|
|
|
| Crashing Stories (1418 Posts)
|
| Topic |
Crashing Stories |
|
|
|
On 1/24/2001
Wadey
wrote in from
(137.157.nnn.nnn)
I dedicate this story to my mate Shannon.
I've been riding now for... oh, about 6 days - you might even call me "in-experienced", but that was 6 days more than my buddy Shannon who stepped onto his board for the first time on Monday. He's just got back from Tahoe (back to Australia that is), and so he's been making the most of summer, ie. wandering round with a pair of boardies and no shirt all day and night. So we jumped on the boards and went for a cruise for about an hour, before heading back to our friend's house near the beach. As we came to the last few hundred metres before the house, we were contemplating the idea of cruising down the main road and round the last corner, but we agreed that it was too steep, too highly trafficked and that we'd probably kill ourselves anyway.
Well, once we got to the top of this hill (that we had agreed to walk down) I took a look up and down the road, saw there were no cars in the immediate vicinity, and rather impulsively said "Let's do it", slapping my board onto the bitumen and pointing downhill. Of course Shannon, not wanting to be left behind, whacked his board down too and followed about 10 metres behind me.
Within seconds we had picked up sufficient speed to remove bailing from our list of options, and we were forced to try and carve out big turns to control the speed. Not being at all familiar with any braking techniques we continued to accelerate down the hill, as oncoming traffic came into view about 100 metres ahead of us. One guy started walking out onto the road and began yelling in some kind of crazed amusement at us to "Stop, you'll kill yourself!" Not that this was a bad idea - if I had only been able to!
So with the traffic drawing nearer, we were left with only 2 options. Stop carving, go straight, and pray that the bottom of the hill would arrive soon. Or try to negotiate a sharp heelside turn into a side street to get off the main raod. Not wanting to play chicken any further with cars, I decided the side street was the best (or perhaps least stupid) option. So I cut out wide on the road, and leant way back, bracing myself for a bumpy turn. I managed to pull in close enough to the gutter on the turn to prevent me from taking out a parked car on the far side as I swung out wide again, and now it was a matter of doing some hard turns to slow right down.
It was then that I glanced over my shoulder wondering what fate Shannon was going to have dealt to him. I couldn't see him, but then I heard this loud **SNAP** sound and then nothing. As my board came to a stop, I spun it round and started pushing back up the street to find out what had happened. Then I saw Shannon's sorry sillouhette limping across the road with his board under his arm.
He had opted for the side street as I had, but on approach his not-so-appropriate footwear (thongs) had let him down in the turning department. So he was headed for the gutter, thinking "I'm just gonna have to jump onto the grass and hope for the best." So he bailed at the last second, the board hitting the gutter, Shannon putting his foot down onto the grass, then flying across about 5 metres of grass in a fraction of a second, and smashing into a wooden fence in somebody's front yard. The **SNAP** sound I had heard was (thankfully) not his board, but the sound of the fence paling being snapped in half by Shannon's head.
He got up, sporting a huge shiner coming up on his right cheekbone, and then spent the rest of the night holding a pack of frozen mixed vegetables to his eye to reduce the swelling.
Of course, being the great, compassionate mates that we are over here, we spent most of the night in hysterical laughter, re-telling the story and asking for another peek at the massive lump protruding from his head.
So Shannon - ride on, and a helpful hint: no thongs next time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 1/17/2001 Eric
wrote in from
(209.220.nnn.nnn)
Ok, this would be classified as a pre-school story. The year, 1979-80 something.
We had this strip mall right at the corner of our street that we loved to skate on. It had this sidewalk that decended at about a 18-20 degree angle to the street and ended with a curb with a 6 inch drop. Across the street was a parking lot with this insane enterance that was like a small quarter pipe.
I was on my Bad Co. board with tracker fulls and Sims Comps. We had started shooting down the sidewalk, hopping the curb, and getting some good air entering the parking lot.
Now for the fun. My friend Randy (RIP) had wanted to play with us for a while but had no board and no one would let him try this with their board for a first try (nice boards were weeks of lawn mowing after all). So Randy asked his dad to get him a board of his own. Saterday morning he shows up with a plastic Newport with the hard plastic wheels and loose bearings and decides to go for it.
Now I give him a lot of credit, I would have never tried this stunt on that board and even offered up mine for him to try first, but he was set to go with the board he brought. He bombed the decline like a pro and made it off the curb with no problems. Then he shoots across the street and starts the incline into the parking lot FAST. Those rock hard wheels roll damn fast. But thats where his luck gives out. The board comes to a complete stop and sends him flying in the air. He lands firmly on his face and of course we all come running.
