Have you ever need to stop & re-focus while out Cycling

kerry4sam

Can I ask if this has ever happened to you Please?

I was thrown off my bike in Nov 2012. I've been back out cycling since and even cycled passed the spot where it happened and I was okay.

However tonight was my 1st time back out cycling in 2015 as only took bike off the turbo this evening. I cycled up by where it happened and it just all came back. Flashbacks started as I approached of my hitting off his bonnet; bouncing off the ground twice and lying on the road in pain! & I froze. Literally had to pull in off the road onto the footpath for a minute to just re-focus again.
^^^ That NEVER happened to be before. I cycled past the site; it's never left my mind but I've never froze before.

Afterward I got back cycling I ended up loosening my jersey-zip down from my neck to let more air in.

Anything like that happen to you? I'd cycled a short while before approaching this area and was fine. Just something happened inside me as I approached & I'd to pull in and stop.

Thanks in Advance,
kerry4sam

drogdub

kerry4sam wrote: »

Can I ask if this has ever happened to you Please?

I was thrown off my bike in Nov 2012. I've been back out cycling since and even cycled passed the spot where it happened and I was okay.

However tonight was my 1st time back out cycling in 2015 as only took bike off the turbo this evening. I cycled up by where it happened and it just all came back. Flashbacks started as I approached of my hitting off his bonnet; bouncing off the ground twice and lying on the road in pain! & I froze. Literally had to pull in off the road onto the footpath for a minute to just re-focus again.
^^^ That NEVER happened to be before. I cycled past the site; it's never left my mind but I've never froze before.

Afterward I got back cycling I ended up loosening my jersey-zip down from my neck to let more air in.

Anything like that happen to you? I'd cycled a short while before approaching this area and was fine. Just something happened inside me as I approached & I'd to pull in and stop.

Thanks in Advance,
kerry4sam

Not able to give advice but have a similar a similar scenario. A few years ago I fell off my bike coming down the ramp near Newgrange (the one on the far side of Donor). While I have often gone up it I have never went down it since. It hasn't effected by descending in general as far as fear, but I actively avoid descending it. It's mainly to avoid a scenario you describe because if i did get flash backs they would be new to me as I can't remember the accident just waking up on the ground with a broken collarbone. That thought scares me.

Beasty

Know I will be as twitchy as hell before I start my next race, but am planning to do something that should be quite straightforward with a small field to ease back in (and the IVCA appear happy to accommodate my request). Not visited the crime scene on a bike yet - have driven past it once but actually cannot even remember what my thoughts were then. I've also tried to visualise it by scrutinising google maps. I guess the good news is I have absolutely no memory of what happened ....

eeeee

Maybe mindfulness could help? You're brain won't escalate to such a panicked level if you approach it mindfully and prepare yourself for it. It sounds like you didn't expect the reaction. Like you were almost ambushed by it. I had the opposite when I got back on track. The first two laps I did when I got back followed the exact same route I did before the crash. I have been fine since. I expected to be way more nervous than I was. Getting shocked by that sort of thing is horrible, and the fact that it came back at you might suggest you have a bit of work to do with it mentally? Mindfulness is great for that sort of thing. I am a big scaredy cat in a group anyway, I always was, so it's hard to tell if the crash has made me more nervous!

Wishbone Ash

My most serious accident (4 broken bones) was in October 2012 at a junction that I pass several times per week. I approach it at a slightly slower speed than I would have previously but it does not present any other psychological issues.

