General cycling strategies that I picked up from the veteran racers in our club when I was a novice and later that I adopted over my racing days. 1) Ride with a secure drip on the handlebars. Not a death grip but firm so when you hit that unexpected rock or pothole your hands stay on the handlebars. 2) Ride with your arms bent so they act as shock absorber. So if you hit something unexpected, again, you are prepared, And my practice to minimize damage to me in the vast majority of crashes - my mantra, "Don't let go of the handlebars until after I hit the road." That is all about not breaking bones so my race training won't be interrupted.

It sounds like you kept your hands on the handlbars. And you got off with scrapes, bruises but no broken bones. Well done. My other mantra was "Greet the road with everything I've got." That meant rotating my knee and elbow out so they both hit. (But again, not holding them rigid but just serving as a first contact and more skin.) The more and bigger the road rash patches, almost always, the less deep each one was and the faster it healed. The more "corners" of my body that hit - elbows, knees hip, ankle - the less damage to any one of them.

Now, all my racing was done long before clipless pedals. I rode with quality leather toestraps pulled tight. I also have never been a gymnast nor do i have the coordination to haver been one without breaking bones, etc. trying. So the vast majority of my crashes were slides wile firmly attached t my pedals. No rolling like a gymnast.

And last, though I learned this early on from those club veterans - anytime the going gets "iffy", be in the drops! With hands in the drops of a racing handlebar, the firm but not rigid grip, elbows out and bent, you are set for just about anything. Being bumped by another rider. Hitting the deep pothole that just appeared from under the rider in front of you. The stone or loose waterbottle you didn't see. The crashin front you have to dodge. So, all my bikes get set up so the drops are a place I can hang out comfortably and I go there a lot. (Not only are the drops nice and comfortable; if you do loose your grip, the curve of the drop is still in the crotch of your hand; between index and thumb. If you slide forward on the brake hoods, there's nothing there. Now, back in the days of the dinosaurs, the brake hoods were a far less inviting place to put your hands and we had those dang brake cables to deal with ... but - the big "but" no one talks about - if your hand did get knocked off the lever, that same crotch in your hand got a rude awakening when it hit that cable housing.. Rude - yes. Painful - yes. But - your hand was still on the handlebar and you didn't crash. And we all did that at least once. That's a lot of crashes that didn't happen.

Edit - the OP's bike is a dinosaur era bike. Those brake cables! The curse and blessing!