremely rare, maybe twice in 24 years, that I've gone over the bars. One time flew over the bars, onto my back, landing on soft pine needles landing right between to rocks about 3' feet across. Someone said, "God was with you because you landed between those rocks." I replied, "If God was with me, I'd still be on the bike, riding home to a couple of beautiful bimbos who thought I was the smartest, funniest, most talented bike rider that ever lived....but it ain't gonna happen that way."

Pinguwin

P.S. I'm neither a glass half empty or full type. I don't even have a glass.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Around 1970 I thought I would take up bike riding. Someone gave me an old Schwinn Varsity, the first 10-speed I ever rode (I was 24 years old).

On my first ride I went OTB on a main street to the amusement of many, and then I got bitten by a dog on my way home.

As it turned out, it's the only time a dog ever bit me while I was riding, but on that day it was 100% of my rides, and I seriously questioned whether I wanted to keep doing it.

I didn't quit bike riding, and after I took up off-road riding I managed to crash a lot of times and rack up a reasonably impressive list of injuries. I have also broken at least one of every part that comes on a bicycle.

Worst injury was from skateboarding in a pool, a broken leg when I was 33 years old in 1979. I have always been the oldest person I know about who skated vertical.


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## trekbuddy (Aug 31, 2007)

By no means my first crash but deffinitely one of my most memorable. I was probably 9 or 10 years old and I just had to have the coolest BMX bike in the world. Does anyone remember when manufactures decided it was a good idea to do full plastic discs that covered both sides of the spokes on the wheels? I had to have one! Black Huffy with solid white wheels! She was a beauty! About three days after taking her home we go to do some jumps. It was probably 50' steep downhill to a ditch with a sharp lip on the other side landing on a paved road. You could get some great air! I remember getting some great speed, starting into the ditch and thinking, "this is going to be a sweet jump!" Needless to say as soon as the wheels left the lip I got the gust of wind from the Gods! Took both wheels out from under me. Next thing I remember is sitting on the other side of the road spitting blood on the ground. 

I had road rash on pretty much every exposed part of skin and had bit my bottom lip thus the blood. The bike held up well. I took the discs off after that........


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## theHIP (Jan 17, 2004)

*i sure do-*

i was 4 or 5 and on my schwinn cruiser a neighbor had just given me. my dad pushed me down the hill that was our driveway. the driveway had a curve and he didn't go over steering with me, so i went straihgt ahead into the van at the bottom of the hill. OUCH! he made me get back on and go again as soon as i was done crying.


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## Mattlos (Nov 26, 2006)

*First and Worst Crash*

I do fondly remember my first crash. It was my first ride on my brand new Rocky Mountain Oxygen Race and I just rode up Smuggler and down the Hunter Creek Valley in Aspen. The ride was going fine, until I entered a sidewalk on the way back home. Coming into a right turn, my attention was not on the pavement, but on the ride I just completed, when WHAM!!, the bike came out from under me and I went down hard. Tore up the side of my right arm and leg and created the first scratches on my shiny, brand new blue bike.

Worst crash ever - Riding Zippidity-do-dah in Fruita. On a downhill, I hit a rock protruding from the right side of trail. Endo'ed into another rock. Broke my right collar bone, a few ribs, collapsed a lung, and destroyed my helmet. 
Both rocks are still there and I now race that bike on packed trails.


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## CougarTrek (Jan 27, 2007)

*Yup, and they are the same crash!*

It's somewhat hard to forget your first real crash when you still have the scar to look at every day  . First time I ever attempted to roll over a log of any consequence. I overdid trying to get the weight off my rear tire, front wheel stopped dead, and I nearly went over the bars. Managed to avoid that, but I rolled the whole thing sideways and forgot to let go of the darn bike!!! I had every major component tattooed on my body; the worst of which was the 5 stripe chain ring gauge on my calf.

I haven't done that since 

I'm sure you all have much better stories with broken bones, gore, and such.


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## ISUPsyclones (Feb 3, 2004)

*One to add, cuz who doesn't love crash stories?*

Of course the first major one was on the ole' Mongoose BMX when I was about 12 (which I still have btw). We built a jump that consisted of a sheet of thick plywood and a picnic table. We used this rudimentary tabletop to jump the neighbors backyard fence. For some reason this got to be old hat after a couple successful runs, so we started moving it back (what did we think was gonna happen?). One run I skipped my rear tire off the top of the fence but still landed it pretty clean. The next one, (its always the next one isn't it?) from a little further back, I stuck my front tire right on the top bar of the fence. I launched, landed a few feet from a big tree (which I was very gateful for) and was relatively fine considering the circumstances until.....the bike caught up to me. I'm not real sure which part hit me, but it opened a nasty gash in my scalp right above my ear. My mom thought I had torn my ear off since it was so soaked in blood. Ah, good times.


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## dtrek4500 (May 7, 2004)

Oh you just had to ask, well here it goes, this all happened when I was about 12, and me and my friend were hitting this jump that we built in the middle of the road in front of my house. So I was riding my mom's crappy huffy, and everything was going fine and we were all having a grand old time. So we went up and got some drinks, so the smart guy I was, I decided to hit the jump one handed while drinking the water out of the glass with my other hand while hitting the jump. So I went off the jump, the front tire once it hit the road turned resulting in the wheel digging into the road and throwing me right into the jump collar bone first. I was lucky I did not break anything, but it was badly brused, and my ego was gone. Good times...:thumbsup:


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## Nathan Cloud (Jul 18, 2005)

Can't say I remember my first, but I do remember my first with a suspension fork. Probably 1995ish (?), got a new Specialized Stumpjumper with a sweet Rock Shox Mag 21 fork - first ride out I rode right into a smallish rock a few seconds into the ride, the fork compressed to nothing and I went right over my bars. 

Then I thought to myself, "huh, that was different".

Good times.


