Speaking of cahones gigantes, check out the balls on these guys.
On hardwood floors, too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNH58RzuwPs

Do it like this
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=7abddd51.flv
Naration of clip below:
1st girl sweet
1st guy ********
2nd guy not nearly as ********...me
3rd guy briliant

...Clips in pedals, hands firmly on drops, roll over on back, while sliding, push bike as high into air as possible to minimize damage to your ride.

Ouch.
Was the guy filming asian by any chance? The "Ai-ya" gave me hints ;) :D

That's how I fell, but I cheated because I was leaning in that direction. Deauraillers can also snap into your leg and cut it which further decreases the fun element of a fall.

:eek:

I've heard when you fall at high speed to hold onto the frame, that way you avoid breaking collar bones and ribs and the bike gets the most of it. Is this true? I'd rather break the bike (i know its sad) but recovery time is too long for snapped bones.

Nah, only takes a couple of sprained or broken wrists (if you're lucky and don't break something larger). You have plenty of time to let the lesson sink in when you can't write, type, or ride without pain for a couple weeks :)

yeah, and get hit by cars?

A 2nd vote for taking up mtb. ... of course several of those have left marks too :D

My mantra is don't stick hands out, and if going forward tuck and roll. After some mtb practice (it gives you a lot) when I touched wheels at 22 and went over my front right side I instinctivley tucked and rolled. Road rash on all extremities, worst patch on my right shoulder blade which was point of 1st impact. But nothing broken and was able to ride home and ride again 2 days later.

Never stick your hand out. I've fallen quite a bit and each one was totally different from each other, but the thing I've learned from them is slow down, anticipate disasters ahead of time, learn to fall like others have mentioned, and learn and improve your riding skills for turns, braking, hoping, and learn to respond with cat like reflexes. If not, don't ride so recklessly.

Always fall under the wheels so that the bike lands on top of you to cushion its impact.. you wouldn't want it to actually hit the pavement would you?

Haha, great clip. Actually, that must have hurt. But it was somehow funny to hear the guy filming go "Ai-ya.. oh no" over and over again.

+1 on that.

I've found there are two types of crashes & falls.

1. endos from sudden impact and deceleration, such as running into back of the guy in front who've crashed, or hitting some obstable like a trash-can or kerb. When flying over the bars, relax, tuck your head and arms in and roll. You'll hit the ground head-first and upside down, but if you're tucked in and rolling, you'll be fine. I've seen guys flying over their bars and rolling in the air, and landing on their feet, then waddle like a penguin on their cleats and fall down. Whatever you do, don't force yourself to not roll and tumble. Landing flat and sliding will cause all sorts of road-rash.

2. sliding crashes like cornering at the limit and hitting gravel or oil in mid-corner. Also happens when you use too much braking while leaned over. There's minimal vertical impact from this, so very little bruising. However, you tend not to roll as much since you're bound up with the bike and clipped in. Sliding with your knees & elbows on the ground will cause some deep abrasion wounds. :( In these cases, I try to hop off the bike vertically relative to the frame by pushing on the pedals and unclipping. Then you can roll longitudinally and spread out the impact. Again, tuck your head and arms in to prevent injury, don't try to stop yourself from rolling, you'll just scrape off all the skin on your extremities.

Like with the martial-arts, falling and landing can be learned and trained to be automatic. Lay a mattress out on the lawn and practice running into it and flying over your bars. You'll be able to get to the point where you just roll off the mattress and land on your feet at the far end.

Yes...................as easy as possible!:D

this thread is pointless.

Pros crash frequently, and get injured all the time, you really don't have time to consider how to crash properly in an accident.

This thread is not pointless-- you do have time to consider how to crash properly, and if you train before it you can mitigate the effects, sometimes automatically because you train your reflexes. It can and does help to consider how to fall and practice some kinds of fall.

One crash I was in the guy behind me said later "I'm just mad because I had a lot of time to plan that one, and still screwed it up".

My girlfriend was a competitive gymnast for years, and when she endos she lands on her feet (and stays on them) and hops back on the bike and rides away-- she's done it more than once. I can't land like her, but I spent a year going to adult tumbling at a gymnastics gym and I'm pretty convinced that it's helped.

SOFTLY

I always, always try to fall softly.

I'd say the best preparation for falling would be to ride singletrack regularly.

I've always found that a GOOD crash is typified by one factor. It happes to damned fast to chose to do anything. You just realize that you are now on the ground and in pain.

There are actually classes in various places on how to fall. They take you to a grassy area, pad you up, and make you fall off crappy bikes for a while. If you can't get yourself to fall, don't worry. They have huge padded gauntlets to help you out! Highly recommended, since the only way to learn how to fall is by falling. You have to make it instinct, because you can't think when you're actually crashing.

I fell yesterday, wheel broke and I endoed (see OUCH thread) and I think I walked away fairly well for what happened. I dit a full summersault and landed on my back, which barely saved my collar bone (most common bone broken in cycling). My largest road rash area is less than 3" and my shoulder is sore, but the bike took a second hit after the flip. I'd rather have it that way, though. The bike can be repaired/replaced more easily than my body.

My last crash I had time to make a choice

1.muddy pond
2.grass

I chose 2. Only damage was to the saddle, and Im still able to ride on it.

Yea he is...He has a brother in TO. Is that you?

I've crashed plenty. If you have time to consider how to crash properly, you have time to avoid the crash.
My point is that there are professionals who live their lives on bikes and cannot tell you how to crash properly, and these experts crash frequently and badly. Crash injuries are extremely common, they cannot be avoided by tumbling drills, or synchronized swimming, or whatever.