Wish I'd bought some knee pads

bigharj

I had my first major off yesterday. Went over the handlebars, riding down some loose stones on Cannock Chase. Got cuts & bruises everywhere but my knees took the worst of it and bled badly. Luckily I pack a mini first aid kit in my backpack, it helped to tidy up.

Are all offs like this? I have injured both knees, inner thigh, hip, elbow, shoulder, wrist & back. Didn't feel like it at the time but on reflection this morning it seems like a nasty accident. But is it a case if your going to go over the handlebars, you are not getting away with it easily?

I don't remember hitting my head but looking at my helmet this morning, it's going to be replaced. As are my gloves, the left one had the hard rubber gel protection ripped off, saving my hand.

Just hacked off I won't be there again today, looks like another glorious day!

The Rookie

As the saying goes 'sh!t happens', OTB's usually hurt simply because you start by going up before you come down!

Knee pads, elbow pads, rib protector and back protector, you either wear them all or none really as if you come off which bit hits hardest is a lottery, for Cannock on the main trails I wouldn't bother. My one injury frm Cannock was low speed and the brake lever went into my left upper arm by nearly an inch...not much would have prevented that (didn't even tear my top!).

lc1981

It probably didn't help that you came off on loose stones. Going over the bars isn't always that painful. I've done it twice in recent years - once at Cannock and once on the road. I got a badly grazed elbow (that subsequently became infected - something to watch out for, it now seems) on the road but barely had a mark on me from the Cannock crash. I bought some knee pads after that though, because I figured I was lucky on that occasion.

Northwind

Thing is, there's not much drawback to wearing good kneepads- they're comfy to pedal in, not too sweaty. Not essential, but then again- people act as though not wearing a helmet is madness, but you're much more likely to cripple a knee than a head. Obviously it's worse to have a hole in your brain than your knee, but I don't want to cripple either.

There's basically 4 things involved:

1) what you hit. Not much to be done about this but you can think about your riding and decide whether you want to wear pads for specific rides. Also sometimes when you're beyond saving you can still spot a soft spot to land in
2) How you land- the instinct is to stiffen up, stick your arms out, all that stupid stuff. Softening, tucking and rolling is a harder reflex to learn but it makes you crash better.
3) What's between you and the ground- obvious.

And lastly 4) Whether or not you crash. Cash dropped on a skills course might prevent more injuries than the same spent on pads (or, might encourage you to go faster, but any hole's a goal)

Working on any of these things reduces how bad your crashes are. Thing is, serious injuries are actually pretty rare- but it doesn't have to be serious to be worth stopping. I'm covered in scrapes after 2 "racing incidents" yesterday, without my pads it'd be a lot more. I'd still be walking today but I'd be grouching more! A wee knock can mean time off the bike or just time being sore and there's no reason not to avoid that if you can. Even a slow drop can leave you getting a shifter or toptube in the knee.

mcnultycop

I had a big off and hurt both knees on the b-line at Llandegla. I now wear pads for all riding that is anything harsher than "nice xc". I haven't had a big fall since. Make of that what you will.

bennett_346

I can't bear having things on my arms or legs, i'd rather chance a grazed leg or two as the pain is gone in a few minutes anyway. Having some bulky crap on my legs just puts me off further.

The Rookie

mcnultycop wrote:

I had a big off and hurt both knees on the b-line at Llandegla. I now wear pads for all riding that is anything harsher than "nice xc". I haven't had a big fall since. Make of that what you will.

Lost your bottle - simples......

Northwind

mcnultycop wrote:

I haven't had a big fall since. Make of that what you will.

You must never ride without them again, you'll be killed.

miss notax

Always a nightmare the 'should I / shouldn't I' wear knee pads etc....

For some bizarre reason I always wear them abroad (for everything) but only on 'proper' dh trails in the UK. Not sure why I think foreign rocks are more lethal - but then again being a woman i'm not even sure I need to justify my lack of logic

step83

miss notax wrote:

Always a nightmare the 'should I / shouldn't I' wear knee pads etc....

For some bizarre reason I always wear them abroad (for everything) but only on 'proper' dh trails in the UK. Not sure why I think foreign rocks are more lethal - but then again being a woman i'm not even sure I need to justify my lack of logic

Probably a good idea beats trying to get a local doc or hospital to look at your gashed leg.

