[Closed] Fell off. Bothered by it.

You might find a skills course good, Jedi is amazing at giving people their confidence back

Always helps me to understand why. But move on, it happens.

You say front wheel went. Could be loads of reasons why. Not enough weight over it/wrong body position is a common one.

Generally, I don't fall off on techy bits, I tend to come off when I'm tired or not concentrating. Just ride on, and try to forget about it.

Or do I just put it down to "one of those things that happen"

you're a mountain biker, you WILL fall off at some point. It has nothing to do with skill level, it's just going to happen. Part of the gig

Front wheel washout.. Great for inflicting facial, wrist and collar bone injuries..

Could be many reasons from not weighted on the front, slippery off camber turn, crap tyres, etc etc

in true STW stylee

MTFU!

"Special tyres, Cole!"

nickc - Member

you're a mountain biker, you WILL fall off at some point. It has nothing to do with skill level,

Kind of is- recovering from it is a skill as well. Sometimes the trail just bites you, it's only thrown you so badly because it's not happened before, if you're going to mountain bike it does happen sometimes so the getting back on is as important as the falling off.

There's any number of things you can do. I always make a joke of a crash, even when it sucks. But randomly changing parts can help too- not in any real way, just changing the feel. Or changing your riding for a little while (not necessarily making it easy- I had a really nasty crash at glentress and for a while, speed bothered me- so I went and rode slow techy death at the golfy instead. Much harder, riskier trails but they didn't have that high speed element)

Is it one of those new-fangled long and low bikes? If so I believe they require a more over the bars stance to keep the front end weighted.

I binned it about 18 months ago, lost the front on a slippy wooden bridge and knacked my right leg in. It took me ages to get my mojo back but it [i]does[/i] come back so don't be too harsh on yourself!

In December i cleared a tricky rock descent, then a wet tree root took my front wheel. Broken ribs and hand.

Best thing is to ride it again and do that section again.

I saw Josh Bryceland fall on his chops in front of me once. Proof even gods can fall.

Ying and Yang tend to re-balance for me, eventually.

Last summer i had an amazing week in the alps, hit a load of seriously techy, fast, tight, rough, jumpy droppy trails and didn't have an off, despite riding stuff at my skills / bravery limit.

Came home, and on an innocuous right hand berm, the front washed out, and down i went like a sack of spuds, face / head first into the mud. Annoyed the heck out of me for ages, but i guess you get over these things eventually 😆

Klunk - Member
in true STW stylee

[s]MTFU![/s] You need to go on a skills course

Ftfy 😉

you're a mountain biker, you WILL fall off at some point. It has nothing to do with skill level,

True dat.

I sympathise, I've broken my arm by brakng to hard...so it was my own stupidity that was at fault.

However there is one crash that bothered me more than usual - I didnt hurt myself but I washed out on a wet root Id ridden loads of times before and had approached it at a perfect 90 degree angle.

The side of my face hit a rock before I knew what had happened, with some force - but luckily the chinbar/cheekpads took most of the impact.

Go back and ride it again.
Don't fall off, exorcise demons.
As you were.

It's normal to be bothered and it will last about a month.

Go back and ride it again.
Don't fall off, exorcise demons.
As you were.

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

Why is it that the new default STW answer is to go on a skills course? It sounds like you have been comfortable riding it before so why change anything? Sometimes these things just happen. You have a set back and the challenge is not to let it get the better of you. If you feel the need for a skills course then go for it, but "getting back on the horse" seems like a good idea here.

Blame your front tyre and get a new one, that's what i do 😉

Thanks All. Jedi session is something I'm aiming to do but as Warns74 says, it's a trail and section I've ridden loads of times in all condition types and never had an issue, so not really related. I continued my ride without a worry really it's just the fact that usually you know what you did wrong or what caused it, but this time, Sod knows. So I'm gonna go with not enough weight on the front, perhaps drop a spacer out, but deffo hit that trail again asap and be sure to exercise any demons.

Thanks.

What's the line about the student and the master?

The Master has fallen more times than the Student has even tried?

The only thing I would consider changing on the new bike INITIALLY would be the tyre pressures.
You've got to get to know your new bike first, don't just throw money at a non-existent problem.
To be honest its probably just pilot error, I fractured my elbow by going OTB on a section of trail I've ridden plenty of times before and after. I just got it wrong on that occasion.

Give up....sell all bikes.Take up golf.HtH.

For me it helps to understand why it happened so I can move on and try to make sure that doesn't happen again.

But then again with MTB sometimes this stuff just happens. The ground is not always the same. You can ride the same bit of trail back to back but won't always be the same. Maybe you moved a rock or loosened some soil etc ...

Unless it happens on a regular occurrence your setup and technique are probably fine.

Front wheel just went

There is always a reason though! What was the ground like?

I'm like a forensic investigator when I have a perplexing crash! I go looking for tyre marks, marks on the tyres, etc. Always manage to work it out in the end...

Last crash I had... Big wheel sucking hole in a puddle. I've ridden through it for ages, someone (a kid probably) had pulled the rock that was buried in the bottom. Wheel went in, bike stopped Newtons 1st law took over and bruises and cuts to shoulder and elbow, torn jacket, covered in mud and slurry.

Sometimes the God of mountain bikes smites your arse just for shits and giggles.

Had a couple of these over the years.

Falling off is part of MTB'ing for sure, and i'm never bothered by it really as long as I know WHY i fell off so I can try and fix it for next time. However the two that really got to me were two where I can't really say what went wrong.

First one was the root drop at the bottom of (the now no more) pennels vennel. Hit it at 90deg as i'd done successfully many times before, but bike went direct sideways and I went OTB AND down the drop. Found out later that that particular root claimed many more victims than me, but even a few years on I still find it mentally hard riding roots and expecting them to spit me off at any moment.

Other one was this winter, MTB on the road, went to turn into a junction and front washed out instantly the moment I turned wheel. Fairly sure from marks on my gloves (and the fact I slid 10m down the road with no damage to me or clothing) there must have been something very slippy like diesel on the road, but having issues trusting the bike to grip when I lean it at the moment.

Kinda find i've just got to mentally force myself to keep going and hope that by repetition and not falling off the confidence will return.

I had a front wheel just washout and I knocked myself out and broke my arm. I know what caused it, I just went too fast from the off with no warm up (I'd been given a lift up the hill, and was riding some 30km home). It was a mildly techy section, but nothing too scary. However, it really bothered me (it bothered my missus most who suggested I asked for a refund from Ed Oxley from my Stop Crashing course).

Once I was back on the bike I did a session with Jedi then rode the section I fell on a few times. This convinced me I was correct, I'd just not warmed up properly, wasn't loose enough and learned my lesson. It's good because it makes me think at the end of a ride now, and I won't take on tough sections if I'm knackered.

Take up sitting at home, social media and don't ride a bike again.. 😀