Originally Posted by
noglider
I'm a singer, so I believe in rehearsal. I practice falling, and it has helped me a lot. I stumbled on this when I was teaching adults to ride a bike. Some were anxious, so to allay their anxiety, I took them to soft, grassy ground and had them do "stage falls" from a standing position. I did it first, to show them. Bend your ankle to the side, then fall on your knee, then hip, then elbow, then shoulder. Do it in slow motion. No need to do it fast and hard. I've fallen a few times in recent years, and I ended up falling in that way because the practice had ingrained it in me. Thanks for the reminder with this thread. It's time for me to practice......
When I was a kid we used to bike to a park where there was a path with very fine sand on it and go like crazy down the hill and wipeout/slideout on the corners. There's where I learned most of it and when I took Judo I learned how to fall face forward straight forward/down, sideways and quartering back. A very valuable thing. Same when I parachuted. Also riding with clipin shoes teaches you how to at least fall a bit gracefully when you forget to get out in time.
Practice is best, however nothing really prepared me for the time a few years ago when I left a meeting with someone, extremely upset and went roaring off, peed off and made a terrible decision to go across a bridge that was made of metal grating and was coated with a very fine amount of water from a recent rainfall. As soon as hit the metal I knew I was in big trouble with my road bike. Even in a car this bridge is like driving on ball bearings. So I just hung on for dear life hoping for a soft landing or good karma to pull me through....
Well I got about a yard from the end of the metal when my bike slid out and I wiped out on my left side. Thank heavens I had winter gloves on, as I always do. At least then I only got a broken wrist rather than also mangled fingers. I also fractured my hip.
Thankfully the head nurse threatened me that she would kick me out of the hospital if I did not take pain killers because all this did was make me more determined to get the heck out of the place. My Tai Chi training was part of the trick in getting out of bed as I knew how to move properly to escape pain as my hip was unbelievably uncomfortable when I moved. One very wonderful nurse helped me when I practiced to get out of bed onto a wheelchair.
I was back at Tai Chi in three weeks and back on the bike in 4 wks and I avoid that stretch of metal like the plague.