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Old 01-29-08, 07:36 AM
  #22  
carpediemracing 
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Tariffville, CT
Posts: 15,405

Bikes: Tsunami road bikes, Dolan DF4 track

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I crashed at least once a year for about 10 years. At first they were all on training rides as I did things like learn to corner:
http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...hen-youre.html

or just try and visit my girlfriend:
http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...rash-ever.html

or whatever.

After a bunch of years crashing on training rides, I found myself in the thick of things during crits, i.e. I was strong enough to be up front in the final bits of a race and I was a good enough bike handler that I felt okay being up there. I can't recall actually causing a crash (except my last one when I inadvertently unclipped sprinting out of a turn - but the only guy that crashed was me). Typically it was someone sliding into my wheels and taking me out, or being pushed off the outside of a corner. I did have a lot of saves - bunny hopping onto a grassy median, stretching a bunch of "police line do not cross" tape, and then jumping back in, or one where a guy slammed me from the inside (numerous times), or bunny hopping off the road to get away from an ongoing stackup.

I took Judo for a short time (year or two). As part of our exercises we'd start sprinting, jump over other kids in the class standing upright with their heads bent down (i.e. 4 or 5 feet tall), and then do a tumbling landing, our hands hitting first. Scariest thing the first time I did it, coming down on your hands from 5 feet in the air, but it got to be where I couldn't wait for my turn to sprint at the guys standing there and leap over them. We started just doing slow-mo tumbles over nothing but it quickly progressed to leaping over 4 or 5 guys.

I have no "with Judo" and "without Judo" stats for myself but I believe that this tumbling type training really helped me deal with the bike falls.

cdr

*note* - isn't 55 feet like 5+ stories? Good lord.
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