Originally Posted by
Dudelsack
Stepfamily needs to chime in.
#stapfam
^^^I don't know if/how that works.
Anyway, IIRC he actually practices falling on occasion.
They say you should hold onto the handlebars as you fall, and if you're lucky the bars will absorb at least some of the impact.
Fortunately my falls as of late have been on soft surfaces.
Some friends of mine had a blowout on an in-line quad while descending at speed (the only way that thing ever descended). At some point after the rear wheel had passed the captain, they all went down in a flurry of sparks. Two of the stokers held tight to their handlebars in spite of the fact that the bars did not remain attached to the bike. There wasn't much left of those bars and I hate to think of what would have happened to their hands/arms if they hadn't had the bars to ride the asphalt with.
For some reason, the owner and builder of this fine machine hung it up on his living room wall that night and hasn't allowed it to be ridden since; that was over twenty years ago. (I did hear a rumor last year that one of his sons was looking into putting it back on the road.)