Getting back on......

[Middlewife]

Any tips/advice on getting back on after a crash? Took a hire bike out on holibobs and did the Cornish CTC trail, which for me, was quite a ride at 18 miles, mostly flat, but quite a bit of off road bumpy stuff. Liked the bike as it was lighter than mine (I've got a haibike Trek) this was a Trek bike so might swap.
Anyway, all went well, was just coming down the last 200 yard trail before the car park at bissoe, which has a hairpin downhill. Misjudged the speed and steering so ended up hitting a tree and coming off sideways on my ribs and shoulder. Got up pretty quickly, didn't want to be run over, and limped back to car park, whereupon hubby sighed "not again...".
Anyway, nothing broken, had a much more serious rib injury last year after being pulled over by a dog, that took months to heal, this is nothing like as bad, but more psychological - trying to ignore the voice in my head that says I'm too old/unfit etc - (I'm 61, just lost a stone in weight, working out with a trainer etc, so doing all the "right" things) just with winter coming, I don't want to "give up" but have dented my confidence, any helpful advice etc welcome....
any helpful advice/suggestuo

 

[Ghost1951]

Best thing is to get back on and ride your bike, unless you really have some issue which tells you this isn't for you. The fact that you want to get back on, suggests you should do.

Never do stuff on your bike that common sense suggests you shouldn't, and dont keep riding until you are so tired that you can't focus on your safe riding skills.

Keep rides short enough that they are enjoyable, and if you lack confidence right now, try to stay on low traffic routes so you can enjoy your riding.

 

[Middlewife]

Best thing is to get back on and ride your bike, unless you really have some issue which tells you this isn't for you. The fact that you want to get back on, suggests you should do.

Never do stuff on your bike that common sense suggests you shouldn't, and dont keep riding until you are so tired that you can't focus on your safe riding skills.

Keep rides short enough that they are enjoyable, and if you lack confidence right now, try to stay on low traffic routes so you can enjoy your riding.

Thank you, I'm impatient, but lots of short rides to build up is a good idea. I've built up from 2 to 18 miles in 3 months, so just need to get back to enjoying it. Unfortunately, not many low traffic routes, but even riding on housing estate roads 'counts" I guess

 

[flash]

I fell off last Friday. I was taking my usual route into town. One section of the route is a shared path with pedestrians and two people were coming towards me with a double buggy so I stopped to let them through. When I set off I misjudged my distance from the kerb and I hit it with my front wheel and down I went. My shopping bike is a converted Pashley Post office bike, so is very heavy I was trapped under it and it took a while to extricate myself. Injuries were a bruised and grazed knee, cuts and grazes to both hands and a severely dented pride. I returned home to lick my wounds. Had a cup of tea. Then decided I had to get back on which I did and rode the original route into town. I am still aching now, but I am glad I got straight back on. In 60 years of cycling I can count on one hand how many times I have fallen off . I suspect the consequences maybe more serious now than when I was youngster.

 

[Az.]

Slow down.

 

[matthewslack]

Practice, especially brakes and loose surfaces. Maximising front brake is an especially important skill.

Practice = training, and training teaches how to recognise and then handle situations. This is far more effective than reacting in the moment.

Slowing down before crashing is far more important than getting halfway round a turn at speed. Less energy dissipated in the crash means less injury. Often slowing down with good control of brakes means the crash is avoided altogether.

You can slow down quite fast on loose stuff whilst upright, but too late once banked.

 

[Ghost1951]

Practice, especially brakes and loose surfaces. Maximising front brake is an especially important skill.

Practice = training, and training teaches how to recognise and then handle situations. This is far more effective than reacting in the moment.

Slowing down before crashing is far more important than getting halfway round a turn at speed. Less energy dissipated in the crash means less injury. Often slowing down with good control of brakes means the crash is avoided altogether.

You can slow down quite fast on loose stuff whilst upright, but too late once banked.

Yes all good advice, but another thing is NOT to use the front brake harshly on loose surfaces. This is true of motorbikes as well - maybe more so. On slippery mud, or loose gravel, I take care to go slowly, but to also avoid the front brake. Once the front wheel loses grip and starts to slide, it is very hard to recover control. I can't recall ever managing to keep a two wheeled machine upright once the front wheel is sliding. The rear wheel is far more forgiving, probably because it isn't responsible for setting your direction and control.

 

[Az.]

Yes all good advice, but another thing is NOT to use the front brake on loose surfaces.

I am finding this advice very surprising. It is like going into a fight with your stronger hand tied behind back.

 

[Ghost1951]

I am finding this advice very surprising. It is like going into a fight with your stronger hand tied behind back.

It has been my long experience on bicycles and motorcycles that once the front wheel starts sliding, I end up falling off. I try hard never to lose that front wheel grip. If the back wheel slides, I can adjust the front wheel to steer myself out of the issue. If I can't steer, I am going to end up on the ground, because I won't be able to keep the bike upright either if it starts going sideways.

Obviously, the front brake is vastly more powerful than the back when I want to stop urgently on a decent road surface, but if I am on a loose surface, or a slippy one, I can't avail myself of that power when the tyre isn't holding the ground, but I will also lose steering control and my ability to flip the bike upright, which entirely depends on the front wheel.

The key to riding safely on bad surfaces is to go slowly. Emergency stop on loose and slippy ground is likely to end up in a loss of control.

