Acute injuries in off-road bicycle racing.

A descriptive study was conducted to investigate injuries sustained at a major off-road bicycling race at Mammoth Mountain, California, July 6 to 10, 1994. A total of 4027 individual starts in five events during the race were reported. Overall, the total number of competitors in the 5 events was 3624, with some cyclists participating in multiple events. Injuries were considered significant if they occurred during competition and prevented the rider from completing the event. Sixteen cyclists had injuries that met these criteria for an overall injury rate of 0.40%. These 16 cyclists had 44 injuries. Abrasions were the most common injury, followed by contusions, lacerations, fractures, and concussions. The mean injury severity score was 3.0 (range, 1 to 5) with 81.2% of the injuries resulting from cyclists going downhill. Injuries were more severe when the riders were thrown from the bicycles (P = 0.03). We observed different mechanisms of injury in various events, suggesting that the risk factors for sustaining a traumatic injury may vary according to the type of competition involved.