The most i tend to wear is a pair of shin pads and forearm elbow pads to make lunging through bushes and catching my arms on trees that bit less painful.Also a backpack isnt a bad bit of "impact protection"

Kowalski675

Step83 wrote:

miss notax wrote:

Always a nightmare the 'should I / shouldn't I' wear knee pads etc....

For some bizarre reason I always wear them abroad (for everything) but only on 'proper' dh trails in the UK. Not sure why I think foreign rocks are more lethal - but then again being a woman i'm not even sure I need to justify my lack of logic

Probably a good idea beats trying to get a local doc or hospital to look at your gashed leg.

That would've been so much more childishly amusing if you'd just said "Probably a good idea beats trying to get a local doc or hospital to look at your gash", lol...

Just bought a pair of these today (elbows):



Comfortable (I'm typing with one on now), fit my skinny arms nicely and contain flexible CE tested SasTec armour, same as many of my motorcycle garments.

For a talentless newbie like me, I can't see a good reason not to wear knee pads, when you can get ones that are comfortable and unobtrusive and don't affect pedalling. Only takes a small tumble on a rock garden to seriously spoil your day if you land nastily, and knee pads could mean the difference between picking yourself up and laughing about it, or being miles from your car with your knee gashed open and unable to pedal. Or at 30mph on a fire road you could lose a fair bit of skin.

I think pads are like large calibre handguns or a bottle of lube in the bedroom - better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. Plus knee pads save folk from having to see my knees, lol.

step83

Waht you do in your spare time with lube and a handgun says between you an those four walls :shock: but i get what you mean about the knee pads

Kowalski675

guandax

I now always wear knee pads after needing Physio for a knackered knee from a very slow fall. I have the 661 Kyle Straits that are perfect, although harder to source now as they've stopped making them. In the winter they also keep your knees warm so I wear shorts x365. They didn't however stop me breaking my collarbone last year. Also bought elbow pads but can't bear them - too restrictive for some reason.

mcnultycop

Northwind wrote:

mcnultycop wrote:

I haven't had a big fall since. Make of that what you will.

You must never ride without them again, you'll be killed.

Exactly what I'm thinking. I'm wearing them now whilst watching TV.

Kowalski675

mcnultycop wrote:

Northwind wrote:

mcnultycop wrote:

I haven't had a big fall since. Make of that what you will.

You must never ride without them again, you'll be killed.

Exactly what I'm thinking. I'm wearing them now whilst watching TV.

You can never be too careful. That's me on the right:

Kowalski675

guandax wrote:

They didn't however stop me breaking my collarbone last year.

CE approved shoulder armour didn't stop me breaking mine. Smarts, doesn't it?

bennett_346

None of this so called armor is there to protect you from any real damage. In my experience it just stops a bit of minor pain and grazing and a bit of MTFU solves that anyway.

Northwind

bennett_346 wrote:

None of this so called armor is there to protect you from any real damage.

And what makes you think that? The methodology's simple- they reduce the amount of energy going into your body, and also reduce the stress points caused by sharp edges etc.

Kowalski675

Northwind wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

None of this so called armor is there to protect you from any real damage.

And what makes you think that? The methodology's simple- they reduce the amount of energy going into your body, and also reduce the stress points caused by sharp edges etc.

Yup - dissipates the impact energy and can make the difference between a bruise and a broken bone. Same principle as a helmet, and nobody's doubting that they work. The SasTec armour in the elbow pads I bought today is CE tested to the same level as motorcycle armour (as is the 3DO armour, amongst others).

guandax

Kowalski675 wrote:

guandax wrote:

They didn't however stop me breaking my collarbone last year.

CE approved shoulder armour didn't stop me breaking mine. Smarts, doesn't it?

Yes, once the adrenalin runs out it is pretty uncomfortable. Have 10cm of titanium and 7 screws as a permanent reminder. I can see it in my minds eye just before I'm about to do something stupid on my bike these days!

bennett_346

Northwind wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

None of this so called armor is there to protect you from any real damage.

And what makes you think that? The methodology's simple- they reduce the amount of energy going into your body, and also reduce the stress points caused by sharp edges etc.

They are not intended to prevent bone breakages/fractures or stop ligament damage, the two things i refer to as real damage.

A cut or graze or some blood loss is hardly real damage.

