The difference is, when you're in gym class, it's a pretty well-controlled environment -- you know the surface you're on, and you know the speed you'll be moving. What they teach in martial arts about falling helps you survive a fall in a fight, which is a very uncertain situation. You don't want to be on the ground with a jacked-up arm or wrist, you want to be healthy and ready to defend yourself.

The forward-rolling falls I've learned have me going over, tucking my chin and arms to my chest and landing on the back side of my shoulder. If I do it merely OK, I end up right back on my feet (if I do it really smoothly and quickly, I almost get flung forward again ). Sideways falls work just about as well.

So, when you lose a fight with a mud-slicked corner, tucking & rolling is the better way to go.

Side note/armchair analysis: Anyone else think that keeping a tight grip on the bars can actually help to fall correctly? Imagine "saving the bike" and what kind of body position you'd use, then compare it to what we're saying about taekwondo-type falls.

I had a spill about 3 weeks ago. It was the first real rain of the season and I was coming off of cement down hill across a paint stripe and making a hard left turn, plus I think the asphalt there was really slick too. My front wheel slid out from under me, the whole thing happened so fast that I had no time to react at all. I guess I put out my left hand as a reflex and took a lot of force there and on my hip. I got up and finished my commute home (a modest but nice 10 miles) and then went mt biking for a couple of hours. I continued to commute as normal, but my wrist kept hurting. After about 2 weeks I went to the dr. who surmised that I had damaged the ligament and gave me some stretches to do to help it remain flexible while it heals. My hands getting better, but I sure wish I could have taken the impact over a larger area of my body, I didn't have time to think about it, it was all reflex. I wiped out with a front tire blowout a few years ago but that time didn't get a hand out and took the impact better. I guess as Jack Burton always say's "it's all in the reflexes".

Got doored last spring. Landed on my head and left shoulder.
All those years of wearing a helmet and it paid off in one second.
I'm convinced I would have cracked my egg without one.

10k miles on one helmet? either you ride a hell of alot or the helmet is really old. you really should replace them ever 3-5 years, and as a commuter and locking up my bike and helmet, my helmet is always geting dinged/dented/strached up and probably making is less safe. not to mention the UV damage, weather both rain and heat here, and the natural degration of stryofoam.

another thing, a herendious crash at 18mph? over on the road form i read all the time, "crashed at 40mph, hit a brick wall and walked out of the ER with narly road rash. ontop of all of that 'no damage to carbon fiber bike.'" and they post pictures. its hard to belive that road cyclist crash safer

ok off topic sort of but i have to.....

What it means is that if I hit so hard as to shatter the helmet..which as designed to dissipate the force of impact then if I hit as hard without a helmet I would have had all of that impact directly on my head. Maybe skull not in pieces, but certainly at much higher risk of serious injury.

I simply don't get where the idea that helmets really don't help much comes from.....sure they don't help in all cases, but in common cases they do.

My direct is experience sample set is small, but after doing first aid on people who bit it with and without helmets...helmets can save you.

Well, I ride 25 miles a day commuting about 220 days a year. I run over 5000 miles per year so I guess my helmets should be good for 15000 to 25000 miles per your estimate. Also I don't subject my helmets to much UV exposure since I ride in the dark for about half the year.

Airbags go off in a car at impacts above 12 mph. I think you are skipping a lot of crash dynamics variables in dismissing an 18 mph crash as soft.

I know of a person who crashed a motocycle at 75 mph and was unhurt. He mostly slid (in leathers) and dissipated all of the energy in sliding.

In my crash I didn't slide at all. I have zero road rash because I stopped completely in one solid SLAM into the pavement. I dissipated my entire 18mph energy in my left hip and thigh plus my helmet. Try riding your bike into a brick wall at 18 mph and let me know how you fair.

Thanks to everyone's comments and well wishes. I started taking 800mg/8 hours Ibuprofen right after the wreck and I'm down to 200mg/8 hours now with reduced swelling and pain. I think I will be back on the bike next week.

Glad to hear you're ok.

And this is why we wear helmets! Having 'tested' the effectiveness of mine a few years ago (and finding them to be remarkably effective) I'll never ride without wearing one again. Glad yours did its job!

One way to look at it: The force will be the same no matter how you fall, what you can decrease is the pressure.

Pressure = Force / Area

For the same force, landing on just your wrist = small area = large pressure = ouch. Landing on a bigger cross-section of your body, say your whole side or leg or forearm = larger area = lower pressure = less ouch. i.e. punching someone, and then grabbing a tootsie pop with the stick pointed out between your fingers and punching them again.


Another way to look at it: You could increase the time it takes you to stop by skidding/rolling instead of trying to stop yourself immediately by bracing with your hands/feet/etc.

Force x time = change in momentum

In either case your change in momentum is the same, riding to stopping, but if you increase the time it takes you to stop, the force needed to stop you is less. i.e. an airbag vs. the steering wheel or a safety net vs. the ground.

Glad you're OK. Now you get to go shopping!

That's awesome.

Now this is a high side https://www.livevideo.com/video/embed...nzo-crash.aspx

When ever I hear people talk about how they don't need to wear a helmet I just can't understand it. When you go down you go sooooo fast there is no time to think at all.

Yes, that was exactly how I went down, except I was not moving 100 mph of course, and so instread of being thrown like that I was just pitched over.