[Closed] How to fall off

Don't crash

Martial arts and learn to breakfall. Needs to be repeated a million times to become instinctive.

I learnt this 35 years ago and still most times will tuck and roll not go spalt

[i]Needs to be repeated a million times to become instinctive[/i]

*ponders whether to accuse TJ of exaggeration*

As someone who has been crashing on average 2 to 4 times per ride since 1997 I feel that the best approach is to try to start rolling as you are coming off the bike.

The fact that you are falling on your right shoulder shows that you have a preferred side so I wouldn't try to resist this but instead get used to rolling out of crashes rather than coming to a halt. The longer you are in motion after a crash the more energy you scrub off and (in theory) the less severe the injury.

Tuck and Roll

Learn how not to fall of first. By the sound of things you have your weight too far back, which is making your front wheel wash out and pulling you over the bars on jumps and drops.

Shoulder pads (non Dallas style) seem a good idea for the OP in the meantime. Learning how to fall is great, but has its own inherrent risks. If you practice a million times, not every one will be perfect.
Either that, or get a good helmet so you can land on your head like the rest of us 🙁

Learn Judo.
I get ipponed by my bike regularly.

cheers for the replies so far

Stevo210 - Member
Tuck and Roll

****, t'woo 😀

I'm working on technique and always will.
But no matter how much I improve, i'm going to fall of at some point and that's what i'm asking about now

tuck and roll makes sense but why do people wear knee pads? My knees never get near making an impact and I can't see how they would in a tuck and roll either

 

The problem is, if you buy the knee pads you'll never need em.

I set off on one ride last year and thought I'll not be needing those as it was a very tame route (the only time Id not bothered to put them on, since purchase) you guessed it. Crashed and took most of my left knee and left elbow off 🙁

Yep that is why mine go on every ride. Sods law and all that, they can't protect your knees in the boot of the car 😥 .

When falling try to keep your elbows up. As it's your elbows that usually cause rib damage.

Forge_Master - Member
When falling try to keep your elbows up. As it's your elbows that usually cause rib damage.

that's a good tip and simple enough for me to have a chance of remembering it

I try to keep hold of the handlebars as long as possible to encourage a roll rather than putting arms out.

The Subgear vests from 661 have shoulder and elbow padding sown in, useful to distribute the impact.

Also go and see Jedi...

THERE'S SOME TERRIBLE ADVICE UP THERE ^^ 🙄

it depends massively on the actual crash but to put it in the simplest terms what you want to be aiming for is not coming to a sudden halt and not using a limb/head as a brake. You can't simply say, "learn not to crash", "tuck and roll" or "break fall".
When it does go wrong sometimes you may have time to spot somewhere suitable to bail to, other times you have no choice but to head in the direction you're thrown/travelling but (whether you believe it or not) you almost always have the choice to decide how you are going to land. running/sliding/rolling are all better options than freezing and doing nothing or worse still putting out an arm to land on.
knowing the trail and it's surroundings well will help you know how/where to land too.

skateboarding taught me to fall over... never put your hands out is the best bit of advice I was ever given, unless you like broken wrists. taking it on teh shoulder is a good place to take a fall. rolling out also helps, If i know i'm coming off i try and fall off teh side closest to the floor.

^^ if you learned to fall from speed from anything as a kid you are at a massive advantage.

I sometimes think the average STWer was born middle aged and wasn't actually ever a kid tho

I'm putting my arm out when I fall but seem to take the impact on shoulder.
That said - I have broken my hand before

sounds like STW is saying the best way is to ball up and not stretch arm/hands out to absorb/cushion impact

My 4 yr old is riding a bike now - i'm going to push him off so he can learn to fall while he still bounces 😀

http://www.bikejames.com/strength/tumbling-skills-for-mountain-bikers/

I've started doing forward rolls across the living room carpet...

You say it in jest, but its actually not a bad idea 😉 or just buy him a skateboard and he'll fall off all on his own.

Crossing the bars and going straight over them is a common way of of doing a dead sailor.

With practice it is possible to leap-frog over the crossed bars and land on your feet whilst the bike goes tumbling past you.

Flatties definitly help though.

This technique has saved me on numerous occasions tackling uber steep, rocky technical and loose sections.

With practice it happens automatically after years of mangling.

...but (whether you believe it or not) you almost always have the choice to decide how you are going to land

I didn't when I broke my pelvis - bike disappeared out from underneath me on slippery woodwork - it was gone in a millisecond and I hit the deck on my hip/arse.

I suppose I agree with 'almost always', the exception being icy/slippery smooth surfaces where the bike is just 'gone' with no warning.

Dave

eh? 😕 "dead Sailor" is simply a term for looking shit (stiff/wooden) when jumping by doing nothing at all while in the air. it has nothing to do with going over the bars.

if you were trying to say - learning how to ditch your bike midair and landing safely on your feet/knees is a skill you really need to learn if you're going to start Dirt Jumping. then I agree 😉

but it sounds more like you were trying to say you allow your front wheel to tuck under when you get scared on steeper gradients.. WTFs that all about? 😕

alfabus - not typing anything at all would have sufficed 😉

alfabus - not typing anything at all would have sufficed

yeah, but if we all followed that rule, there would be no stw to read! 😀

Dave

never put your hands out is the best bit of advice I was ever given,

so what should this guy have done then? 🙂

[img] [/img]

so what should this guy have done then?

Rode flats.