When he gets up he has a 1/2 inch wide rock sticking out right in the middle of his forhead and is bleeding profusely. We rush him to his house and his mom carts him off to the hospital.
Eight stiches (or ten, not sure). Randy lives to ride again and did make the jump on a real board months later.
Randy died 5 years ago when he was hit by a drunk driver walking down the street. I will allway remember him as a kick ass skater.s
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 1/16/2001
Danny Connor
wrote in from
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
Never think that you can speedboard throug a wash of sand!
I was bombing a hill that is about a mile and a half long on sunday. It's ok, speeds about 45-55, nice sweepers, one that is kinda like the big right hander at Mammoth, and a pretty good lefty at the bottom. The things that suck are many pot-holes, cracks, VERY rough surfaces, and an s-turn that goes right through a one lane bridge! I love the hill though. Well, I was speedboarding, and I let my buddie use my old leathers, and my luge. I wanted to go first then let him catch up so he could pass, thinking that we could have a bit of fun mixing it up and all. He hs good enough skills to do the hill on my luge, but got too scared to pass me. Well, when I got to tha sand wash out, he was right beside me, and we only swept out a spot big enough to let one person through. Well, he makes it, my board was in the middle of turning, I lost traction and ended up on my butt. Put a large hole in my shoe, and glove, but at least I broke my new leathers in! I decided that, from now on, I'll keep my speedboard on the hills, and my mountain board in the dirt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 1/6/2001
andrew
wrote in from
(209.34.nnn.nnn)
dude this sucked yesterday i was just messing around
showing my mom some tricks like an idiot without my pads
on i did a kickflip into a nose manual fell down scratched
my forehead and broke my nose know what my mom did just ran
over to me and asked me if i was all right and i told her
not to take me to the hospital
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 1/6/2001 rhodsey
wrote in from
(213.123.nnn.nnn)
I used to do everything. That is Climbing, surfing, kayaking, and my favourite of all longboarding. It all ended one misty moonlit night.
A local hill (Heybrook, UK) that no-one (as far as I know) ever rides. Me and 2 good buds of mine went up at 2 a.m. one summer night. Out came the tools, and we tightened our trucks to the max. The slope of this hill, without carving must hit 40mph. At the bottom is a lovely cambered left hand turn on newly layed smooth road. Anyway, we approach the corner and suddenly it dawns on us that we've got so much speed that we're gonna fly....
Well, miraculously Ben made the corner (much sliding). Neil leapt into bracken/gorse. I stupidly tried to jump-run until I could slow to a stop. The massive impact on my left leg as I hit the 'mac pulled a tendon in my back.
It's been nearly 2 years now, and I can't even walk to my local pub for a beer. I don't want to spoil fun, but keep it in mind buddies, you aint indestructible. It just takes one day of bad luck. Rhodsey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 1/2/2001
grinch
wrote in from
(64.7.nnn.nnn)
well, i posted the night before the xmass eve dump ride, and now i have to again (well, i don't have to, this isn't a confessional or anything. and like i woudld if it were). anyway, after that fall on friday, i proceeded to sjc, met some of you guys (damn dt, i was psyched for you in the soul carving posts, but didn't want to hear from you here), then off to my other vacation destinations. so ok, arizona, the day after xmass. after hitting the pub and meeting a few local skaters and bsing for a while, i decide to head out and see what's become of the town over the years. so i'm just pumping carves away, cruising, and then i get flown off my board. now i shouldn't have been riding with my knee as it was, but you only live for a while, so i was. but damn, it hurt before and then i hurt a whole lot more. rocks stuck in my hands from the fall, all bloodied, and my knee almost instantly began to swell. all i could do was lay there in the road for a minute. but i mustered up the strength to get back on the board and look for the rock that i didn't see. couldn't find anything. not a crack in the road, not a hole, not a damn thing. i have to pin it all on wheel bite. those of you at the dump who may have noticed, or those who i showed, my fluid has wheel wells that i put in there and they eliminate wheel bite all the way. what? my shoe. i had been carving so hard, pumping so fast for so long and didn't look down once to notice i had moved forward a little. one hard carve and off i went. next day in the er, the doc said i had hyperextended the knee in a few places, and the impact the night before just gave a good jarring to some already screwy ligaments. "it'll be ok," he said, "just keep off it and wear this imobilizer as much as you can." that didn't last long. i've done worse to myself, and the doc told me if it didn't hurt, it was ok. so i still skated everyday, and will until i can't. dumb, maybe, but it still feels better every day, and there are more days to come. tomorrow is one of them, and i have to be at work in a few hours. i just got back from san diego new years, and i'm dead tonight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/30/2000
DT
wrote in from
(64.24.nnn.nnn)
This is a 2 for 1 story.
