Being heavy and having fallen a few times in the past year offroad and once biting it real hard onroad, here is my advice. Don't stick your arms out to shield the blow or you'll seriously hurt your wrists and hands, and without those you can't ride or make money. Let the biggest part of your body take the blow (torso of course!) Honestly you can't do much once you're falling, you're not going to expect it unless you were doing a trick or offroad going over a big root etc. Try your best to roll. Preferably away from big objects i.e. cars. The onroad incident I biffed on was bad and I still have scars so maybe my advice is no good.

i wasn't suggesting doing both at the same time, hence the blank space between the two which typically indicates the end of one thought and the beginning of another.

Depends on if people are watching. If someone sees you, make sure to immediately blame the nearest car or pedestrian and start screaming at them. Falling on your own accord is for *******, don't let anyone see you doing it.

messenger bags are good for sliding across pavement. Just make sure your macbook isnt in it. :bear:

two of my falls (once doored, once stupid) involved me going over the handlebars, rolling, and popping right up to my feet. the time i got doored, the door hit my bars, twisted my stem on the steerer tube, then hit my chainring, and sent me flying crazy through the air. missed my hand and then knee by less than an inch.

I'm always checking for that. Chicks love guys on bikes.

Mountain biking is good training. Especially DH and/or Freeride or dirt jumping.

Thats funny the last time I fell my first instinct was to save the bike. Cut knee scraped arms and hands saved my head and not a scratch on the bike hahaha. (got caught in my toe clips while stopping)

I was in a group ride with several other roadies when a deer and two fawns popped out on the road. The deer got nervous and tried to jump the paceline and KO'ed a rider in the head. Down he goes. We rush over and check the bike for any damage.

Then we see what happened to Freddy. Good thing he had that helmet; it was cracked.

Bike and deer were fine.

On more than one occasion I've managed to get my bike on top of me while sliding across the ground. Bodies heal, bikes don't.

Freakin funny. But always keep hold up your bars in a crash, my back wheel washed out in a turn full of wet leaves and I let my elbow out a little too far. Better to take it on the shoulder

yeah, the only time i've fallen on my fixed at speed is from really slippery leaves. Just stay attached with your hands and roll onto your shoulders and back.

Biker Fox Crash.

Definitely hold onto the bars, elbows in and make yourself small- tuck down to the toptube. If it happens quite slowly, like on a gravelly corner, act as though you are still in control- keep on the bars, steer to loosen your turn arc a bit, and keep your centre of gravity low. Sometimes you'll run off the gravel and regain control, if not you'll be in the best position when you hit the deck. Fingerless mitts reduce the skinned knuckles in a very satisfying way.

The only time I have ever fallen has been playing bike polo, so the speed tends to be fairly low and I can usually land on my feet. So my falling experience may not be salient here. But, I would say, the softest falls I have had involved catching myself with my hands ... but I feel like that is terrible advice because if you take a really hard fall, you'll probably break your wrists. I guess my advice from my personal experience is try and land on your feet and let your bike go flying. Somehow I manage to land on my feet a lot.