The 'Art' Of Crashing

Pross

Is it just me and my poor memory or did pros 'back in the day' (late 80s / early 90s for me) do a better job of protecting themselves when crashing? From memory they would instinctively put their arms over their heads and injuries were nearly always collar bones whereas now we seem to see a lot of facial injuries / head injuries, wrists and even leg injuries. The only facial injury I can remember 'back then' was Jalabert's after his argument with the gendarme. Are riders less instinctive about self-preservation now? I know that in horse racing it has been picked up as such an issue that the British Racing School invested in a mechanical horse to throw the riders off onto mats in order to teach them how to fall!

LangerDan

Pross wrote:

Is it just me and my poor memory or did pros 'back in the day' (late 80s / early 90s for me) do a better job of protecting themselves when crashing? From memory they would instinctively put their arms over their heads and injuries were nearly always collar bones whereas now we seem to see a lot of facial injuries / head injuries, wrists and even leg injuries. The only facial injury I can remember 'back then' was Jalabert's after his argument with the gendarme. Are riders less instinctive about self-preservation now? I know that in horse racing it has been picked up as such an issue that the British Racing School invested in a mechanical horse to throw the riders off onto mats in order to teach them how to fall!

A few years ago, one of the French DSs was on about the same thing. In his day (riding for Guimard or somesuch) they used to spend part of the early season in the gym, practising falling on mats.

I suspect there may be several things coming into play here, not least of which is that internet ticker-type coverage will tell you that the guy who crashed 15 minutes ago has facial injuries or whatever. In the "good ole days", you might see the crash on TV and then its forgotten about - you never heard about what injuries the rider suffered.

rick_chasey

I think it's partly that racing has changed.

More road furniture, peloton is more compact than it used to be, more and more riders taking risks as a result to get the edge over others.

O'Grady was complaining that people brake a lot less than they used to even when he was riding.

mm1

I can remember pictures of Kelly at home in Ireland practicing falling, when he rode for Splendor so 1979 -80?

estampida

and nowadays as carbon bike shatter when you hit something immovable, you dont have the same ......oh im crashing.....better start to get my body the right direction and rotating.......

its more BANG..... game over with a full on faceplant.....

graeme_s-2

I wonder if it's partly a risk compensation thing? Riders feel more protected due to mandatory helmets, so in the split second they crash are less likely to protect their faces.

Vino'sGhost

the drugs have thinned their senses. also better tv with more gore, and they all want to be on tv.

Jez mon

I seem to recall being told that pros were taught to try to avoid putting their arms out too much when crashing, the thinking being, if you scrape your hands or break your collarbone, riding is extremely painful/impossible. If you cut other parts of your body, you can still ride.

esafosfina

Interesting thread... I was musing over this recently whilst watching collective riders go arse-over-tit... it does seem that there are more crashes these days (as opposed to when I was pro in 89-91) and an old team-mate suggested it was down to the lack of professional courtesy in the peloton... I'm not sure there's an 'art' to crashing, I'm not sure there's a 'science' behind it (except for gravity...), but instinct does kick in. I've had a couple of beauties (going off the side of a mountain decent in Tour of Murcia springs to mind) but other than a couple of broken ribs, dislocated fingers, and road-rash nothing too serious. To be honest I can't remember putting my hands down or rolling with the fall; it was a split second instinctive reaction: save myself!
I do remember Kelly telling me that when he was younger he would actually practice decking it! Mind you nothing Kelly did would ever surprise me... consumate professional he was.

dennisn

Years ago the conventional thinking was to hang onto the bars when you go down.
Various reasons for this were put forward and most had some validity. I don't race anymore so am not sure if this is still the way to go.

Tom BB

esafosfina wrote:

I've had a couple of beauties (going off the side of a mountain decent in Tour of Murcia springs to mind) but other than a couple of broken ribs, dislocated fingers, and road-rash nothing too serious. .

:shock: My self preservation instinct is definitely set too high!