Fifty Plus (50+) - Is there a right way to fall off a bike?

Woodlark's post about falling and hitting his head and cracking his helmet got me thinking..... is there a proper way to fall off a bike? Someone suggested trying to fall more on the hip. My own personal fear (in addition to hitting my head or other worse injuries) is falling hard on my left hand (the one with the silicon carpal implant) and popping the prosthesis out. My husband's fear is damaging the titanium implant in his shoulder. It seems that my first instinct will be to put out my hand to brace my fall. Needless to say, it is better to land on my hand or his shoulder if it means protecting our heads.

And what about women with osteoporosis..... landing on a hip could mean not ever walking again.

So, is there a proper way to fall of a bike, if one is able to think fast enough?

Jen

According to popular lore, without sticking your hand out to catch yourself. This results in the most common bicycle bone break, the collarbone.

There is no correct way to fall on a bike- Unless you are with clipless pedals and then it has to done in front of plenty of your neighbours and friends.

It takes a lot of skill to fall. Most people put out a hand or leg and that is the quickest way to break bones. Practice makes perfect but don't even try it with your problems. I have had plenty of practice and I get away with it 95% of the time. If I know I am going- I raise the pedal on the side I am falling and keep my hands on the bars and feet on the pedals.. The bike takes most of the knock but it can still hurt.

Falling just doesn't happen that often. I am an offroader and I fall - normally on grass or mud, but that is part of the "Enjoyment" of offroading. If you don't get home with mud down the neck- it was not a good ride. In 3,000 miles of Road riding in the last year I have fallen "0" times. That surprises me as it is a new bike- new riding position and I am not used to it. In fact I will now say that Unless you do something stupid- Falling does not happen.

I find that doing a quick dismount removes almost all of the crash and burns. Once it becomes apparent that I and the bike are going to quickly go our separate ways - I find a willful leaving of the bike better than riding it down to a fiery finish.

Depend on the direction I am moving and what direction the bike wishes to go - there are various means of exiting leaving most everything intack, except perhaps my pride. I have walked over the handlebars, done handsprings, let the bike leave with me running behind it but what I try to do is end up still on my feet if possible.

Since I am not built like your bike racer but am pretty strong in the upper body, I will take some of the impact with my arms if necessary - but I make sure my arms are not locked. You do that and you can end up breaking your arms which isn't very good.

If you wish to learn to fall, take up MTBing - you will learn in no time!

Sounds like it could vary a lot from person to person.

Back when I played a lot of baseball, I used to envision what I would do before each play should the ball be hit to me ... and for both on the ground and in the air. The reason for doing so was so that I would be prepared and would then be able to react quickly without having to try to decide what to do while people were running and every tenth of a second counted.

I would recommend the same to you in terms of falling. Think about what you need to do, vision it out in your mind, think about how you would do it while sitting on the bike. Then should it happen, you've got a better chance of remembering your desired actions than if it just happens and all you can do is react. If you are going to keep your hands in and roll with it when you hit the surface, then work all of that out in your mind now.

Here's some info you may find handy:
http://bicyclesafe.com/
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/

Although I do not fear being injured falling from my bike, I often think of the consquences of falling in the path of a car.

If falling becomes inevitable, and I am able to think fast enough, I believe I would try to direct my fall...away from motor vehicle traffic.

And grass is softer than concrete.

If you wish to learn to fall, take up MTBing - you will learn in no time!

Trying not to get YEN worried but Mountain biking is a different ball game. You are not a mountain biker until you have gone over the handlebars and land still clipped in and hands on the bars but on your back. More impressive if you are still pedalling. The front wheel stops suddenly and you Vault over the bars and land on your feet running at 20mph. Or The splash you put up when you land in the deep muddy puddle gets your mates wetter than yourself.

Mountain biking is for nutters- but I would rather fall in 6" of mud than on hard Tarmac.

I commute on a MTB on rock, mud, sand and cow manure. I am really good at an unintentional dismount!

There's a chapter in Ned Overend's book on mountain biking about the proper technique for falling. If I could think my way through a fall, I'm not sure I would really fall that often. When it happens, I just go down.

