Originally Posted by
Maelochs
We have had different experiences. I find that my hips and shoulders do the hard work. Maybe you are really thin, so that your bike is wider than your body?
I am Not really thin.
I'm not really thin but my handlebars tend to be wider than my body in most of my crashes. The number of crashes I have on a mountain bike with 630mm wide handlebars is significantly more than on a road bike with 440mm handlebars. My hips and shoulders take their fair share of abuse but I still stay with the bike as much as possible because it can take more impact than I can. Or, more to the point, the bike's impact isn't as physically painful.
Originally Posted by
Maelochs
My point exactly. Absolutely. When i fall clipped in i try to turn my shoulder into it to land on the back of the shoulder instead of the point, I pull my hands back so that if I hit, I hit with the backs of my wrists, and try to roll up as much as i can. Anything extended is sacrificed to physics and physiology. if you can't do a one-handed push-up at 32 feet per second, you can't do a one-handed at that force plus the added force of your forward motion on the bike. Basically, you are trying to catch your body weight at 2 gs .... How many people here can one-hand bench 500 lbs?
I agree. I've seen lots and lots of injuries to people who have tried to "catch themselves". They can't so why even try?
Originally Posted by
Maelochs
Not always. Sometimes tendons and ligaments will tear instead.
Yes, of course. But a broken bone is harder to heal in my experience. I've had both...numerous times
Originally Posted by
Maelochs
This is all stuff I have tested (perforce) and found to work. Still, some crashes I have either been moving too fast or the crash happened too fast to do much.
I'd say though, if you crash enough to be able to "practice" how you crash ... get a trike?
So far, though, we have always walked away .... and been able to ride after a while.
I crash with appalling regularity. It's not that I "practice" crashing but I have the mindset of being prepared for crashing by relaxing when it happens. That takes some effort since our instincts are to try to stop ourselves from falling. At walking speed, catching yourself is fairly easy and probably won't result in too much injury. But bicycling isn't at "walking speed" and the same act of trying to "catching yourself" is going to result in injuries for the same reason you've stated above.
And, no, I don't need a trike. I'm just a stupid old fart who mountain bikes.