How to fall?

Kevan Smith said:

Quoted message said:

Oh noooooo! I though the "tuck and roll" story was dead forty
years ago, but no. Here it is again.

Quoted message said:

That's because it's a time-proven way to avoid injury. If you don't
beleive it, look at those people whos job it is to take serious
falls over and over -- pro wrestlers. That seems funny, but watch
the position of their chins in their acrobatic falls. The rolling
part isn't always necessary, but it helps, too, because it spreads
the loss of speed over a longer time period.

Pro wrestlers are not riding bicycles and traveling more than 3mph...
and they are on a wrestling mat. Tuck and roll is an old myth not
applicable to bicycling.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

"alan" <.@.> wrote

Quoted message said:

you can learn to react automatically without it being a conscious

action-i

Quoted message said:

mean the learning/training part is conscious but doing it becomes

ingrained.

Quoted message said:

i know that most people dont have the opportunity do do this-but maybe

they

Quoted message said:

have and dont know it. you'll see when you end up on your feet and wonder
"how the heck did i do that?" actually that's what martial arts are all
about. doing tiger-rolls over and over trains the body to tuck and roll
without thinking about it. it works amazingly well. without tuck and roll

my

Quoted message said:

neck would have been broken years ago.

The site:
<http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/reaction/reaction_test.htm>
pretty much shows that, even if you are prepared, your reaction time is
over 200ms. Considering that you'll make contact with the ground in about
300ms, that gives you 100ms to do something useful with your body, clearly
not enough time.

If you know you're going to fall, say after some longer time of
wobbling/losing control, you can jump off a bike, or tuck & roll, but for
sudden crashes or skids, there just isn't the time.

:
: If you know you're going to fall, say after some longer time of
: wobbling/losing control, you can jump off a bike, or tuck & roll, but for
: sudden crashes or skids, there just isn't the time.

Especially considering your feet are stuck to the pedals....I don't think
baseball players, wrestlers, and karate fighters have that particular
problem.

Pat in TX
:
:
:

Quoted message said:

In the many spills I an associates
have had, in road races, on the track and elsewhere, no one has ever
done a "tuck and roll". The best you can do is to not stick out an
arm or land bunched up, concentrating load on one point.

I've had one serious crash in a paceline going 28+ MPH. I wouldn't say I was
consciously trying to "tuck and roll" but I was *determined* not to lay the
bike down and as a consequence I kept my hands on the bars attempting to
regain control all the way down.

I landed on my side and rolled, with the pedals releasing only as the bike
came over the top of me. Once free, the bike flew into the other traffic
lane. I ended up sitting on my butt in the traffic lane looking down the
road.

Net result: A nasty patch of rash on my hip and a scuff on my helmet. I tore
some bar tape and bent a couple of spokes in the front wheel (caused by
contact between the wheel and another rider's pedal - which started the
whole event).

Based solely on my experience, I don't think one needs to necessarily try to
"tuck and roll", but avoiding the instinct to use one's arms to break the
fall may lessen the chance of breaking a collarbone or similar injury.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

In article <[email hidden]>,

Roger Zoul said:

So, how does one go down (take a spill) on a bike at speed to minimize
injury?

Don't stick anything out.

Don't stand up until you're done sliding (perhaps only relevant for
motorcycle crashes).
--
<a href="http://www.poohsticks.org/drew/">Home Page</a>
Life is a terminal sexually transmitted disease.

Try to fall on the NON-Drive side of the bike. It will save your drive
train.

~AB~

"Drew Eckhardt" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Roger Zoul said:

So, how does one go down (take a spill) on a bike at speed to minimize
injury?

Don't stick anything out.

Don't stand up until you're done sliding (perhaps only relevant for
motorcycle crashes).
--
<a href="http://www.poohsticks.org/drew/">Home Page</a>
Life is a terminal sexually transmitted disease.

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Roger Moore said:

Try to fall on the NON-Drive side of the bike. It will save your drive
train.

Yup. Right.

.... next time I intentionally fall (... means "never"😉, I'll keep this
in mind.

If I'm falling, something beyond my control has caused the fall. At
that point I've neither the reaction time or ability to make a
conscious decision to "fall on the NON-Drive side ...". Physics is in
the driver seat.

Bill Davis unknown said:

Roger Moore said:

Try to fall on the NON-Drive side of the bike. It will save your drive
train.

Yup. Right.

... next time I intentionally fall (... means "never"😉, I'll keep this
in mind.

If I'm falling, something beyond my control has caused the fall. At
that point I've neither the reaction time or ability to make a
conscious decision to "fall on the NON-Drive side ...". Physics is in
the driver seat.

In my case try not to fall where the most expensive digital toy is.
I fell once trying to do a real sharp u turn and the tire folded under
and I went down, right on the viewfinder of my new digital camare.
Fortunately it was new so I said it must have been defective when I pulled
off the protective tape. Now I keep in either viewscreen facing my hip or
in a [censored] pack which is even less likely to get damaged. Same goes for
my cell phone, buttons towward the soft part, me. I never seem to get hurt
beyond embarrassment by my equipment always gets killed in the fall.

