ZIPP2001

Let's start the long holiday weekend off with a half day Friday and a field trip to Leominster State Forrest. I decided to explore an area that I have yet to visit and spend a tad over three hours playing on roots and rocks. About 40 minutes into the ride the trail decided to bite back and give me a closer look at the trail floor. Once I shook it off and got rolling again it was beck on the roots and rocks for the remainder of my ride. Will be back to this area in the future to explore some more new trails. Have a great holiday weekend everyone.

Wileyrat

Ya know, that reminds me my wife wants me to video my mountain bike rides. Not to see where I'm riding, but to see the crashes.

Glad you're ok.



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OldsCOOL

You nearly kissed that rock. Good thing you weren’t zipping along.

thehammerdog

tis why I sold my mtb last year......old men and falling = ouch.
but after a year away I'm back on the trails, just less careless and slower. good luck.

ZIPP2001

I did catch a rock to the ribs, and am nursing a couple cracked ribs. But it's all good and I'm enjoying a little extra pain which just makes things more fun.

OldsCOOL

How did you fall? Did you come to a stop and get crossed up? Do you use clipless?

ZIPP2001

I just was going over a little tree down and my front tire came down into a groove between two rocks. Then the wheel got yanked to the right and I went over the bars. I wear clipless but it would have made little difference with platforms.

OldsCOOL

Welp, that’s what we like about trail riding and singletracks. Glad you weren’t hurt worse though banged up ribs are painful.

sdn40

The dreaded abrupt right turn that transports your life into slow motion

Amt0571

There's something of clipless pedals that I find surprising. Some cyclists tell me some crashes can be avoided by using platforms, but when I loose control of the bike, I always unclip unconsciously if necessary. I don't really think about it, it just happens faster than I can consciously do it. This hasn't been like this since the beginning, but after 10 years of clipless I'm so used to it it's totally a non-issue.

I also feel clipless is safer. Riding with platforms feels to me like driving without a seatbelt, especially on rock gardens.

TBH, I crashed once because of clipless pedals. The bolt on the cleat got loose and I was unable to unclip. Had to remove my foot from the shoe to get off the bike! hahahaha

OldsCOOL

I agree with having that lack of security with no foot retention. I use clips/straps loose enough to move a foot out or re-insert. Without any foot retention I found the occurence of shark bites on the back of the legs more likely.

prj71

A little lift on the front end would have avoided this.