EH_Rob

unbelievably there are more than two types of serious injury. some of them can even be prevented by wearing pads.

for example - a deep cut across the knee, caused by a sharp rock, which is definitely possible from an innocuous fall, could be seen as relatively serious, plus risk of infection etc. if you wore a knee pad and had the same impact you'd get a bruise instead, which I'd rather have. so its preventable damage at the cost of buying and wearing some not particularly uncomfortable pads. the knee is commonly exposed to impacts when falling off a bike, so i wear knee pads.

yes, you could mtfu, and yes, its personal preference. but given the choice between an having an injury or a less serious injury ill pick the latter.

tudj

For the same reason they can prevent potentially ride ending injuries. They soften the blow. What might have been a knock so painful that you can't ride is just an ache that you can pedal off = more time on the bike

Kowalski675

guandax wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

guandax wrote:

They didn't however stop me breaking my collarbone last year.

CE approved shoulder armour didn't stop me breaking mine. Smarts, doesn't it?

Yes, once the adrenalin runs out it is pretty uncomfortable.

Yeah, I hadn't noticed initially while the adrenalin was pumping and I was busy being angry with the silly old sod that had taken me out, but after things had calmed down a bit I thought hmmm, something's not right here, lol. Mine healed ok, didn't need plating.

Kowalski675

bennett_346 wrote:

Northwind wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

None of this so called armor is there to protect you from any real damage.

And what makes you think that? The methodology's simple- they reduce the amount of energy going into your body, and also reduce the stress points caused by sharp edges etc.

They are not intended to prevent bone breakages/fractures

Yes they are (decent ones, anyway). That's exactly what SasTec / 3DO armour and similar products is designed for. It can't prevent every injury, but can (and does) often mean the difference between bruising or a broken bone.

guandax

Kowalski675 wrote:

Mine healed ok, didn't need plating.

Mine was apparently going to heal itself and then after two weeks a specialist took and look at it and announced "Why haven't we operated on this? - it'll never heal properly and if it did you'd have terrible back and neck issues". Glad I saw him!

Still haven't been back to CrossFit 7 months later. Luckily riding is not an issue :-)

The Rookie

tudj wrote:

What might have been a knock so painful that you can't ride

Does such an injury exist?

My History suggests I either MTFU more or am just plain stupid (you can choose), last 4miles of the FtD at Cannock having to lift my left hand onto the bars as it couldn't do it itself (and couldn't change gear on the way home) and 5 miles in a group ride with 2 broken ribs having to pant as deep breathing was a little uncomfortable.....

tudj

The Beginner wrote:

tudj wrote:

What might have been a knock so painful that you can't ride

Does such an injury exist?

My History suggests I either MTFU more or am just plain stupid (you can choose), last 4miles of the FtD at Cannock having to lift my left hand onto the bars as it couldn't do it itself (and couldn't change gear on the way home) and 5 miles in a group ride with 2 broken ribs having to pant as deep breathing was a little uncomfortable.....

Yeah, I took a knock to the thigh (landed on a tree stump) a few weeks ago, if I'd have been wearing some armor the impact would have been spread over a wider area and doubt it'd have caused as much damage/pain as it did. It ended my ride, prevented me from walking for a few days and made me miss a weekend at Innerleithen.

I have tendonitis in both knees, for me any knock to the front of the knee can be crippling, wearing pads reduces the chances and the effect if it does happen. I realise that's not a common thing though

It's a no brainer to me, for how cheap pads are and how little I notice them whilst riding I think it's daft not to bother.

Northwind

bennett_346 wrote:

They are not intended to prevent bone breakages/fractures or stop ligament damage, the two things i refer to as real damage.

Except they are. But apart from that, excellent point.

Never really understood how people can get so confused on this tbh. Reducing the force transmitted into your body reduces the risk of injury, the end result is the same as being hit less hard.

Ligaments are a bit more complicated, you can damage them with impact trauma but it's more common to damage them with twisting/overextension and obviously most pads can't do anything for that. Likewise, some parts you can't armour well for- collarbones and ribs frinstance, they're usually momentum injuries.

Kowalski675

tudj wrote:

It's a no brainer to me, for how cheap pads are and how little I notice them whilst riding I think it's daft not to bother.

Amen to that. I'd understand if there were no comfortable ones available, but when you can buy comfortable pads that don't affect your pedalling for not a lot of money I can't see any reason not to wear them, if you're doing anything more adventurous than towpaths and bridleways.