Notwithstanding the "slo-mo" phenomenon in these situations, all I have time to consider is to hunker over, try to find some "meat" [not bone] to take the impact, roll if possible, and retract extremities. If I can manage any two of these, I'm happy enough. 'Course, high speed falls are a different critter. . .stuff happens awfully fast. [Retracting extremities seems counter intuitive until you've once chosen to decelerate with a hand versus a hunkered over shoulder. . .parabolic learning curve.]

I have osteopenia but I don't worry too much about breaking a bone falling off the bike. I'm probably a little more cautious due to the brittle bones but I figure I can just as easily break a bone in an accident around the home.

I took one fall last year as I was starting to climb a hill. When I downshifted the chain jammed and I couldn't budge the pedals. It was one of those "I know I'm going down" moments:eek: I sort of rolled to the ground and ended on my back with the bike in the air and my feet still firmly attached to the pedals. Thankfully the only damage was a bruise to the hip and some scrapes on the knee.

I was always taught to avoid bracing the fall with your arms and try to roll with the fall. It seemed to work for me:)

So, is there a proper way to fall of a bike, if one is able to think fast enough?

Jen

Yep...If you can think fast enough, avoid the crash in the first place! :)

don;t do it the way Molletta did it during Milan - SanRemo.
saw the broadcast yesterday on Versus, man, ugly... there were a bunch of crashes
but his was gruesome.
I know its on youtube, also think the footage is now on versus website

...hardest thing is to 'avoid' many crashes altogether, by >lookin where you want to go< , versus where you end up landing...

It was one of those "I know I'm going down" moments:eek:

What runs through my mind is, "Oooohh Nnnooo! I'm going dddddoooooowwwwwwnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!"

Sometimes it is surprising about how long it seems to take before you hit.

Sometimes, you don't really know you're going down in time to do much of anything except think, "Oh,sh....". Wheels sliding out on too tight a turn or touching someone's rear wheel. Then, it's just instinct and luck. Chain suck on a steep hill is the most give-you-time-to-feel-foolish as you topple over like that old, tricycled guy on Laugh-In. Generally, I'm going so slowly at that point no damage except to my vanity. KerPlop.

Well if Halle Berry happened to be walking along and you flew off your bike landing right on top of her; that might qualify as a right way to fall off your bike.

I think the best thing I've seen in this thread so far, is to roll when you hit the ground. I know, it sounds easier than it is. I've crashed into boulders, poles, holes, other bikes...slid out of control and crashed on pebbles, wet leaves, snow and ice and was never more than scraped up a bit. The rolling your body to a stop, or into control, worked equally well for down hill skiing back when we could afford to go.

The one time I tangled with a car and lost, I went down so fast that I only had time for one partial thought and then one complete one. When the car made contact I though "what the heck i.."at which point I was thinking "I made it through alive, where is my brand new bike?". I probably would have instinctively rolled if I hadn't been thrown into the darn light pole. No broken bones, no bleeding, lotsa pain.

Yeh, learn to be at piece rolling on the ground and then try like the dickens not to crash.

Keep your cell phone in your seat bag,not your pocket.Hit mud on the road on a sharp turn 3 weeks ago and recieved a nasty welt from the phone.Trashed my wind pants and my favorite OSU windbreaker and walked like Festus from Gunsmoke for about a week.
Who came up with that absurd saying,"if your not hurting,your not having fun?"

If not a broken clavicle, a separation of the clavicle/scapula/humerus (AC separation) occurs when landing on an outstretched hand... I can testify that it is not pretty, and not surgically repairable for ordinary mortals. In my commuting days, upon being knocked off, I have made this mistake twice. It's a natural impulse to put your hand out when you apprehend the pavement looming toward your head. Fortunately, PT can eventually get you back to 95% of your shoulder strength, and in a year or two can pull the deformity back into reasonable shape. Sorry, this doesn't sound cheerful!

One of the things I like about my LWB recumbent, is that you can easily step off when it is moving. bk

Well - there's a difference between falling and crashing. I've fallen when not being able to clip out in time, and I've crashed once.

The crash occured while exiting a sweeping hairpin turn - the front wheel skated on something in the road that I never saw, and down I went at ~30mph. One thing I clearly remember about the crash.... it happened FAST, and there was no time to decide how best to hit the pavement. Absolutely no indication that I was about to go down....I was carving a perfect line through the turn with a huge grin on my face one second, and literally on my head and shoulder the next. I almost didn't realize what happened till I came to rest under the guardrail. I might have stuck my hand out if it were possible out of reflex, but there was never a chance of that.

