Comments on: Cycling Scars

By: Darryl is Loving the Bike

Darryl is Loving the Bike — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:21:00 +0000

Wow, what a story. Thanks for sharing it, Hannah. You should post a picture of that dolphin scar….it’s sounds interesting. I’m sure one of these days you’ll meet a guy who digs scars, bikes, and cool people.

By: Hannah Mary Bradshaw

Hannah Mary Bradshaw — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:45:00 +0000

I was practicing a race circuit in Suesca, near Bogotá (Colombia) a year ago. It was the dry season so everything was really crumbly and…dry (and hot…that 3000masl under scorching sun hot). I was on a downhill and went with it, breaking would have been a disaster. But a pebble caught under my front tire and just sort of pinged. I got thrown sideways (where the edge of the mountain was) and down. I landed with my head into a rock, got slid along and stuck between two rocks. My bike was still attached to my feet and then slammed into me too. It hurt. But there are no ambulances or anything like that so my mate helped me back UP the mountain and spread me out in the sun while he got everything together and sorted out a car. I was shivering with the cold (in my head) and spent the next month recuperating. Nothing broke, the hospital was amazed! But it took ages to get back to where I was. That first month even morning yoga left me in pain for the whole day. Then I used hiking sticks to move more and got back to the mountains the month after. I have lost that total freedom on the downhill but have more stamina now. AND I have a scar on my thigh that looks like a dolphin skeleton! My fieldwork has taken me to some hot places and when I wear shorts I get definite stares and quite a few comments. But I quite like it now, and it reminds me to be tough and get back on the bike. I have a few more but they are not as obvious unless I get a tan. Unfortunately my experience so far is not that ‘guys dig scars’ :-p

By: Darryl is Loving the Bike

Darryl is Loving the Bike — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Oh man, that is quite the story Whitney. Thanks for sharing it and it’s so nice to hear that you can out of that one okay. I’m not sure if you’re interested, but I’d love to create a post around your experience or have you provide the story as a guest post. Let me know what you think.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 13:54:00 +0000

I crashed on the road after catching my front tire in a pavement groove. I was going along at a fairly decent clip and crashed sideways and skidded across lanes into on coming traffic and almost ended up under a car. There was a car in my lane behind me but he had slowed to allow me to pass over a narrow bridge before he passed. He had slowed enough to stop behind me after the crash. The oncoming car had slowed as he noticed I was approaching the narrow bridge and he was able to stop in time before I became his new hood ornament. Both drivers probably saved my life by being observant and safe around cyclists. I jumped up out of the road carrying my bike and rode home completely out of sorts. I recovered with bruises to my thumbs and palms and it took two weeks to grip the handle bars again. My cycling shorts took most of the assault and are visibly abraded now even a year later. My thigh would have been minced meat if it weren’t for my Century Elite shorts. I had a huge bruise on my hip. There were no broken bones and no permanent visible scars. The most painful scar is the mental one. Every time I hop a groove or a lip in the pavement there’s an internally audible scream in my head that remembers what it was like to go down on the road that day thinking about those two approaching cars.

By: Darryl is Loving the Bike

Darryl is Loving the Bike — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Hahahaha, nice one Melinda. That knot sounds a little painful…..I hope it heals up soon. Thanks for checking out this post and for leaving your comments behind. Awesome.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Maybe I shouldn’t be reading this article as a “beginner.” I don’t WANT the scars! lol However, I have a hematoma knot in my belly where I fell and caught the handlebars in my stomach. This was May 28. I understand the knot may take months to disappear.

By: Darryl is Loving the Bike

Darryl is Loving the Bike — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:45:00 +0000

Good to hear from you, Emily. That’s a nasty one you had back in 2005, but great to hear that you’re still riding. Yeah, it sounds like mine was quite similar to your Husbands….thanks for your comments.

By: Emily Smith

Emily Smith — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Your “bump” looks like my husband’s (same shoulder too). In his case, he fractured his collarbone when he took a fall on bad pavement and put down his hand to block his fall. He was in a sling for awhile plus did some PT. I’d guess you probably fractured your clavicle as well. In my case, I have a 5″ scar above my right ilium from a serious cycling accident in 2005. I had surgery to put in a plate and four pins — I had fractured my pelvis from my ilium to sacrum. Still ride but have some lingering pain to this day.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:10:00 +0000

No major scars here, just a few bumps and bruises.

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 17:24:00 +0000

I’ve had some good ones. Once I was like trying to beat another rider and missed the yellow and got t-boned slid for a quarter mile on the bike and smashed my face on the road. A friend saw the whole thing and went to see who had died. It was me. She said I saw you sliding for ever my Ray Ban Gacier sunglasses took most of the hit but cut me around the eye so I had to have my orbit checked. I and the bike were ok. I remeber having to take my Sony sport headphones off tho talk to the cop. Think I had the walkman can’t remember the tune. Maybe Pink Floyd