Has anyone ever fallen asleep riding a bike?

"Asleep at the wheel: second driver reports nodding off before fatal...," by Tom Held.

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Permalink Reply by marcia howell on September 11, 2014 at 10:22am

Yes, in high school, riding home from work, after a long day lifeguarding in the sun. I dozed off briefly and woke up when I crashed into a parked car. I had bruises, the car had a scratch but my bike had a broken fork.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Williams on September 11, 2014 at 10:37am
Can't say I ever fell asleep. But I did get taken down in a freak accident with a rogue squirrel that ran itself into my spokes. ended up with 2 broken facebones, and two cracked vertebrae, and was knocked out for a few minutes. Thankfully I was saved by a well fitting helmet and lord or lady fortune, to have escaped with no neurological dysfunction, besides my preexisting affective disorder known to some as "Bicyclist Affective Disorder" or B.A.D. for short. Expect to be in back brace until thanksgiving, and now have some cool looking titanium across by T-7 to T-9 verterbrae.

I don't know, being from your lovely neighbor the north as I reside in Madison, but I might be tempted to make an even up trade for your car traffic for our fox squirrels.....on second thought, you can have your traffic, and I will go back to using aaa higher spoke count wheel set, as my current 18 spoke front wheel could also let in a Cub or Bear, or maybe even a Black Hawk or two. I did join in on one your urban rides from downtown off California that made a loop through Evanston and back. It was fun but scary.
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on September 11, 2014 at 1:49pm

Making cyclists crash is a favorite pastime of squirrels.

Serge Lubomudrov said:

Gee, Kevin! This just happened recently? Sorry to hear. Get well soon.

As for a "rogue squirrel," I have a story to tell. Couple of months ago, when I was riding toward the Salt Creek Trail—W 26th St on the right, dense wall of bushes on the left; two women on bikes going in the opposite direction, just about a hundred feet ahead—I saw a squirrel ran across the street and stopped at the curb. Thinking it wanted to cross the trail to hide in the bushes, I did slow down a bit, to let it pass. No, it was just sitting there. But at the last moment, when there was almost no gap left between the front wheels of my bike and the bicycle of the first of the ladies, the stupid animal darted into that gap! Poor woman squealed and almost fell of her bike.

I bet the squirrel did it on purpose. 

Kevin Williams said:

Can't say I ever fell asleep. But I did get taken down in a freak accident with a rogue squirrel […]
Permalink Reply by S on September 11, 2014 at 4:29pm

Better squirrels than deer.  I had a friend that got boxed in by deer when riding on the NBT.  With one ahead of him and one behind, he had nowhere to go and ended up crashing and breaking his collarbone a week after he'd recovered from a previous broken collarbone.

Serge Lubomudrov said:

Gee, Kevin! This just happened recently? Sorry to hear. Get well soon.

As for a "rogue squirrel," I have a story to tell. Couple of months ago, when I was riding toward the Salt Creek Trail—W 26th St on the right, dense wall of bushes on the left; two women on bikes going in the opposite direction, just about a hundred feet ahead—I saw a squirrel ran across the street and stopped at the curb. Thinking it wanted to cross the trail to hide in the bushes, I did slow down a bit, to let it pass. No, it was just sitting there. But at the last moment, when there was almost no gap left between the front wheels of my bike and the bicycle of the first of the ladies, the stupid animal darted into that gap! Poor woman squealed and almost fell of her bike.

I bet the squirrel did it on purpose. 

Kevin Williams said:

Can't say I ever fell asleep. But I did get taken down in a freak accident with a rogue squirrel […]
Permalink Reply by Christopher Wallace on September 11, 2014 at 4:33pm

I had a squirrel incident on the Prairie Path. I was taking a bunch of kids on a longer ride. I was on long wheel base, under seat steering recumbent bike in the middle of the trail. The kids were ahead of me, there was tall grass on both sides of the trail. Just like that,  out of the lower corner of my eye, I saw a squirrel jumping out of the weeds. I did not have time to react, scream, twitch or anything else. I felt the squirrel smash into my hand and bounce off. I was sooooo happy it did not get into my wheel, or bite me. It was just a startling blur with a warm furry bump on my hand and then normal riding again. 

I never have fallen asleep on a bike and I am on the laz e boy recumbent bikes all the time
Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

Making cyclists crash is a favorite pastime of squirrels.

Serge Lubomudrov said:

Gee, Kevin! This just happened recently? Sorry to hear. Get well soon.

As for a "rogue squirrel," I have a story to tell. Couple of months ago, when I was riding toward the Salt Creek Trail—W 26th St on the right, dense wall of bushes on the left; two women on bikes going in the opposite direction, just about a hundred feet ahead—I saw a squirrel ran across the street and stopped at the curb. Thinking it wanted to cross the trail to hide in the bushes, I did slow down a bit, to let it pass. No, it was just sitting there. But at the last moment, when there was almost no gap left between the front wheels of my bike and the bicycle of the first of the ladies, the stupid animal darted into that gap! Poor woman squealed and almost fell of her bike.

I bet the squirrel did it on purpose. 

Kevin Williams said:

Can't say I ever fell asleep. But I did get taken down in a freak accident with a rogue squirrel […]
Permalink Reply by marcia howell on September 11, 2014 at 4:55pm
How about a momma bear and two cubs...
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Permalink Reply by Jane Healy on September 11, 2014 at 5:15pm

I can't tell you how many times I've had a child fall asleep while on the back end of a trail-a-bike, tandem or or while riding on the bike rack (pillion style)!  I think we've logged at least 100 miles doing this--yet we never lost a child.  They have seemingly miraculous balance while sleeping...

(I know that technically this might not fit the thread.)

Permalink Reply by joe on September 11, 2014 at 5:27pm

yes, at a stop light, after a marauders ride. and dozed off while riding for a brief second

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