I walked away with a very sore shoulder, some road rash on my back/shoulder/hip, a destroyed jersey, a cracked helmet, and a bike that was uglied up some.

So, I guess the best way to crash is fast, and don't hit anything until you've come to a complete stop. :D

My wife, now 69yo, has only fallen once.

That was when she tried to do what she had seen me do - hop a curb. Except that she didn't know you had to be perpendicular to the curb to do that successfully. She tried it from an angle, with a fall the expected result.

Since that time, she does her thing and I do mine. Her thing is to be extremely careful, and take NO chances, which is good as she has a fair amount of osteoarthritis, and is susceptible. My thing is to wait for her.

One rule that all should follow in bicycling (except I guess Stapfam) is if you don't feel safe doing it DON'T DO IT! Never, never be coaxed by someone else into doing something you are not perfectly comfortable with.

I follow this rule on all the rides I lead - it is one of the first things I say to folks.

Defensive bicycling can keep you safe from falling.

So, is there a proper way to fall of a bike, if one is able to think fast enough?

Jen


Well, since every fall is unique, it's hard to say one method that will help..

However, from experience, I can say that trampoline training may be the best thing you can do. It teaches you how to maneuver your body in the air and how to think in the air. I'm convinced that in a crash there is a lot of time to do stuff while you are in the air, but no time at all if you don't know what to do. Flips are fun, and they teach you very valuable skills in body control.

What they taught me in my class seems reasonable, which is basically, that when landing, you try to spread out the force of stopping over as much of your body as possible. I tried that theory one day after missing the handle bars of a new bike when I went to clamp on the brakes. Over the top I went. I managed to take the road pretty much flat and caught my brand-new bike with my feet, saving its paint.

For a higher speed fall, you probably want to roll. Judo taught me how to take a fall rolling.

My best trampoline save though, was one time when I was standing waiting for a bus. My heels were next to a low curb and behind me was a steeply sloping terrain that went down to a parking lot about 6-7 feet below. Suddenly a gust of wind hit me, and I couldn't step back to recover my balance. I was falling backwards. Using my trampoline training of decades before, I led with my head, and managed to rotate my entire body 90 degrees while falling. I landed squarely along the small curb and avoided falling into the parking lot below which would probably resulted in a head wound. Instead, I was only embarrassed at being blown off my feet.

That's my take on it.

Wear this when you ride ...

I was a freestyle wrestler for many years, and spent more then few moments flying through the air. Landing is the same for most sports role to minimize the force of the impact. Don't leave anything hanging out (hands, head etc.) and tuck your head. It gets easy with practice. (not easy to practice on a bike)

>>> if Halle Berry happened to be walking along and you flew off your bike landing right on top of her; that might qualify as a right way to fall off your bike

She's a mite scrawy to be a reliable deceleration aid unless "cute" has ballistic absorption properties. Rosie O'Donnell maybe? Bea Arthur?

Rosie O'Donnell?
Bea Arthur?
or Halle Berry?

I'm willing to assume the risk and fall on Halle.

Woodlark's post about falling and hitting his head and cracking his helmet got me thinking..... is there a proper way to fall off a bike? Someone suggested trying to fall more on the hip. My own personal fear (in addition to hitting my head or other worse injuries) is falling hard on my left hand (the one with the silicon carpal implant) and popping the prosthesis out. My husband's fear is damaging the titanium implant in his shoulder. It seems that my first instinct will be to put out my hand to brace my fall. Needless to say, it is better to land on my hand or his shoulder if it means protecting our heads.

And what about women with osteoporosis..... landing on a hip could mean not ever walking again.

So, is there a proper way to fall of a bike, if one is able to think fast enough?

Jen

someone in my bike club once asked me whether I had learned yet how to "lay the bike down", said it was a good skill to have. Unfortunately, I've never followed up, haven't learned it yet, don't even know for sure what he meant except I assumed some sort of controlled skid, fall, and roll when there's an obstacle up ahead that you just can't miss. anyone know about this?

