EDIT – I would be interested to hear how good falling technique could save me from big pointy rocks if i landed on them.

How about having the awareness to avoid the big pointy rock in the first place. Obviously not an exact science but then neither is wearing pads a guarentee that you wont get hurt.

I injured my kneecap following a low speed fall on an XC ride, and over the last 2 years have had 4 ops to try and repair the damage. At the moment I'm 9months through a (minimum) 12 month rehab with no guarantee that I will be able to return to biking or skiing. Do I wish I was wearing pads the day I crashed – Hmm let me see!!

It's a bit silly to minimise the type of injury you get from mountain biking as "cuts and scrapes" – even minor mountain biking injuries are typically quite dirty things, and I've had to spend a week in hospital before, after a deep puncture wound in my arm got badly infected. So pads for me, all the way.

Thats horrible news mtbscoop. As i said, wear them, dont wear them its still biking.

I was meaning more like a collection of rocks like you often see at the side of the trail. e.g. at Lee Quarry there are a lot of pointy rocks all around – i would imagine that they are difficult to avoid when falling.

What was your falling technique for landing on your back when the branch went into your rota? 😉

helmets and glasses

i'm such a pain in the backside about this. i won't go out without someone without a helmet and i get pretty miffed if there's no glasses happening. call me pernickety but i hate head injuries (particularly) in the young, stitching them up is a waste of time and boring after a while and serious injury is no joke.

as for eyes. first time you have to dig a twig out of someone's eyeball it's a wake up call, even if that wake up call takes the form of your colleagues phoning you to tell you that you have to come and see the **** mountain biker with the twig out his face.

but that's just me 😉

Don't always wear glasses – probably should but don't have any clear ones.

I fell off quite hard in Spain this yr and my pads had dropped slightly – I whacked my knee on a rock and it hurt like mad. I had 4 days more cycling, so had to put up with a stiff/sore/swollen knee. I really need to get some pads that stay in place – I think there was still a bit of protection from the area around the knee cup, but not a lot.

Now when I bend both legs, the knee that I whacked is definitely knobblier than it used to be & much more so than the one I didn't whack. Not quite sure what I have done to it.

What was your falling technique for landing on your back when the branch went into your rota?

Believe it or not there was a technique involved.

At the speed i was going i knew i was off the bike and hitting the ground. I also know there are two ways of falling in that situation. Superman over the bars or summersault (No technique as momentum kinds disctates). There is a third but in this instance i was going too fast which is to spread the legs and kinda vault over the bars and land on your feet (See experience of falling).

In this instance i decided that summersault was my best chance and even then i made damned sure i didnt land towards the edge of the trail because that is where you usually find the bigger rocks. I fell bang in the middle in all the loose stuff. Yes it could still have been a bad fall but i dare say it wouldnt have made a jot of difference if i had been wearing pads. I was winded and shaken.

Now when I bend both legs, the knee that I whacked is definitely knobblier than it used to be & much more so than the one I didn't whack. Not quite sure what I have done to it.

You've knobbled it

I do laugh when people try to convince others that XC riding or low speed = Safe falling. My mate broke his pelvis and elbow on a very slow family canal path by falling sideways. You never know what you are going to fall onto, that said safety is a personal thing, you want to take the risk that is your choice, personally I cannot ride without a Lid and knee / shin pads… like others have said even a small fall can get you off the bike for a few weeks and imho not worth it. Anyhow modern pads are comfortable to wear all day but that is my choice. I say do whatever you feel happy with and let other do what they want, don’t be swayed by what other people think.

Well I have just been for play in Swinley and had a bit of an off going down one of the little runs down surrey hill. Usual stuff, pushing too hard – lost front end – down like a sack of spuds. Scraped my knee up pretty bad and the usual shoulder mashing, helmet took another knock but seems OK.

Knee pads are probably on the list now, why not eh..

Seriously, what armour are you going to wear to protect against the risk of a fluke broken pelvis while riding along a tow-path?

