falling off a bike

slowandsteady

So, the morning ride today resulting in all 3 of us falling off on sheet ice within seconds of each other. Luckily all i have is a couple of marked shifters and a sore elbow. However, here is the thing. The man in front of me went down and slid on his side, i went down superman style and slid on my front. I looked to my right and the other is sliding along on his back looking at me. Once we had sussed no one was dead we lay there laughing then checked on the bikes, all good.

When i go to the velodrome we were taught to curl up into a ball, no hands going down to protect the shoulders and slide to the bottom. Is there a technique for falling off on the road?

or is it a case of close your eyes and hope for the best?

Ps it hurt and we were lucky but really was the most entertaining ride for a while, if we had GoPro we would have been heros on you tube.

Davdandy

Interesting about rolling into a ball.I fell last year,luckily i was just turning a corner at slow speed but anyways,i fell and out went my arm.I took a gouge out of my finger,and had to wrap it around my hanky to stop the bleeding,it took a week and a half to heal.I will think about the roll next time.

diamonddog

Came off on Christmas Day, it was so fast I was on my side in the riding position still gripping the hoods before having time to think about curling in a ball or putting my hands out.
Luckily it was on a quiet junction so no traffic, injured hip and elbow, took until now to be painless on the hip, my elbow was just grazed and bloody. :?

gubber12345

anytime I came off(not to often thankfully)I never really had time to curl into a ball,all over in flash.

glad your all ok tho.

slowandsteady

gubber12345 wrote:

anytime I came off(not to often thankfully)I never really had time to curl into a ball,all over in flash.

glad your all ok tho.

Ye to be fair, i was the same. The front wheel was away before i could do a thing.

LBS mechanic who races reckons relaxing and letting yourself go floppy is the way to go. Probably easier said than done too though.

sloppyschleckonds

Don't ride when it's icy?

slowandsteady

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Don't ride when it's icy?

that's not a technique, that's a solution.

when you're struggling for baby sitters you take your chances and go for it.

kingstonian

Slowandsteady wrote:

gubber12345 wrote:

anytime I came off(not to often thankfully)I never really had time to curl into a ball,all over in flash.

glad your all ok tho.

Ye to be fair, i was the same. The front wheel was away before i could do a thing.

LBS mechanic who races reckons relaxing and letting yourself go floppy is the way to go. Probably easier said than done too though.

Look at children - the fall over all the time and rarely get injured. Am sure it is because they aren't all tense, they are relaxed and bounce like rubber balls

speshsteve

Clipped into pedals!

If its a fast one you don't have a choice you'll go over the handlebars or if its a low slide land on your hip...either way your passenger in my experience.

Buckie2k5

From my experience of coming off on ice you don't have time to think about landing position. Before I knew it i landed flat on my chest, I was pretty sure I had snapped some ribs but thankfully not.

Mikey23

I've had one and there was no time to react. Instinct is to throw your arm out and I'm not sure that you could train that out. Result was bust clavicle as my arm took the force, ribs and punctured lung. I'm old and my bones ain't as bendy as the youngsters...

motogull

Mikey23 wrote:

I've had one and there was no time to react. Instinct is to throw your arm out and I'm not sure that you could train that out. Result was bust clavicle as my arm took the force, ribs and punctured lung. I'm old and my bones ain't as bendy as the youngsters...

I've 'self-certified' following a fall. Happened too quickly to react. Would have tried to break the fall if I could. Basically landed on my upper arm which was tucked in so whole right side of rib cage is involved. Doc says injuries round the back are causing lack of full movement, so off to the pool.

clickrumble

Came off over the handlebars a couple of years ago. It all happened so fast I doubt if I could have done anything different. In the split second before hitting the road, all I can remember is thinking "this is going to hurt". It did. Instinctively I must have put my hands out to protect myself, which resulted in badly smashed right shoulder. Unless you're going to make a habit of falling off I think it unlikely that you could do anything to minimise the impact, so now I'm just very careful to avoid situations that are likely to lead to falling off.

Baby Trek

Not sure you really have time to have a good technique for falling off! I have been lucky not to come off my bike but have come off my horse a few times and just ended up falling with no control at all. As a horse rider you are always told to keep hold of the reins so your horse stays with you...fat chance of that happening!!!
Glad you are all okay though.

kangarouge

Fell off on black ice two weeks ago tomorrow. In fact four of us fell off. I don't know about them but I certainly didn't have time to take any damage limiting action. One second you are on the bike, the next you're not. Hurt my hip and it's still really sore and painful. As others have intimated, you don't bounce as well in older age!

I am avoiding icy/frosty mornings for the foreseeable future. Wisdom?

Anonymous

I was always taught to keep your hands on the bar to avoid shoulders and collar bone injuries.

Beave

I wont go out on the roads in any icy conditions , being self employed I cant afford to take the unnecessary risk of doing so . The last thing I need is to be breaking bones so the turbo comes out to play with plenty of Sufferfest vids to keep me busy .
As for falling off , well ive had a few in the past and to be honest I generally fall whatever way the kind of crash dictates .
I don't ever remember thinking I must keep my hands on the bars or to curl up in a ball , half the time at least one foot is stuck in the cleat or the bike is wrapped around me so I generally end up in a bike tangled mess on the side of the road usually resulting in plenty of swearing and the said bike being thrown into a hedge

desweller

I usually bring my hands onto the opposite shoulder, rely on the helmet to protect my noggin and land on my shoulders. Seems to work well on faster accidents, although I've had painful twisted ankles on low speed crashes.

