Ye gods, my back hurts (numpty crash video content)

Completely nosedived off a drop at FoD on Friday, the second of the larger ones on GBU. My idiot brain got as far as telling me not to stop or ride round it but not so far as to tell me to pre-load, and push/manual off it. So embarrassing… The whole sorry affair was caught on video – went in a bit slow, lost speed on a couple of roots just before, and a bit in the up ramp and my weight was too far forwards. Basically got everything wrong and as a penance spent six hours strapped down in A&E whilst they made 100% sure I hadn’t broken my back (turns out my C2 & C3 are congenitally fused which caused some of the extended panic and extra X-rays and consultant visits).

Amazed I didn’t break any ribs but most of my core muscles, especially the interstitial ones at the back plus the postural spinal ones are killing me. I did have some company in A&E as another of our group had dislocated his shoulder earlier the same day. Epic MTB road-trip fail…

“Oh shit” indeed. That looked nasty. Glad no permanent damage done.

Excelent numpty crash, rest up and get better before you do it again 🙂

Proper dead sailor there. Looked nasty, its always the slow ones! Glad no serious harm done. The old saying of ‘if you’re going to do it, commit to it’ is so true!

I’d bought the full-face helmet about five hours earlier – glad I was in that rather than my usual trail one! And very very very thankful that I always wear a Camelbak – my back took most of the impact after I flipped off my head and the ground was very hard and quite rocky but it was cushioned by a couple of litres of water, tangfastics, malt loaf, waterproof jacket and the inner tube I always carry and never use…

Looked nasty but easily done . Glad your ok .

Dude !!!! that’s like my second worst nightmare on film, you aren’t the first or the last person on this planet to get it wrong. 🙂

Glad your ok.

Ah, 15 seconds. How many times have I (and others) been there… I have a rule these days, if the drop is bigger than the wheel, hop or stop, NEVER roll!

Whilst the consequences aren’t in the least bit funny, I must confess to laughing at the slapstick nature of the crash.

Get well soon.

Jeez that looks bad! Good job you invested in the full face lid!
At least you’ve got the footage to analyse what went wrong lol.

He looked like he’d crashed an F1 car when I saw him in hospital. The A&E staff were relieved to hear that the rest of our crew were moving onto a different county that evening as they were running out of beds 🙂

Time for a refresh?

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Thank the gods you didn’t break your neck! Glad you’re not too badly hurt.

haha. Priceless. Well done.

Glad you’re ok and thanks for sharing your embarrassing Frank Spencer style video. Got to be worth £250 on you’ve been framed. If they can pay that for a dog opening a door….. hope your other pal heals quick too.

Proper scorpion crash that. Could have been real nasty. Glad you’re not too badly injured.

Time for a refresh?
http://www.ukbikeskills.co.uk/

Something like this might be more useful 😆

You’re braver than me I’d of got off and stepped down

So , exactly how many days with Jedi resulted in this most awesome of manoever?
,oh and buy yourself an instantly inflating Sumo suit activated my a mercury tilt switch on the stem.
Still , I wouldn’t have even attempted it.

One day with Jedi, last summer. It was a split second wrong decision and as I’m sure he’d agree the problem wasn’t skills or bravery but a lack of concentration – incidentally I was running a temperate when I was in hospital and they said I may have had a low grade virus which could have affected my focus.

Oooooooohhhhhhh!

Glad you’re walking and talking… though there is some comedy value, that could’ve been proper nasty.

split second wrong decision my arse!
You were hesitant entering the corner, then again on the run in to the little roots and then again on the run in to the drop.
Guessing you don’t even know how to manual. When you’re feeling better practice them. Lots!

If I wasn’t competent at riding off drops (manualling off slower ones, pushing/popping off faster ones) there’s no way I’d have considered attempting that, even though it was higher than I usually go off. A stupid moment yes but I”m not stupid all the time! 😛

Back’s feeling much better than when I woke up, keeping moving appears to be the key. Hopefully I’ll be good for the QECP Gravity Enduro in a fortnight!

OOF!
Hope no long lasting serious damage and you’re back on the trails soon.
Fair play for posting the vid.

Not taking the pee but are you SURE you didnt touch the brake(s) a little on the ramp? either way, to my amatuer eye it looks like you were WAY too slow to go off it with whatever other technique might be needed….

heal up soon dude.

The bike does slow down more than I’d expect for that slight upslope so you may be right. If I’d properly manualled off the lip at that speed I’d have landed it ok but it would have been a thump to flat rather than a smooth transition to the downslope.

I will add that all of a sudden a full-sus ‘skill compensator’ seems like a good idea! 😉

Rolling in to that drop at that speed would have made no difference on a full susser, still major otb moment regardless of travel…

Sorry to be the one to tell you, but you’re not competent at drops at all.
You’ve been taught 2 basic techniques for drops (Any advanced rider knows there are more than 2) and the technical jargon to spout it on the internet but lack experience to ride what’s infront of you.
A skills course can help you in the right direction but is no substitute for actually gaining the skills and techniques from riding..
You don’t actually need to “Manual”, “push” or “pop” off little drops like that.. you simply need to unweight the front by having your weight in the correct place and land level(ish) with the downslope.
The reason I suggested you practice manuals is that if you were confident and proficient at manualling you’d be far more at ease moving your weight around and instinctively put your weight in a better position for drops.

Your crash, could still have been saved even after your front wheel had reached the end of the drop.

On a full-sus I feel I’d have come in with my weight more rear biased as I wouldn’t have been so bothered about landing too rear wheel first (bad idea on a hardtail to a downslope) and I wouldn’t have lost as much speed on those two roots. Add in a longer front-centre and a stiffer longer fork and I might have just about got away with it…

You don’t actually need to “Manual”, “push” or “pop” off little drops like that.. you simply need to unweight the front by having your weight in the correct place and land level(ish) with the downslope.

And exactly how is unweighting the front by having your weight in the correct place different to manualling? I do agree that practising holding manuals on the flat would help me with similar situations in the future.

More speed! Glad your ok though. Whats the fused-thing?

You were about ten degrees over the impact angle from almost definitely breaking your neck there. And an FS bike wouldn’t have done shit to help you. That trail is way beyond your ability IMO.

Far, far, far to slow.

You were going to slow even when the video started for that. A prime example of doing everything wrong into it.

Good job you got out of it relatively unscathed though 🙂

I consider myself extremely fortunate that it will stand as a critical learning point as a opposed to an end of life or paralysis point!

See any Danny Mac or similar video to learn how to front flip before attempting again. Seriously I think you dodged a bullet there though. At which exact moment did you realise it wasn’t going to end well?

**** skills. Just ride within your natural skill level. Push push and 9/10 you’ll land it. The last time you might be in a managing health situation.

😳

I’m sure you don’t feel it, but I think you were pretty lucky there. That video is exactly the mental image that goes through peoples mind in a worst case scenario, difference is you achieved it!

Yep lucky escape!!

Glad you’re ok Alex!

I won’t offer any skills tips 🙂

Luke

if the drop is bigger than the wheel, hop orstop, NEVER roll!

reading this advice and then re watching the vid I’ve come to the conclusion that you would of been Ok rolling off it on a 29er. 😈