[Christine]

Suffered an impressive endo today and ache all over, in addition to the scrapes and bruises. Was able to ride a few miles over hilly singletrack back to the car, and drive over an hour through nutty traffic to get home.

Didn't get knocked out, but was quite stunned and in a daze as I rode from there. Yeah, yeah, I know, I need to see a doctor, but I'm not asking for medical advice here. I'm just curious as to what other people have experienced concussion-wise.

 

[RVM]

I got a concussion one time

and didn't get it checked by a doc either. Just took some Tylenol for the headache.
I sure was glad that I finally took the time to properly adjust my helmet. The helmet cracked nicely on the right side.

But I didn't drive myself home right after the crash. My friend did the driving.

Get well soon and get back on the saddle, Christine...

 

[TNC]

2 Drunks...2 times.

Suffered an impressive endo today and ache all over, in addition to the scrapes and bruises. Was able to ride a few miles over hilly singletrack back to the car, and drive over an hour through nutty traffic to get home.

Didn't get knocked out, but was quite stunned and in a daze as I rode from there. Yeah, yeah, I know, I need to see a doctor, but I'm not asking for medical advice here. I'm just curious as to what other people have experienced concussion-wise.

One even happened on 2 wheels...motorcycle. I've been hit by 2 drunk drivers and received a concussion in both of them. Mine resulted in being unconscious for maybe 2 minutes. I had some really fuzzy thinking for about a couple of hours but always new who I was and what had happened. I also had a dull headache for several hours. I've taken lots of head banging on dirt motorcycles and mountain bikes but only got concussions the 2 times I was unconscious. I kinda thought you almost had to have a small lapse of unconsciousness to get a concussion, but hey...I'm no doctor.

 

[SuperNewb]

I dont know if I ever had a concussion...but one time while booting along the pavement ( 90% more dangerous for me then any trail I ride) I did head on collision with another biker. Happened stupid and was my fault ( I swerved into him for some dumb blank moment) no helmet on ( never wore a helmet for another 2 years) and I was dazed after that. The other guy was ok though as he was asking if I was ok. But I just shook it off about 15 secs later and continued riding. I need body armor more then a helmet..

 

[Ratt]

Are you sure you weren't knocked out?

I was late to the trail head once and raced to catch the group. Over shot a high speed water bar jump into an off camber corner, I landed 2' from the bank and smacked it hard. Got right up and rode solo to my truck. My left eye closed shut while i was driving home. My buddies were at the bike shop at the end of the trail and heard 2 riders talking about finding a guy knocked out on the trail in bad shape, who just got up and rode off down the trail.

I guess i was knocked out for at least 3 minutes, took 3 months before i could remember anything about the ride before i crashed, only have partial memory of the drive home, went to the doctor the next morning only after i figured out there was no way could i make to work, i was too groggy and in some pain still. I dialed my riding back a lot after that crash, of course 2 years later I broke my pelvis in Moab, now that crash i do remember and it hurt more.

 

[pathfinder]

Concussion kept me noticing pain from other injuries

I endoed trying to bunny hop some parking blocks (outside of work), so I was going pretty fast, no helmet or shirt. Back wheel caught the first parking block and flipped me over, I don't really remember any of it except for trying to stand up and falling over a couple of times. Funny thing was the right side of my back was raspberried pretty good, my right shoulder also looked pretty rough, but I didn't really feel all that much pain. Just some stinging from my back. Scariest part was I couldn't remember where I lived. I had moved into a new house recently and I kept riding to old apartments I had previously lived in. Finally made it home and about fainted when I saw my back. Went to the hospital and the ER said I basically had 3rd degree burns on about 1/3 of my back. This ended up hurting like hell, I mean really hurting. The nurse was very gentle, but there's no way to wash out all that asphalt and dirt out of a wound like that without pain. Seriously, it hurt. Okay enough with the pain. Another funny thing, at least I think is, I rode miles and miles around town and never went to the hospital or back to work, can't remember why. This was back in '91 before cell phones in case you're wondering why nobody called 911. Thankfully, my head was not bleeding all that much, just enough to scare me and the knock I took on my noggin' probably deadened the pain for a little while. Well thanks for letting me share my story. Hope you get well soon.

 

[Zonk0u]

The last concussion I got was about 2 years ago. It was durring a lacrosse game, I play crease attack, and was sprinting for a loose ball before their goalie could get to it. The goalie was a monster, so I figured he wouldnt expect me laying him out, picking up the ball and getting an easy empty netter... well he did see me, changed course, and we both collided like mack trucks. Nice big white flash and then blackness. I was out for about 5 min, and when I came to and pieced together what'd happened I saw that the goalie was in as bad of shape as I was.

the symptoms were:
-headache (obviously)
-disoriented. I couldnt tell you what day it was for about a half an hour, but that didnt stop me from trying to get back into the game. When you're brain is beaten retarded, you tend to think retarded things.
-for about a week after that I had a headache and some occasional dizzy spells.

