First big off!

Rich9

Went down like a sack of spuds yesterday at Gisburn. Inocuous bit a trail and just got it wrong. Had to ride the last 7 miles or so bleeding and almost one handed, as my left shoulder and knee took most of the impact.
I usually ride within myslef and it Sh1t me up to be honest :oops:

I reckon I'll be out of the saddle for a few weeks, and cant drive a car so work is off the agenda

But more importantly I took a big lump of paint off the frame

Sikora

Rich9 wrote:

But more importantly I took a big lump of paint of paint off the frame

Ha ha, I know what you mean. I had on off last week at Coed y Brenin and dented my top tube. More bothered about that than what I did to my elbow and shoulder

Muttly1981

Had a big off after stacking it on a 12ft tabletop around 3 months ago (farked knee and broken thumb) and it really knocks your confidence and it's only the last few rides out that i've felt that i can hit things at speed again. The first few rides out i was on the brakes all the time and looking to take the chicken lines at any point but even though i'm still not 100% i'm getting back to my best. Heading up to Glentress on friday for 3 days riding so looking to really push myself just to prove to myself that i can still do it.

Steve_F

Can't drive and can't cycle?????

Were you watching the Tour yesterday when the guy got knocked off, hung up on barbed wire then finished the stage????

Seriously though, it happens with the sport. The more you do it the better you get at it and can roll out of more than you think. Not suggesting you practice falling but I certainly notice now that I get more time to think about the crash than I used to. It's probably all about avoiding the blind panic, still get the 'this is going to hurt' thought but I'd say I actually save more and come down much better when it happens than I used to.

Might be worth investing in knee and even elbow pads if it helps get your confidence back.

getonyourbike

Steve_F wrote:

Can't drive and can't cycle?????

Were you watching the Tour yesterday when the guy got knocked off, hung up on barbed wire then finished the stage????

Seriously though, it happens with the sport. The more you do it the better you get at it and can roll out of more than you think. Not suggesting you practice falling but I certainly notice now that I get more time to think about the crash than I used to. It's probably all about avoiding the blind panic, still get the 'this is going to hurt' thought but I'd say I actually save more and come down much better when it happens than I used to.

Might be worth investing in knee and even elbow pads if it helps get your confidence back.

Nah, the guy in the TDF who ended up on the barbed wire needed 30+ stitches. It was the other guy with just some road rash who got back on and finished.

I've also noticed that after a lot of 'practise', I'm rolling upon crashing instead of splating and breaking bones.

Rich9

I drove back from gisburn and changing gear was agony, so i need to stay away from the car for a bit.
I didnt see the TDF but heard about in 5 live this morn. those guys are made of stern stuff

some pads will definitely be on the shopping list

horse - stable door etc etc :roll:

Mojo_666

I had my first off (since getting back on the bike) about 4 weeks ago and cracked some ribs, physically I am on the mend but he confidence shaking is far worse IMO, it wasn't even a good off either, just some fire road but the front wheel washed out from under me. I just went down so hard and so fast, I went back and looked at it a week after and still cannot wrap my head around what happened. I have been out on the trails since but I did feel that If I couldn’t stay upright on a fire road what hope was there for me on a trail so have been extra cautious......I hope that won't last though as I get the feeling it is more dangerous in a lot of ways.

Anyhow hope you mend up soon and get back on the bike as soon as you can.

cuthbertsavage

getonyourbike wrote:

Nah, the guy in the TDF who ended up on the barbed wire needed 30+ stitches. It was the other guy with just some road rash who got back on and finished.

I've also noticed that after a lot of 'practise', I'm rolling upon crashing instead of splating and breaking bones.

The guy who ended up in the barbed wire fence (Hoogerland) got his 30+ stitches AFTER he finished the stage.

Man points.

clamps81

Got to agree with the confidence thing - had my first sizeable off at the weekend (though luckily resulting only in some bruising) and subsequently overcompensated for not feeling so confident by riding more quickly and suffering another off as a result. What I found was that I was tensing up far more than usual instead of relaxing and that make matters far worse as I was getting bounced around all over the shop and locking up etc

Raymondavalon

POIDH!

