General Cycling Discussion - How much does one learn from falling off a bike?

In a particularly nasty fall I had at Lamington National Park today that had nothing to do with cycling, I'm starting to wonder if learning how to land from all of my cycling crashes might have helped.

It was basically an unexpected fall on some very slippery rocks near Ballunjui Cascades, but instinctively (I didn't have time for anything else) I managed to keep elbows, knees etc away from the point of impact, similar to what we all try to do when we fall off our bicycles (don't tell me you've never had a crash, we all have!). OK, it hurt, and my left thigh is very sore right now, but on that sort of surface it would have been easy to break something (in Lamington, that would be serious).

This continues a recent trend in which only one of my last six cycling accidents have been serious in any way. I'm beginning to wonder if there's some value in learning to crash "the hard way" after all.

Ah so Grasshopper: One must learn to fall, before one learns to stand.:D

Chris, I've never experienced a real nasty fall, but I came very close while on vacation last year. I was going down hill at a very fast speed and I turned around to see where my wife was. As soon as I turned around I started to drift right towards the curb. I almost over reacted, almost lost control of the bike and learned a lesson very quickly.

I also had one very minor spill on a brand new bike. The brake levers were reversed to my thinking - for me, right is rear and left is front. My new bike was just the opposite and I was holding something in my left hand and was forced to brake very quickly. I spilled and scratched my new bike that day. I now make it a point to reverse the cables to what I think they should be.

I guess one learns to walk through shame? It requires some confidence and courage to walk away smiling even if you fall and hurt yourself badly.

Who knows, maybe a girl might find you cute when you fall off your bike.

All of my serious crashes have happened so fast (and violently) that I did not have time to think or act. It seems that it is the low speed garden variety crash that you have some time to react to and plan your fall. Even the pros do not seem to be able to "crash correctly" as seen in the recent Paris-Nice race with Kivilev and the Tour of Flanders with Boonen.
The only way I see to get better at crashes is to do more of them. As they say "practice makes perfect".:D

I know what you mean. It seems that everytime I take a spill, I do the same thing by trying to land on a large muscle mass instead of a joint (or my face). I find that, I try to stay loose and just "roll" with it.

I slipped up the other day though and screwed up a pedal kick off a silly 2 ft drop on an urban ride. stupid, stupid, stupid!!! The front tire took a header and so did I. I stuck my arms out but pulled them in at the last minute. I just let my body hit the pavement and then rolled away from the bike. I still hurt my wrist. Ah well, live and learn.

How much you learn depends on how hard you hit your head :)

Originally posted by oxologic
Who knows, maybe a girl might find you cute when you fall off your bike.

This reminds me of the time I was at the gym at university, when a couple of very attractive females watched me fall off a treadmill. Unfortunately a few of my friends were there, so I ended up doing the macho thing and basically laughing the whole thing off. I've often wondered what might have happened had I pretended to be badly injured...

You had a fall at Lamington National Park, the only thing that will help you recover is a LARGE tray of Lamingtons and some nice brewed coffee.:D


This reminds me of the time I was at the gym at university, when a couple of very attractive females watched me fall off a treadmill.

A friend was running on a treadmill and was checking out a girl that was exercising near him. He lost concentration and fell over. To prove it wasn't an accident he repeated the same trick two more times, before conceding defeat and realising that the girl wasn't impressed or interested.:roflmao:

CHEERS.

Mark

i ummm have learnt to just get back on and ride!

Brendon
:beer:

It's amazing that when we are children and we burn ourselves on a hot stove, we learn not to touch it again. But now, we fall off our bikes and break a wrist or hand and we just can't wait to heal and get back on and start riding again. Ah.....human nature.

Well, when you fall off a horse, you got to get back on it and ride.

Giddyap!

KB

Ha.. this reminds me of a wierd story.