Definately have the doc check things out head injuries are not something to take a chance on.

 

[brownieinSC]

Had my first one two weeks ago

I was riding with my husband (thank god) and was trying an a-frame bridge over a big tree. my front tire went to off the side and I think I endoed, head and shoulder hitting the ground first. My husband said I was fine, told him about the wreck and some other lady who came by a few minutes later. Sat down and was cleaning off my shoulder when I asked him if I just had a bike wreck. I didn't know how to get out of the park, where I was, what month it was, etc. I still don't remember the wreck now but I am walking those bridges until I get a practice one set up in my yard I have recovered fine, just have no memory from lunch that day till around 7-8 that night at the hospital

 

[Homebrew]

Here's a story...

At the Monkey Chucker 24 hour race in Greenville, NC, there was a guy that to a bad fall and got a concussion. During his preride, he took one of the alternative lines with a 4 ft drop with a very short tranny. This drop was at the very beginning of the loop right after entering the woods. Well during his first race lap, he tried the same line. Only this time with adrenaline pumping at race pace. Apparently this was enough for him to miss the tranny altogether and do about 8 ft to flat. That didn't work out so well for him. He dumped and knocked himself out. No one found him because he was out of sight of the safe route everyone was taking. He finally came to on his own with no idea how long he was out. And get this...HE FINISHED HIS LAP. He got back to camp and was checked out by the EMS folks. He wanted to continue the race but they said no can do with a concussion.

 

[highroller]

I can't remember any concussion stories

 

[sircrashalot]

Sea Otter spectacular

I used to live on Old Fort Ord, home of the Sea Otter Classic course. There is a section there where you can go down some very steep and FAST single track. Right at the bottom of the hill it transitions rapidly to an uphill. I was coming down that hill at close to 30 mph (seems fast but this is very packed trail and quite steep). I went up the next hill and saw my friends all cheering me on yelling my name and screaming at me. I could not figure out what the commotion was about...

I heard "Mike, Mike... Wake up dude are you all right?" I came to and realized that the screaming and cheering was my ride partner trying to get me to come around. I was out hard, helmet broken in two and my shoes were still clipped to the pedals (note, my feet were not in the shoes...). The bike was thrown about 15 feet from where I was and my front wheel was taco'd hard. I could not speak coherently and my buddy was doing cartwheels in front of me (or so I thought).

My friend told me to stay down, but I tried to get up anyway. I immediately fell over. I would get up, but immediately lean as I was walking and start doing a death spiral to the ground. (Looking back at it, it was probably funny to watch).

Long story short, my buddy ran down to the nearest house near Laguna Seca he could find to call the doc (my cell was in backpack, but I was too incoherent to tell anyone). The 911 dispatcher got a 4X4 ambulance to haul my bloody and battered body off the hill. All I could ask about was "is my bike OK?" (idiot).

I still don't remember the actual crash, just going down the hill. Went back about a month later and tried to figure out what happened. I think I got wide off the packed single track onto some wet grassy area (it rained the night before, trail was dry but patches of wet sand/grass) and turned to get back on the trail. The tire bit just right, ripping it off the rim and the rim dug into the sand. Endo I went...

I barfed for the next 24 hours and couldn't walk straight for two days.

Still cannot go down that hill with my hand off the brakes.

 

[intheways]

It wasn't biking, but I was snowboarding. I was trying to do some kind of backside spin when I hit the ground and didn't know which way was down.

 

[jakey]

Went skiing in 1988

And I'm told was out for about 20 min. Woke up in the infirmary with the events of the day wiped totally clear. Didn't know why I was there who I was with (my friend was there with me) what day it was.

Spent a night in the hospital and had to go back for a brain scan. To this day I have no memory of that day.

 

[jrm]

Ahhh Culvert trail

Suffered an impressive endo today and ache all over, in addition to the scrapes and bruises. Was able to ride a few miles over hilly singletrack back to the car, and drive over an hour through nutty traffic to get home.

Didn't get knocked out, but was quite stunned and in a daze as I rode from there. Yeah, yeah, I know, I need to see a doctor, but I'm not asking for medical advice here. I'm just curious as to what other people have experienced concussion-wise.

when over the bars slow mo at speed landing on my neck. Sprained the neck, and gave myself a good concussion. At the time i did it i didn't think i needed to go to the ER. I drove home but once i got home i started getting these real intense headaches on one side of my head. i went to the ER the next day. They said i had sprained my neck but that i only had a mild concussion. While my neck got better over the next month or so the headaches persisted but lessened in intensity.

