Dumbest accident? Back in the day I was excited to shuttle a new trail; so excited that I jumped out of the back of the pick up truck...clipping my foot on someone's handlebars...falling on my wrist and breaking my radius. 
Post your dumbest MTB related injury.
- Thread starter Jeremy R
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FYI, anybody know Than White, Worlds Team mechanic. He is getting over an epic lame injury. Doc stitched him up and for something like 3 months he had a monster hunk of wood in his leg that finally festered enough for him to get it checked out and removed.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/381497_2604220839109_1662510179_2412182_1620023222_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/381497_2604220839109_1662510179_2412182_1620023222_n.jpg
Around 5 years ago I discovered the world of freeride and DH near my then house in the UK. Always a solo rider I make friends with a local who turns out to be **** hot on a bike. We head out for a ride and on the first DH run I am following. Not used to following anyone I end up watching his back tyre to see if I can learn something but I am also a little nervous in case he goes down. I knew there was an interesting corner comming and I really want to see how he takes. Eys on him I end up launching off a six foot dip in the trail. Since I wasnt expecting this odditity I didnt even know I was about to eat it. Completey blew up my front rim and destroyed my shoulder. Never went to have my shoulder checked but it took about 6 months to heal up completey and was friggin painfull for the first month.
Stupidest crash though would have to be my superman of a ladder drop. Built a trail near the house in South Korea. In the rainy season it gets really wet and takes a long time to dry out. It also rains hard and I was finding the trail maintencae a bit much. I discovered that covering up all the take offs and landings reduced the maintenance time alot. Finishing up a ride in the mountains I get to the house and decide to do 1 drop next to the fence.Half way along the ladder I remember I didnt remove the ground sheets, pallets and logs from the landing. Get to the edge of the ladder and just launch off the bike. Landed chest first. Bruised my left side and shoulder but to be honest I walked away lightly from that one. Felt like a complete tool.
Almost every crash I come home and tell my wife it was a stupid mistake. Only had a couple of crashes I feel were just from riding hard.
Stupidest crash though would have to be my superman of a ladder drop. Built a trail near the house in South Korea. In the rainy season it gets really wet and takes a long time to dry out. It also rains hard and I was finding the trail maintencae a bit much. I discovered that covering up all the take offs and landings reduced the maintenance time alot. Finishing up a ride in the mountains I get to the house and decide to do 1 drop next to the fence.Half way along the ladder I remember I didnt remove the ground sheets, pallets and logs from the landing. Get to the edge of the ladder and just launch off the bike. Landed chest first. Bruised my left side and shoulder but to be honest I walked away lightly from that one. Felt like a complete tool.
Almost every crash I come home and tell my wife it was a stupid mistake. Only had a couple of crashes I feel were just from riding hard.
Dumbest thing that has happened to me in a while. I was flying back from B.C to the East Coast, and packing up my AM rig in a nice EVOC bike bag a friend of mine had lent me. I had been riding alot of wet weather and leaving my bike stored in a hotel room over the period of a month. Anyway, first peddle came off with a lot of work, then the drive train side. Thing would not budge, I tried everything I possibly could for leverage and eventually ended up putting an adjustable thumb wrench on the larger 8mm allen key I was using and started givin er. I gave one solid all I had into er and the the force sprung the allen key off the peddle and directly into my forehead. The force knocked me over, and I could instantly feel warm all over my face. I looked in the mirror and to my surprise a perfect allen key sized hole in my forehead to the bone oozing blood an hour before my 8 hour flight home. Still have a stupid scar from it.
And if you have an annual USAC license instead of the one day license, you get twice the amount of medical insurance!
It was a nice summer evening and my now wife and myself decided we would ride our bikes down to one of the town squares and grab some ice cream after dinner. 75% of the ride is along a walking/bike path so I just decided to hop on my franken-trail bike wearing a t-shirt, shorts, sandals, and no helmet because what could possibly go wrong? My wife was a little ahead of me so I decided to stand up and put in a hard pedal stroke to catch up. Pushed down on the pedal and "POP" the chain snaps, my foot slides off into the ground, the bars turn, and over the bars I go. Must of lied on the ground for 10 seconds before pulling myself up. Blood and road rash all over my body, a cut right above my eye, and tweaked/separated shoulder since I broke my humerus a year before and my shoulder wasn't at full strength. Probably the worse part was having to walk my broken bike and self back home with my wife letting me hear how I always do "stupid things" on my bike. She felt pretty bad after she realized that it all resulted from a snapped chain.
