how to fall?!?

[250learna]

no this might seem a bit stupid, but realy much like attraction to the opposite sex, fall from a bike is very likely to happen.
Now what is the best way to go... i know theres a lot of different ways you can come off, and i know that you might not be able to fall like you want, but can i have some advice on what to do and what not to do.
For instance i herd that if im going to land on the front i should tuck my arms in, and resist the natural reaction to put them out.
any other advice out there?

[Bob]

Best thing you can do? Relax.

To be honest, if you go down, you're not really going to have time to think "Oh, it appears I am going to land on my front, I really must lift my head, slide on my chest and not put my hands on the floor".

What goes through your head is going to be more along the lines of "Whathefugginhellwasthatandwhyamisliiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiidingalongtheflooreeeEEEEEEEk!"

But if you relax, you are more likely to come out of it relatively unscathed.

Perfect example? A drunk. Watch a drunk fall over - they are fully relaxed and so shrug off the impact, get up and stagger on down the road, looking for their next drink. Same thing with a baby - they've not learned fear yet, so they are relaxed and tend to bounce safely a lot more than the rest of us.

[justsomeguy]

Try to just go limp and relax all your muscles........

Like they say in martial arts : When you fall be like water not stone. Translation - relax and just go with the flow

[Zapf]

How I fell:
Last time I fell, it was a low side. As the front had washed out. I put my elbows out in front / arms up with inside facing me as I was pretty much going face down. Speed around 60~70km/h.

What was I wearing:
Wearing a A* one pce suit with external elbow armor. Usual helmet / back protector / gloves / boots.

Result:
Landed elbow down, no marks to the helmet what so ever. External elbow armor took care of the sliding, however left elbow into the ribs from impact and fractured / bruised 2 ribs. after sliding face down started to roll, hips became the contact point and so slight small bruises in the hips, thanks to padding in the suit that helped a lot. Scraped the shit out of the knee sliders and marked the leathers at the knees / hips and aero hump on the back. I believe the hump also prevented my helmet / head from touching the ground when I was rolling.

So main contact point (listed in how marked the leathers are): Elbows, Knees, hips, palm, aero hump

Improvements:
Buy vest with chest armor

[John]

How the hell do you all relax in a crash, I'm sort of worried that I am going to die in most of them, so relaxing isnt nearly as important as trying avoid dangers while rolling/flying.

[Brian d marge]

[QUOTE=Bob]Best thing you can do? Relax.


Relax ...when u think u have stopped count three.......

During the slide offer as MUCH surface area to the road ( what your wearing shorts .... )
try not to tumble ..... If you lose the back end you can slide ...but if you park it into a car try and launch before the bike hits ...good luck though ...most mortals have the death grip on the bars ,,,)

Finally Go Racing ( insert another plug for MX ) ,,,you can practice falling off untill your little hearts content .... it can hurt ....

Not content with stuffing a bike into a tailgate of truck ... try mx free style ... there you will find all the excitement and joy of the simple english phase ..... ouch that hurt ....

Finally try not to fall off in the first place , as even in racing ...1 its expensive ....2 ,,,it hurts ....3 ....you come dead last ....( there is no trade mark on the work or action of dead )

Kind regards
Stephen

[justsomeguy]

How the hell do you all relax in a crash, I'm sort of worried that I am going to die in most of them, so relaxing isnt nearly as important as trying avoid dangers while rolling/flying.

After that first millisecond when you realise you've lost it you just go with it........and hope it finishes fast.......no straight answer actually........

[Two Smoker]

Well i think ive got alot of experience in this field...

Highside: Your fucked and cant react at all due to it being so violent...

Lowside: As people say, relax, dont try and stand up when you think you are going slow enough to walk (you generally arent) i tend to just slide along on my thighs and back... You can use your hands (when sliding along on back/ thighs) to steer you abit, helps when your heading for a post

[Sparky Bills]

Who needs arms anyway, They are highly over-rated

What everyone else said...
Relax, and make sure you have actually stopped and checked yourself before standing up.

[NordieBoy]

As people say, relax, dont try and stand up when you think you are going slow enough to walk (you generally arent)

Keith Code said it as well. Something like "Don't stand up untill the earth and sky havn't swapped places or moved for about 10 seconds"

[Fryin Finn]

Buy a dirt bike. Get out when it's muddy. You will fall off heaps and learn a whole lot of things you will never learn on a road bike.

[vifferman]

On my right side (8 times); on my left side (once); DunnoItHappenedTooFast (once), on my hand (and then followed up with my head) - once.
Oh - this doesn't include dirtbike crashes, cause they don't really count. Apart from that one time when it fell into the electric fence...

[Motu]

I gotta disagree with Bob here,at least for me anyhow.I go into a slow mo thing (well,I used to,haven't tested the theory for a few years) and have plenty of time to watch what's happening and make decisions.On a low side I like to slide on my back or side,you can control youself using your elbow/forearm to stop a spin so you can see where you're going...head up (never hit my helmet on the deck yet),feet up (boots dig in) and hands up,but arms down for control.

Get away from the bike,it's heavy with more momentium than you and has sharp pointy out bits,you don't want to be near it when it hits something.You don't want it running you down - I remember once spinning down the road,I passed my bike...but then saw I was going to go in front of it and it would come over me...so I reach up,grabbed the bike and pushed myself away,then I went behind the bike over to the otherside.Don't stand up too soon,there is a time distortion going on,you feel like you have been slidding for ages - you put your boots down to stand up and launch into the air....I just do a foward roll and start slidding again.Once going backwards I put my hands over my shoulders and did a rear handspring onto my feet - oh,isn't youth a wonderful thing.

I haven't done many highsides - but a shoulder tuck is best,then on your back and slide.Once I stayed on the bike and it went over top of me,that was a nice highside.For a head on one trick I was told was to push down on the bars,with loose hands - this will launch you into the air and over the car.The only time I had to try it was off road and my weak arms collapsed and I bit dirt with my face.

Best advice is don't fall off,I'm trying that one now,seems a good idea to me....

[TonyB]

Sorry Bob, but I have to disagree as well. I'm with Motu- everything slows down and when I think through it later, a ridiculous amount of thoughts and information have been through my mind in the split second I have to react. I haven't had an off for years (touch wood), but when it has happened I make a concious descision to fall in a way that doesn't involve sticking my hands out- more rolling from the forearm and onto the shoulder then onto the back and keeping the head from hitting the road.
There have been two exceptions to this:
Once when I fell on oil on the Lewis Pass only a few weeks into my learners. All I remember is thinking "wow, the bikes leaning a long way". Then "hey, where did the bike go??". Then I was sliding on hands, knees and face on the road. So I flipped around to be on my back sliding feet first.
The other was when a car pulled out infront of me on a slight bend in the rain. I was convinced I was going to hit. Then theres a blank bit (ie- I have no idea what happened) and I found myself on the other side of the car, still on my bike, with a very sore back. I have no idea what happened or how I got around the car. I wish I did, must've been a neat trick- would be handy to know what it was!

[John]

In only one/two crashes I managed to stay conscious after leaving the bike, so I cant really give an insight, normally when I leave the bike I'm there for the ride.