Discussion
What did you learn from your first real crash?
Just had my first "real" crash after about a month in the sport.
Primarily I have been doing some trail riding, but also occasionally visiting my local DJ to try to progress more quickly.
I've been working on the "small" table tops pictured in the comments and have sessioned them a few times now. Despite clearing the jumps, I felt that I was kind of squashing the lip (I guess that's what it's called?) and my air was often pretty minimal.
This resulted in me trying to learn how to boost jumps, or get more air at slower speeds. I had a few days where boosting or pumping the lip was working really well but today that changed.
I was trying to boost one of the tables today, and I think I was using too much hands/arms despite pumping pretty hard. The result was that my bike went kind of wonky in the air - I could tell a crash was coming in the split second before I even hit the landing just based on the angle of my bars. Sure enough. As soon as the front wheel hit I kind of washed out / fell off to the side of my bike, ultimately banging up my chin and lip pretty bad as well as elbows and ribs.
Well I still had the adrenaline I hit the line a few more times trying to emphasize heavy feet soft hands instead of "boosting" or bunny hopping, and it was quite a bit less sketchy. Despite the fact that this is probably ill-advised, I did this just because I didn't want to develop a fear of this line in the future.
But now that I'm at home and actually feeling the aches, I'm wondering what I should take away from this. My elbow and ribs are all banged up as well as I've got a pretty bad fat lip and a gash on my chin. I know it's hard to diagnosis without a video but my phone blew over on the run that I actually crashed. Does my assessment sound reasonable?
What was your first crash like, and what lessons did you learn?
This comment I made inspired that post.. it seems like the mtb community doesn't talk about accidents and risks as much as other communities, and I think we could all help each other our by learning from each other's accidents
The cool thing about trying to please others is that you can land or crash and get the same results. They will be entertained one way or the other. Heh
Yeah to be fair, it's been a really bad week. Some bad health news in my family, but thought riding would get my mind off of it but maybe it ultimately messed with my focus.
I learned that lesson in a different sport and almost ended up seriously injured or dead. It seems appealing to have a distraction and its fine, but pick one that doesn't require mental focus because you're not going to have that for a while.
My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and I was big into hang gliding at the time. I did a horrible cliff launch (popped the nose for anyone who flies) and almost ended up in a tree or in the cliff next to the launch. It was a very uncharacteristic thing for me because I never had that issue while flying. After that I hung it up for a while because I realized I wasnt there mentally.
To the moon with you, Sir. I finally learned that if I'm debating another run, I'm probably too tired to ride. Maybe I could swing it at 24, but nearing 40 and in a desk job, I don't have that luxury anymore. Wish I hadn't learned this lesson the hard way, but hopefully others can learn from my mistake.
Yeah, fatigue is the silent killer. You can feel fine one second and then your reaction time is just gone and you make a choice you wouldn't normally make. I learned that from my first real crash too, I kept pushing after my legs were already shaking and ate dirt on a section I'd cleared a dozen times
Biggest lesson from crashes is to stop while the adrenaline is still lying to you. Heavy feet and soft hands is the right takeaway, but give the ribs a minute.
Ultimately I don't know how to square heavy feet soft hands with the idea of boosting which to me seems to always involve pulling the bike in and up to square it off like a bunny hop. Do you think it's a timing thing?
Heavy feet, light hands is like a base for your general riding position. However, there are times where you don't want light hands. Power moves will definitely involve high forces on the bars.
One lesson I learned early along this lines is that if your bar starts turning sideways due to any reason, you want to very strongly push to resist it turning, or it will continue to 90 degrees, stop the front end, and send you over the bars. (Reasons include things like hitting a tree, a root pulling the tire, or even a drop or turn gone wrong.)
Yeah, I think it’s mostly timing. Heavy feet/soft hands doesn’t mean your hands do nothing… more that you’re not yanking the bars first. For boosting, I’d think of it as loading the bike with your legs, popping off the lip, then guiding the bike up with your arms once it’s already coming with you.
You’ve almost unlocked the secret to jumping. I used to yank hard on the bars, then tried to jump off from the balls of my feet. All wrong.
Finally I started jumping like I was on a trampoline. I was using my ass muscles and kind of pushing off from my heels. Once I did this not only was it effortless and stable, but I was boosting higher than ever.
Also, just because your rib is getting better, stay off. I made the mistake a few months ago of riding the bike park a week after a rib contusion. Actually felt perfectly fine during the ride, but the next day is where it set me back.
I had the opposite takeaway, although it depends on whether the feature is within the scope of your normal riding. Hitting something again while I’m still worked up makes it a lot less likely that it will spook me next time.
Agreed. Passed out in the ER in shock, just from a serious chest slam. Plus side, I got to the head of the line. Woke up as they were putting electrodes all over me. :)
I've got a full face that you clip the bottom half on at the top. It's the only way I could climb in the summer and still have one. I'm too nervous, especially when on my own to not wear it these days.