And if you wear enough armour to be sure you won't break your pelvis, are you going to be able to swim if you fall into the water? Drowning is a terrible way to die… 😉

I normally wear pads, but depends on the ride

One time I didn't

Was out in the Chilterns with an old mate a few months back – he's been biking for ages on and off road, so not a newcomer …

In a wooded section with nice soft bouncy earth he tipped off a relatively low speed – unfortunately there was a rock beneath the bouncy surface and he gouged (rather than just gashed) his knee. One trip to A&E to get the grit out and 5 weekly visits to his GP to re-dress the wound, the nurse finally said "Oh good – that's healing nicely at last .. we probably won't need a skin graft".

He's now got knee pads … and I'm gonna get some too.

It is interesting that most of the people posting on this thread are convinced of the benefits of 'armour' but most riders I see on the trails are just wearing helmets and gloves.

I went on a ride organised by a LBS a few years, and the guy running it took us along the coast with a rocky drop into a particular bay. The track is used by 4x4s and is about 200-300m long. The organiser stopped at the top and started to pad up. Of course by the time he'd finished most riders had dropped into the bay and then climbed back out to rejoin him.

In 15 years of riding with just helmet and gloves (rarely glasses off road) I've had plenty of bleeding wounds, several small bones broken, but nothing that's ever stopped a ride unless I've broken my bike. Same goes for the guys I ride with really. Maybe we're lucky. We're certainly not macho about it.

Why no glasses? Because I just want to ride my bike and really get annoyed by faffing about with kit – like the guy above.

As said previously, it's up to you, but I don't see that shin/elbow/knee pads are necessary unless you are doing fairly hardcore DH runs. If you get bothered by rocks flicking up into your shin, ride faster so they miss you!! 😉

I wear armour whenever I go out on the bike, doesn't matter where it is or how long I intend to be out for. Originally it started when I switched to flats and did the pedal down the shin thing and bought some shin pads, then I bought the matching elbow/forearm guards cos of my inability to be asymmetric(al?) (knee pads but not elbow pads looks weird to me!).

As far as I'm concerned there are no drawbacks, I've got past the stage where they feel hot and uncomfortable because I made a point of wearing them on the hottest days specifically so I'd never choose to not wear them because they itched or whatever. Putting stuff on for the downs and taking it off for the ups is a pain in the arse as far as I'm concerned.

As for falling off "technique", fair one, some people will fall like a sack of spuds and others will roll and bounce. I don't see why a combination of "technique" and armour won't offer the best of both worlds though… (active and passive protection in a sense)

One thing I noticed here (and in previous threads) is that some people are pro-helmet but anti-pad. This is interesting, because statistically you're far more likely to suffer a crippling knee injury than a crippling brain injury. The brain's extremely well protected in its hard shell, and also well located for avoiding impact, and fully articulated to reduce the severity of impacts. The knees on the other hand are delicate, exposed, and commonly suffer damaging impacts in a fall- think how often you've landed on your head, compared to how often you've landed on your knee. And yet, helmets are almost universal while pads are still seen as a bit fruity.

Of course, a crippling knee injury just leaves you a cripple, while a crippling brain injury leaves you a vegetable, so it's easy to see why this is- but all in all it's better not to be any sort of cripple.

HoratioHufnagel: "Benefits wouldn't outweigh the uncomfortableness"

There shouldn't be any.

"Seriously, what armour are you going to wear to protect against the risk of a fluke broken pelvis while riding along a tow-path?"

Pretty much any decent armoured shorts may have made the difference. Not that I'd wear them on a canal path ride, mind!

IdleJon wrote: "convinced of the benefits of 'armour'

Why the ''? CE tested pads are entitled to call themselves armour, it's a legal definition for gear which achieves the set level of protection.

Take one very experienced rider, riding without pads and add:

a flat, easy trail and a slow bend
some fly tipped laminated chipboard sheets

Then cover chipboard sheets in slippery mud

Result:
3 inch gash just above the patella revealing it for all to see
much blood & howling from a normally butch guy
abrupt end to the ride waiting for an ambulance
wasted day in A&E
return visit to A&E due to severe pain two days later
12 days in hospital
blood clot on the lung
6 operations
losing 3 stone of body weight
still bandaged up and unable to walk properly let alone ride, from a ride 7 weeks ago – not good when you're a self employed mechanic

He's now vowed to use pads….when he finally gets back on a bike.

think how often you've landed on your head, compared to how often you've landed on your knee.

I can't remember the last time I fell off my bike and hurt my knee.

