Finally crashed for the first time!
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I haven’t crashed in more than 8 years, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Woman in front of me spit out a stick. It got spun up my my bladed spokes, lodged between the front rim and brake caliper and locked up the front wheel, all while I was powering up to take on a short, steep hill. For a moment I was flying, then gravity won out.
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I haven’t crashed in more than 8 years, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Woman in front of me spit out a stick. It got spun up my my bladed spokes, lodged between the front rim and brake caliper and locked up the front wheel, all while I was powering up to take on a short, steep hill. For a moment I was flying, then gravity won out.
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Ok, I'll bite. Why the recommendation to keep your hands on the bars during a crash?
#29
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The goal in a fall is to spread the impact over as large an area as possible-- back, side, hip. Sticking out an arm or leg is pretty much the worst thing you can do. When I fall (which seems to happen too often) I've always ended up with both hands still on the bars, and both feet still clipped to the pedals. Some road rash here, a couple of bruised ribs there, a broken helmet (or two) but I've fared quite well overall. Didn't even cut into my weekly mileage in most cases.
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The goal is to NOT fall. Hope this helps.
More generally, I go over each "near miss" and "near fall." My goal is to outsmart the "near miss" and "near fall," so that I don't HIT or FALL.
(And before the cliche of there are two types of cyclists, yes, I've crashed. But if people keep on crashing, over and over again, sorry, I keep thinking they are doing it wrong. Not sorry.)
-mr. bill
More generally, I go over each "near miss" and "near fall." My goal is to outsmart the "near miss" and "near fall," so that I don't HIT or FALL.
(And before the cliche of there are two types of cyclists, yes, I've crashed. But if people keep on crashing, over and over again, sorry, I keep thinking they are doing it wrong. Not sorry.)
-mr. bill
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After seeing a friend go over the handlebars with his hand out in front of him to save himself, and seeing the damage to that hand, I always wear mitts as well as a helmet.
#32
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LOL There are two kinds of cyclists: ones who will fall in the future and ones that have already fallen. Everyone is in the first group, only the 'lucky' ones are also in the second one. So the only way to not fall is to not ride a bicycle.
My bikes minimize the damage. Falling from 13 inches, hip-first, tends to produce some rug burns but not much else. Yeah, at my age the scabs still last a couple of weeks.
My bikes minimize the damage. Falling from 13 inches, hip-first, tends to produce some rug burns but not much else. Yeah, at my age the scabs still last a couple of weeks.
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oven mitts are soft & can provide grip, but I don't think they're good during a bicycle fall directing the impact into the hand.
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The goal in a fall is to spread the impact over as large an area as possible-- back, side, hip. Sticking out an arm or leg is pretty much the worst thing you can do. When I fall (which seems to happen too often) I've always ended up with both hands still on the bars, and both feet still clipped to the pedals. Some road rash here, a couple of bruised ribs there, a broken helmet (or two) but I've fared quite well overall. Didn't even cut into my weekly mileage in most cases.
The reason that we put out our hands to "catch ourselves" is because bipedalism is a rather awkward method of locomotion and we are prone to falling. At walking speed, this isn't that much of a problem and our arm bones are able to withstand the impact. Put more speed into the system and the bones won't do their job. At running speed, you've likely hit the limit. At bicycle speed, you've far exceeded it.
One thing DrIsotope didn't mention is to relax during a crash. The absolute worst thing you can do is to "brace for impact!" Bracing yourself doesn't do anything except tighten up your whole structure so that the impact is transmitted everywhere. We are bags of mostly water but we have hard bits inside. If you can make the "mostly water" part take much of the impact, the hard bits fair better. The best thing to do when you find yourself in the middle of a crash is to relax and just go with the flow. Yea, it's going to hurt but it will hurt a whole lot less than if you try to fight it. From a bit of a ghoulish sense, the reason drunks fair better in car crashes is because they are relaxed and just let whatever is going to happen, happen.
Decide not to fall. Don’t assume cyclists fall all the time. Get stable on the bike. Take no advice from those who do fall all the time. Last time I fell was August 1999. Others I know, others who also ride all the time and rack up big miles, have gone 40 years without a fall.
Training yourself on how to fall while reducing injury takes effort. It takes thought and planning and some "practice", although I'd call it experience. I've crashed more times than I can count or remember. I've seldom ended up with more than scrapes and/or a broken helmet.
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Sorry, just stop crashing. (Not sorry.)
I used to get tackled all the time playing football (soccer). I got VERY good at landing.
I got much better when I learned how NOT to get tackled.
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 07-20-20 at 03:59 PM.
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I think cycccommute does a lot of active off-road bicycling. Any off roading done at fun speeds is like playing American Football. Crashing and Tackling are part of the game.
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My experience with bike crashes was that they were sudden and by the time I knew they were happening, they'd already happened. Before I had a chance to think "Tuck and Roll!" I was already down. My thoughts weren't "I'm having an accident!". More like, "Why a I down here?"
