Mountain Biking - i crashed for the first time

i crashed for the first time on my new bike lastnight. i live in the texas panhandle and it gets a little dark at 8pm. that was when i decided to go out ot the super-walmart constructon area where they had 25ft downhill mounds, and there was this one section of land that was taller than the other. it was about a 2ft. cliff. not big at all. so here i go pedaling pretty fast and im looking for the edge of the dirt. i cant see it. its all the same color of brown. before i knew it i was in the air totally unprepared. i landed my bike and i bouced off and flew to the right. i landed on my rightshoulder and scraped up my knee and elbow. i felt so stupid that i didnt pull up on the bike. man i feel like giving up on everything taht i cant accomplish. i cant even wheelie or climb a stairway sideways. i have horrible balance too. does anyone else feel that way?

for one, i wouldn't be doing anything like that at night. the first night ride i went on to test my lights i ended up breaking my finger since i hadn't ridden the trail before. i assume it's because its a construction site and you were trepassing. crashing is just part of the game. i would just practice and practice in an area with sufficient lighting and get used to how your bike handles when doing stunts and jumps with it.

Sounds like good times. But you dead sailored that drop. This is why you see dhillers always in the crouched ass over the rear position. If you hit small jumps like that your body still reacts and the front doesn't drop much.

As for the other stuff...you would be surprised at how hard a wheelie is. You will be surprised at how easy it is once you get it. But until then it is hard. Climbing stairways is equaly hard, if not more difficult. Can you do a decent trackstand. I am talking a few minutes here not 30 seconds. Once you get that kind of balance the other stuff starts to come into place. Before going up stairs can you do a 180 pivot, or even 90 degree pivot...you don't need that to go up stairs but the balance and skill to do those long pivots helps the small ones. It just sounds like you are taking daddy steps instead of baby steps. :)

crashes are part of the Game. I know things can be frusterating, especially if you are just getting in to something. Even when you take a long break from something, it can be depressing getting back into it; though once your back in, its so much fun again.
Ive been riding hard for a year or so now, and I can't wheelie much more than is needed to get me off of a drop. I can go about 10-15'. Hopping up stairs took months. First I had to learn to bunny hop. Then I had to learn that you have to use your legs to give the bike horizantal momentum in addition to vertical momentum. Then I had to learn better balance. I cant balance in place, I still have to hop around a little bit. I love to ride because you can progress a little bit @ your OWN level every day.
MAELSTROM is right in saying take baby steps, not daddy steps. I jumped curbs before stair sets. 3 stairs before 5 stairs. 5 stairs before 5 foot stairs. 5 foot stairs before stair gaps. Jumps were first a board and a cinder block, then I added blocks, after a few months I could jump over my stream.
For improving balance, there is NOTHING that comes close to martial arts in my opinion. Great for flexibility and coordination too, in addition to your conditioning and of course self defense.
Bottom line- DONT STOP RIDING. It sucks to crash, even if you accomplished something in the crash. But the next time you ride, you'll thank yourself for not quitting.

yes, crashes are part of the game, but like green meat, the should be avoided. who reallly wants to crash? if you can avoid, then you would.

Originally posted by killerasp
yes, crashes are part of the game, but like green meat, the should be avoided. who reallly wants to crash? if you can avoid, then you would.

True...but can you really be pushing yourself without the crashing. I crash at least once a ride. As wade simmons once said "You have to be a good crasher before a good rider"...holds true even if not going huge :)

I've been riding (hardcore dirt) for about ten years. I can trackstand for as long as I want, even with no hands. I've done an 8ft drop on a HT - and 15 on my bighit. I can ride a unicycle well. I've achchievd all of this by going through the MTN bike school of hard knocks. I've crashed more times than I can count - had major injuries - it's part of the game. 2ft drops are nothing to me, but at one time I crashed going off a curb. You need to ask yourself "do I love to ride enough to hurt myself" - if you think no, then no more dirt or drops for you - if yes, buy some pads and learn to crash.

BTW - I still can't frickin ride a wheelie

Those skills are not easy to master at all. For right now don't try to be something you're not yet. Go as big as you think you can handle, if you doubt, don't try it. Start with easy stuff, and as you get better at those, you step it up a notch. Never start off at that level, you'll only hurt yourself. The worst mistake is to get discouraged and give it up, you'll regret that decision.

:)Riding at night is fun...but stupid. I almost hurt myself also when I ran into a stump at my friends house...

Try it with lights - less fun, but less stupid as well.

crashing is a skill itself.

if you know how to fall properly you can avoid injury and continue to ride.

if you avoid falling and never learn to fall correctly, when you do fall it may put you off your bike for a long time.

If you want to quit because you fell once, why did you start biking in the first place?

Maybe I should start riding where you do, sounds much safer than riding around here. Around here crashing is a daily occurence, if you aren't crashing then you're not doing it right! :D

I would think, if you ARE crasshing you're not doing it right. Crashing is definitely part of it, but at the same time "Let's keep the rubber side down please."

My buds and I used to have a couple of moto's:

If you're not crashing, you're not trying hard enough!

No pain, no "damn that was fun!".

Chicks dig scars!

Blood is just your bodies way of expressing true love!

L8R

My buds and I used to have a couple of moto's:

If you're not crashing, you're not trying hard enough!

No pain, no "damn that was fun!".

Chicks dig scars!

Blood is just your bodies way of expressing true love!

L8R

I like that last one :D...

And crashing every ride is not uncommon. And if I don't crash it usually means I am riding xc with my gf :)