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## Idriver (Nov 14, 2007)

First crash worth remembering was in 1997, on Gary Fisher hartail. I was riding in Tallahassee, Fl. while skipping class. On a short narrow fast downhill section I hooked a bar end on a vine and my bike momentarily stopped, I kept going. Somehow my left leg got stuck in the frame and when I hit the ground I skinned both forearms and felt a searing pain in my left shin. 

End result was a bent handle bar, a bent bar end, 2 skinned arms, 1 broken leg and missed a review for next exam. Since then I've never ridden a bike with bar ends again.

I've always wondered if I rode faster would I have missed that vine.


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## The SS Boz (Apr 12, 2004)

I can remember the trail in general, the year (95), but I cant remember exactly where on the trail and why.

The thing that I remember most is how invincible I felt after I crashed. I think adrenaline pushed me to ride harder after the crash....still does today. :thumbsup:


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## Sisco_28601 (Mar 16, 2007)

Although I am sure I had plenty of bike related crashes as a kid, the first memorable one on a mountain bike goes back to 1997 in Snowshoe WV.

On my Schwinn HT (1 or 1.5 inches of travel can't remember...) I felt I needed speed to ride over the baby heads on a long downhill. Suddenly the trail veers straight down the hill and I have no time to adjust. My front wheel plants itself into a large boulder and OTB I go. I land a few feet down my thigh sideways across a large tree laying on the ground. My bike flies over my head and lands even lower...


I remember a large greapfruit-sized bruise on that thigh a few weeks after... :skep:


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Thank you guys, very nice stories...


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

*I should know better*

I crashed last Thursday trying to clear some fallen branches, it was raining and I came to it with the innocence of the dry day maneuver.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Dec 2, 2005)

My first real crash is easy to remember.

I'm riding pretty fast around some sweeping turns on some decently smooth trail. I come up to a log pile that I've jumped many times before. It's only 10 inches or so high.. Well.. I ride over it quickly and launch my front tire. My back tire thumps the front of the log and pops me up onto my front wheel. I land on my front wheel pretty hard and instantly start a front flip endo. I get ejected and land on my back/neck. I open my eyes in time to see my bike coming down on top of me. I manage to put my arms up to catch it. The left pedal stops inches from my teeth.. (that would have sucked..)

I get up.. dust myself off.. I don't feel bad except my neck is a little stiff. I decide to slowly ride home.

A few hours later after getting cleaned up and such I'm sitting in my masters class with about 20 people... They all thought I was on drugs because I was acting funny.. The teacher asked if I was ok.. I told him about the wreck.. he laughed at me.

So... I walked around for a few days with a stiff neck but no real damage.. But I got a little disoriented for a while... Took me a few weeks to get over that log pile again.. that was 3 years ago almost.


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## Ska (Jan 12, 2004)

Yes.

Dad let go of the seat and I rode on. Since I couldn’t steer yet I went straight into the curb. I slid forward off the end of the banana seat and slammed my nuggets quite nicely on the stem. How can I forget?


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

I remember my first crash after I bought my first helmet (bell v1 pro, still have it sitting on a shelf)... endo'ed down a section of singletrack and went head-first thru a rock garden ironically. Scratched the hardshell of the helmet up nicely but that was about it.

I remember my first crash trying to do a jump... anyone who watches mythbusters and remembers the segment in the opening sequence of one of the mythterns jumping a cruiser and endo'ing will know what kind of crash I did myself back in oh, 1981 I guess. 

I remember my first animal related crash involved riding no-handed down a hill in a tuck with my hands behind my back, and a suicidal black squirrel trying to cross the street just as my wheel and its skull occupied the same point in the space-time continuum. A good amount of bruising and road-rash resulted from that.

I remember my first large animal crash quite vividly too, especially the endo and tumble down the trail, the racing heartbeat, and the crashing and moaning noises from the blackbear as it raced off into the woods after being impaled basically in the ribs by 200 pounds of 16 yr old and mountain bike from out of the darkness as he paused in the middle of the trail to eat from a berry bush. Lucky for both of us, this was before bar-ends existed. Because I just know otherwise either the bear or myself would have ended up worse for the impact... him taking a nice round steel or aluminium end of a bar into the body at 25-30mph and me probably catching myself on the things instead of cleanly missing the whole handlebar and top of the bear and ending up a good 40 feet down the trail by the time i stopped rolling.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

DeeEight said:


> I remember my first crash after I bought my first helmet (bell v1 pro, still have it sitting on a shelf)... endo'ed down a section of singletrack and went head-first thru a rock garden ironically. Scratched the hardshell of the helmet up nicely but that was about it.
> 
> I remember my first crash trying to do a jump... anyone who watches mythbusters and remembers the segment in the opening sequence of one of the mythterns jumping a cruiser and endo'ing will know what kind of crash I did myself back in oh, 1981 I guess.
> 
> ...


AMAZING:eekster:


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

*Newbee Crash*

Well, I remember someone else first crash. I was hiking on Cobble Stone Trail at Annadel State Park and three guys came down on the must technical part of the trail. One was riding a Kona DH Bike:thumbsup: , the second was riding a Walmart Bike:skep: and the third guy was riding a Target Bike:skep: . I her them coming and make my self to the side of the road to see them clear the technical stuff . The first did great, the second did Ok and the third has no idea how to break in such technical single track so he endo and landed with his bear head over the rocks. I ran to him, I saw his melon open , and ran downhill to catch his buddies. Neither one was using helmets:nono: . Finally I took the poor newbee guy to the ER. End of story.









Yes, it was right there...


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## knives out (Nov 23, 2007)

My first crash was me side swiping a parked car at the age of 10. I'm not sure I'm any more graceful on a bike now than I was then.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Any more first crashes out there?


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## Mikecito (Jun 2, 2007)

Mikecito said:


> I just had my first "adult" crash yesterday since I got back into the sport.
> I read this thread in the morning, then went up to Galbraith Mt in the afternoon and pulled a superman after grabbing too much front brake on a little drop off in a turn (ultra noob move)
> So I blame this thread for psyching me out and making me crash, and you each owe me a dollar to help replace my destroyed shirt


Wow, thread back from the dead! 4 yrs later and I almost wiped out in the same spot on yesterdays ride. Of course now it was from too much speed with my new FS rig. So far that first crash still rung my bell more than any other. Time fly's when your having fun!


