Tuck and roll
 

One of the first things we learned when I started doing martial arts was to duck and roll when you see that you're falling. I used that again on my ride into work this morning, and I was glad I had the practice. My commute takes me across 2 busy suburban roads, and it seems that I always end up getting stuck waiting for the light to change at both of these crossings. This morning wasn't any different and like most days I'm going to continue forward while most of the traffic turns at this intersection. This means I usually have to wait for the turn arrows to finish before the light turns green for the cars continuing forwards, and this morning I waited the usual 3 seconds after the turn arrow changed back to red before proceeding forward. Except this morning the car behind me hadn't tripped the sensor and the light turned green for crosstraffic as I pedaled through the intersection. The last car hadn't seen me and started to go as I got too close, resulting in my doing an uncontrolled stoppie that ended up with me on the pavement. No real harm was done beyond some sore spots (I found out that another benefit to wearing a backpack is the padding when rolling like I did), and my days of waiting for the light to change instead of safely running the red light are over there.

I stumbled on this. I have taught many children and adults to ride a bike. Some of them are scared when starting out. To alleviate their fears, I bring them to a soft grassy ground and have them practice the "stage fall" which actors use: ankle, knee, hip, elbow, shoulder. It's OK to do it in slow motion. Once they do this, they realize that falling won't necessarily hurt, and they can get back on the bike and try again.

I did this with them, which inadvertently gave me practice.

Then I fell off my bike. When I got back up, I realized I was unhurt, because I had done what I had rehearsed.

This has happened several times since I taught those lessons.

Yep, you never know when you're going to need to do this.

Unfortunately, trying to find a video for this on YouTube only results in vids of "hilarious" spills. Any recommendation for a tutorial? When I fall I tend to break, dislocate, or sprain things, and I would like to not.

The first thing my judo instructor in college told us was a story of how he was biking at night in the rain when he first came to America, hit a pothole, and survived only because of the instinctive break fall he did. It happened so fast, he was already lying on the ground face up before he realized what had happened.

He then had us practice break falling for the next 3/4ths of the semester...

I like this one. Tuck your chin, break your fall with the arm on the same side if possible and aim to land on the shoulder and then roll out. In martial arts you want to roll out to a standing defensive position - kind of like diving into a pool at first and then rolling to stand. My martial arts teachers (sensies) all said the same thing - it doesn't have to be pretty it just has to work and when you need to use some of your skills it's not going to be the controlled environment as in the dojo. Don't worry about having everything look good, worry about things working.

Check this one:

What a fun video!

Here is one I found. You may want to save time and start at 1:05.

Thanks [MENTION=44184]no motor?[/MENTION], [MENTION=458309]SylvainG[/MENTION], and [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION], very good videos. I suppose the principles are the same when you're falling from 15+ mph and a squat, just, y'know, faster.

My last fall was on foot as I was rushing to catch the bus, and I went down straight forward. Fortunately this time I didn't sprain my right forearm, but I did bend the ribs on my left side; nearly a month later and they're still a bit sore. I think I'm going to try to join a gym, both to strengthen my core and learn falling, if I can afford the $$$.

PARKOUR!

If joining a gym is an obstacle, do those things without a gym. I use a barbell in my bedroom. I practice falling on soft ground. If I joined a gym, I know myself well enough to know I wouldn't go.

thx for posting. I have a friend who was recently nailed on his motorcycle by a car that blatantly ran a red light. He's alive and it seems likely (but not certain) that he'll walk again, and he credits his years of martial arts for giving him the instinct of how to fall, and injure him less than otherwise.