Idleater

Like other posters, I have a particular problem with one right turn t junction where I was t-boned 15 odd years ago. I don't often have to go past, but when I do i remember back. This is obviously self fulfilling, but nonetheless it shows it can happen.
Racing is different, but can equally affect the mind. I have witnessesed one accident in particular that I haven't raced well mentally since. I have since chosen to race when I want and as far as I want, more to the point, not to race if I don't want.

triggermortis

Only similar thing I've done is on a route I used to mountain bike in Belgium. There was a dried river bed I used to ride quite often in a wooded area and as it ended there was a rise that, one day, I failed miserably to negotiate properly and came to a dead stop. I didn't unclip in time and fell over, lower than the height of the bike and smashed my elbow on a large rock. (elbow is still sore now, 5+ years later). After that, I could never get past that point following the same route. It must have been an unlucky area for me, because another time, not 100m away from that spot I got a flat and after fixing it, as I stood up I put my back out. 10k cycle home in agony then 2 week off work.

ZiabR

Beasty wrote: »

Know I will be as twitchy as hell before I start my next race, but am planning to do something that should be quite straightforward with a small field to ease back in (and the IVCA appear happy to accommodate my request). Not visited the crime scene on a bike yet - have driven past it once but actually cannot even remember what my thoughts were then. I've also tried to visualise it by scrutinising google maps. I guess the good news is I have absolutely no memory of what happened ....

Still nothing? I thought some of it might come back to you over time.

OP - I was never hit but I was forced off the road before and it has made me very very edgy while out on the bike. I am more conscious of the traffic coming from behind and the fact that I can't see them coming. I would imagine that what you are experiencing is very normal.

Brian?

Sounds horrible. I understand the feeling well. I found that regular visits to the spot in question really helped.

It's a horribly feeling. Best of luck with it.

NeedMoreGears

Sorry to hear that OP.

I was knocked down about two years ago on my commute whilst on a cycle track (the one out to Howth in Dublin). The first few times through the same spot , I was quite nervous, although all I got were cuts and bruises. I am still cautious going past the junction and I must have gone through it several hundred times since. I remember the crash each time.

I even thought I saw the same car there once or twice when there was no car at all.

Hope things improve for you

Beasty

logik wrote: »

Still nothing? I thought some of it might come back to you over time.

Got to bear in mind I was unconscious for 30 mins or so, and it was a massive concussion. Could (and still can) vividly remember stuff until a few minutes before. In fact I can remember a hell of a lot more from the 2 hours before than the 2 weeks after

I guess not remembering has many benefits, although I really would like to be able to visualise what did happen if only to understand whether I contributed to it. On the other hand not knowing allows me to build a picture where it was a pure accident and I simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time

xxyyzz

Mountainbiker here so maybe 2 or 3 times every spin I need to swallow the fear before some stupid descent

marty_crane

I was hit by a car and injured on my commute 18 months ago and I've never cycled past the spot since, not through fear or anything but I've actually changed jobs since.

I was wary when I got back on the bike so I got a Contour Roam for the helmet. This has the effect for me of safeguarding me in the event of being hit and also I find it's so obvious where it is that motorists give me a wide berth.

Can't say it'll work for you OP but it did for me

Borderfox

Still recovering from a pelvis fracture from losing the front wheel on a slippery roundabout and had a quite vivid flashback today while being driven past the place where it happened, I pictured everything leading up to the accident and a positive outcome rather than the accident. That seemed to help

Hermy

Long time back I had a nasty crash cycling over the old humpback bridge between Baldoyle and Donaghmede. About a year after that I was a passenger in a car travelling over the same bridge and for some reason - pothole, I think - the driver had to swerve or jam on as we went over the top of the bridge. We weren't travelling fast as the driver was a notoriously safe driver but I nearly jumped out of my skin which I presume was a flashback of some kind. Not something that's happened before or since.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Brian? wrote: »

Sounds horrible. I understand the feeling well. I found that regular visits to the spot in question really helped..

That can certainly help normalize the experience.

I was diagnosed with PTSD after a particularly tough tour of duty overseas (Lebanon) and returning to the mission area subsequently had the effect of normalizing the situation.. ie this stuff happens, but not to everyone and not every time you visit that location.

I don't think I'm explaining this particularly well.

You won't forget your experience, but you will come to accept it but whatever you do don't avoid the area or over thinking what might have happened.