I'm enjoying riding with a bit of aggression as I seem to be getting quicker and feel my game is improving, but the by-product does seem to be more crashes.
Had a fast and hard stack last night in Grizedale coming down towards Moor Lane Satterthwaite and got one knee bigger than the other 🙂
Anyway I just wondered how often other people have a big stack?
Quite a few small ones,and the odd major crash.
Had 2 major ones last year,wrist and then a few months later did my shoulder
Nothing like hitting the ground to recalibrate your view of your ability! It normally happens just after I think I'm doing really well - smack!
Starting riding with some guys with bigger balls than me riding stuff that's fairly scary @ night hoping my balls would get bigger!! I think they are skrinking 🙁
Rich
one big crash a year on average.
One every now and again is bad enough. But when you have a couple In quick succession makes you wonder if golf may be a better option.
Last year I had a hundred where I got up with a giggle to myself. Then two real bone crunchers, second not long after recovering from the first.
Did not make me question my skill as I have always known I am shite.
But instead made me question my impact resistance.
So this year I hope to drop some timber and add a bit more muscle in hope that will help me bounce better.
As I don't think increasing my skill set will stop me crashing, just make me crash while attempting harder stuff.
I've only had one crash that actually hurt for more than a couple of hours when I went over the bars and landed heavily on my shoulder.
I've been riding a mountain bike since 1986
I guess I'm not really at the gnarr end of the spectrum. 🙂
Almost never nowadays (touch wood). Result is a fairly modest skillset, as I never push myself seriously to ride stuff out of my comfort zone - but I started riding, and crashing, at a young enough age to get to an acceptable level.
Broken bones are a young man's game.
Crash almost every time I'm out. Only have a few that are significant enough to injure me though, and they're rarely the biggest ones, almost always an awkward fall.
If I ride ft bill DH on my hard tail, it's not unusual that I come off a couple of times per run! I shared a lift with a lad in the summer who said he had already seen me crash a couple of times that day who told me he was a bit worried about me and to be careful! Yep, I'm that good 🙂
You, sir, should read Bounce. The myth of talent and the power of practice by Matthew Syed. It's a fascinating insight into how elite sports people become elite. The best bit is that elite sportspeople don't see falling as failure, they see it as part of the learning process. Therefore, in order to become better you have to ride at the very edge of your skill, which will result in stacks etc.
There is more to it than just that, but it is a great read and motivated me to get out and ride to get better, not just ride. I then stacked after 30 mins and have been off the bike ever since with a stupid ankle injury!
Hey ho!
My most recent off (broken arm) has given me a bit of perspective on this issue.
I used to worry about crashing because I didn't fancy hurting myself. However, having done it I realise the pain isn't really the issue. Yes it hurts, but it's hardly unbearable. In fact, if you have the sort of job/life where you can drop out for a month or so then it's really no big deal. A&E will patch you up, you get to act all heroic for a bit with your scars/bruises and your local GP will happily sign you off work for weeks on end at the drop of a hat. So, you can sit around taking it easy until you are better.
The problem comes when you have people who rely on you. I've not taken any time off work with the latest fracture, simply because I don't have the sort of job where I can do that without causing major headaches for other people. So I've muddled through as best I can. But it's pretty miserable trying to carry on normal life when you are injured and more importantly, it still caused major disruption for the rest of the family. Mainly as I couldn't drive.
So, ironically, having had a decent crash I'm now less scared of crashing, but much more aware of the impact injuring myself has on those around me. Basically, for me, doing something that I know has a good chance of causing serious injury just because it's fun is pretty selfish.
I'm not ready to retire to the golf course just yet, but I think Garry got it right.
Broken bones are a young man's game.
Sound advice then Kip!
If you don't push it then you will either stay the same or get worse. I want to clear stuff I've not managed before or ride it better, faster, not dab and that's both up and down.
@postierich you had secret tarmac miles trading in force last and waltzed up some of those climbs. And anyway you've got a note from your mum until that chest knots itself back together and then you can take some bigger risks!
20 odd years with small and medium tumbles. 2 major stacks 8 weeks to the day apart, 7th Dec and 1st Feb. First MTB, second velodrome. Knocked out and ambulanced both times. Ugly face now even uglier and scarred for evermore !
Carpet bowls anyone ?
🙂
No Comment....
In history about one per year that I wandered away from in disbelief. I'm still getting the issues sorted from doing my thumb 14 months ago.