I have had a few concussions in the last few years – whether the helmet made a difference is debatable.

they havent 'learnt' to fall safely

Prolly the most interesting remark on this topic IMO. Mate Dave is an expert judo chap and has little fear of crashing, crashes all the time and rarely gets hurt bad. I have no training, I fear falls and have been hurt occaisionally.

Perhaps falling is a skill we should all learn in order to improve.

Hmmmm

same as IdleJon, I've never fallen onto my knees, when I've fallen it's normally onto my arse

buzz-lightyear

Prolly the most interesting remark on this topic IMO. Mate Dave is an expert judo chap and has little fear of crashing, crashes all the time and rarely gets hurt bad. I have no training, I fear falls and have been hurt occaisionally.

Perhaps falling is a skill we should all learn in order to improve.

Hmmmm

Learning to break fall in judo/jujitsu is applicable to biking – I speak from experience. And you can do it at high or low speeds, assuming the crash isnt a jarring dead stop. I have been very lucky in the past having had some high speed stacks and managed to keep the momentum going. It's not conscious but I do seem to roll mid crash as I often end up kicking the bike away from me when I am upside down – mid roll, if that makes sense.

Of course to learn you need to practice, and padding up makes crashing, even slowly, seem less intimidating.

People wear what they feel they need. I use knee pads in the alps and nowt back in the UK. If I feel the need, then I'll chuck them on, but rarely do in the UK. What I don't get is all the pressure suits, people padded up head to toe and full face helmets at Glentress. Unless I missed them moving Fort Bill to the top of Spooky wood…

Learning to fall could definately help… Though some bike crashes occur very suddenly and unexpectedly. But especially for broken collarbones, arms and wrists, landing skills could well help (the main reason you break a collarbone or wrist isn't that you're falling, it's that you stuck your arm out and landed with all your weight on a braced arm- it's like a lever) The only downside is that you'll not be prepared, in judo you're expecting to be thrown while you compete but in biking it's relatively uncommon to fall, and it sometimes happens when you least expect it. But still, it's a worthwhile skill without a doubt. It's surprising how fast your body can go when you take your brain out of the loop.

Coogan wrote, "What I don't get is all the pressure suits, people padded up head to toe and full face helmets at Glentress"

Hah, you've met my mate Andrew then I had to laugh at him the other week, full jousting suit on, yet he was riding around with a bald tyre and a wheel with a spoke missing.

This has been a really interesting thread.

I've had a fair few falls over the years and my legs are a mess although fortunately I've given up wearing mini skirts 🙄

Have been looking for a very lightweight shin-covering type product rather than full-on protection. Have just ordered some of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=27766

Has anyone used them?

I don't wear pads.I do wear a helmet,gloves and glasses every time I ride.I don't ride trail centres very often and must admit that the sight of so many riders "padded -up" at Llandegla surprised me.A lso I thought that they looked slightly ridiculous on such a benign track.
As always,I didn't have to wait long for a wake-up call,falling heavily on my hip last weekend..on a non-technical stretch of singletrack 😳
Still can't see me getting padded-up in the future.i'm not macho(nowhere near) it just feels wrong to me …something for downhill/extreme chaps….and yes I've smashed myself up a number of times in motorbike accidents.

Regarding glasses, luckily I'm a speccy bastard or the deep half inch scratch on my right lens aquired a few weeks ago from a little dangling branch in less than extreme Epping forest could well have been on my cornea instead.

Aaagh. All this glasses chat is annoying me as I hate to wear them. But I like my eyes.

Cinnamon Girl, I'd advise getting a decent set of pads. Those pads wont offer you any real protection when you do crash and probably annoy you just as much. Some lightweigh dainese would be my preference.

Some lightweigh dainese would be my preference.

My choice of Dainese

However I don't know if they come in lady sizes. My good lady has had to settle for lesser options, and "youth pads" that don't have the same coverage or quality of construction as mine.

MisterGnar – I have several sets of pads BUT I only do wuss rides in the South. Just want to keep the odd haematoma/bruises at bay cos I'm an old girl and take longer to heal 👿

As regards glasses, well I stopped wearing them and got my just desserts. A branch hit the eyeball followed by horrid pain, sensitivity to light and loss of balance which necessitated a visit to A & E a couple of days later. Eye drops for a week and no riding/driving either. Lesson learned.