Went to hop a curb, rear tire clipped the curb as I was a tad late, sent me over the bars directly onto my noggin. Smashed helmet, concussion, spiral fractured tibia and fibia. Worked for 3 days before the brush burn turned into staph and went to the hospital and found out my leg was broken. IV's and antibiotics, back to work the next day, no cast. Bills to be paid, twas just fractured.
I want to pick a winner from this thread, but it just does not seem fair. I think everyone deserves a medal.
OK, so this thread had me thinking back through all the dumb things I had done.... and I realized how stupid/passionate I must be about fun on 2 wheels. Then I was reading all the replies and I realized I am not alone! 
Anyway, this fits the catagory requirements and was even caught on video, as it was my one run wearing the camera. Skip to 2:10 to avoid the boring parts. The guy in front brake checked going into the jump so I changed my line as I was gaining. The result was a seriously broken wrist. The lesson- don't follow too close or jump where you don't know what's coming.
So now I am just getting back into DH with a trip planned to Whistler in August. Got a little impatient with my riding on Sunday just after my friend had said "Better to take it slow and carry on riding than push it and be off you bike for months". I bobbled into a jump on the first run and high sided off the side of the landing...level 2 or 3 shoulder separation...fv<ken dumbass!
Edit: Still cannot wait to get back on my bike! haha
Anyway, this fits the catagory requirements and was even caught on video, as it was my one run wearing the camera. Skip to 2:10 to avoid the boring parts. The guy in front brake checked going into the jump so I changed my line as I was gaining. The result was a seriously broken wrist. The lesson- don't follow too close or jump where you don't know what's coming.
So now I am just getting back into DH with a trip planned to Whistler in August. Got a little impatient with my riding on Sunday just after my friend had said "Better to take it slow and carry on riding than push it and be off you bike for months". I bobbled into a jump on the first run and high sided off the side of the landing...level 2 or 3 shoulder separation...fv<ken dumbass!
Edit: Still cannot wait to get back on my bike! haha
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Wait, just remembered when I gored myself then branded myself.
At Beech Mtn, we were racing and my shorts snagged the saddle. Realized it was b/c the saddle ripped off and it was the rail. Acted cool, tossed my saddle into the crowd and took off across the road into the rock garden.
50 feet in, it speared my thigh and gashed me mercilessly. Fell. Got up, tried to straighten my bars. Branded myself.
About mid-summer, when I get a dark tan, the rotor comes into view crystal clear on the calf.
At Beech Mtn, we were racing and my shorts snagged the saddle. Realized it was b/c the saddle ripped off and it was the rail. Acted cool, tossed my saddle into the crowd and took off across the road into the rock garden.
50 feet in, it speared my thigh and gashed me mercilessly. Fell. Got up, tried to straighten my bars. Branded myself.
About mid-summer, when I get a dark tan, the rotor comes into view crystal clear on the calf.
My roommate in college raced in the Cape Epic in South Africa and after a year of training, several thousands in bike upgrades, entrance fees, and travel costs he broke his collarbone while trying to ride a wheelie for a camera man on the second day of the race.
OUCH... that fall into the rocks could have been a LOT worse.OK, so this thread had me thinking back through all the dumb things I had done.... and I realized how stupid/passionate I must be about fun on 2 wheels. Then I was reading all the replies and I realized I am not alone!
Anyway, this fits the catagory requirements and was even caught on video, as it was my one run wearing the camera. Skip to 2:10 to avoid the boring parts. The guy in front brake checked going into the jump so I changed my line as I was gaining. The result was a seriously broken wrist. The lesson- don't follow too close or jump where you don't know what's coming.
So now I am just getting back into DH with a trip planned to Whistler in August. Got a little impatient with my riding on Sunday just after my friend had said "Better to take it slow and carry on riding than push it and be off you bike for months". I bobbled into a jump on the first run and high sided off the side of the landing...level 2 or 3 shoulder separation...fv<ken dumbass!
Edit: Still cannot wait to get back on my bike! haha
Yup. I was about to javelin those rocks with my head, so the wrist was sacrificial. The dirt on the lens at the end is from the rocks scratching the lens. Count myself lucky!
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