Most dangerous moments

Cycling definately has it’s perils.
On the banqiao bridge, on the incline, a scooter with a trailer with wonky wheels, veering erratically - made me overtake much wider than usual and i was slow on the incline. A scooter overtaking clipped me and i went down. unpleasant and not a good place to be rolling around on the road.
So now if i see scooter trailers with bad wheels i mentally red flag the whole apparatus.
If you can share dangerous situations it may give me some cycling wisdom (as well as amusement).
Thanks

Invisible potholes filled with water after some rain. In Taichung I was going downhill at 50+km/h on a very nice road, some cars forced me ride on top of what looked like a simple wet surface. Turned out to be a pothole that made me bounce, lose control of the bike, fall on the ground braking an arm and slide for 10+ meters on concrete, leaving a nice layer of skin there.

The buses, all of them…everytime

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I hit a sudden random pair of dogs fighting once while going fast and broke my neck. Rode home after I woke up.

Not really recommended.

Back road to Academia Sinica.

I’m lucky enough to have not had an major crashes or injuries, but I"ll share the few that I’ve had.

3 weeks ago the team had the Wuling challenge race. Due to landslides on Suao Highway, the teammate who was originally going to pick up registration could not make it. So I got up 1.5 hours early to pick up our bib numbers. Along with the bib numbers came a goodie bag of memorabilia that was stuffed into a plastic bag. Stupid me I dangled the 2-3kg plastic bag over my handlebars and, you guessed it, got caught in the spokes and I went over the handlebars at around 15kph. Luckily, just bumps and bruises on my knee and shoulder. I continued to climb Wuling afterwards. Probably not the best idea. Lesson: Carry a backpack or messenger bag to put stuff in, never dangle stuff over your handlebars.

Over a year ago, I was descending Feng Gui Cui in Taipei and got stuck behind a car. I was following at a very safe distance bc the driver was also being a complete asshole and speeding at straights and slamming on the breaks in corners. At a blind corner, he stopped and I thought he was rolling, but actually came to a complete stop. I rolled into his rear bumper at 10-15kph and fell over. Fractured a rib. Out for 4 months. Lesson: Descend at a safe distance and be aware of your surroundings.

heh heh, -how big was the pothole you were going through Ibis?
Dogs are bad, I broke my collerbone, on a downhill because of a yappy little dog running square in front of me, i broke hard went over the front, the f-ing dog was still at it in front of my prostate figure, but it had a burn mark from my tire on its forehead, ah, you made me remember that one!

Enormously amusing, thankyou all very much.

also no big crashes or broken bones here.

scariest was on a steep descent from the Atlas Mtns (Morocco), I was going too fast on a fully-laden tourer. Overcooked a hairpin corner at speed, and went off the tarmac onto a side stretch of loose gravel and stones. Was sure I was about to crash hard but somehow, and not through any skill on my part, I bounced back onto the road after a bone-shaking 20m.

I’ll amend mine to include Taiwan bike paths on Sunday mornings. I was taken out by a 12 year old girl riding down the wrong side of the path not at all concerned with where she was going. Don’t ask why I took it as part of my route, I’m still struggling with it and wondering if its an early sign of dementia.

heh thanks, i agree the bike paths are for old people and crazy fools and lovers.
Actually I find being in the lee of buses fairly safe once you get used to the ‘moving wall’ feeling, and they are slow moving and generally predictable, unlike say taxis.
Suction from articulated lorries on the freeway can be quite alarming.

Bumping this up since it appeared in a search and it’s been on my mind: cycling in Tainan around 18 years ago - coming back into town along the busy road in Yongkang; maybe the #3 highway? (It’s been a while; I no longer remember the names.) Paying attention to the traffic, and not enough to the road, and probably going too fast. Hit a pothole and wiped out, sliding for a bit. In itself, not a big deal - but my slide was parallel to, and very close too, very very very big rolling truck tires, and I quite vividly recall thinking “Huh, hope I’m going to keep sliding in the same direction, and not under those tires, because I’ve got pretty much no control over what I’m doing.”

I don’t even remember what the physical injuries were - probably just a few scrapes. But the fear of those tires is deep in my psyche.

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I’ve had a few! New road bike with slick tyres turning over wet manhole cover in Gongguan scraped up knee and elbow.
Into side of a scooter that shot out on crossroad in lanes Taipei, bruised rib same knee and elbow damaged again. Scooter rider amazingly admitted fault took me to hospital and payed! Later find cracked carbon fibre handlebars under the tape expensive repair on the way.
2 weeks on riverside path couple on uBikes riding side by side I repeated bu haoyisi I thought guy heard me moved over, I start to overtake he moved back! Emergency braking over handlebars they just looked back and carried on going!
Same rib, knee and elbow as before and graze on side of my face. Don’t think pain in knee ever going to go.
I stopped mountain rides as I was doing it on my own then considering my options if I came off.

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stories well appreciated
i hung my sweaty top from the front of the bike in south vietnam, predictably it slipped into the braking apparatus and jammed it causing an instant descent to the deck using my right forehead as a brake ,the hands fully engaged on the drop bars.
comical enough on the country backrroad but 10 minutes before had been on asia highway.

  • Also…any cambodian road will generate life changing happenings within hours!
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Reading this thread again reminds me of another (among many) scare in Taiwan.

I’m absolutely ripping it down Yangtou Road/ Shamou Road coming back into the west side of Tianmu one evening, after a long day in the hills. The road is steep, narrow, serpentine, and sometimes congested.

Overtaking lines of slow cars, I’m doing 60-70 km/h, which is just stupid on that road, but so much fun. In the drops, bum up and hammering it. I love this road ! Come alongside a group of 4-5 slow cars as they round a blind corner to be confronted by a bus coming up the hill. Cutting the corner of course. I mean, it’s a Taipei bus.

Now, I’m halfway past this column of cars on the yellow line as we pass the bus. Miss the bus by mere centimeters, almost leaning on the car I’m alongside as i brake hard to match speed with it. Only realise after that split second second how close I was, then promptly miss the next right hand corner and almost ride off the left side concrete barrier over the edge.

Pucker time!

Somewhere around here…

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Best to try bunny-hopping over dogs, in the darkness i have run into a few dark leads in my time because people not concentrating on their captive pathetic animal.

Cycling in London with private-hire hybrids and Toyota Prius’s are pretty sketchy, had my rear wheel tickled once or twice.

Sketchiest time was first time I rode a fixie bike i bought off ebay, which was a “home-built” edition. Bike was my primary mode of transport at that time and I was going to work, relatively high winds, did not manage to stop for crossing a turnoff off a dual carriageway, got very lucky that day. Bike is now halfway through “restoring” i.e. the frame is in the back of the wardrobe.

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Yes, I too hate those silent-running vehicles.

as the famous Ducati and Harley t-shirts say: Loud exhausts save lives!

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So you are saying I SHOULD buy the V8? For safety reasons, obviously!

Either that or a MTB but that’s just outrageously dangerous! :cowboy_hat_face:

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That place looks fuckin beautiful by the way. Taiwan is a distant memory for me, and unachievable goal. At least, for another six months or so

It’s such a great road to ride on, but so dangerous going up or down. Reading your close call gave me the chills.

You’re mad max