You have to submit photos of the injuries.. it's a "BR Thing"

Get well soon :¬)

Thewaylander

Yeh, take time to get better, then jump back and prepare for it to happen again at some point

moster

The dent to the confidence is the biggest thing for me too and defo takes much longer to heal than the physical scars.

I had a fairly sizeable off at Glentress about 6 weeks ago which resulted in a badly gashed nose, black eyes and various other cuts & bruises. I was back down a couple of weeks ago and took things VERY easy (actually to the point that it was hardly worth going as I rode around most of the "features"!).

Pretty much back to normal now though

Rich9

Raymondavalon wrote:

POIDH!

You have to submit photos of the injuries.. it's a "BR Thing"

Get well soon :¬)

only visible injury is a bit of gravel rash on my knee and elbow and some minor scraping on my hip which i didnt even notice until yesterday. Knee has now scabbed over and is starting to tighten and itch :evil:. The 'painful' bits are inside my shoulder.

I'm not going to attempt to ride until I confident that my shoulder will stand up to off road riding, then I probably do some easy trails and fire roads etc to get going again.

I also play a fair bit of golf, and I reckon that is well and truely out of the window for a few weeks.

Tim.s

cuthbertsavage wrote:

The guy who ended up in the barbed wire fence (Hoogerland) got his 30+ stitches AFTER he finished the stage.

Man points.

Damn right, Hoogerland's performance yesterday was one of the finest bits of cycling ive ever seen in any genre of our fine sport.

CharlieH

Had a big off 2 years ago and hit my ribs on the back of my saddle resulting in 2 cracked ribs. Took me ages to get my confidence back.

Had another stack about 6 weeks ago but this time I was wearing knee, elbow pads and full face helmet. Confidence still took a blow but came back much quicker after just getting back out riding straight away again.

We all need an off occasionally to know where the limits are but that's a bit scary when your self employed with bills to pay and a family to feed!

CharlieH

Which bit of Gisburn by the way? I always go fully padded up for anything "red" or above

getonyourbike

cuthbertsavage wrote:

getonyourbike wrote:

Nah, the guy in the TDF who ended up on the barbed wire needed 30+ stitches. It was the other guy with just some road rash who got back on and finished.

I've also noticed that after a lot of 'practise', I'm rolling upon crashing instead of splating and breaking bones.

The guy who ended up in the barbed wire fence (Hoogerland) got his 30+ stitches AFTER he finished the stage.

Man points.

really? he can have a milliontrillionthousandsquillion man points from me

Rich9

CharlieH wrote:

Which bit of Gisburn by the way? I always go fully padded up for anything "red" or above

one of the fast rolling gravel sections on the red, about 6 miles in. Not really a 'falling off' bit of trail though :oops: Theres a run of little humps, I came off the last one, landed awkward and went down. I think my speed out-whitted my ability!

Bit gay really...

CharlieH

Rich9 wrote:

CharlieH wrote:

Which bit of Gisburn by the way? I always go fully padded up for anything "red" or above

one of the fast rolling gravel sections on the red, about 6 miles in. Not really a 'falling off' bit of trail though :oops: Theres a run of little humps, I came off the last one, landed awkward and went down. I think my speed out-whitted my ability!

Bit gay really...

It's usually the bits you don't expect that end up biting you. Both my offs were on silly bits of trail where I wasn't prepared properly. Ironically, the closest I've come to an off at Gisburn was on the boardwalk section, when it was bone dry! I've done that section when it was icy, again when it was wet BUT it was when it was dry that I nearly came off. I guess I let my guard down more in the dry (one of the other guys in my party wasn't so lucky and ended up in the water!!!!)

I spent a whole weekend at Glentress and Inerleithen doing all the red runs, drop offs, table top jump etc without incedent but it was a tiny kicker jump near home that brought me down the other week.

I guess it's like the rumor that over half of all car accidents are within 1 mile of home as you stop paying as much attention

stubs

A mate had his worst cycling accident at home. Decided to ride out of his shed forgot to duck and nutted the lintel. He ended up with about 10 stitches in his nut from the lintel and a broken wrist from when he fell off his bike. I nearly crashed the car whilst driving him to casualty I was laughing so hard.

