I got a concussion and road rash on all limbs, chest and most of my face at about that speed. Thanks to skin shifting I grow bits of beard in odd places. No deer, just a being a dumb kid.

were you wearing a helmet? A bike helmet has saved my life twice and my wife's life once. Cool kids wear lids, yo.

Yeah.. this happened to me over by the Oaks Bottom wildlife reserve, pretty much right where folks are speeding up onto Milwaukie Ave. I wasn't going as fast (probably 20 mph) but I turned out sort of fishtailing into a deer, and luckily I fell one way into the grass, and just sat laid down in the sidewalk for several minutes, sort of realizing that if I had braked and gone the other way into 45 mph traffic I probably wouldn't be doing things like writing this right now. I'm not sure if I injured the deer or not but as I slowly got back on my bike and fixed my deraileur etc. I noticed the deer I hit with the rest of his (or her) family and they were sort of staring at me like "dude, you ok?"

No helmet, this was 30 years ago.. just not so common.

My helmet moment was riding a really basic trail, very slow, up a gentle hill, and for some reason I fell sideways. My head landed on a patch of mossy pine needles and dirt, a big rock right in back of my head, and a big rock almost touching my nose. An inch either way and it would have very different, probably would have been hours or even a day before they found me.


Not that I wear one in Japan when commuting for groceries. No one wears helmets here, maybe just an occasional child, or someone on an expensive road bike. Maybe I'll get one here..

I always wear one, but Oregon's terrain is pretty hilly, so even going to the grocery store means a pretty steep incline and lots of traffic, at least where I'm at. I have to bike up and down a volcano to and from work every day too.. I used to not wear one though, but I found that army surplus stores have some incredibly badass kevlar ones for super cheap, which actually protect your head better than most of the more expensive ones you buy at bike shops. :)

I was riding my bicycle back home under a heavy tropical downpour one night when on a downhill I see a fucking raccoon in the middle of the road. I swerved to avoid hitting it but the bloody idiot got frightened and ran straight under my front wheel, which shot me over the handlebar and face and hand first into the gravel.

My fingernails were split open and dangling with bits of flesh, patches of skin peeled off my arms and the exposed flesh was encrusted with sand and dirt. My forehead was split open and bleeding. The adrenalin had me on my feet instantly with a sole goal in mind: to kick the living shit out of that fucking raccoon.

Unfortunately, I saw it limping into the underbrush, away from me...

I kicked the shit out of my bicycle instead and screamed like a madman, alone in the night, under a heavy rain, then as the adrenalin subsided and the pain kicked in, I started crying. Miserably picked up my bicycle and rode home, sobbing the whole way.

@Adham your story made me lol! In a nice sympathetic way tho!

I've actually never been injured or had any kind of serious fall or accident on my bike. Though Ive been cycling everywhere since I was a kid, I cycled to school, work, college. For a few jobs Ive had I cycled 80k a day in and out. I still cant drive a car (which is not *that* remarkable here in Ireland) Also recently I got into doing cycling events like the sean kelly tour of waterford or the wicklow 200 (which is a 200k spin up and down some hilly terrain)
Also I cycle while massively drunk! tbh I just think I am some sort of fucking cycling ninja!

Also I never used to wear a helmet, though after doing some of those events (in which a helmet is a requirement) I had bought one and gotten used to wearing it and now I always do.

But I'm a *big* proponent of lights and hi-vis jackets. Being as visible as possible to motorists and others is key. I dont think I'd go anywhere at night without lights + I noticed an immedite palpable difference when I started wearing a hi-vis vest. Way less pedestrians stepping out in front of me for example.

In Portland there's laws against not using lights, which are enforced. A friend of mine was just going to the store (at my last place the store was 3 blocks away in a neighborhood with very little traffic and was very flat) got stopped and got like an 80 dollar fine.

Mr Purple Cat, which part of Ireland are you from? I was born in Dublin, and my mom is Irish, although I have lived in Costa Rica for most of my life.

Also, I agree with you with regards to lights and visibility. I still often don't wear a helmet unless I know I'll be doing some serious offroad, but I always try to be as visible as possible.

On the night in question of said accident with the raccoon, I was young (20) and living in a very rural part of the country where it was all dirt roads and very few cars, so I didn't have lights, reflective jacket nor a helmet. Probably not very smart, but then again I was dumb.

I've broken several bones and destroyed two helmets over the years; all in mountain bike crashes.

When on the road (commuting) I rock helmet, high vis jacket, and 5x front lights and 4x rear lights, plus lights on the spokes that make a cool ring of light when spinning.

@Adham, I'm from Waterford. A viking founded city where Waterford crystal comes from. Though I've lived in Dublin for ten odd years. Also my mother if from Cork city and my father is from Navan in Meath so my accent is really strange and most Irish people think I an American!

Hehe..

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