Fell off my shiny new ebike.. but why?

[Gubbins]

My small slip coincided with my reading of a study which seemed to prove that time appears to pass faster as you age, Rewind 50 years.. I have had a few scrapes and crashes in my time and although they couldn't be stopped they seemed to progress in slow motion.. sort of!
Fast forward to now, I was in a rut and next thing I was on the floor which happened so fast I couldn't do anything to protect myself. This is happening more and more now with two bike crashes and a few slips and trips on the allotment leaving me down before I can get a hand or foot out to break my fall.
I don't feel old or want to be old, but perhaps it's just forcing itself on me...
I guess this is why old people fall badly....

 

[JuicyBike]

You're as old as you feel. It's just that you feel a fall (and hopefully feel for fools).

Not sure what my point is now...

Chin up mate.

 

[JuicyBike]

I remember.
Always suffer falls gladly.

 

[Geebee]

Only tip I can give you is to buy a step through, when the bike gets knocked down it doesn't take your legs out from under you.
I have had 2 off road low speed drops from loose gravel in ruts on steep inclines and both times I was left standing while the bike fell on the ground, pannier bags stop the bike getting marked as well

I am "only" 53 but medical issues mean balance etc. is closer to an 80 year old.

Edit one other tip is practice walking on a line or a low gutter I found it helped my balance to a degree.

 

[Gubbins]

Only tip I can give you is to buy a step through, when the bike gets knocked down it doesn't take your legs out from under you.
I have had 2 off road low speed drops from loose gravel in ruts on steep inclines and both times I was left standing while the bike fell on the ground, pannier bags stop the bike getting marked as well

I am "only" 53 but medical issues mean balance etc. is closer to an 80 year old.

Edit one other tip is practice walking on a line or a low gutter I found it helped my balance to a degree.

Thanks for that, but I am happy enough with my feet clipped in and charging about as fast as I dare on my new FS MTB knowing my balance isn't what it was but is still good enough..
It just brought to the fore an interest I have about how time seems to pass so quickly now I am older, and theory has suggested that it's because of the percentage of a given time segment in relation to how much life you have left, so in a 10 year old an hour is a much smaller percentage of his life than in an 80 year old so they perceive this hour differently..
I was just trying to voice my thoughts over a Sunday Morning coffee and was wondering if others felt the same way. Could it be the case that others are experiencing this sort of timeshift without realising it?
Or am I completely crackers?

 

[Gubbins]

I remember.
Always suffer falls gladly.

Or, Gravity always points down>>>

 

[mike killay]

How is your hearing?
I used to get odd giddy spells before I got a hearing aid.

 

[Gubbins]

How is your hearing?
I used to get odd giddy spells before I got a hearing aid.

Dont need a hearing aid, my wife always tells me twice!!

 

[JuicyBike]

one other tip is practice walking on a line or a low gutter I found it helped my balance to a degree.

Good tip, for initial balance problems.

Aged 50 I developed Meniere's related to an inner ear disorder, where balance signals from that organ's mechanism become inaccurate.

I now find that keeping my head and eyes up, using the horizon as a reference, has improved my balance. I was advised the brain can adjust to using visual information about orientation, overcoming and eventually ignoring any inaccurate signals from the inner ear.

I'm now just waiting for the next challenge, hoping for many more of course.

 

[morphix]

My small slip coincided with my reading of a study which seemed to prove that time appears to pass faster as you age, Rewind 50 years.. I have had a few scrapes and crashes in my time and although they couldn't be stopped they seemed to progress in slow motion.. sort of!
Fast forward to now, I was in a rut and next thing I was on the floor which happened so fast I couldn't do anything to protect myself. This is happening more and more now with two bike crashes and a few slips and trips on the allotment leaving me down before I can get a hand or foot out to break my fall.
I don't feel old or want to be old, but perhaps it's just forcing itself on me...
I guess this is why old people fall badly....

That's an interesting post Phil, be careful with the falling over!

Damn. You don't want a repeat of what happened to me. When I lost consciousness and fell suddenly my head hit the floor quite hard. You might need to wear a bicycle helmet to protect yourself if you don't already!

I do think older people are more inclined to fall and misjudge distances etc...spacial awareness and reaction times are probably affected as part of the aging process. However unless you're in advanced age now maybe you should get a check-up in hospital if you're falling over quite a lot, and there doesn't seem to be any explanation.