My (now ex) girlfriend and I were at a friend of mine's apartment, I guess just partying or something. For some reason she and I were outside, maybe she was smoking or something... ugh. Anyway... she saw these kids sitting outside on the curb, and wanted to go talk to them for some reason. They looked like half our age, but I think I'd had a few beers, so I was naturally sociable and followed her over there. We spoke with them for a little bit, small talk I guess.. then she walked back into the apartment and I stood there chatting a little bit longer.

Well.. at that point I was jogging along the sidewalk to catch up, in the dark. The cement dropped down between the garages of the apartment complex, leaving about a 3-4 inch drop in the concrete. So I'm jogging along, and somehow in the dark didn't see the 3-4 inch concrete ledge. I slam my foot into it, breaking my foot horribly, and of course come crashing down onto the sidewalk. But being the crash extroidinaire I am, I managed to fall correctly onto my side so only a small portion of my palm and ankle ever made contact with the pavement. I would have been way more scraped up had I not known how to fall.

But all the skill at falling in the world didn't save my foot from smashing into a concrete ledge and breaking :p

Originally posted by Chris L
...
I'm beginning to wonder if there's some value in learning to crash "the hard way" after all.

Falling is a valuable experience, not only mentally, but also physically as a lot of body movements and certain reflects are unconscious.
Generally, once person falls, he will be more careful next time and will avoid similar situation. Learning!

One learns just how damned hard the ground can be.

Originally posted by Raiyn
Ah so Grasshopper: One must learn to fall, before one learns to stand.:D

You are getting very budhist lately :)

I'm sharing this story because it's so very true.

When I purchased my first pair of clipless, I practiced almost daily on my trainer before hitting the pavement. Several weeks later, feeling pretty good about clicking in and out, I went for a ride. DUH!!!

Riding down a bike path, I had not problem until I came to a stop. I tried to click out and I was STUCK!! I was speechless. In seconds, I fell completely over. I didn't hurt myself, thank god, but... what blew me away was, it was so many people handing out that summer day on the bike path and when I fell, it was dead silence, as if i was the only one there. :roflmao: I struggled as if I was glued to the clips to get out. Once succeeding, I stood up, dusted myself off and picked up my bike. I dared not to turn around to see the many faces holding their breaths looking at me. I checked the bottom of my shoe, got back on my bike and road off. I was mad like no other.

Returning to the bike store for re-adjustments... it happened again. This time in the middle of the street. Thanking my luck stars no traffic was moving.

To make a long story short, I had to write a complaint letter to the owner of the store for him to this inform his Jack a-- employee who sold me the pedals, to exchange them. Come to find out, there were defective.

Now...by a difference manufacturer. I haven't fallen since.

What I have learned about falling:

-it's easier to watch someone fall that to do it oneself.

-falls are always embarrassing unless the pain exceeds
the 'animal threshold'.[The 'animal threshold' is the point where
you don't care what others see, hear or think as it hurts so much all that's left is animal behaviour.]

-the main trick is to land on your back and hold the bicycle above
yourself to protect it from damage and scratches. Skin grows
back, but a paint chip is forever.
:crash:

well, falling while biking is a forseen act with me.. my clumsiness factor taken into consideration.. but regular falls well.. lets see
-falling up stairs: hey there are less to fall down after.
-tripping over my helmet: at least i know where it is.
-falling off the last step on an escalator: there is at least one person standing there duhhhhhh to block the complete descent.
-falling for someone: creates alot of laughter amongst my family:)
and then there is finding that icy patch at 5 in the morning and you are running for the bus: i always wanted to see what my feet looked like framed against the sky.

i learnt that to fall is human.. my bike however is divine :)

One of my latest falling experiences was actually the opposite of your ChrisL. It seems that all the falling that I practiced in my Jiujitsu class really paid off this winter on the bike.

I was planning to ride over the top of a pile of snow, well it seems that two things were wrong with my plan. First the snow was too soft to ride over, I rode straight into the snowbank. Second, the snow plow pushed one of those parking curbs for car parking lots into the center of the pile. I slammed into the hidden curb. This brought the bike to a complete stop. I unfortunately continued forward over the handlebars (and the snowbank) and had an opportunity to execute a forward rolling breakfall onto the plowed asphalt in front of the snowbank. I managed to crush a half full water bottle in the mesh pocket of my backpack, but other than that things were fine.

