Anyone else just plain clumsy (cr@p) on a bike?

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Anyone else just plain clumsy (cr@p) on a bike?

33 posts & 29 voices | Started 2 years ago by Houns | Latest reply from WorldClassAccident

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Houns - Member

I am and it's annoying. Just stupid things like today i went to clip in, put all my weight on my left foot, foot slipped off pedal, dug into the ground toes first causing me to topple over and sprain ankle.
I'm also forever ****tting my shins with my pedals, never cleanly lifting my bike over an obstacle (always hit the wheels off gates/styles). After stopping for a breather in a group ride i'm always the last one to get clipped in and get going. In ruts i always bounce off the sides of them. Riding in dense woodland i always snag a branch/bush

It just seems that any time i go near a bike i turn into a complete clumsy numpty. Anyone else care to admit they suffer from this?

Posted 2 years ago #
allthepies - Member

No, I rock

Posted 2 years ago #
Houns - Member

Awesome for you

Posted 2 years ago #
kevonakona - Member

Posted 2 years ago #
Daffy - Member

I really used to suffer from this, but have managed to get better.

I had to force myself to concentrate a little more on what I was doing, took a good few rides before my more purposeful actions became second nature(ish) and I can now let my concentration wander....a bit.

Posted 2 years ago #
joolsburger - Member

I've been riding for a long long time - Today fifty yards from the car I needed to clip out and wait for a mate, I didn't and went down on rock hard frozen ground like a sack of spuds. I now have a very fat wrist.

Happens to us all I'm sure, sometimes the mojo just goes for a bit rest of the ride was good though, it's been a beautiful day.

Posted 2 years ago #
becky_kirk43 - Member

I'm pretty clumsy on a bike (and have the battle scars to prove it :P)..one day I'll learn!

Posted 2 years ago #
vrapan - Member

I am clumsy as they come, especially in woodland there is no branch or tree my handlebars won't touch, rock my bigger ring wont scratch! I refuse to get clipped pedals and I ride always flats cause I know I will be smashing myself around like there is no tomorrow.

I am also quite slow and lack much any form of elegance or technique.

I love it though so who cares

Posted 2 years ago #
druidh - Member

You just need to get out more. Seriously.

Posted 2 years ago #
Kieron - Member

It's all good Houns. Just forget about it and have fun, the more you think about not being clumsy the more clumsy you'll probably be.

Posted 2 years ago #
Del - Member

not normally too bad, but this weekend have mostly been bashing my boots off things. nearly had me off a couple of times, and had me failing one climb i should have cleared. hey ho. just enjoy the good bits, forget the bad.

Posted 2 years ago #
WorldClassAccident - Member

I don't need a bike to have clumsy accidents. I have actually managed to cut myself and start bleeding when helping the wife put the duvet cover on. She couldn't understand how I could cut myself on a goose down quilt and then spread the blood quite so far.

Posted 2 years ago #
Houns - Member

I've always been like this so riding more wont solve it. I'm glad i'm not alone!

Posted 2 years ago #
clubber - Member

Sometimes I'm good sometimes I'm crap...

Trashed my knee at Afan in a reasonable accident yesterday then shortly after smacked the same knee as I got back on my bike, hit a rock at low speed and endo'd. Grrrr!

Posted 2 years ago #
Houns - Member

Ok i have to ask, WCA how did you manage that?!

Posted 2 years ago #
Kamikirk - Member

Broke my right wrist yesterday (9 mth after breaking the left). Hoping the matched pair will end this trend now. Getting it pinned tomorrow so no riding for 6 weeks at least

Must try to ride according to skill level not enthusiasm. I will learn eventually!

Posted 2 years ago #
Mackem - Member

I have good days and bad ones. Generally though, for some reason I look like a twonk when I'm cycling with others, never have problems when alone.

Posted 2 years ago #
ron jeremy - Member

always have been always will be, it's all part of my charm I think!! Have been known to have a near faultless ride only to get back to the car, get distracted, unclick one foot from the pedal only to loose balance and fall over the opposite way. Did also once ride into a roadcone at SITS on the way to registering, big wide open bit of road but I couldn't steer around it, I could go on, and frequently do, I think the worst was coming a cropper 200 metres into a club ride, still get ribbed about that one.