I went to the Vans Orange park tonight to skate the combi pool. And let me first state that this pool is awesome, its a ballbreaker and very unforgiving. The session before mine ended with someone being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. And as the new session starts the 3rd rider manages to fall hard, he dislocated his shoulder, popped his hip out, and broke or possibly shattered his ankle. He had to lay at the bottom of the 11' pool and wait for the fire dept and paramedics to get back from the hospital (from the last dude) once they got there, they underwent the tedious ritual of pulling the guy out by a rope. Of course it was attached to a gourney, not a leg. once he was lifted out by the 8 firemen, he was loaded onto a strectcher and wheeled out the street course to the ambulance. As he was taken out, the entire place shook with the cheers from the crowd and all the skaters who watched. Many skaters were banging there boards on the ground, and this only added to the scene. The fallen brother lifted up his arm and made a fist as he exited the building, he had a smile from ear to ear, i just hope he feels the stoke when he wakes up tomorrow morning.
Now my personal problems will sound petty when compared to the above, but i made several key mistakes.
first one was skating on a day where i spent 3hours of circuit running which robbed my legs of needed strength.
while the combi was closed (during the first hour) i tried to learn how to drop in. This looks a lot easier than it seems, or at least on a longboard. i was dropping in on the black bowl, actually falling is a better word. and i just wasnt putting enough weight forward, after about 6 hard falls, i took a break.
This was just a taste to what the combi was about to serve me. After the Combi re-opened i began my new challenge. Now, the combi has a roll-in that sends you through 3 whoops before you enter either side of the bowl, and i was running loose trucks. my first runs were made hanging on by my teeth as they mostly resulted in me crashing. I tried it about 40 or so times and made it into the bowls about 12 or 13 times and made it across from bowl to bowl 4 times. The round bowl came easy to me, but the square bowl was the hardest new challenge. The drops were the hardest part for me, especially with my gumby legs. But it was worth the cheers from the other guys when i would make it. The vibe was really cool, about 6 guys mostly on old 80s pool boards. Everyone was cool, and a few even tried out the longboard, and couldnt believe how it rode. All in all, i had a lot of fun, but my whole body aches, especially my right hip, its got a bruise and swelling the size of a football. I can barely walk, and cant wait till the morning. good thing i bought the big bottle of aleeve.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/29/2000
Leo
wrote in from
(146.18.nnn.nnn)
My first post here!!!!!man this is bad, well i was riding yesterday and i decided it was time to push the envelope a little bit more, i was carving real fast, around 25-30mph, whan i saw this car that made me go straight(a.k.a bombing), car passed tehn i started to carve again at a higher speed, this street i was has a 90° left turn at the end and its still a downhill from that point, passed the curve ok, thats when i remember: hey i got to stop somehow,why dont try a coleman at the speed?.....(BAD decision, not ready for this) did coleman, back wheel slipped....saw sky...ground....and later a big strawberry on hip plus 2 little on right elbow, man this really hurts, i just probe my motto:
- you have to fell to learn..