--
Bill (?) Baka

Quoted message said:

I didn't break my collarbone! I broke my sternum in 2 places and
separated my shoulder. Screw comes out tomorrow.
I have immense respect for those riders that keep on going after bad
falls. They must consume huge amounts of painkillers though.

Dave (also in TX)

I broke my collarbone a couple of Sundays ago. Happened so fast I'm
not sure of the exact sequence. Last thing I remember was either me
going over the bike, or the bike going over me. Before that, I
remember hitting the brakes, skidding in gravel and going off the road
into sand. Been eating painkillers like M&Ms. Will have surgery soon
to have a steel plate and screws reunite my left clavicle. Oh boy,
more M&Ms. As soon as I can, I'll be on the bike again. Just slower
than before. My wife, God bless her, thinks I'm crazy. She may be
onto something.
Hope you recover soon.

Art

:
: I broke my collarbone a couple of Sundays ago. Happened so fast I'm
: not sure of the exact sequence. Last thing I remember was either me
: going over the bike, or the bike going over me. Before that, I
: remember hitting the brakes, skidding in gravel and going off the road
: into sand. Been eating painkillers like M&Ms. Will have surgery soon
: to have a steel plate and screws reunite my left clavicle. Oh boy,
: more M&Ms. As soon as I can, I'll be on the bike again. Just slower
: than before. My wife, God bless her, thinks I'm crazy. She may be
: onto something.
: Hope you recover soon.
:
: Art

I was talking to a guy who told me he "broke his shoulder" and I asked him
just which part was broken. He said he broke the collarbone ( and has a nice
rugged bump to prove it). But, what really got me was that he said he didn't
take any drugs afterwards. "I don't believe in drugs." he said. I think
he's nuts! I just had shoulder surgery and the pain was like a banshee
screaming in my brain. He said that whenever his collarbone gave him pain,
he took a long walk....nuts! He doesn't get any brownie points from me for
saying he "doesn't believe" in drugs. I figure they're there to help me
when I need them, just like the ice packs, etc. I'll be thinking about you
and praying the pain isn't so bad. Good luck on your operation. Oh---make
sure you get one of those recirculation ice packs for after your surgery.
Mine is called Polar Care 300.
http://www.bracesupport.com/breg/polar%20care%20300.htm

Pat in TX

Pat in TX

Pat said:

I was talking to a guy who told me he "broke his shoulder" and I asked him
just which part was broken. He said he broke the collarbone ( and has a nice
rugged bump to prove it). But, what really got me was that he said he didn't
take any drugs afterwards. "I don't believe in drugs." he said. I think
he's nuts!

I agree with your guy. I hate drugs. The doctor gave me a
prescription for vicodin for my collar bone, but I didn't fill it.
They gave me lortabs for my hip, and I took one of those at night so
I could sleep. After a few days of that, I switched to just Tylenol.
The hip pain was bad, but I preferred it to being doped up.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

Pat said:

:
: I broke my collarbone a couple of Sundays ago. Happened so fast I'm
: not sure of the exact sequence. Last thing I remember was either me
: going over the bike, or the bike going over me. Before that, I
: remember hitting the brakes, skidding in gravel and going off the road
: into sand. Been eating painkillers like M&Ms. Will have surgery soon
: to have a steel plate and screws reunite my left clavicle. Oh boy,
: more M&Ms. As soon as I can, I'll be on the bike again. Just slower
: than before. My wife, God bless her, thinks I'm crazy. She may be
: onto something.
: Hope you recover soon.
:
: Art

I was talking to a guy who told me he "broke his shoulder" and I asked him
just which part was broken. He said he broke the collarbone ( and has a nice
rugged bump to prove it). But, what really got me was that he said he didn't
take any drugs afterwards.

A couple of years ago I busted my left clavical. I wore a figure 8
brace and only took Tylenol so I could sleep at night. I was back on
the bike after 2 weeks (rollers, it was January) but I told the Doctor
it was 4 weeks. He was mad as he wanted me to wait 8 weeks. Mine broke
closer to my neck, in 1 spot. I have no bump but it does get sore when
the weather changes.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

: > I was talking to a guy who told me he "broke his shoulder" and I asked
him
: > just which part was broken. He said he broke the collarbone ( and has a
nice
: > rugged bump to prove it). But, what really got me was that he said he
didn't
: > take any drugs afterwards. "I don't believe in drugs." he said. I think
: > he's nuts!
:
: I agree with your guy. I hate drugs. The doctor gave me a
: prescription for vicodin for my collar bone, but I didn't fill it.
: They gave me lortabs for my hip, and I took one of those at night so
: I could sleep. After a few days of that, I switched to just Tylenol.
: The hip pain was bad, but I preferred it to being doped up.
: --
: terry morse Palo Alto, CA

I didn't say I love drugs. I couldn't stand the hydrocodone after the first
2 days and switched to Darvocet. I hate that "slugged in the head by a sock
full of sand" feeling, but I realize that it is something I have to endure
for a few days until my body gets to a point where the pain isn't so
excruciating. I have been using naproxen, ibuprofen, aspirin, and
acetaminophen in a sort of rotation.

Pat in TX