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And, yes, I’ve crashed a lot mostly due to mountain biking but not only while mountain biking. Having done it, I’m a better fit for teaching people how to deal with crashes then someone who has never crashed. If you’ve never failed, you’ve never learned anything.
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#41
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BTW, I played defender for many years. Anyone that didn't pass the ball on their attempt to go around me got a sliding tackle. Sometimes they let me take the ball, other times they hit the earth. As long as I contacted the ball, I never got carded. Back in the day, I tell ya.
They almost never get carded either.
p.s. The travesty that didn’t matter, I I took a ball to the byline, crossed it back to a teammate on a far post run, who headed the ball short of the far post and over. (They couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with their head), but THEY got called for offside. Not possible, but there you have it.
But let’s all learn how to tumble between doubles.
-mr. bill
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But before you learned how not to be tackled, you had to lear now to be tackled. It’s part of the game. Crashing is part of bicycling. You may be able to avoid it but when it happens...not “if”...if you haven’t learned (or at least thought) about crashing, you won’t be prepared.
And, yes, I’ve crashed a lot mostly due to mountain biking but not only while mountain biking. Having done it, I’m a better fit for teaching people how to deal with crashes then someone who has never crashed. If you’ve never failed, you’ve never learned anything.
And, yes, I’ve crashed a lot mostly due to mountain biking but not only while mountain biking. Having done it, I’m a better fit for teaching people how to deal with crashes then someone who has never crashed. If you’ve never failed, you’ve never learned anything.
Last edited by alcjphil; 07-20-20 at 08:01 PM.
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#43
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You mean similar to the asymmetry of getting run over by a CDL operator?
They almost never get carded either.
p.s. The travesty that didn’t matter, I I took a ball to the byline, crossed it back to a teammate on a far post run, who headed the ball short of the far post and over. (They couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with their head), but THEY got called for offside. Not possible, but there you have it.
But let’s all learn how to tumble between doubles.
-mr. bill
They almost never get carded either.
p.s. The travesty that didn’t matter, I I took a ball to the byline, crossed it back to a teammate on a far post run, who headed the ball short of the far post and over. (They couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with their head), but THEY got called for offside. Not possible, but there you have it.
But let’s all learn how to tumble between doubles.
-mr. bill
Although, I spent most of my soccer days as a defender I definitely put in a few games as midfielder, forward, and even goalie. I got taken down plenty of times. I still got messed up ankles, knees, and shins from that sport. The old knee injuries affect my bike riding the most.
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Really good advise along with your earlier posts. I also have learned the same lessons and guess what? I don't crash as often as I did in my daredevil younger days, and I fear crashes less. My mountain bike crashes were sometimes spectacular. We had a measure "bike sep", how far you landed from your bike when the dust settled. I usually won.
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FWIW, pothole != off road.
But even off road, I’d prefer to learn from the rider who DIDN’T crash into a Saguaro. More than once.
-mr. bill
But even off road, I’d prefer to learn from the rider who DIDN’T crash into a Saguaro. More than once.
-mr. bill
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#48
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I went almost 20 years without a "serious" crash. Then I crashed in 2017 and it was actually a blessing because it revealed a problem in my back...which I got fixed. The I went another three years and crashed this past March, really bad, really jacked my wrist up. Shattered it actually. I'm sporting a plate, screws, pins...it was bad. I am still rehabbing my arm and it may be a year before it gets "back to normal". I yearn to get back on my bike.
Other posters are correct, you don't know when it's going to happen but it will happen. You can only hope that you land softly. In my case, in 2017 I did, sort of, but in March I didn't.
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Other posters are correct, you don't know when it's going to happen but it will happen. You can only hope that you land softly. In my case, in 2017 I did, sort of, but in March I didn't.
--
Last edited by drlogik; 07-20-20 at 08:33 PM.
#49
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I'm pretty sure I must have suffered a few falls as a kid but that was many,many years ago 😉. I can really only remember 3 times in the past 25 years when my bike's wheels were horizontal, not turning and I was still connected to the pedals 😬. First time, brand new custom made Italian bike. Tried to turn too sharply with minimal momentum on gravel patch of a back road. Boom, down I went! Fortunately, going pretty slow, body absorbed most of the insult but my new Campy brake lever did get scratched 🙄. Next time, riding too close to a curb when pedal came down on top of the curb. Instant stop and tip over. Busy road, lots of observers. Pride damaged more than bike 😜. Most recent, less than 2 years ago. Riding hybrid bike on a less traveled trail. Going kinda slow, hit a patch of sand (3-4" deep) couldn't get unclipped from pedals fast enough to keep from tipping over. Again, pride damaged way more than bike 🙄, fortunately, this time no spectators 😉.
Last edited by sovende; 07-21-20 at 07:35 AM.
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That’s why I said that I’ve had more crashes than I can remember
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!