leo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/25/2000
timmy
wrote in from
(209.86.nnn.nnn)
when my friend started to skate he could land heelflips his first day so he decided to start skatin a lot. well one day he went to a skatepark and he was gonna do a 50-50 on a rail. what he did not know was that a very small part of the metal on the rail broke and bent up somehow. well his truck cut off and he came off and his forearm dug into the metal and his momentum kept him moving and cut a 5 or 6 inch long bone deep cut in his arm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/25/2000
polo
wrote in from
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
early morning...12/24/00....27 degrees....skating the hill known as the monster, which is a tight, steep,...well monsterous. Anyhow, after a few warm up runs which only lasted a few hundred feet( and ending up with snow on my wheels..slippery!) decided to go for a full run. followed my friend who was in the midst of a run of fast controlled slides and backside drifts, looked like he was snowboarding. just trying to shed as much speed as possible and avoid ice. feel like im going way to fast, bust a fat backside drifing slide...lose it....bust my ass...literaly...butt looks like i got cained in singapore...owwwww
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/23/2000
Joel
wrote in from
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
Well this story isnt about me but it is funny one day me and my bro visited out cousins in WV. Well they live on an small mountain, literlay, so my borther like and idiot decides to go down there dirveway witch swerevs to the left and right and then after than go down another hughe hill that cuts off left and right at the end like a T , so when he goes down the driveway he hits about 30 on his boad flying he goes down the street hill that splits off. At the end of that hes going about 45 50mph well he cant slow down so he runds off the road and does a frontflip into gravel and gets some major road rash and some bruises. I shure it hurt but it shure looked funny.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/23/2000
Joel
wrote in from
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
ALright it was just another day of sk8ing at our sk8park well I just was learning how to kickflip the fun-box gap, so i was going pretty fast after I droped in from a 1/4 pipe i went and kickfliped the gap, I caught it perfectly and when coming down, and then a hole decided to magically apear in the fun-box when i landed on the hole my board cracked at the tail and I went flying for about 10 feet, sliding on my stomache. So I got up laughed and went and tried it agian........ but the next try I broke my deck at the tail
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/22/2000 grinch
wrote in from
(64.7.nnn.nnn)
i live on a hill good for tight carves and decent speed. easy to slide on. just what i was doing. a good few first runs, and then i futched something. i don't know what, maybe i didn't commit to the carve enough. anyway, i thought i'd run it off, but i should have rode it out and slid the next chance i had, or bailed and rolled, but i ran and hurt my knee, it went too far in the direction it wasn't meant to. rest today and tommorow, as there is a week and a half of skating ahead of me. this is gonna take some balls.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/19/2000
Hamm
wrote in from
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
Sunday session at OB.
Working on Frontside grinds......
Failing at fronside grinds.......
Big strawberry on hip.
Damn it hurts to walk!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/18/2000 Becca
wrote in from
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
One night I went down hilling with a few of my friends. We hit this huge hill the biggest I'd ever skated. My two friends went before me and I passed them up curving the whole way down. I wasn't slowing down at all, so stupidity I put my foot down in hopes of stopping. My board flew out from under my feet from speed wobble. I sled down on back then flipped over, rolled, and hit my head on the asphalt. After that cars had only one headlight and I wanted to shot every person that had christmas lights on. I walked the three miles back home. I had a nice bloody bump on my head and a bruise on my elbow. I would rather be hamburger then get a knocked in the head.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/15/2000
DT
wrote in from
(24.4.nnn.nnn)
damn i hate posting here, cause it usually means i'm hurt, again.
today i went to the Laguna Hills skatepark for the first time (actually it was my first time ever to ride a skatepark). This one is quite mellow and mostly all banks, about 5ft high. There were only 4 other riders and i was having a lot of fun. I had done a lot of watching in the past and had a good idea on how to ride them (except i wasnt kick turning but running loose R-2). On one of my runs i got crossed up with my board when i was coming back down, i fell from about 2ft, but landed just right and popped my shoulder out (my second dislocation). Now this one wasnt too bad, maybe just out like an inch or two (my first one was far more serious about 6 or 7 inches) There is a public high school above the skatepark and it was about noon, so walked up there to the nurses office, but they wouldnt put it back in because i was not a student and it was too much of a liability! i reminded them that i pay my taxes which pays their salary and they gave me this stupid look like who cares. I wanted to beat the nazi overthe head with my limp arm, but knew that would only resort in more pain. They asked me to leave, so i went to grab my stuff and make some calls to see if i knew anyone who could put a shoulder back in, of course no one answers. After about an hour, i just pulled my arm up and rolled it back in, i took a few more runs (i couldnt let this place beat me on my first visit), took some aleve and had several beers, followed by a well deserved nap.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/15/2000 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
Wait,did the doctor find the hairline fracture in the wrong arm? thats funny:)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/14/2000
Ryan M
wrote in from
(165.236.nnn.nnn)
Saturday night's all right for sliding, I tried a coleman for the first time on a long but not so steep hill, I pulled it off for about 3-4 yards then got right back on the board, I was super scared because of earlier failed attempts. I slammed down my left hand/glove first, and really slammed it, the guy at doctors on duty was telling me all sorts of stuff, after the nurse checked out the wrong arm, "well theres a hairline fracture, but since the bones aren't separating at all you won't need a cast, but the muscle's very strained and swollen so don't hyperextend your forearm"
a day later I'm skating fine after 4 advil, I probably wouldnt be if the doc gave me a straight answer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/14/2000
stingdoggy
wrote in from
(209.158.nnn.nnn)
i fell sk8in and i broke my arm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/11/2000 Craig
wrote in from
(137.158.nnn.nnn)
This morning we went out bombing.