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## Fix the Spade (Aug 4, 2008)

I remember mine well.

Riding my first bike, with stablisers and everything, down a path. I looked behind me to see where Dad was and a vicious tree leaped into my path and took me out, I'm telling you it moved!


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## dth656 (Feb 12, 2009)

HTR4EVR said:


> Any more first crashes out there?


mine was back in 1994---i had bought a new rockhopper (w/ alivio components!) to ride at university, and on weekends i'd ride it at annadel/howarth park in santa rosa. i was riding down the dike the separates the two parks, got going too fast, and went flying off the bike and scraped myself up. i had to lie there for a few minutes to get my wits about me, ha ha.

worst crash--last aug broke my arm in the south bay. heard a crunch, and my forearm was pointing in the wrong direction (very unpleasant).


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Mikecito said:


> Wow, thread back from the dead! 4 yrs later and I almost wiped out in the same spot on yesterdays ride. Of course now it was from too much speed with my new FS rig. So far that first crash still rung my bell more than any other. Time fly's when your having fun!


Please share a picture of the new rig...


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

dth656 said:


> mine was back in 1994---i had bought a new rockhopper (w/ alivio components!) to ride at university, and on weekends i'd ride it at annadel/howarth park in santa rosa. i was riding down the dike the separates the two parks, got going too fast, and went flying off the bike and scraped myself up. i had to lie there for a few minutes to get my wits about me, ha ha.
> 
> worst crash--last aug broke my arm in the south bay. heard a crunch, and my forearm was pointing in the wrong direction (very unpleasant).


Use to live in Santa Rosa. I know the park well...


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## ImaFred (May 16, 2009)

no but I remember yesterdays....ouch!


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## Mikecito (Jun 2, 2007)

HTR4EVR said:


> Please share a picture of the new rig...












Nothing fancy but it's a very fun bike!


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Nice...


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## ryguy135 (Sep 24, 2010)

Remember it all too well...


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## rotten1 (Jun 25, 2007)

*I don't remember my first crash.*

All that I remember was starting the turn at the top of the hill and waking up on the couch the next day. A neighbor found me lying in the street and carried me back home because I ran into a trailer at the bottom of the hill. Guess that I was about 5 years +/- old at the time, somewhere around '76. The bike was my older sister's hand me down with a sissy bar that went way above my head. Doubt there was such a thing as a "mountain bike" at that time, let alone a helmet. First of three concussions that I have given to myself.


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## Speeding Glacier (Apr 2, 2011)

No. But once I got out of intensive care the helmet cam footage was awesome!


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## ryguy135 (Sep 24, 2010)

Speeding Glacier said:


> No. But once I got out of intensive care the helmet cam footage was awesome!


POST IT!!!


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## Bro (Dec 20, 2010)

My first real crash... riding down the canyon road somewhere in Nevada, it was just outside Elko. The headset decided to fvck with me at speed, and OTB I went... I used my helmet as a brake pad on the pavement, I did. :thumbsup: I also broke a rib, but didn't find out till a year later, when I went in for a chest X-ray for pneumonia and the techs were concerned because they saw that I'd broken a rib and it had healed by itself at some point, but I had no hospital record for it. That was entertaining.


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## rockyuphill (Nov 28, 2004)

My first big crash was in 1989 on the Powderface Ridge Trail in Kananaskis Country, Alberta on a rigid hardtail. The DH section of trail has a 1' jog to the left that I missed and then I did a Super Dynamic Crash and Burn, witnessed by the guy riding behind me who described it as pure Wide World of Sports agony of defeat stuff. Surprisingly little damage to me considering how fast I was going and how many times I somersaulted. I remember seeing the bike bouncing higher and further forward every time I rotated through another somersault. Came to a stop with my legs hanging off the exposure to the right.


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## jeffw-13 (Apr 30, 2008)

I was very little, no idea what age. I was riding my tricycle on the sidewalk in front of my grandmothers house. The back wheel slipped down over a step and I went tumbling down the concrete stairs into the street. I remember it very vividly - racing on my 3 wheeler as fast as it would go, the wind in my hair, the thrill of the speed, the crash, my mother holding me till I stopped crying, then getting back on the bike for more. I still have a scar on my forehead as a memento. No helmets in the early 70's


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Speeding Glacier said:


> No. But once I got out of intensive care the helmet cam footage was awesome!


YEAH! POST IT...


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

rockyuphill said:


> My first big crash was in 1989 on the Powderface Ridge Trail in Kananaskis Country, Alberta on a rigid hardtail. The DH section of trail has a 1' jog to the left that I missed and then I did a Super Dynamic Crash and Burn, witnessed by the guy riding behind me who described it as pure Wide World of Sports agony of defeat stuff. Surprisingly little damage to me considering how fast I was going and how many times I somersaulted. I remember seeing the bike bouncing higher and further forward every time I rotated through another somersault. Came to a stop with my legs hanging off the exposure to the right.


Outstanding! :lol:


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## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

How can I ever forget it? The scar is now "tattooed" on my left knee...


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## Hudnut (Apr 12, 2005)

It was 1994 at Island lake Rec area in Brighton MI. The section of trail has been closed for about 10 years but I hiked out and rediscovered it. The drop shown above had some roots right at the lip and the landing had some roots that were at a diagonal that was also accompanied by a deep rut. needless to say, if you didnt carry enough speed to clear bothe the roots and the deep ruts you were toast.


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## Scott O (Aug 5, 2004)

Yesterday's Red Sox game started very early, 11 am due to the Boston Marathon. That of course meant the bars opened early as well. As I was making my way home after 8 hours of good times, I mistimed my hop onto a curb and my hip went full force into the sidewalk. I had to laugh as a full rush hour crowd got to witness my mishap. Not laughing today.