Yes, I do have an unfortunate habit of crashing. About 12 to 18 months between accidents at the moment.

gsej

Came off this morning along with my son. We had just ridden under a railway bridge (the next one along from the were the great train robbery happened), and he came off in front of me, and no sooner than I saw him go down I was on the road too. The road was like a rink. We had trouble walking to the verge. I guess the lesson is to try to predict where the dangerous spots are - this was in a dip and so protected from the sun to an extent.

Garryboy

Came off this morning on black ice, going round roundabout. No time to react. Down hip first on expensive side of bike (isn't it always?).
Full assessment to be done, but def need at least a new hanger.
Was so desperate to get out instead of turbo, that'll teach me!

Mikey23

No ice here today but very strong cross winds at times which make me nervous. Probably quite safe really but having had an off it makes you very aware of what it's like and how much it hurts and how much damage it's going to do to you and the bike...

What I do feel though is that you have to put yourself through these situations in order to know how you will cope. I have tended to stay indoors in rubbish weather and sweat on the turbo so I have become less confident and competent in dealing with adverse weather when I do get out... Ice does seem to be the big no no but fortunately we don't have so much of it in cornwall as folks in other places

tomh101

Mikey23 wrote:

What I do feel though is that you have to put yourself through these situations in order to know how you will cope.

Before leaving the house this morning I said to my g/f "I could do with a crash, just to find out what it's like" as I've only been cycling a few months. Before I even reached the club meeting point I was sliding along a cambered icy road on my hip and elbow. So I found out what it's like. Not much fun.

Father Faff

We've had 3 broken hips in our club this winter which is very bad news - you can't work, you can't cycle, you will likely have long-term issues. If there is ice about think very carefully about whether it is worth the risk - you will be on the deck before you know it and it will be the luck of the draw whether you seriously injure yourself or not. Two of my more recent road falls have been on ice but luckily I got away unharmed. The other fall was due to a lack of concentration on a fast downhill corner on a dry road with a cross wind and poor road surface at speed and that caused road rash on almost every joint area on both sides and bruised ribs (plus a completey written off set of lycra and helmet!) but at least that sort of thing heals up in a few weeks.

Mikey23

I meant putting yourself in less than perfect conditions... Not the actual falling off!

kajjal

Father Faff wrote:

We've had 3 broken hips in our club this winter which is very bad news - you can't work, you can't cycle, you will likely have long-term issues. If there is ice about think very carefully about whether it is worth the risk - you will be on the deck before you know it and it will be the luck of the draw whether you seriously injure yourself or not. Two of my more recent road falls have been on ice but luckily I got away unharmed. The other fall was due to a lack of concentration on a fast downhill corner on a dry road with a cross wind and poor road surface at speed and that caused road rash on almost every joint area on both sides and bruised ribs (plus a completey written off set of lycra and helmet!) but at least that sort of thing heals up in a few weeks.

I have come off on ice twice on road. Both times no time to react and sent spinning across the road. I agree it is not worth the risk and any doubts I don't take the bike out.

pipipi

I think when there was a chance of ice on the roads I would only venture out with extra protection.

At the moment I am still recovering, physically and mentally, from a nasty off. I have been out for a few rides but I'm chicken when there is ice around.

What would give me a bit more confidence would be some extra padding on hips, elbows and maybe even shoulders. I don't want to go hard plastic but maybe some cushioning. Due to the weather I'm wearing a jacket so I don't think the extra padding would show on the top half. On the hips I suppose it would. But maybe I'm a more cautious rider now.

Come summer I'll be back to Lycra shorts and a top, but in conditions at present I want to have some extra protection.

pinarellokid

i came off on wet leaves going onto my drive. bumped up the kirb but front wheel made a bid for freedom.
no time to think hit the garden wall and broke a couple of ribs.

now much more careful. but i commute night shift on my bike ad think its best i change to MTB some time soon..
nothing worse than leaving work to find ice everywhere

diy

I think there is loads of opportunity to build some basic protection points in to cycle clothing without reducing the performance by much. At the moment you'll have more protection from cling film. A couple of strips of harder wearing material in the right places would probably quadruple the performance.

It'll only happen if the pros start to do it. That will only happen if it becomes part of the rules.

Knox do some lighter weight mtb armour that might help those looking for the basics, but I really cant' see it being that great for road.

http://www.knox-armour.co.uk/product.ht ... ntureshirt
http://www.knox-armour.co.uk/lower_range.html

Mikey23

I would certainly appreciate some lightweight shoulder protection. I suspect that even a low speed off for me is going to result in broken bones...

Druidor

Went sliding down the hill on Sunday, sheet ice and bike just disappeared from under me

Southgate

I had the funniest spill ever on ice the other day. I'm training on my own on Hertfordshire on a nice morning. There had been some frost the night before but the roads had all dried out. That is, all the roads that had some exposure to the sun had dried out, but the sheltered roads had not. As I soon discovered.

So there I am, happily spinning along, when I decide to swing a left and go up a nice little hill called Buck's Alley. As I started climbing, the road became more and more slippy until it was a sheet of white. I moved around looking for better grip and selected a big gear, but to no avail. Eventually I came to a standstill with my back wheel spinning away underneath me like I was doing a good turbo session! And there I remained, nicely balanced but rooted to the spot, unable to go forwards, backwards, left or right, and unable to unclip.

After about 30 seconds of thinking "hmmm... I wonder how I get out of this one?" I started laughing at the realisation that so long as I continued pedalling, this unconventional 'iced turbo session' could last for hours! Of course I had to bow to the inevitable, and so I stopped pedalling and slowly fell over onto my side, collapsing into a fit of giggles.