Our friend Wayne can do the sickest coleman slides, so we took him to a steep long hill and watched him bust slides all the way down through all the dog walkers and contruction workers. He hit the final long straight hard and was accelerating to about 60kph...but no, someone didn't use good nylon lock nuts...pop! the wheel shot off somewhere and poor wayne ate the poo poo.
During the same session Mike rode blindly (it was dark) off the road and onto a gravel verge, but somehow rode it through onto the tar and didn't fall.
Later though i was overtaking him on this dinky little left hand turn, he just kept sliding out sideways until i had about a foot of road to work with. Luckily i passed him unscathed. As he hit the next corner, he went low slid backhand, corrected, slid forhand and flipped, grazing his face hip and bashing his elbows.
On the same hill later on, tyron came around a turn and fell over backwards. We spent 10 minutes trying to find the board.
There were only 2 skaters involved in the session who didn't fall that day, one was me. But i can't claim much fame because every single hill i skated down i almost killed myself on in some or other lame way, so i stopped skating.
The other non-faller skated realy slowly, and also pulled out of a lot of runs.
This is the team of local south africans who are planning to wage serious war against team dregs and the rest of the pro's coming to the Red Bull DHX. Hmm..?
Member of "team dork"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 12/6/2000
Ben
wrote in from
(63.202.nnn.nnn)
Tonight I was skating with a buddy. When we get out of the car, we both put on full pads, me with a helmet.
Later, my friend decides to ditch the elbow pads "too hot".
Bloody elbow within 20 minutes. Wrists, knees OK (they were protected) elbow bloody.
I'm buying a better helmet tomorrow. With two emergency-room visits within two weeks, I have also figured out why older guys are better about wearing pads: they've already had the required multiple hospitalization-grade injuries, weeks of rehab etcetera.
They're not smarter, they have just had more lessons from Professor Pain and Doctor Disability.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 11/28/2000 Danny Connor
wrote in from
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
BARRETT,
The word used to strike fear in my heart, until I raced it in october. I did well, and it boosted my confidense a lot. Me and another rider went to hit it up on sat, seeing as how there is gonna be a race in feb and all. When we got there, my head was huge. I was thinking "Oh I can bomb this now, I don't even need to be scared, blah blah blah" Well, I don't know if the hill heard my thoughts because I got a couple peices of humble pie that day. First hair-pin was a cinch, second gave me a little trouble at first, but the last real turn(turn 5 as the races know it) was not my friend. I was foot braking too late, and when I would put my foot back on the board, wobble, and crash, all day long. I fell more in that day, than I had in a few months. i am now nursing a bruised hip bone, bruised ribs, and a re-fractured toe!! Yeah!! But all I can say is, what does not kill you makes you stronger so it's on for FEB!! See ya all there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 11/27/2000 cheshirepus
wrote in from
(160.227.nnn.nnn)
This one's not too glamorous, but it was amusing...
I was carving at school, like the security gaurds tell me not to every day, and there were a mob of people taking up the bottom part of the sidewalk that I had commited to bomb. Mid-way down, I realized the emminent collision and was too lazy to put my foot down, so I decided to ride off onto the grass to slow me down. I do this all the time, and it works beautifully if you lean back enough, except this time, I failed to notice the grass was flooded with water, and my tail shot out in front of me and I landed smack on my ass! Luckily, when I pondered a look to see who else enjoyed my folly, no one was looking at me... I escaped unharmed and proud!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 11/26/2000
anthony tucker
wrote in from
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
yeah i was at ocean city one time and i had my skateboard and i seen a good gap and i tried to do it i made it like 5 times in a row but the last time i seen 2 good looking girls and when i did it cause they were watching me i 360 ollied over it and my back trucks hit the edge of the concrete and i broke my collar bone and seperated my shoulder
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On 11/21/2000 Ford
wrote in from
(198.206.nnn.nnn)
Here is the most idiot "crash" of all…
Sunday night I'm unpacking a small arsenal (6 boards). I had three decks in hand, it was dark, and there is a medium height step on the porch. A slight misjudgment, and in presidential style I stumbled forward trying to catch my balance, missed the BBQ, pitched the boards, and greeted the concrete. Grip tape on one of the decks took some skin with it and I was thinking this would not be a problem if I were wearing my pads (still packed). I continue to refuse to wear safety equipment while loading or unloading gear.
I think my dog was laughing.
|
|
|
|
|