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## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

Last crash: made it over big arse log, my front wheel got wedged between the log and a sizable rock in front of it... over the handlebars and gushed L shoulder. Nothing broken but hurt for 3+ weeks.

First crash was on my father's 26" Gitane 10 speed that was too big for me. I was in ~4th grade, starting down a hill. My right foot slipped off of the pedal and went into the spokes... back in the no helmet days. Definitely got my attention.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

In 1970 my car died, and desperate to get around, I rescued a junk Schwinn Varsity from a friend's basement, the first ten-speed I ever rode. On my first ride I went OTB and got bitten by a dog a few minutes later. Only the lack of alternatives kept me riding after that introduction.

Since then I have hit the ground so many times I stopped counting, but I rode home from all of them, even if a couple sent me to the hospital for repair later. Worst injuries were a concussion (unconscious on the road) on a night MTB ride, massive abrasions from hitting the road without my jersey on and a broken bone in my hand. I raced road and off road and I never missed a minute of work from a crash in 40+ years of riding.


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## gravitylover (Sep 1, 2009)

The day I learned to ride at 5 years old.

The neighbors driveway pointed straight down the street and had just a bit of a hill to it. "We" started at the top and they held me until I was faced the right way, then they pushed. Nobody told me to pedal so I would just coast down the street until the bike slowed down too much and it kept drifting to the right. I hit the same damn telephone pole three times in a row! :thumbsup: I still have the scar on my left elbow where the gravel found its way under my skin. You'd think that it would've healed after 40 years...


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## skullcap (Nov 4, 2010)

My first crash was also 40 years ago when I was learning to ride 2 wheels instead of three. My dad had come home after work with a bike for me. For some reason he insisted on holding onto the back of the seat and running behind me to "hold me up". My sister and I tried to tell him I had been sneaking rides on my older sister's bike but I don't think he believed us. Anyway, about 50 feet into it I told him he could let go. I got no response so I turned around to tell him again and wiped out pretty good. Needless to say, he had let go about 3 steps into it without saying a word. Parents can be so adorable sometimes. I got up, got back on the bike, and rode back to him. He spent the rest of the evening picking teeny tiny little stones out of my leg, arm and hand with a pair of tweezers. Ahhh...good times.

Edit: I forgot to add that he missed a couple of those stones-one in my hand and one in my knee. Years later they finally worked their way out on their own but in the meanwhile they made for some great "cool factor" on the playground once I started school.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Good stuff. Awesome how we go back to childhood in our riding experience. My very first was 40 years ago on my 16" red bike. Living on a side of a hill with no paved roads I went DH with no breaks,:eekster: jumped off the side of the road and landed on the top of a storm shack bellow. The sound of me crashing on the metal roof was so loud my mom came out of the house screaming "he is dead, he is dead":yikes: I was not so she smacked me in the head.:madman: It was the end of the red bike...:lol:


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## Exilestate (May 15, 2009)

I've only been riding for close to a year so my first crash is still fresh in my mind.

I was riding Blanket's Creek, my local trails here in Ga. with my buddy and his wife. They had been riding longer so I was pulling up the rear. Going down a nice down hill that turns left at the bottom, my buddy's wife decides to basicly stop. So I have to lock it up to miss her, of course because I was going down hill and brake... you can guess what happened. Blam, I go over the handle bars and end up on the ground. My camel pak took most of the force though. The best part is that no one heard me do this so they kept riding. Looking back it's more funny than anything now. Lesson learned, leave more room in between you and the person in front of you.


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## TTTURNER (May 13, 2009)

I was on my white Stingray in 74. I was chasing a few of the older kids around the block on my first real ride. About 3/4 of the way around I was looking back for cars and I ran right up the back of a 68 VW Beetle. I hung on to the back window and managed to keep from falling to the ground. Those steel bikes were heavy. I think they rode me instead of me riding them.


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## insanitylevel9 (Sep 23, 2009)

no.... i also dont remember the majority of 2010


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## GEARHEAD_ENG (Jul 22, 2009)

My first crash I can remember as a kid.. I was about 9 yrs old and was flying down the street (downhill) on my Huffy and my friends were standing out in their yard so I decided to show off and leaned it in hard in their driveway. Well happens it just got done raining and their driveway was slick blacktop. Front end washed out and scrapped up my knee and inside of my elbow pretty good. Still got some scars from that incident.

First wreck on my Mtb was when I was about 14 riding a new Specialize Rockhopper... there was a short trail going through a patch of woods connecting to my friends neighborhood. I was pedaling about 20mph through the path and at the end was a driveway (slightly raised) going across the trail at a 45° slant. Front fire caught the driveway and instantly threw my bars to the left did an OTB to superman trick. Skinned both knees pretty good and continued to drive to his house all bloody.


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## mtrent33 (May 13, 2010)

rockyuphill said:


> My first big crash was in 1989 on the Powderface Ridge Trail in Kananaskis Country, Alberta on a rigid hardtail. The DH section of trail has a 1' jog to the left that I missed and then I did a Super Dynamic Crash and Burn, witnessed by the guy riding behind me who described it as pure Wide World of Sports agony of defeat stuff. Surprisingly little damage to me considering how fast I was going and how many times I somersaulted. I remember seeing the bike bouncing higher and further forward every time I rotated through another somersault. Came to a stop with my legs hanging off the exposure to the right.


Gotta love the Bill Neely's "Mountain Bike Way of Knowledge" - Classic!


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## Adam_B. (Apr 7, 2011)

I don't remember my first bike crash as that was a long time ago, but I do remember my first crash when i started mountain biking last year. I thought I was better than I actually was and came down a particularly steep part of the trail with sharp turn at the bottom. I came into the corner way too fast and couldn't pull it off. I hit a log that was laid on the outside of the corner (I"m guessing was there to keep you from going over the side of the mountain). I went over the handlebars and landed head first into the base of a tree growing out of the side of the hill. The impact knocked the crap out of me and my ear was pierced all the way through the middle by a stick. Luckily the tree was there or I would have been tumbling down the hill for a while.


