Hi all,
Having broken my index finger during a crash last week, it got me thinking that the instinct to absorb the initial impact with outstretched hands was perhaps just a broken finger waiting to happen.
Admittedly it happened so quickly, that i don't know if it could have been any different.
Do you consciously try to do something with your hands to minimize risk? are there any other crash techniques that you have discovered during your spills that have helped with damage control?
Tia,
Sam
try not crash admittedly it doesn't always work, i never put hands out there the first to break
Dislocated both shoulders due to crashes and minimising impact to head. Best crash I ever did was at CyB, went over the bars but this time it was arms out, compressed then went into a perfect forward roll, it was a thing of beauty, I couldn't have done it any better, I'm still proud of it. Tried it next time I went over bars, failed miserably and now have a neck injury for my troubles.
I am bruised and battered from decades of crashes, I just accept it.
Having the wits about you to 'vault' over the bars rather than going with the bike and doing a 'dead sailor' is a great skill.
Basically when you know you're going to go over the bars you push down on them and swing your feet wide; you land nicely on you feet and the bike goes cartwheeling past you. It's a great feeling when you get it right and realise that you'd be in a heap and all bruised up otherwise.
never done the stretching out of arm when crashing, luckily i have done Judo and other martial arts and learned to fall before i got into mountainbiking.
So no, don't do anything consciously to avoid it, as i unconsciously don't do it 🙂
Use your arms to absorb the impact, roll into in, tuck you head under and roll your shoulder into it.
Basically you are trying to a) reduce the impact by absorbing some force, b) protect your head, and c) minimise the change of speed by rolling it out.
So, stay loose and flexible - not ridged with fear 🙂 Tuck and roll to disapate the speed and spread the load.
If you just try to use your arms you will break something. Rolling can put you back on your feet.
Mid jump bail outs often end up with you running out the crash which is fine.
Its the crashes that come out of nowhere that you cant see until you hit the ground. Not much you can do about those, but for those slo-mo ones where you think you can save it but cant, or where you bail out mid jump you can have a chance.
Martial arts is the key I found. Aikido for me but I imagine judo would be just as good. Wife once "picked" where to roll once in the alps. Picked a spot between three rather than into them.
I did a bit of judo as a kid, seems to help. Brian Lopes' book has some excellent advice: "When you're about 8 years old, jump and fall off climbing frames a lot. I have no useful advice if you're not 8"
Start by falling off your bike regularly from the age of 3. Continue until your mid to late 50s. Hopefully you'll get the hang of it at some point.
I think doing superman impressions off motocross bikes has helped my crash landing technique,tuck and roll while trying to avoid large objects. 🙂
As a kid i wanted to be a spaceman and even though i had the suit and helmet and everything (plastic machine gun), it wasn't a realistic aspiration. A stuntman was my second choice, so i used to throw myself about a lot. It taught me how to fall. I've been using those skills quite a lot lately 😀
Tuck and roll - a riders view.
Trouble is sometimes your face has a ground interface before you even can think "tuck n roll". Jumps yes as you have time to bail but OTB or washout and its over before you even know what hit you
My brothers and I had an old red gloss painted thing; back braking kind. Influenced by all those WWII TV shows like 12 O'clock High(big on US TV in the 60's) we would practice "bailing out" by belting down the wide suburban avenues, lining up with the grassy curb, them jumping off sideways, landing in a double+ forward roll. On a good day you ended up on your feet with a few grass stains and no dog mess..
Didn't help me though when younger brother though it a good physics experiment to throw a chain into the front wheel while I was going full pelt. My first slo-mo OTB event but for once there was someone else to blame...still
Oh yeah, must have been about 8.
tuck and roll technique seems to semi work for me!
I try to vault the bars if I see it coming, usually works, but when its unexpected i'll try to tuck and roll- though my last effort failed and I made a 2 foot skid mark in the mud with the right side of my face. That one stung a bit. I used to skate and bmx when I was younger so learnt how to fall from that, and jumping out of trees, that's fun too. Next bike ride i'm gonna climb a tree 😀
in my experience some people just crash better than others, i think a lot of it comes down to knowing when your past the point of not saving it and just bail out.