Not sure if this is relevant.. but there is a way to do an emergency stop on a bike, but I am not sure if this would work in this modern day with suspension tubes/fork.

But I read long ago in a book whose title I cannot remember, not the author... but it was all about matters of 'The Bike'... it described a way to intentionally 'crash' a bike. If you need to do an emergency stop, apply the front brake, but at the same time turn the handle bars fully right, so they allign with your top tube... and look on with glee as the forks simply bend underneath you, taking the wheel with them. As it said in the book.... 'wait for the right time as you plummet to the road, then step over the handlebars before you plough into the tarac and walk away'!:eek: ' Umm... try not to trip over the bent and buckled front wheel....

This is known as... 'Laying the Bike down' ... and there is your answer, BackInThe Saddle. :D Sorry I was so convolute getting there... because I am still wondering if this is a joke!

But I doubt this would work with a sussie fork?

I can remember my eyes popping out as I read it... he also had some funny ideas about how to handle barking dogs with a tyre pump!

I do a paratrooper roll over the bars. It's really a reflex action.
Last crash was a 38 mph descent down a paved canyon road in Utah and got harmonic vibration. I was only 72 at the time. Tried coasting and clamping both knees to the toptube (that generally works). No dice. Vibration increased. Then lifted butt slightly off saddle while leaning forward. That did not work. Then sat upright trying to scrub speed without braking (with harmonics, if you brake you crash). All the while the bike is doing a high speed involuntarly slalom across the 2-lane curvy highway. Had visions of becoming a hood ornament on a truck coming around the corner. Slightly braked and did my paratropoper roll. As I flipped/rolled looked under my right arm to see a cyclist coming right behind me . . . of course he rode over me when I hit pavement and he cracked his helmet. All this happened faster than it takes to read this. My injuries limited to broken right shoulder and roadrash. Sure beats being a hood ornament!
So relax and roll over the bars if you can . . . you'll survive to ride another day!

Since I ride a lowracer, going over the bars is almost an impossibility. OTOH, when I fall, it happens so fast that I'm on the ground before I know I'm in trouble. The last time I went down, I was happily riding along when I suddenly had to pick myself off the pavement. Upon investigation I determined I must have gotten my front wheel caught in a pavement crack. At least it doesn't happen often, I don't have far to fall, and my injuries are limited to road rash.

Lots of good advice from people accustomed to striking mother earth at various speeds and angles. Rodeo, martial arts, football, hang gliding and other sports have taught me to accept that moment when your mind says this is it, your going down. With that acceptance, calm yourself, cover up, tuck and roll if possible and take the hit where it happens. Never try to stop yourself with and extended arm. It will hurt a lot!!!

In my college days, our tumbling class instructor spent a lot of time teaching us to "tuck & roll" through a forward fall until it became instinctive. This helped me avoid injury in several falls both on & off the bike, although I doubt I could survive such a class now. Also, the technique works best if you can separate yourself from the bike but I have hit ground in an attitude that didn't allow for a tuck & roll which works best when you are airborn head first. Staying on the bike can rotate you into a feet first airborn position & an ugly landing. For sure, crashes happen fast & call for instinctive reaction with not much time for thought. Don

Since I was cited as the cause of this thread, I feel as though I should put in my $.02 worth based on my actual eperience. From the time I realized I was going down until the moment my head hit the pavement, subjective elapsed time was 0. There simply was no time to take any protective action. If you are approaching an obstacle and realize that you are either going to have to hit it or go down some other way, there may be some time to prepare (although not much!). Every situation is unique.:eek:

I have been in a few bad crashes and believe me you will not have time to react. Best preparation is to alway ride loose, don't have a death grip on the bars, keep your eyes open for bail out position i.e. which side is the grass on and most of all don't overlap wheels. Figure out what is going on when you come into intersections, practice the stealy eyed 'Don't you dare make turn in front of me look' The best way to deal with a crash is to avoid it in the first place.

In my college days, our tumbling class instructor spent a lot of time teaching us to "tuck & roll" through a forward fall until it became instinctive....
That's what my Aikido training taught. Tuck in your hand and roll along your arm onto your back.
IT almost worked the last time I needed to use it.:p

. . . One thing I clearly remember about the crash.... it happened FAST, and there was no time to decide how best to hit the pavement. . .

