Originally Posted by
RaleighComp
OK, Anybody who has gone over the bars on an MTB knows it usually starts like this:
Almost like you just woke from a dream, you are flying horizontally, your arms stretched out like Superman, no recollection of having let go of the bars. Just something you do instinctively, I guess?
Yup, something like that.
My last wipe was last fall (autumn), my first in probably 20 years. Riding my MTB in the dark with inadequate lighting, on a gravel trail that I had ridden hundreds of times before, I swerved to avoid a large puddle. At that point, the trail crosses a gravel driveway that was lined on the sides with those 6" high cement blocks you see in parking lots. Even though I should have known they were there, I forgot, and didn't see the one directly in front of me until too late. I tried a bunny hop, but I was too late. My front wheel made it over okay (the front suspension probably helped by absorbing some of the impact), but the back wheel hit hard and launched me into the air.
As far as wipeouts go, I got off easy. I landed on the grass beside the path. No tears in my clothing, but my shin banged against something and was bleeding. When I tried to get up, I found I couldn't move my leg, but it turns out my shoelace had just gotten caught on the brake lever, so I must have done the Superman thing over the bars.
The back wheel was bent a little where it hit, and rubbed against the chainstay and brake pad the rest of the way to work and back home, making for a slow commute that day.
I added a second light for night commuting after that.