I was really worried about the headaches more than the neck. I talked to a family friend whos a doctor about the injury, symptoms and affects. They said that the impact of the injury most likely bruised my brain causing it to swell against my skull which brough on the headaches. They also said that for some time (up to a year) i'll experience lapses in thought and possible slower motor skills until i fully recover.

For me @ 43 this injury really scared the shlt outta me because it was serious and because im still impacted by the affects and they really do impact what you do.

 

[Christine]

Ratt, I don't believe I was knocked out, b/c I checked my watch and remember thinking I wasn't going to beat my best time for that trail after all :roll: I did the math last night, and decided that I wasn't knocked out (started riding @ 1:40 pm, watch said it was after 3, which is about right for where I was.)

Based on what I've read, a concussion can occur even if a person isn't knocked out. The amnesia is one of the symptoms, although I prefer to think it was due to being so stunned that I wasn't thinkng straight!

Got a dull headache, but didn't die of a brain hemmorage in my sleep like I was told could happen. Then again, I was too uncomfortable to sleep. Checked my helmet, and it has some shallow little dents. The visor was loose but not broken. Lucky there's a lot of soft dirt on our local trails.

 

[bulC]

it's dark out and my head hurts

used to live along a river with a canal next to it, and a tow path in between. sometimes rode the tow path to work. always on an MTB. little wooden bridge over the tow path with wood planks, cracks in between. never really paid attention to that fact, since mtb tires are way wider than the cracks, so not an issue. lots of bikes available at my work, a job in the bike industry. one day I hop on a cyclocross bike for the ride home. nice ride. I wake up lying on the bridge. sun has set so I lost a couple hours somewhere. head really hurts. big knot on my forehead. big ding in my bell v1-pro hardshell helmet. bike is standing upright, front wheel of the cx bike jammed in between two bridge planks about halfway up to the hub. end of story.

 

[WR304]

Many years ago I was riding a rocky downhill in Wales on a rigid bike. It was very bumpy but with a fast line if you kept it tidy.

I was going quite well but then went a bit offline into the rocks at 25-30mph. I was still going ok but then my left foot got bounced out of the SPD binding...

You can guess the rest.

Anyway when I came round there was a massive rock wedged in the back of the helmet which was completely demolished and everything was spinning. The rest of the club had narrowly avoided running over me as well which would have been nasty.

After sitting down for 15min or so I was able to walk for the last few miles of the descent before getting back on and slowly riding the last 20miles home.

 

[borregokid]

I was running cross country except that it was probably closer to downhill when I went over. DHers where full face helmets. Unfortunately I didnt have one. I was knocked out cold. Fortunately this was just before hunting season and there were a lot of hunters on the roads. About 30 minutes later two gentlemen picked me up. On the way to emergency care I realized I had been in a bike accident. Two hospitals refused to take me in and it wasnt for lack of insurance. I was helicoptered to the nearest trauma center which was some distance away. I remember getting in the copter, my last thoughts were I hope we dont crash going over the mountains, then I thought I am almost dead anyway. Next time I remembered anything was several hours later. The concussion was maybe the least of my injuries but I can tell you it left my brain tingling for about three weeks and every afternoon I would get real tired and have to sleep. Fortunately I had the best insurance available and even the helicopter bill was paid in full. Two months later no one could tell I was in an accident, although my full recovery took 7 months. I go slower down hills and race with a full face helmet. I

 

[jdcamb]

I was riding alone on a trail near my house. It was getting dark out and decided to go home. I was just about out of the woods and decided to bomb down a hill I had rode a thousand times before. Well a tree fell from a storm and blocked the usually smooth and clear trail. I hit that tree full on and flew over the bars superman style into another log down further down the trail. I woke up at 4:30am freezing cold and one hell of a headache. I estimated that dusk was about 7:30pm. I went to the hospital and everything checked out but they held me for observation and until someone could pick me up. My helmet was totally crushed and in halves. I hung it up broken in a tree and to this day it is still there (9 years later). It is called helmet hill now......jdcamb

 

[danK]

I fell off a jet ski trailer and got a concussion. Then I went riding the next day and felt like my head was going to explode. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Eight mile climb in 90 degree heat.
I paid the price for about 4 days afterward. Lucky I did not pass out during the ride.

As others have said, once you get one, it's easier to succumb to another. I think I may have had 3 in my life, all minor, but now I take all the time off I need to afterward.