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## Fleas (Jan 19, 2006)

Let's see... my first crash that I broke a bone? My first MTB crash? My first MTB crash with a helmet on? My first MTB crash that I broke a bone? My first MTB crash in a store? My first MTB crash at Ray's? Ahh, here it is, my first crash:

I was old enough to ride my bike around the block by myself, so I was maybe 6 (1975-ish - hard to believe, but I know I'd never let my daughter do that these days). Big hill and I had a red Huffy with a fairly big gear and 20 x 1-3/8 tires. About the 4th time around the block I pedaled all out down the big hill and the handlebar stem came loose in the steerer (Dad's fault, but I hold no grudge). I had to be doing near 30 mph and I got kind of a speed wobble comparable to a tank slapper on a motorcycle. I eventually fell off and miraculously (and unfortunately) stayed on the sidewalk until I ground to a stop (the grass was mere inches away). I yelled and cried and some lady helped walk me home. I had skinned both hands, both elbows, my forehead, nose, lip, chin, the tops (not the fronts) of my knees, and one of my toes had popped through my Pro Keds where the shoe had been ground away. Since then I've learned to roll a bit better (and aim for the grass!)

Oh, and Mom did finally come to grips with the whole biking lifestyle. She even took this picture (same bike!):









-F


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## codwater (Jan 20, 2009)

*Crashed into a thornbush*

I was young, probably 6 or 7, and my friends and I were playing bike tag. Everyone had walkie talkies to tell each other where the people who were it were and to realy the position of the people the other team had to tag were. Well I started tearing down a hill at my friends house on an old banana seat bike while talking on my walkie talkie. I hit a root and got rattled out of my seat and hung on for dear life as I ended my descent into a thorn bush.

DAMN THAT HURT. That may not have my my first crash, but it is the first crash I still remember.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Awesome story...


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

Yes, it was the first time I rode a bike. My dad let me go and I crashed. I remember exactly where it was and in what direction I was going. I remember being affraid to fall. But after a couple falls it was no big deal.

I also remember the first time my dad took me for a ride in the Jeep. We lived on a big ranch, 1500 acres. We had a Jeep with no top and no doors. I think I was about 2 years old. My dad tied me to the seat, so I wouldn't fall out. I remember being affraid. Again, I remember where we were and in what direction we were going. As soon as I could reach the pedals, I was driving the Jeep all over the place.

I wish my dad was still around, I miss him.


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## joshman108 (Jul 6, 2009)

No, I don't remember it.

I was riding my bike on the sidewalk of all things, when the next thing i knew, I was waking up in an ambulance on the way to the er. I was told I was seizing on the side of the road. But the reason I fell was most likely because I had a bag that got caught in the fork (since it was found wedged in between the wheel and the fork). I probably fell, hit my head, Lost my memory of falling, and seized, and then woke up.

It was gnarly.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Yes, it was the first time I rode a bike. My dad let me go and I crashed. I remember exactly where it was and in what direction I was going. I remember being affraid to fall. But after a couple falls it was no big deal.
> 
> I also remember the first time my dad took me for a ride in the Jeep. We lived on a big ranch, 1500 acres. We had a Jeep with no top and no doors. I think I was about 2 years old. My dad tied me to the seat, so I wouldn't fall out. I remember being affraid. Again, I remember where we were and in what direction we were going. As soon as I could reach the pedals, I was driving the Jeep all over the place.
> 
> I wish my dad was still around, I miss him.


:thumbsup:


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## CEB (Mar 17, 2005)

OUCH! Yeah..... 1992

Flying down a trail with all kinds of ruts, so I decide to ride the "edge" and find a perpendicular rut, 'bout a foot or two deep. I must have been going 15+MPH, then instantly ZERO MPH.  No broken bones, but bent my fork (remember rigid bikes?) back so far the tire was NEXT TO the downtube. Needless to say, I stay on the trails ... OH YEAH!


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## Bro (Dec 20, 2010)

CEB said:


> OUCH! Yeah..... 1992
> 
> Flying down a trail with all kinds of ruts, so I decide to ride the "edge" and find a perpendicular rut, 'bout a foot or two deep. I must have been going 15+MPH, then instantly ZERO MPH. No broken bones, but bent my fork (remember rigid bikes?) back so far the tire was NEXT TO the downtube. Needless to say, I stay on the trails ... OH YEAH!


I've done the same thing. I pulled up the bars at the last second, but I still went OTB, and ended up two feet from the edge of a 200-foot cliff going down to the rocks and ocean. :thumbsup: I landed on my backpack, so I wasn't even winded, but I also managed to pinch flat my rear tire. And I also failed to bring a replacement tube or patch kit in my backpack. That was a fun walk-out. :smallviolin:


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## 411898 (Nov 5, 2008)

*Yes, it was UGLY!*

In the mid 90's, I was flying down a steep fireroad, doing about 25mph. My front tire hooked up with a partially exposed rock on a mild turn and I went over hard. I must have slid for at least 20 feet, getting road rashed all over my body on along the way. On my initial slam to the ground, I dislocated my right thumb. When I stopped sliding/rolling, I immediately noticed something wasn't right with my thumb. I had gloves on and my thumb was sticking up on top of my hand at a right angle to my arm! There was no pain, the severe dislocation had deadened the nerves (so did shock). I was a sand ground, bloody mess but I got back in the saddle and rode my brakes down the remaining 1/2 mile of fireroad. At the end of the fireroad, it turns into pavement and the transition has a deep kink. Being somewhat out of it and in shock, I went over the handlebars AGAIN! But this time it was at almost zero mph, kinda in slow motion. The weird thing is that I used my right hand to break the fall and unbelievable, my thumb relocated itself!!! Now, here comes the pain! OUCH! I could feel it now!!! Anyway, went to the hosiptal immediately and luckily, I did not tear or break anything. I did have a lump of scar tissue in my thumb webbing for about 2 1/2 years after which somewhat limited my dexterity in that hand. But I'm back...and a little wiser....