 

[Az.]

It has been my long experience on bicycles and motorcycles that once the front wheel starts sliding, I end up falling off. I try hard never to lose that front wheel grip. If the back wheel slides, I can adjust the front wheel to steer myself out of the issue. If I can't steer, I am going to end up on the ground, because I won't be able to keep the bike upright either if it starts going sideways.

I always use both brakes. Last time I ended up on a ground when I was five (touch wood).

The key to riding safely on bad surfaces is to go slowly. Emergency stop on loose and slippy ground is likely to end up in a loss of control.

Couldn't agree more. Anticipate what is ahead and adjust speed accordingly.
Good brakes are very important too. That is why I keep telling people that saving few £ on brakes is a false economy.

 

[matthewslack]

That's what I mean by practice... knowing what you can do with the front brake in various conditions. Sometimes not much, but even a short distance of brake on reduces speed and consequences.

Especially useful to develop feel on loose surfaces. With even a modestly non-smooth tyre tread, there is more grip than you think!

 

[chris_n]

It has been my long experience on bicycles and motorcycles that once the front wheel starts sliding, I end up falling off. I try hard never to lose that front wheel grip. If the back wheel slides, I can adjust the front wheel to steer myself out of the issue. If I can't steer, I am going to end up on the ground, because I won't be able to keep the bike upright either if it starts going sideways.

Obviously, the front brake is vastly more powerful than the back when I want to stop urgently on a decent road surface, but if I am on a loose surface, or a slippy one, I can't avail myself of that power when the tyre isn't holding the ground, but I will also lose steering control and my ability to flip the bike upright, which entirely depends on the front wheel.

The key to riding safely on bad surfaces is to go slowly. Emergency stop on loose and slippy ground is likely to end up in a loss of control.

Modern mountain bike geometry, riding position and riding style puts much more weight on the front wheel than "Old Skool", meaning you can use the front brake much more than you used to be able to. This enables you to slow down much better, even going downhill (bear in mind I live in the Alps so do a lot of braking downhill) than ever before.
But if you have a more upright, less aggressively tyred bike like a lot of you guys ride then it is a completely different riding style.
As Ghost1951 says do all of your braking while upright before you get to the corner then ease off the brakes just gently "dragging " them enough to prevent acceleration if going downhill.
As mathewslack says practice / training is key.
ETA if you do a lot of downhill riding get a dropper seat post fitted, it is the single biggest difference between hire bikes here, no one who has used a bike with a dropper wants to ride one without.

 

[flash]

Slow down.

I was almost stopped

 

[soundwave]

 

[georgehenry]

My last crash, I've had a few, was on the platform of a railway station. Now retired and armed with my free travel pass after a 12 year last career spell working for The Railway, I am in the habit of catching the train from my Town with no Lidl, to the next bigger Town nearby, doing a circuit there of Lidl, Waitrose and back to the Station with panniers full of shopping for the train back, and sometimes Sainsburys in my home Town before home.

Most often I take my rear hub Oxygen, but this day I had taken my crank drive Haibike mountain bike to ride a gentle off road route of about seven miles rather than the train. Anyway, back to the crash, I had not kept an eye on the time and as I went through the barriers chatting briefly to the platform staff I realised that the train home was arriving.

Without much thought I set off running alongside my bike intent on getting that train. I needed to get from Platform 2 to Platform 4. There is an underpass. Foolishly I decided to try and glide down the underpass with one foot on a pedal and all of me that side of the bike. Anyway in the attempted transition from pushing and running to leaping on my left hand pedal it all went badly wrong and down I went, quite hard all wrapped up in the bike. Knees took the brunt.

So focussed on that Train was I at that stage that I was up in a flash and glided down the underpass and pushed up the ramp to Platform 4. The Guard had shut the doors but fortunately was still on the platform close to the top of the ramp about to get on at his door. I asked, Guard "can I get on your door", he said yes and on I got. I went very lame later that day, but fortunately was much better in the morning. More haste less speed, however I did make that train. Half an hour to wait for the next one. Almost worth it!

One determining factor of many in this crash was that my Oxygen bikes have normal pedals and are easy to leap aboard and my Haibike has smaller pedals with an attached toe clip cages and straps. Not the right sort of pedal to leap on.

 

[thelarkbox]

Ouch! Glad to hear your getting back in the proverbial saddle.. Just take it at your own pace, Your too old when you want to be too old and no sooner..

 

[Ghost1951]

Ouch! Glad to hear your getting back in the proverbial saddle.. Just take it at your own pace, Your too old when you want to be too old and no sooner..

That's very true. I have mates the same age as me who can't (more like won't ) walk a hundred yards. Guys I went to school with.

 

[I893469365902345609348566]

I remain terrified of badgers to this day. There's one standing behind me, isn't there?

 

[Middlewife]

Couldn't agree more. Anticipate what is ahead and adjust speed accordingly.
Good brakes are very important too. That is why I keep telling people that saving few £ on brakes is a false economy.
[/QUOTE]
That's why I was annoyed, I remember going out thinking "you'll have to watch out for this bend" and then completely crept up on me as there were no landmarks to identify it before. Anyway, physio has banned swimming for a couple of weeks, done a modified session with PT (no weights) but a day on a foraging walk last week caused it to all seize up again, so not quite there yet, thanks for all the advice x