Just a few days ago on Saturday I was going down a pretty steep hill, and having a race the next weekend I was afraid of crashing. Of course, being wary of this, I hit a bump on the way down, overreacted by squeezing the brakes, causing me to fly over the front of my handlebars.
Although it makes me wince to think of the terror I had at that moment, I need to know what would be a better solution than just sticking my hands out (which was the only thing I could think of to stop impact). I had arm warmers on and gloves so not that bad road rash, but I broke my jaw and badly sprained my wrist (imagine a superman landing at 25mph).
Would curling into a ball where my shoulder blade is leading (so you don’t roll on your head but across your shoulder blade but your still facing forward, sort of a diagonal) the best solution?
geez, tough luck there, didn’t you just get that bike too? Anyways, I’m not sure what the best bet would be. The diagonal roll is definitely your best bet IF you can pull it off correctly but you also risk landing either on your head or flat on your spine or tailbone which is probably a lot more potentially dangerous in terms of nervous system damage. If I had time to react (which usually doesn’t happen) I’d try to slide the bike versus flying off of it. Anyways, good luck on the healing up. Make sure to stay loose over bumps and down hills. It’s well worth practicing riding over speedbumps and road hazards as many new cyclists tend to tighten up over road hazards often causing, well, well you know what it can cause…
i thought conventional wisdom dictated holding onto the handlebars … that way your arms don’t go out in front of you, and you rotate around so you don’t land on your face … i imagine i’d let go and put my hands out.
I chose the “drive the forehead straight into the pavement” method when I went over the bars at 35 mph. I discovered that helmets can take an amazing amount of force and leave little more than a red mark.
Ok, so I did manage to get one hand out in front of me, but that whole arm was pretty messed up for months. Arms don’t really take impact all that well.
“I chose the “drive the forehead straight into the pavement” method when I went over the bars at 35 mph.”
That was my call although in my case it was something like 19 mph. In the nanosecond that I was in animated suspension I remember thinking: 1) the worst case scenario is you are going to break your neck; 2) next best is the collarbone; and 3) next best is your arm. When it was over (including slamming my head into the curb) and nothing was wrong I stood up and did my best PeeWee Herman imitation (i.e., “I meant to do that”). I’m not a religious man as my tag line shows but I do believe in symmetry in the universe and I am going to pay for that one some day.
Go take Judo or Jiu Jitsu for a few months or so. While I have not endoed on my tri bike (yet) I used to go over quite a lot on my MTB. Tuck and roll properly can save you. If it’s steep enough, try bringing your feet up and running out of it. I managed to pull this off out of a sideways slide that turned into a high side flip on my old roadie. It’s all about training your mind to react.
I crashed a few weeks ago and I used the tuck-n-roll. I ended up with a few scrapes on my right hand, left hip, left shoulder, and upper left back. Nothing broke, because nothing really smacked down on the pavement. My head/helmet never hit the ground! I raced a week after that crash with minor problems. Only that my hand was getting scraped up from the weeds during the swim. I blame my soccer background for learning the tuck-n-roll as a reflex. Its amazing how many times during a game to be running at full speed and get tripped. So it is really part of the game.
If it’s steep enough, try bringing your feet up and running out of it. I managed to pull this off out of a sideways slide that turned into a high side flip on my old roadie
Holy cow. Did you get a standing ovation for that one?
Tuck and Roll. I’ve raced mountain bikes and I can think of three times (two of them downhill sections) where I rolled through with no broken bones. Once one the tri bike I wasn’t as luckly (collarbone broke and left shoulder that needed some rehab). If you think about NASCAR crashes it is better for the driver if the car rolls due to the energy being dissipated better than the sudden stops, such as when Dale Earnhardt, Sr. flipped his car multiple times in one race with nothing wrong with him versus the last one. I’m sure an engineer can explain it better.
I got hit on a scooter a few years back, went down on the street, did one roll, then ran it out. I ended up about 50 or so feet from my scooter standing upright, I guess my legs were just sort of flailing to keep me from falling again before I slowed myself down.
I had a construction guy come running for a site across the street, and before asking me if I was ok, said, “that was the coolest thing I have ever seen…are you ok?”
Thanks everyone for the kind words. My family keeps joking that my first sentence was, “When can I get back to training?”
Somehow the carbon fiber road bike (not my racing bike) was unharmed, just a few scratches on it. Nothing like a body shield to protect the bike.
I will gripe though that a guy that was in the bed next to me got his bike sent right to his hospital bed, while I had to pick mine up at a fire station. Of course he was knocked out so maybe I was better off…
Yeah I’ll try to tuck and roll next time. I’ve been taught how to do it, I just wasn’t really in that mindset.
To the guy that started running out of the tuck in roll… how’d you do that in cycling shoes downhill? That deserves a standing ovation.
I went over the bars on my mt bike and went for the head first stunt. My friends were perplexed as to why I didn’t put my hands out, but honestly I wasn’t really thinking much as it happened. I ended up hurting one of my ribs and getting a nasty headache, but all in all I was ok. It was pretty scary and I still had another hour to ride all downhill!! I was a little hesitant to say the least!! I also happened to be studying spinal cord injuries in school at the time, so I was really thanking my lucky stars!
I endo’d on my MTB once and distinctly remember my reaction: “oh f*ck, this is gonna really hurt” I landed flat on my back with enough impact to break one key and bend another key that I had on a keyring in the back pocket of my jersey. It might have been nice to have had time to react and tuck and curl, but it was pretty unexpected!
Actually, I did get a bunch of cheers and honks from driver’s by. It’s my most cherished non crash moment. There are others, but mostly off road so they dont count as much
As far as running in the bike shoes downhill, It wasnt pretty, and I wasnt TRYING to do it, it just happened. Must be my cat like reflexes! Running out an endo in MTB is definately easier.
I went over on my MTB in March and chose tuck and roll and took home a very nice type 3 separation of the shoulder. That said I can’t think of what else I could have done…
the time I crashed I went over my handlebars at 20mph. I knew it was coming , had time to say ’ oh shit ’ over I went. I just somersaulted into the grass along the side of the road. Had a dented helmet , and my shoulder was a little sore for a while, still have the scraped up jersey to remind me.
I guess the gymnastics classes in school helped because I didn’t tense up, I wasn’t even afraid if you can believe that.
…went over MTB’s bar 3 months ago: 5 stiches in chin, and messed up jaw and wrists. First time in 30+ years of daily comute… felt like a sinner. I have to say, I use to do stunts like faking crashes to freak drivers as a kid, but now I cannot even imagine that there is time to do anything but stare at the sea of concrete waiting for your splash.