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## menusk (Jun 27, 2009)

Oh yea i remember it very clearly. I had just bought these new fancy things called hydraulic disc brakes. I had bb7's before but they dont compare to the power of hydraulic. Im going down the hill pretty fast so i start slowing down using the front and rear brakes intermittently so I wouldnt lock them out. As the hill starts to level out i guess the force im putting on the front brake is more then is required. Next thing you know the front brake locks up and in slow motion like time is standing still im in the air. Granted im probably going 10 to 15 mph. As im getting a dirt facial removing any dead skin cells that can possibly be removed im thinking to myself this isnt going to end well. i come to a stop and bam the bike lands on my exposed left side of my body and my chainring does and number on my left arm. thankfully the helmet took most of the hit and my safety glasses saved my eyeballs ( i bought cheap dewalt safety glasses just a week before at lowes for 9 bucks) I walked away with a black eye from the safety glass arms hitting my temple and scraped forearms. It didnt hurt as much as i thought it would, but my ego definitely took a hit. So I get on my bike and decide its time to call it a day. As im putting it on the bike rack i get impaled, yes not just poked, impaled by a thorn that got stuck on my chainstay. Im like great now i gotta take this out. As i pull the thorn out i notice this looks different . Next thing you know my finger starts swelling up tight and itching. Sigh, somewhere along the way i smashed into a bee and got the stinger stuck on my finger. good times.........


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## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

menusk said:


> Oh yea i remember it very clearly. I had just bought these new fancy things called hydraulic disc brakes. I had bb7's before but they dont compare to the power of hydraulic. Im going down the hill pretty fast so i start slowing down using the front and rear brakes intermittently so I wouldnt lock them out. As the hill starts to level out i guess the force im putting on the front brake is more then is required. Next thing you know the front brake locks up and in slow motion like time is standing still im in the air. Granted im probably going 10 to 15 mph. As im getting a dirt facial removing any dead skin cells that can possibly be removed im thinking to myself this isnt going to end well. i come to a stop and bam the bike lands on my exposed left side of my body and my chainring does and number on my left arm. thankfully the helmet took most of the hit and my safety glasses saved my eyeballs ( i bought cheap dewalt safety glasses just a week before at lowes for 9 bucks) I walked away with a black eye from the safety glass arms hitting my temple and scraped forearms. It didnt hurt as much as i thought it would, but my ego definitely took a hit. So I get on my bike and decide its time to call it a day. As im putting it on the bike rack i get impaled, yes not just poked, impaled by a thorn that got stuck on my chainstay. Im like great now i gotta take this out. As i pull the thorn out i notice this looks different . Next thing you know my finger starts swelling up tight and itching. Sigh, somewhere along the way i smashed into a bee and got the stinger stuck on my finger. good times.........


Sheesh....that's a _*helluva*_ first crash!!!


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

Doesn't anyone have their first crash as a kid. I'm reading a lot of mountain bike crashes as their first.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

HTR4EVR said:


> one almost fatal


Can you tell me about that one? I also had an almost fatal crash.


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## Bro (Dec 20, 2010)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Doesn't anyone have their first crash as a kid. I'm reading a lot of mountain bike crashes as their first.


I've had too many to remember any specific one.


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## Flynnster (Aug 19, 2009)

First crash was my first day out on a real mountain bike trail. Went over a log pile way to slow, and my wheel turned sideways, sicking in the crack between the logs. Sent me OTB and when I landed I was pretty happy, because I didn't fall into the river right next to me. Bad news was I tacoed the front wheel. 

$70 later, I was addicted and back on the trails.


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Can you tell me about that one? I also had an almost fatal crash.


August 15, 2003 - Short story. Endo, face plant, neck brace, ER, face reconstruction, several months of recovery and two more plastic surgeries. I still having head thanks to my helmet. Lost part of my nose in the process...:eekster: I was riding a Walmart bike :nono::madmax::madman:, newbee mistake...

What about you...:skep:


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## Varaxis (Mar 16, 2010)

Riding a Murray (dept store bike) on a steep gravely fireroad (some ruts, some light bends) really fast, having the front wheel taco, being sent over the bars, and using my right forearm and right hip as "brakes/skidplates".

Scars are still present over 15 years later. Well, the forearm scar is clear, but the hip one is mostly faded away.


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## vtmusher (Mar 29, 2011)

As seems to be common the first crash I remember was when I was around 8. I was racing my cousin around the oval paved loop at our local grade school. Let's just say I ALWAYS watch for sand on pavement. Mostly fine other than some decent road rash but I learned a valuable lesson that day which has come in handy many times biking or riding motorcycles.


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## chromejesus (Jan 23, 2008)

As a kid riding 20" bikes I was always getting scraped up. But my first OMG this sucks [email protected] crash on a mountain bike it happened the day I bought my first full suspension bike. I had just went and bought a 2004/5 Kona stinky. It was black and orange and had one of those horrible mars drop off forks. Anyway my uncle takes me to the local dh trail and I enjoy the first three quarters of it. On the last section my pedal clipped a rock at speed and sent me OTB on to my face. If that wasn't bad enough I still had braces so off to the ER to get my lips pulled out of my braces. Not a fun day


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

HTR4EVR said:


> I still having head thanks to my helmet.
> 
> What about you...:skep:


I'm glad your still having head! lol

Did you come out of it pretty good after your surgeries?