My experience exactly . . . rode off shoulder of highway, thought I could ride back up the the 2" drop if I hit the right angle.

Next thought . . . "I can't believe I hit my head on the pavement that hard!!"

My body was swung like a pendelum with the full impact on my helmeted head and left shoulder resulting in a cracked helmet and AC separation.

Roll? Yeah, right!

It certainly convinced me to always wear a helmet, though!!

Well - there's a difference between falling and crashing. I've fallen when not being able to clip out in time, and I've crashed once.

The crash occured while exiting a sweeping hairpin turn - the front wheel skated on something in the road that I never saw, and down I went at ~30mph. One thing I clearly remember about the crash.... it happened FAST, and there was no time to decide how best to hit the pavement. Absolutely no indication that I was about to go down....I was carving a perfect line through the turn with a huge grin on my face one second, and literally on my head and shoulder the next. I almost didn't realize what happened till I came to rest under the guardrail. I might have stuck my hand out if it were possible out of reflex, but there was never a chance of that.

I walked away with a very sore shoulder, some road rash on my back/shoulder/hip, a destroyed jersey, a cracked helmet, and a bike that was uglied up some.

So, I guess the best way to crash is fast, and don't hit anything until you've come to a complete stop. :D

This is exactly how my crash worked.
So I say: "Live to ride another day."

I discovered tonight that if you must fall off your bike, doing it at zero MPH is probably the best speed to choose.

>>> way to do an emergency stop on a bike. . .Laying the Bike down

Ahhh! The "Pete Rose". I've done a coupla' those in response to low speed events where kids have waltzed out from the side of the road. It's kinda' natural, goes. . .lock the rear, jink right a little then jink left a little more as you lean left and rearward, left foot down, continue leftward 'til the bike is laid down perpendicular to your travel line. If all goes right, you've squirted enough epinephrine into your "turbochargers" to keep low, upright, and in control. Otherwise, look for the "Miracle of Three Sunrises” between your legs. High speed stops are another animal. . .lock up the rear. . .get low. . .fight to stay upright. . ."punch out" in a safe direction if it's looking bad. Helmets are a fine idea 'cause stuff happens fast.

Thanks everyone for your enlightenment and humor. I pray that my falls will not be too painful and that I come out alive. The owner's manual of my new bike says that when a bike and car collide, the car always wins. :eek:

My worst fall. It is so fast. I ask can one prepare for it? My fall was so unexpected and bizarre. I must have hit a small rock or something I did not see. It took me down. Yes, try to hit about your hip, dont reach for the ground with her hands. i hit my shoulder , it tore a rotor cuff. Surgery, resulted.
They say roll into it about your waist and hip. And I will not ride w/o a helmet. The helmet was toast, but my head was ok.

Trying not to get YEN worried but Mountain biking is a different ball game. You are not a mountain biker until you have gone over the handlebars and land still clipped in and hands on the bars but on your back. More impressive if you are still pedalling. The front wheel stops suddenly and you Vault over the bars and land on your feet running at 20mph. Or The splash you put up when you land in the deep muddy puddle gets your mates wetter than yourself.

Mountain biking is for nutters- but I would rather fall in 6" of mud than on hard Tarmac.
I can't top that post, I wouldn't try, well said.

Best thread ever!

Luckily I haven't crashed in my adult years. When I was a kid, I crashed every way possible being young and dumb. A few stitches, but no broken bones.

I think my "fall" skills are pretty good from all of my years of snowboarding, water skiing/wake boarding and hockey. I do believe it can be an acquired skill. Comparing my first days of those sports and wiping out to today is like night and day in terms of falling with control. I recently tried my kid's waveboard.. which is basically a skateboard with 2 wheels on casters. Very fun. But my first time on, I wiped out hard but avoided serious impact by reverting to the tuck and roll. A few rocks in the arms and some bruises, but nothing serious.

It's natural to want to put out your arms. But learning to tuck them in can be natural too. What I'm curious about is what to do with your head. I usually tuck mine in so that if I land on my back, hopefully I'll just rollover my neck vs. having the head snap back and lights out.

The best way to fall is UP!

http://www.fiona.co.jp/images/JUVENILE_BOOK/FALLING_UP_SILVERSTEIN.jpg