I definitely can relate to the time seeming to pass faster as we get older..it's really weird, but hours just seem to fly by, months seem shorter don't they?

When you're young it seems time goes very slowly! Everyone remembers when they were a kid, and you'd struggle to fill a day and get so much done...but when you're older, there's never enough time in a day and you're always rushing against time.

 

[Gubbins]

I think I must have phrased the post badly..
My interest is not the falling over as that was because I was in a rut and couldn't get out, it's the time it appeared to take... it seemed instantaneous riding to floored with nothing in between when common sense tells this is not the case

 

[EddiePJ]

I know how you feel!

 

[Gubbins]

I know how you feel!

Come to think of it my rear camera was running so will have a look.
How do you post yours? I find it a pain uploading a long video to youtube...

 

[Croxden]

I think I must have phrased the post badly..
My interest is not the falling over as that was because I was in a rut and couldn't get out, it's the time it appeared to take... it seemed instantaneous riding to floored with nothing in between when common sense tells this is not the case

I found the same when in one of the tunnels on the Monsal Trail and landing on my nose, virtually instant going over the handlebars. I'm glad it wasn't in slow motion really, nature helping out again.

 

[EddiePJ]

Sadly I nothing about it Phill, and yep it does take forever to upload.

I also know what you mean about time slowing down. I recall one particular incident whilst racing in Super Sport 400, where I highsided the bike on the exit at Druids bend.
I was on the inside line of the bend, but didn't land after being flipped from the bike, until I hit the grass on the outside of the track.
That was a long distance to be flying through the air, and I recall analysing, all of the bikes and their position in the race around me, who was on what bike, what line that they were on, and seemingly saw them all pass by me. I even recall each blade of grass as I landed.

Oddly the one detail that I didn't recall or even notice, was that a rider of another bike had hit me.

These days when I fall, it's a blink and it's all over. One thing is for sure, you certainly don't bounce as easily as you get older!

 

[Gubbins]

Sadly I nothing about it Phill, and yep it does take forever to upload.

I also know what you mean about time slowing down. I recall one particular incident whilst racing in Super Sport 400, where I highsided the bike on the exit at Druids bend.
I was on the inside line of the bend, but didn't land after being flipped from the bike, until I hit the grass on the outside of the track.
That was a long distance to be flying through the air, and I recall analysing, all of the bikes and their position in the race around me, who was on what bike, what line that they were on, and seemingly saw them all pass by me. I even recall each blade of grass as I landed.

Oddly the one detail that I didn't recall or even notice, was that a rider of another bike had hit me.

These days when I fall, it's a blink and it's all over. One thing is for sure, you certainly don't bounce as easily as you get older!

You have just reminded me of when i crashed my 400-4 road bike.. I t-boned a taxi at about 35 mph so dead stop... I remember seeming to be aproaching the car oh so slowly, the bits of plastic spinning away from me and a pair of very big eyes watching me disapear over the car roof and as you say about the extreme detail.. for me it was the bits of plastic all on their own individual sparkely trajectory but somehow making perfect sense, I could even see how they had fit together..
Must be 40 odd years ago that...

 

[EddiePJ]

I had a 400-4 Black tank, red frame, and Marshall exhaust system.

Those were days. You had to have either a Marshall, Kerker, Piper, Dresda or Yoshimura exhaust system fitted.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I find that things slow down a lot about half way through the second bottle of Navarra...

Seriously when I find myself in near accident territory I go into slow-mo mode too and it often gives me the time to pull back on the stick and fly my way out - if you get my drift. This came about after my "little" Smart car accident - multiple end over end rolls in a bit of woodland - I stopped counting after the first one and concentrated on screaming but it took forever to end.

 

[Gubbins]

I had a 400-4 Black tank, red frame, and Marshall exhaust system.

Those were days. You had to have either a Marshall, Kerker, Piper, Dresda or Yoshimura exhaust system fitted.

I can't remember TBH but the bike died that day and tears for it were shed which also heralded the first ending of my motorcycle days, as like many others a wife and 3 kids had to come first.

 

[Gubbins]

Just accessed the camera.. Fly 6 detected the bike going horizontal and saved the video..

The beeps are tha camera saving the file..