I posted this in another thread a while ago:

I haven't told this story much, because I still get chocked up thinking about it.You can screw yourself up pretty good even with a helmet. I landed short on a double jump on my CR 500, did a face plant, split my nose in half and ripped the cartilage out. The double was only about 25 to 30 feet, but it was raining, sandy and the face was getting really rutted. There was a tight corner about 20 feet before the double, so you had to come out of the corner, pin it and seat bounce over the jump. I had been over the jump hundreds of times, but this time I came out of the corner all wrong, I pinned it and thought I could make it, I was wrong. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was a nurse at the time and she called the best plastic surgeon in So Cal. He was on Catalina Island on vacation and came back right away. The same friend took me to the hospital. She had a baby and she gave me a diaper to put on my face. I knew it was bad but I didn't really know how bad it was. When I hit the ground my face instantly puffed up, I saw a squirt of blood and then it stopped and didn't bleed anymore. When I got to the hospital they took me in to x-ray my chest and head because of the damage to my nose and because I had some pain in my chest. My nose didn't really hurt. When they x-rayed my head I was laying on my back. They swung the x-ray machine over my head, I looked up into it, it was a peice of glass and black inside, so it was like looking in a mirror. I thought I was looking at a horror movie. I thought, " oh f#ck, this is bad and Im never going to look the same". I was very affraid! The Dr. came a couple hours later to see me, I asked him, "can you fix this"? He didn't say anything at first, then he said, "I don't know, Iv'e never seen so much damage to someones nose and them still be alive". he said, "usually with this much damage, your nasal bones get pushed up into your brain and you die, but I'll do the best I can". At this point in am scared beyond belief. I am thinking to myself that I may not have a nose, I'll never get layed again and life is just going to suck. So they take me to a room to for me to wait, and this really cute candy stripper (that's what they call the young girls who aren't nurses, they just help out) comes in, she says that I have to pee before surgery, I told her that I couldn't pee. So she pulls my robe aside and startes playing with my pee instrument and after a couple of minutes I said something to the effect, "If you keep doing that, it's not pee your going to get". I think I was molested in that room. So then they take me into surgery, it's cold, it smells funny and I just want to be out with my friends chasing tail. Oh, I almost forgot: After the molestation a couple of nurses come in to put an IV in my arm. One nurses is teaching the other how to do it, actually I don't think she was a nurses yet, because she tried 4 times to find a vein and she couldn't and it hurt more then my nose did. Finally the nurse had to do it and she got it the first time. Ok, back to the surgery. They take me into the room and a nurse sets a big heavy stainless steel skin graph machine on my chest like I was a table or something. The anethesiologist plugs a bunch of stuff into me, gives me a couple shots, and asks me some important questions. Then he put a mask on my face and asked me to hold it on. That's the last thing I remember. twelve hours later I wake up, and holly hell, I am more uncomfortable then I have ever been, Im sore, croggy, tired, confused, my nasal passeges are stuffed with stuff, it's hard to breath, no one is around. And guess what, I have to pee like a race horse! That damn candy stripper, I should have let her finish. So I hold it for, I think about an hour before a nurse comes. She helped me to the bathroom and held me up so I could pee, that was really fun. I don't know why they just didn't hook me up to a hose. The next day the Dr. came to see me and he said things went really well. He explains to me what he did. New cartilage, new skin, a deviated septum (he said he couldn't fix it then, but he can later if it's a problem) and a little hole between the right and left side, I could wear one of those bull rings. So I go home for 2 weeks with pain killer in hand and every hole in my head filled with gauze. I had to drink everything I wanted to eat because it was hard to chew. My teeth hurt, the underside of my upper lip is all stiched up, along with over a hundred other stitches in my face, some inside and some very small tiny ones, and it's really hard to swallow when you can't draw air in through your nasal passages during swallowing. Two weeks later I go back to the Dr., he takes the bandages off, he pulls like 10 feet of gauze out of me, I feel like a magic trick at this point and he took the stitches out with a magnafying glass. He had a big smile on his face and he gave me a mirror, I was scared to look, but I did and I went OMG, I really can't tell that anything happened, If you look really really close in good light you can see a scar going down the middle of my nose and one across the middle thing where it was seperated. My surgeons name is William H. Davis and he performed a miracle, I am so grateful for what he did. Im lucky the accident didn't kill me and I'm really, really lucky to escape virtually scar free. I have a little nerve damage in the tip of my nose, but I can live with that.


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## menusk (Jun 27, 2009)

daaammmmm!!!


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> I'm glad your still having head! lol
> 
> Did you come out of it pretty good after your surgeries?


I'm glad you came out ok. I didn't have the luck to find such a good PS so I still need at least one more procedure but I'm doing find...

How was the feeling on your first ride after the crash?


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

HTR4EVR said:


> I'm glad you came out ok. I didn't have the luck to find such a good PS so I still need at least one more procedure but I'm doing find...
> 
> How was the feeling on your first ride after the crash?


Well, I wasn't supposed to, But I got back on and rode about a week later. It was before I got all my stitches and gauze taken out. I just had to get back on or I would regret it. I lived on a 1500 acre ranch, so it was pretty easy to just go out the door and get back on. I didn't feel safe, like I did before and I didn't feel like going fast. I rode for about 5 minutes, came back home and didn't get back on for about a year. It was a big changing point in my life. For the first time, I wasn't very active. So, after a couple of months, I joined a private gym close to my house and started to get myself in really good shape. Then I started riding mountain bikes. Eventually, I sold my dirt bikes and became, just a MTB rider. Then I picked up a new '08 KTM 530 EXC. I have a problem with 2 wheeled vehicles, well really any vehicle. I don't, for whatever reason, seem to be able to drive them in a sane manner. For example the KTM will do 107mph on a regular basis. And, I was getting that feeling, the same feeling I had before my big accident, that I was pushing my luck way to far. And, I decided to put the KTM away for a while. I haven't ridden in in about 3 months, and I have been thinking about selling it. So, for right now it's just MTB's and the gym.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

HTR4EVR said:


> I'm glad you came out ok. I didn't have the luck to find such a good PS so I still need at least one more procedure but I'm doing find...
> 
> How was the feeling on your first ride after the crash?


Same question for you?


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Same question for you?


