Timbuk2

On December 1, 2011, I got doored (ugh). It was my first really scary bike crash and I was lucky to walk away uninjured. The car door slammed into my frame, knocking me into traffic. Fortunately no cars were coming and my head took a solid bonk, but my helmet protected me from injury. While I don’t wish getting doored on anyone, I’m oddly grateful that it happened because it taught me so much.

Doored into retirement. My poor Bianchi cannot be ridden anymore.

Getting doored helped call my attention to three important aspects of riding safely.

• Lane Positioning Matters: Ride too close to cars and you’ll get doored. Ride to far into traffic and you’ll get rear-ended and/or make cars angry. Make the best trade-off you can on every street.
• No Distance is Too Short for Dome Protection: Wear a helmet.
• Palms Are for Protecting: Skidding across pavement on bare hands sucks. Wear gloves.

But the real learning was in what to do after you crash.

I didn’t do much wrong before I got doored; I was in a bike lane, with lights and a helmet, riding quite slowly. But I did everything wrong post crash. I got up too fast, waved away witnesses, tried to ride home and didn’t get the driver’s contact info.* Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and handle yourself more appropriately post crash.

What to do when you crash:

• Take a Seat: You may think you’re OK, but you may be in shock. Take a seat on the curb until you’re sure you can stand. Get your breathing under control and if/when you’re ready, check yourself out to see how the ‘ol body feels. Call for help if you need it.
• Exchange Contact Information: Body and bike injuries may not be immediately obvious. Protect yourself from paying out of pocket for damage you can and cannot see. Snapping a photo of relevant license plates is not a bad idea either (I actually did this).
• Connect with a Witness: Even if you think you’re OK, collect contact info from a witnesses or two in case you need it in the future.
• Drink Water, Not Wine: If you bonked your head, you may have a concussion. But concussions can take days to appear and drinking with a concussion is a bad idea. I initially refused water – “I’m not thirsty, thanks” – not realizing that I was sweating and totally dehydrated despite the cold weather. A few hours later, I drank a glass of wine, thinking it would calm me down. And it did. But later that night I regretted the indulgence when I had a pounding headache and severe nausea.
• Don’t Ride Home: It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be either calm or alert after a crash. Call a friend, take a taxi, but don’t ride home.

It’s also a good idea to:

• Be Reasonable: Whatever went down in the crash was mostly likely an accident. Being angry won’t make things right and it will wear you out. Chill out and try to get out of the situation before getting emotional makes it worse. I lucked out in that the driver who doored me was courteous and genuinely concerned, but I don’t think it would have helped if I’d screamed at them.
• Take a Break: Consider taking a day or two off before you ride again. It will let you body heal, your mind clear and the drama of “I’ll never ride again!” fade. In my case, two days of public transit sent me directly to a bike shop.

Crashing isn’t fun, particularly if you or someone else is seriously injured. Hopefully the tips above can help your or someone else work through a crash as reasonably and pain-free as possible.

*After dragging my bike into a miraculously convenient bike shop across the street from the crash site, I learned that my Bianchi frame was bent into oblivion. I wasn’t safe to ride home or ever again. But in my post-crash “leave me alone” state, I’d failed to collect the driver’s information. Not smart. Luckily the driver had mentioned they were going to a bar in the neighborhood – horrified by the incident, they’d offered to buy me a drink – so I went bar-to-bar in the neighborhood until I found them (#3 hit the spot). I can only imagine how they felt when they saw me appear mid-way through a cheese plate and giant glass of red.

YBike is a San Francisco-based non-profit that empowers local youth and adults to ride bikes via classroom and on-bike instruction on traffic safety and biking skills. We recently donated Timbuk2 recycled bags to YBike and stoked out some of their younger riders.

Since our recycling program started in 2009, we’ve recycled nearly 2,000 bags. We donate recycled bags to our primary partner, At the Crossroads (ATC), as well as other local non-profits. We’re particularly stoked to have recently supported YBike because bike safety is on our minds — December was dangerous for Timbuk2 riders — and more folks on bikes is always a good thing!

YBike kids stoked on bikes!

Stoked young YBike riders with a recycled Timbuk2 Candybar.

The Timbuk2 Recycling Program offers 20% off a Timbuk2 purchase in exchange for your fully-loved but still worthy of loving Timbuk2 bag. Learn more about the program here.

Our Director of Product & Design’s desk looks like.

The desk of Timbuk2′s Director of Product & Design.

What does your desk look like? Send us a photo to social@timbuk2.com.

It was a December to remember. In one week, three Timbuk2 employees suffered serious bike crashes. Carlos got doored a block from our office and picked up a wooze-inducing concussion plus grotesque bruising. A few days later, a car pulled in front of Jared, causing him to go over the handlebars and break his collar bone. It was our second broken collar bone of the year; Alex got hit by a car and snapped his collar bone in September.

Jared’s smashed into a car and then operated on collar bone.

Unfortunately, I was part of the Decembrists. I got doored for the first time on December 1, and my beloved Bianchi got crunched out of commission. But thanks to my snow-bunny fortified Bern helmet, full-finger gloves and tough-as jacket, I suffered no serious damage.

We thought our bad luck had ended, but last weekend our head of product and design washed out on gravel and road-rashed his arm and entire right side.

Greg’s gravel-induced road rash.

Greg said of his crash, “I hadn’t crashed in ten years so . . .” He implied that if you ride, you will crash. While I’d prefer not to admit it, it’s true. And I think it’s important to accept. Crashing is part of riding. Does that mean you shouldn’t ride? No! And it doesn’t mean you have to ride scared. It means riding like you expect something to happen. Riding slowly or at a moderate pace — you catch all the losers that race past you anyway — wearing a helmet and gloves, using lights and turn signals, being alert, and generally being defensive. If you ride like drivers are hunting you and train tracks are trying to eat you, you’ll be more likely to avoid serious damage if (when) you crash.

In four years of 60 minutes of riding through San Francisco every day, I’ve crashed three times. The first two crashes were 110% my fault. Crashes one and two involved train tracks — the beloved cable car on Hyde Street and the old-school trains that run down Market Street — and no other cyclists or cars. They were “good” crashes because no one was injured and they got my attention. Crash three was a “bad” crash because it actually hurt and wasn’t my fault. But like crashes one and two, it was “good” because it got my attention. I’d done almost everything right — rode in the bike lane on a highly-ridden street at a slow pace with lights and a helmet — but I still got doored. Legally getting doored is not the cyclist’s fault, but if I hadn’t snuggled up next to the car, the crash would have been avoided. Cyclists often have to choose between potentially getting doored and riding in traffic. It’s not a great tradeoff because both options can be very dangerous, but if you’re highly visible (i.e. lights, reflectivity, hand signals) it’s usually safer to ride in traffic.

Getting doored taught me about about the tradeoffs of lane positioning and has made me acutely aware of where I ride. Crashing helped.

This crash report is not intended to intimidate or scare away future bike commuters. Rather it’s meant to share the realities of urban cycling. Defensive riding, just like defensive driving, is crucial for safety. And in an ironic way, crashing keeps you safe.