Mountain Biking - What's the best way to take a fall?

I know its better not to fall but its kinda hard in practice when you go bigger and bigger and try new things, I'm wondering, are you supposed to take the impact with your shoulders (the side of your body) or your hands or what?

Just curious really.

i ride xc/trails so i am not falling out of the air. going over the bars i pull one of those hops. washing out the front wheel just let your shoulder take it. and on those trickey falls, i try not to get my arm wedged in there that i might dislocate it.

Watch that collar bone if you want to take it in the shoulder, I've seen em break!

Watch that collar bone if you want to take it in the shoulder, I've seen em break!

me too. hurts a lot...actually a minor break usually.


how to take a fall ? like a drunken master.

go with the flow, tuck and roll
do not reach out and stiff arm anything. try to use the energy of the fall
to avoid rib pokers, and otherwise roll with it and dispense your kinetic energy

throw bike away as you do it

As edzo said DO NOT try to catch yourself with outstretched hands!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. It's instinctive, but train it out of yourself. TUCK & ROLL. Trying to catch yourself is a collar-bone breaker. I know this from painful first-hand experience. It is the #1 most common method of doing in the c-bone, on bike or motorcycle. This goes for XC as well as DH and everything in between. I did mine on a fast fireroad section :o ... and still have the sharp little lump to prove it.

As edzo said DO NOT try to catch yourself with outstretched hands!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. It's instinctive, but train it out of yourself. TUCK & ROLL. Trying to catch yourself is a collar-bone breaker. I know this from painful first-hand experience. It is the #1 most common method of doing in the c-bone, on bike or motorcycle. This goes for XC as well as DH and everything in between. I did mine on a fast fireroad section :o ... and still have the sharp little lump to prove it.

My lump is more like a ridge! I swear that docter wasnt quite all there...

Go With The Flow, When You Tense Up You Get F----- Up! Some Of The Worst Falls I Ever Took Doing Anything Was As A Kid. Your Young And You Dont Give A Crap So Most Of The Time You Never Get Hurt Bad.

Go With The Flow, When You Tense Up You Get F----- Up! Some Of The Worst Falls I Ever Took Doing Anything Was As A Kid. Your Young And You Dont Give A Crap So Most Of The Time You Never Get Hurt Bad.

Wouldnt it be easier to type that without hitting shift on every word? Atleast you arnt using all caps now...

all my crashes are so fast theres no real reaction time. so my body instinctively goes with the flow, er fall,


the worst you really have to worry about is getting cut or poked if you "go with the flow"

Wouldnt it be easier to type that without hitting shift on every word?Maybe he types it out in MS Word first, blocks and changes it to 'title case,' then copies and pastes it :D

i agree with not falling on your hands. i've broken my wrist twice doing that

What's the best way to take a fall?
On top of somebody else

lol


sorry

As everyones says, no sticking an arm straight out. But landing on a shoulder's bad, too.

Heres whatcha do, make a fist, land on the hammer side of it, this promotes a roll, go with it. That protects fingers, wrist, collar bone all the usual upper body stuff and still breaks the fall before head and shoulders hit.

Ron

Go With The Flow, When You Tense Up You Get F----- Up! Some Of The Worst Falls I Ever Took Doing Anything Was As A Kid. Your Young And You Dont Give A Crap So Most Of The Time You Never Get Hurt Bad.

HOW MUCH SPARE TIME DO YOU THINK I HAVE? OR DO I HAVE OCD? :rolleyes: NAH, WEIRD IT JUST COMES OUT LIKE THAT WHEN I HAVE CAPS LOCK DOWN.

Man I'm so pissed, it looks like I won't be riding for at least the next couple of weeks.

I feel like bolding out my sig, broken frames DO suck a lot BIG TIME.

Man I'm so pissed, it looks like I won't be riding for at least the next couple of weeks.

I feel like bolding out my sig, broken frames DO suck a lot BIG TIME.
why dont you get on the net *which you already are* and buy a 80dollar frame used. there are tons of people that are selling those things..

For me, I try and to just roll away.

best way to fall?

if you are on your bike, its better to fall left then right as all your gears are on right and you have a high chance of bending them if u fall on the right
but now a days bike with disc brake, you can bent ur rotor on the left but i think its better

otherwise, fall and extend your arm to 80% max. LET GO OF YOUR FREAKEN BIKE EVEN THO IT MIGHT COST MORE THEN A LAMBO!

avoid landing on back, head, or chest. The best is that you can have your hand on the ground but even if not, the worst is broken arm usually or worst, legs but nothing major

I can't believe people have time to think about it. All of my crashes are so fast and abrupt I didn't have time to pick and choose, I just went instinctive and *tried* to roll out the abrupt stop when I hit the groun.

avoid landing on back, head, or chest. The best is that you can have your hand on the ground but even if not, the worst is broken arm usually or worst, legs but nothing major

lol "broken leg, but nothing major"... I would hate to see some of your major injuries!

I know, I know head injuries are way worse but that is still funny

I can't believe people have time to think about it. All of my crashes are so fast and abrupt I didn't have time to pick and choose, I just went instinctive and *tried* to roll out the abrupt stop when I hit the groun.
+1 on that. All my most painful, unexpected bails left me trying to figure out WTF went wrong.
+1 for not landing on your chest if you can help it. Nipples don't grow back, and very few of us have one to spare.

I've landed on my head a couple of times, and landed on my back a lot. Camelbaks kick ass for that, unless your multi-tool stabs through your pack and into your spine.

Well I think you can setup two scenarios. Wearing armour landing on the chest doesn't hurt "that" much :D...landing on your back can be safe too, it distributes the landing over a very large area.

you think landing and hitting your head is bad...try getting shot by a painball gun 4 feet above you with no helmet...that shijza hurts.

I think the best thing to do tuck and roll...atleast that way you wouldnt hurt your.... you know.

I can't believe people have time to think about it. All of my crashes are so fast and abrupt I didn't have time to pick and choose, I just went instinctive and *tried* to roll out the abrupt stop when I hit the groun.
I didn't have time on my collar-bone buster either, it happen so stinkin' fast. There's never time to think. That's why I cautioned to train yourself out of the instinctive, because the instinctive is too often to try and catch yourself. It's like we say on the volunteer fire dept: "Train like you fight, fight like you train." 'Course, I don't really wanna practice biffing, but you get my point.

Fortunately, usually my instincts are to hang on and stay with the bike - -something I carried over from motorcycle racing, because you always fared better not getting seperated from 200 lbs. of cartwheeling fury.