A month after my crash I went back to ride again on the same bike. The frame broke and I did a ignorant move of buying a motiv frame at the flee market. That frame was totally unstable and I got lots of scary incidents and back flashes of the crash. Then I got a Jamis Durango SX frame and the story change. I got a boost of confidence and my skills started to get better as I moved from newbee to intermediate. One day I was going down on Two Quarries Trail in Annadel State Park (Santa Rosa, CA) and suddenly the crash came to my mid and I freak out but it was no turning back, I finished the DH and was able to control the panic. Since then, no more back flashes and years of riding...:thumbsup:


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## jmike1487 (May 18, 2010)

first crash ever... I was flying down a hill on the side walk and tried to make a turn and the bike sweep out from under me and I crashed right into a mailbox!


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## pebblehoppertj (Sep 25, 2006)

I went for a jump... twisted my front end to much and couldn't land it ... my ribs hit the handlbars...I tried to keep going for about an hourbut could not pedal. Quit soon after that. Then as I was going home got called in by work to go drill an oil well. Needless to say that was the most painful 6 weeks of my life 3 weeks on . I could not even breath with out pain.


I think I broke a rib or 2... but never had xrays



I


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## Bilirubin (Mar 6, 2010)

Repack Rider said:


> In 1970 my car died, and desperate to get around, I rescued a junk Schwinn Varsity from a friend's basement, the first ten-speed I ever rode. On my first ride I went OTB and got bitten by a dog a few minutes later.


Heh, that just reminded me of one early crash. I rode all my life; early on (grade 1?) we rode our "dirt bikes" on trails. I don't remember crashing much because back then you did, you laughed, and got back up. But that first Varsity 10 speed...with the long metal shifters mounted at the stem...so I tried to bunny hop a curb and missed...boys, meet shifters.

First since I started MTB last year was a simple turn into a rock garden descent on my entry level hard tail. Tires washed out on a turn, and I slid down the hill a bit. Bought some armor and padded shorts after that one. Since then I've the gravel-pick-out-of-elbow slide from another wash out in gravel over hardpack (scars finally fading after a year) and one wet root slip and helmet test on said root.

I try not to fall, but, barring that, to fall well. :thumbsup:


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## smdb01us (Mar 22, 2011)

I am getting the gibby-dibbidies by reading y'all comments here! I am 2yrs into the sport and, luckly, I have not had any serious crashes... sure enough, as soon as I said that, I am probably going to crash in today's ride...

I know, I know, it is not a matter of "if" but rather "when"... -sigh-


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## HTR4EVR (Jun 15, 2007)

smdb01us said:


> I am getting the gibby-dibbidies by reading y'all comments here! I am 2yrs into the sport and, luckly, I have not had any serious crashes... sure enough, as soon as I said that, I am probably going to crash in today's ride...
> 
> I know, I know, it is not a matter of "if" but rather "when"... -sigh-


Happy trails to you... Some say we will only have one bad crash and many dumb crashes afterward...


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

HTR4EVR said:


> A month after my crash I went back to ride again on the same bike. The frame broke and I did a ignorant move of buying a motiv frame at the flee market. That frame was totally unstable and I got lots of scary incidents and back flashes of the crash. Then I got a Jamis Durango SX frame and the story change. I got a boost of confidence and my skills started to get better as I moved from newbee to intermediate. One day I was going down on Two Quarries Trail in Annadel State Park (Santa Rosa, CA) and suddenly the crash came to my mid and I freak out but it was no turning back, I finished the DH and was able to control the panic. Since then, no more back flashes and years of riding...:thumbsup:


Right on! I've never had a back flash like that.


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## onbelaydave (May 10, 2006)

All too well !

It was '59 and I was rocking my first "2 wheeler", over the hikers trails in my local "City Park".

One thing led to another, I went OTB, and before I knew it, my head was wedged in my frame.

The fire rescue team had to cut the frame off my head !

Luckily, I wasn't scared for life.


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## longhaultrucker (Jan 24, 2007)

*"Do you remember your first crash?"*

Nope,since I was crashed in that rig wreck 10 years ago,memory's not-so-hot...but I remember my _last _crash :skep:


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## sbrogdon (May 4, 2011)

Not my first but defiantly the most funny. I was around 9 or 10 and had been riding bmx bikes for a few years. My dad decided to buy me one of those chopper bicycles (from the late 70's early 80''s) that looked like a stretched out motorcycle. The forks on this thing seemed like they were as long as the bike itself, haha. Well, needless to say, it DOES NOT handle the same way going down hills as a regular bmx bike. I was cruising along on my normal riding paths and hit the little hill I always fly down. I hit a small rock or something which made me twitch the handlebars (no biggie on a reg bike) and that thing threw me a good 10 feet. My pride was more hurt than anything but its funny as hell to me now. 

They also did not do wheelies all that well either. My dad got on it and tried to pop a wheelie and straight on his back he went, haha.


On a side note, me and my brother decided to take the forks off of that bike and mount them on a minibike (the little motorized fat looking one) and that thing was a death trap...

BUT....the closest to death I have ever came to on a crash was actually on a lawnmower...haha.. I was riding it up an incline and figured I would see if I could get the wheels to spin a little. I put it in neutral and it rolled back a bit and I popped the clutch ( I was young, dont laugh)... I was then on my back with a running riding lawnmower sitting on top of me. It didn't break anything but scared the living hell outta me.


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## ArmySlowRdr (Dec 19, 2003)

It was in 1996 in Baumholder, Gemany. I just bought a Scott fully rigid Racing Comp from the PX and joined the local MTB club from Frieson which was riding the short distance to St Wendel to watch Frishie and Paola in the Grundig World Cup.

The first creek with a sizeable rock I crashed and ripped a gash in the knee. Too newb and knew nothing about shifting weight etc. I bled all the way n watched the race anyway--no way I was going to miss it.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

longhaultrucker said:


> Nope,since I was crashed in that rig wreck 10 years ago,memory's not-so-hot...but I remember my _last _crash :skep:


Can you tell us about the rig wreck?


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