Posted 2 years ago #
CheesybeanZ - Member

clumsy as a clumsy thing , crash my brains out regular as clockwork
dry damp mud snow and ice all work for me

Posted 2 years ago #
dasnut - Member

lots of people falling off because of spds
sorry to laugh, but have you heard of flats?

but seriously, get yourself booked on an uplift day at cwmcarn, scare yourself silly, kind of forces you to get some proper bike skills.

I did an uplift day friday, then a blast round llandegla today, popping off everything. It really works you know (and you don't need a downhill bike, gaz nails it on a 5 spot)

Posted 2 years ago #
SaxonRider - Member

Once, after having stopped for a minute for a breather at the side of a trail, I went to clip in and ride away. Except that I had no momentum yet, and before even rolling forward, fell off the bike and into holly bush.

The number of cuts I had all over my body made it look like a car's windscreen had burst in front of me.

There is also a video of me somewhere on the 'web trying to mince my way down a steep and very muddy section. And even though I am carrying my bike, I still can't stay up. I think I land on my ar$e three times for the camera's sake.

So yeah. I'm pretty bad for being clumsy (a.k.a. crap).

Posted 2 years ago #
large418 - Member

Houns, sounds like you might suffer from poor balance. Do you stand up and let the bike move around under you for the techy bits (or when in ruts etc)? Try it - I used to be one of those riders who crashed through everything, as I always tried to move with the bike (staying seated through corners etc). Now I try to move the bike and let me stay stable, and it does work.

Had a good crash today at Llandegla though by not listening to my own coaching.....

Posted 2 years ago #
sambob - Member

im like this, but im only clumsy on narrow stuff where its bad to be, on wide stuff im absolutely fine

Posted 2 years ago #
jackal - Member

Ride more, and erm, ride more.
Look ahead, where you want to go, not at your front wheel.
If you see an obstacle look past it, not at it, or you will hit it.
Ride with people better than you, and learn off them.
Learn the basics on flat pedals first;
Unweighting of the rear, manuals and bunny hops (nothing big, just practice the basics of these techniques).
also try and practice trackstands, this will help your balance in the slow speed stuff...
And don't listen to all the people on here telling you that these skills aren't important/aren't needed (because they are, and these moves are the foundation that proper off road riding is built upon)...

Posted 2 years ago #
jedi - Member

+1

Posted 2 years ago #
Kevevs - Member

Hey it's all fun! doesn't matter if yer a bit special.

Posted 2 years ago #
valleydaddy - Member

rutts are my downfall - I just seem to ramp up them!!

Changed from a highroller to a mountainking 2.4 and that's seems to have helpeda as the rounder tyre just bounces off the edges where the highroller would just climb them and spit me out!!

I just try and relax my body as much as possible and float on downhills - sounds weird but works for me.

As said before concentration is big factor

Posted 2 years ago #
littlegirlbunny - Member

goog rode into a tree on a flat gravel park path yesterday

his foot is knackard now

hope that makes you feel better

Posted 2 years ago #
mrsflash - Member

yup, I'm more likely to fall off when getting on or off the bike than at any other time!

Posted 2 years ago #
stucol - Member

I'm fairly handy on the descents, allowing for the occasional wobble on jumps.

But where i am utter mince is the really slow stuff. Places like Dalbeattie have me dabbing all the time. And McMoab, just don't go there !!

Yet on the road bike i can trackstand all day.

Go figure.

Posted 2 years ago #
Northwind - Member

I'm not clumsy but I'm occasionally very careless, not quite the same thing but I've been known to just ride off the side of trials for no reason at all, or because I've been distracted by a particularily interesting tree or because I'm trying to remember if I locked the house.

I'm clumsy off the bike though, I'm forever whacking myself with the bike when I'm not riding it, my right leg's covered in pedal scars from when I've been pushing it in the snow. I fell over my commuter about 10 times while I was building my new bike the other night, then I got annoyed and decided to move it and knocked over my box of spares, then I got annoyed again and whacked it off the heater and then finally moved it and smashed my head off the bars of the bike that was in the stand. Stuff like that.

Posted 2 years ago #
toxicsoks - Member

"And don't listen to all the people on here telling you that these skills aren't important/aren't needed (because they are, and these moves are the foundation that proper off road riding is built upon)... "

Bugger! *sells bikes*

Posted 2 years ago #
WorldClassAccident - Member

Houns - no idea, sharp feather? I guess I just bleed easy

I

Posted 2 years ago #

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