AMcK

Tim.s wrote:

Damn right, Hoogerland's performance yesterday was one of the finest bits of cycling ive ever seen in any genre of our fine sport.

+1 to that. And incredibly composed, dignified interview, after letting his emotions/relief/shock come through on the podium.

CharlieH wrote:

It's usually the bits you don't expect that end up biting you. Both my offs were on silly bits of trail where I wasn't prepared properly.

Absolutely. On the Twrch trail at Cwmcarn. Full of myself after a weekend's riding at Afan - last trail on the way home - loving the flowing, but not technical singletrack through the wood - wondered how fast I was going.... quick glance at the computer, looked back up to see I wasn't on the trail anymore and heading for a world of pain in my left knee/thigh/hip (which nicely seized up over the 4hr car journey back to Kent....).

Schoolboy error.

chedabob

stubs wrote:

A mate had his worst cycling accident at home. Decided to ride out of his shed forgot to duck and nutted the lintel. He ended up with about 10 stitches in his nut from the lintel and a broken wrist from when he fell off his bike. I nearly crashed the car whilst driving him to casualty I was laughing so hard.

It took me a read or two to grasp that you said "nut" not "nuts". I was confused how hitting something at head height gave a man 10 stitches :P

Muttly1981

Raymondavalon wrote:

POIDH!

You have to submit photos of the injuries.. it's a "BR Thing"

Get well soon :¬)

These have been posted before but i like to reflect on my idiocy from time to time

Lesson learned don't just say you'll buy pads, actually go and buy the damned things







My thumb is still a bit of an odd shape and have been taking 3 ibruprophen a day for the last few months on doctors prescription, as for the knee i have cartalage damage but it doesn't cause me too much pain so am willing to ride on for the time being

Although my worst injury was when i cut the end of my finger off wheni got it caught in the rotor :oops:

CharlieH

Reminds me why I always wear pads and gloves, plus a full face helmet for all but xc rides

paulbox

Tim.s wrote:

Damn right, Hoogerland's performance yesterday was one of the finest bits of cycling ive ever seen in any genre of our fine sport.

Those boys have seriously large quantities of MTFU!

Did you see him have the "moment" on a decent an hour or so before the car incident. He was going rather rapidly round a left hand bend when he hit a wet patch on the road and started to slide, he then got back on to a dry part of the road and almost high-sided the bike. I shat myself just watching it :oops: , but he held it all together, got round the bend and put the hammer down again...

Watching him finish the stage with blood running down the backs of his legs was incredible, so pleased that he'd earnt the spotty top before it happened.

dr.teeth

Had my first 'big' off in April- broke my shoulder in 3 places, only just back to work this week! Still need another 4 months of physio before I'll have full movement again, and it aches every day! The most embarassing thing is that we'd finished all our off road stuff, I lost my balance setting off on tarmac and couldn't unclip quick enough! :oops: I've had to go back to flat pedals because when I am clipped in now all I can think of is "If I fall off this is going to knack!"
Desperately trying to get fit for C2C in 3weeks now!

tenfoot

dr.teeth wrote:

Had my first 'big' off in April- I lost my balance setting off on tarmac and couldn't unclip quick enough!!

Despite using SPDs for nigh on 20 years I'm still doing this. I have a cut on my arm from doing this last week, and almost did it again this morning. Tried a hardtail the other week with flatties and my feet felt very loose, so I don't think there's any going back.

Jolly Swagman

Be like me, fall off all the time and learn to enjoy it ! Always ride beyond your capabilities especially when showing off in front of your daughter as to how you can jump high and when you wake up remember that it is about time you show her how to unlock your phone just in case. Go from flats to SPD and unclip, then accidentally clip in as you cruise to a halt and go flat sideways (luckily no-one was watching). Staying up is much overrated in my 'umble opinion.

Rich9

update - bumps and bruises healing up nicely. Been to quacks re shoulder, and has advised me not to drive for a least a week, and no sport for the forseeable. Got to go see a physio too