I am much more careful with piles of snow now.

Dan

Originally posted by DanFromDetroit
One of my latest falling experiences was actually the opposite of your ChrisL. It seems that all the falling that I practiced in my Jiujitsu class really paid off this winter on the bike.

If there was snow involved it definitely was the opposite of my situation.

How much does one learn from falling? It makes me wonder had bikes been around in Isaac Newton's day, could his theory of gravity have resulted from observing a falling cyclist instead of an apple?:p

well it depends...

i have 2 kinds of falls:
1) anticipated falls like on a mountain bike trail where i know i'm going over the bars or to the side -- here i can "bail" soas to hopefully not do a lot of damage ----- unfortunately i seem to hurt my hands a lot still (last Sunday i rode a big drop and messed the landing and bailed "correctly" but slammed the back of my hand into a rock and it still hurts now
2) unanticipated falls where you can't do anything --- like winter 2002 when i fell on ice and went down so fast i had no time and i sprained my wrist --- or my big crash where i flew 20 feet in the air and the landed on me head and then slid another 20 feet on my face - i had no clear where was up or what was going on or anything

as to the embarassment - - maybe occaisonally i do, but usually i find my falls very funny and actually think they are a positive social factor ---- in other words if i never got hurt i would actually prefer to have a crash every so often and make some people laugh ---- but what sucks is when you have a "cool" fall and then you think everthing's fine and everyone laughs and then the next day your wrist or hip or whatever hurts and you have the pain for like 6 weeks

Originally posted by nathank
as to the embarassment - - maybe occaisonally i do, but usually i find my falls very funny and actually think they are a positive social factor ---- in other words if i never got hurt i would actually prefer to have a crash every so often and make some people laugh ----

I hear ya! It reminds me of a silly crash I had at Hinze Dam a few years back. I saw that one coming so I made it look as melodramatic as possible. Trouble was, I burst into laughter as soon as I hit the ground. :eek:

:roflmao:

When I fall off I usually end up where gravity decides to take me.
Don't get enough time to think about it..
I have been dumb enough to fall off twice in same place..a very slippery ramp while running late for work..I'm very careful at that spot now!

ok, well i do have to share i think my most funny and embarassing crash...

it was a long time ago at the university and i was on my road race bike with super skinny high pressure tires. for some reason i wanted to try and ride the stairs (this was before i knew what a MTB was), but i also didn't want to hurt my precious rims...

so it was around noon in the main square where hundreds if not thousands of students are and these are the main steps (UT Austin, right on the West Mall by the Drag)

there are only 3 steps but as i went down them i used the front brake to try and go slow and protect my rims... and i went sailing over the handlebars along with my school backpack doing a complete flip and landing in a sitting position right in the middle of all the students walking around. of course there were hundreds of people starring. oh, it was cool although i was a little red.

How far down the ground is...

I can't remember much from my most serious fall.

Mostly, I remember how to avoid it again.

:(

I had a nasty fall once - banged my head - but it didn't really affect me much.

And another thing - I had a nasty fall once - banged my head - but it didn't really affect me much.

Did I ever tell you I had a nasty fall once - banged my head - but it didn't really affect me much.

MediaCreations:roflmao:




I guess the near misses are the ones that scare me the worst...like climbing hard up a steep grade and suddenly snapping your chain. I will always wonder what kept me from ripping my chest open on the bars during that one.

Speaking of failing chains...there was one other time this happened to me when I was not so lucky. I had just gotten a new pair of shorts and a coolmax summerweight T and was just tooling through town as usual when I decided to change routes. I was standing in the pedals to really get some acceleration and all of a sudden my chain slipped the cog. My foot shot off the pedal and hit the ground and then I was gracelessly flipping off in a rough somersault. The worst thing about it all was the concrete/asphalt abrasions all down the back of my new clothes, not to mention the road oil stains. I guess it just adds to the character, right?