Statistically I'm 1 biggy every 3 years with 3-4 silly little offs a year that have no pain consequence / damage done.
The biggies usually end up with a shoulder injury. Last one resulted in numerous dislocated ribs. That wasn't nice.
Is there a learn to fall course?
I would say one big one a year, but I had one about 3 years ago (road) why I landed hard on my shoulder, I still get problems occasionally and sometime have to swivel my bars by about 1-2 degrees to stop my neck from aching.
Practising crashing helps with dismounts! You need a grassy bank some speed and then turn hard and hit the front brake, but don't forget to practice on your left and right.
A couple of big ones a year. Tend to be on transitional bits or at the en of a ride when I'm tired/thinking about beer. Last year put a hole in my knee, broke a (very small) bone in my hand and left a tooth on the trail. My riding is improving, but so are the magnitude of my crashes.. 🙄
Is there a learn to fall course?
Take up judo..
Suppose it depends how you really measure it, I seem to pick up a decent size injury about once a year but they often come from relatively small crashes. Whereas I probably have 3 or 4 proper crashes a year but I don't think any of them's ever really done me any noticable harm.
I start getting worried if i haven't had a proper slam at about the 3 month mark, i know it's coming.
The less you stack hard, the worse you get at it is my outlook on it.
Last one was sunday, drop to rear tyre burp to sling shot over the bars. Could have so easily tensed and been sliding on my face pretty savagely. It was however the sort of wrong occurrence im pretty used to (thanks to many OTB occurrences on DJs on my BMX), hence relaxed and came out pretty much unscathed apart some deep gouges in my helmet.
You dont get owt for nowt, karma is going to get you at some point, you've either got to accept that you ARE going to get hurt and learn to deal with it, or just avoid those situations that could hurt all together.
Get a BMX and learn to fall off is my best advice, been falling off it most times i ride it for 13ish years.
Summer 2009: Proper face-plant (and elbows and knees) after getting bucked off a tabletop, due to my overexcitement at returning to mountain biking. Merely flesh wounds...
Xmas 2010: Random low speed icy bridleway incident broke my ankle badly. Permanent titanium upgrade...
Summer 2013: Idiotic terrified witless mince off a fairly big drop almost broke my neck and my ribs still hurt a bit...
That's the big ones. Had a few bruised hips from cornering washouts and one or two caught bars and over the top tumbles every year.
most mornings
Haven't had a big one since I tore my acl and dislocated my knee when I was 17. I'm 32 now so I hope I'm not owed one...
A few years ago I tried pushing myself to ride harder and started crashing more so initially bought some knee pads, then gave up trying. I now ride harder stuff but seem to have learnt to crash in a more controlled manner as I bail as it's going wrong so seem to pick better landing spots and still seem to bounce well. My only serious injury was a relatively innocuous fall off non descript boardwalk that cracked my coccyx.
Roverpig summed up me to a tee.
I'm doing a big stack right now!!!
Stack? Wtf?
They always sneak up and catch me unawares.
Last one, my thumb is still reminding me I bust myself up - hindsight now I probably should have got it checked out. 6 months later it's still weak & hurts for certain movements.
Although I feel a bit lucky about that - it was a massive OTB scorpion into a tree stump minefield.
not had a big stack for a while....
my first one was when i was 15 and i did a superman dive OTB on the road...luckily i lived but ended up with a pringle shaped front wheel for my troubles
my next major one was when i was 22...overshot a 6ft jump and landed flat on my arse...resulting in compressed L4 and L5 vertebrae
after that another miscalculated 12ft drop resulted on a bust left hand and left knee when i was 25....my hand is still deformed from where the thumb got pulled out of its socket...
the back still gives me issues...most mornings i feel it getting out of bed and the thumb sometimes goes numb but that the price you pay for pushing yourself to your limits
now aged 37 and a bit too wary of doing anything that insane...plus the old injuries serve as a timely reminder of what can happen when it goes wrong....
Hardly ever gladly, it hurts nowadays and am off the bike for longer!
Came off last year but that was when my chain gave up, bounced off two trees, covered in just bruises thankfully but it frickin hurt.
Not come off the bike since and that was back in about may.
Dial in tons of self preservation.
Hob Nob
[i] a massive OTB scorpion into a tree stump minefield. [/i]
That^^ sounds like an impressive move, do you mind if i borrow it..... 😉