My knees are pretty screwed and so tend to use 661 evo knee's for most riding – hardly notice them now when pedalling.

On the other hand – i very very rarely wear gloves when riding, be it xc/4x or dh it just feels wrong. Sometimes have to give in on cold winter rides but most of the time i prefer to suffer the cold and feel in control!

Most knee pads protect pretty far down the leg and aren't as annoying as hardshell knee shin combos. Troy lee knee pads actually cover about half way down the shin. Might be worth looking into. If you're much smaller Dainese do a youth padding range as well I believe.

Dr Dolittle has ridden with me and will confirm my wuss credentials! To be fair, my 661's do feel quite unobtrusive.

Dr – how is your other half doing with her recovery?

I guess I've been lucky and not ahd a bad crash, but I know that if things did go wrong (which they often nearly do) when I'm riding the resulting injuries could be very bad.

Of all my injuries –

A stray branch that ounctured my shin would have been stopped by a shin pad, however this would only have helped if i wore them all the time rather than 'padding up' as it was a normal trail.

Banged my knee on stem several times, once on a rock. Never drew blood but it did hurt. See above re padding up.

Crashed and flew superman style into an uphill slope bending my back back the wrong way – thankfully nothing more than a sore back but the relevant precautions would mean a spine protector (do they work in that way?) on an xc ride.

Sprained wrist on a regular xc ride – wrist protectors may have helped.

Rocks into shins – it happens but thankfully they tend to go into the downtube or don't hurt too much.

Like I say I may have been lucky, but as far as I can see armour only protects the obvious pointy out bits, but you're just as likely to hurt the bits that aren't protected as those that are.

I broke my leg playing football along with 1000s of others – what armour should I wear for football?

Isn't danger part of the sport?

Its all your own choice but for me the expense / uncomfort / hassle isn't necessary. I guess a parallel could be rock climbing – some don't wear helmets, some don't use ropes, some use matts when bouldering…

She's doing really well this time CG. 11 pins and a plate in the same wrist as last time and next to no scar! Nearly all movement back and I have attempted to introduce a daily push up regime (to no avail)…She has the turbo trainer set up in the bedroom again so the next casualty in the flat will be a broken toe.

I would suggest that whilst the Southern Shandy Drinking riding style was "different" to Celtic Warrior Standard, it could hardly be described as "wuss". 😉

The other point in all this is the relative dangerousness of things.

I don't know for sure, but I believe I am more likely to end up in a wheelchair from a crash on my roadbike than from a mountainbike crash. On the roadbike I will hoon down a sunken lane in Surrey at 40-odd mph on 23mm tyres, tucked up with my hands nowhere near the brakes wearing a light helmet and lycra. There is absolutely no way I'm going to start wearing a pressure suit for that, and yet the risk of getting flung off the bike at really very high speed onto a hard surface, or crashing into a land rover is not wholly negligible.

Compared to the risk level of riding hard on the road, I don't really see the risks of riding fairly wheels-down offroad as being particularly high.

The no pads for road riding bit is non-negotiable, so padding up for most of what I do off the road makes me feel slightly self-conscious. 🙂

LOADS of people ooop afan way last weekend in armour.

one chap fully suited up in black body armour and a black full face.
looked like an incredibly sweaty darth vader.

cant think of anything worse myself
but then i come off often, so i dont worry about it and tense up, ive learnt very quickly to go with it rather than resist it, so rarely come off with anything more than bruised pride and a few stitches.

i hear it gets hard as you get older though, im noticing im not as bouncy as i was when i was at uni. (a couple of years ago, not decades)

Got some 661 evos for bad knees when doing dh and really rocky stuff and jumps and berms. Wore out Raceface FRs. No pads for xc group rides but like my eyes and head and hands.may wear for some bramble rides after cut to pieces in July.

I like nurses too much to wear armour.

BigDummy: "I don't know for sure, but I believe I am more likely to end up in a wheelchair from a crash on my roadbike than from a mountainbike crash"

Almost certainly true. But then you're probably less likely to crash on the road than you are offroad. And I suppose it's also the case that body armour will be of less use if a car drives over your face than if you ride into a tree.