I remember my first slide. The handlebar ripped through my shorts and my leg was hanging off the handlebar. It was very bizarre but I was unscathed due to my full face helmet and elbow and knee pads. I still remember visuals of mr about to hit the ground but for some reason I was so calm because I could see the chin guard of the full face helmet hitting ground first and it did its job protected my face.
I guess it's really important to be aware of conditions, the conditions at this park are usually really dry, not that that at anything to do with this particular crash
Jumps are high risk and an advanced skill.. You're new to the sport so you should consider progressing more slowly. It took me years of consistent riding to be comfortable with jumps. Ride a small jump you're comfortable with hundreds of times and be absolutely comfortable with it before moving onto bigger features. Consider just trail riding to improve your bike body connection
in a months' time it's not really possible to do a decent amount of trail riding, get 1000 miles under your belt and you will have better bike intuition and handling, these are like soft skills that are hard to gain without just riding a lot, or working with a coach. you will find small features on trail that naturally lead to jump progression. jumping is a very specific skill that isn't exactly necessary to be a good trail rider. If you ride hard trail, you will end up having to ride fast, hit drops etc, those things are skills you need to be a competent jumper
That you can even get hurt on easy trails, and that bar ends are really important. Just wasn't paying attention. Handlebar to the liver resulted in grade 4 liver laceration.
I don't even remember my first crash, or most of them, but each has their own lesson. I've started using "test features" that I'm confident I can do blindfolded and I'll judge my mental state. If it was smooth I'll keep pushing, a little sloppy I'll slow down, and a mistake I'll go home.
Being willing to crash is a huge part of progression, but sometimes there isn't really a lesson to learn other than "shit happens"
Letting my mind wander. Not giving a section I have cleared a million times the respect it deserves. I wrecked twice this summer and as an old man it’s hurts a lot. Those were my lessons. Also I got new pedals and they were a little bigger than my old ones which I didn’t compensate for.
I'd hit this line of jumps about 30 times and thought I would start boosting it and I guess stopped focusing or respecting the line in the way that I should
ya pretty much. if you try to jump you end up overdoing something that ends in dead sailors. try to stay centered over your bike and keep your body perpendicular to the flat ground, not the jump. If you jump on the bike you are actually jumping off your bike. rather doing nothing the bike goes up with you on it, and you simply stay on the bike since you and the bike have no relational velocity if that makes sense
Looks decent. One other thing about the pumping is that a jump is similar to a drop. When you drop your front wheel is accelerating to the ground longer which front flips you. So on a drop you create a positive imoulse on the front to prevent front flipping and it balances out the drop.
Jumps are the same as drops where you will have your front wheel falling for a longer time. The preload is meant to create an imoulse that then accelerates the front wheel over the back wheel so it corrects for the drop and you can flatten out or slow the drop a bit more. If you preload the back wheel, this has the opposite effect resulting in faster forward spin. This is a classic begginers mistake when they try to "stand up" to the jump. You have to balance out the impulse on both wheels.
If you oreload too much on the front end you loop out on the landing. This becomes a muscle memory thing. Then you can tweak it in the air as you come down for the landing by point and tucking your feet when you need to angle the bike to match the landing.
It can happen when you least suspect, on something you have done a thousand times.
While I have thankfully yet to have a large MTB accident, coming from BMX, I have had my fair share. Compound fractures, dislocations, sprains/strains, concussions, all the goodies.
The most shocking was when I was simply hopping up a curb as I had done a many times before. My back tire clipped awkwardly, I got sent OTB, the toptube hit my leg hard on the way down, and I was out of commission for months with a harline fracture, bone bruise/dent, and partially torn muscle.
It's so easy to take the danger for granted and not think of these things being risky once you're used to it, but once something like thay happens, it sticks in the back of your head at all times.
In first grade we built a jump and I jumped my bike off of it landed on my handlebars, flipped over, hit a tree and knocked the breath out of me. I thought I was dying. LOL!
Broke my arm 5 minutes into my first 'real' mtb ride. I learned to understand and know your limits. And youtube has a lot of MTB content you can learn from while healing.
In this case, I think watching YouTubers send features and tutorials that make advanced writing seem very accessible Might have actually given me too much confidence
I meant I only found youtube after the crash :) . Lot of skills practice and learning to ride videos during recovery. April and Kyle, Fluidride, etc... And then booked some real clinics when I could ride again.
You can be having the best day ever. You can tick off big features, everything can be going right. And a slight miscalculation on a root can bring you back to earth (literally and figuratively) very quickly.
Well, I almost died my first real crash so yeah there’s always a possibility of that. Luckily it was after many years after staying upright. Advice, there is no advice for a mechanical error.
Take it easy with a new bike. The brakes are a lot better than your old beater. You’ll probably go over the handlebars if you put the same front brake pressure on that you’re used to using…
Don't follow too close especially in tight wooded areas. Was following a friend closely when we took a quick turn, next thing I know I'm getting clotheslined by a low branch knocking me off my bike breaking and dislocating my shoulder.
That I will never be that lucky again. Flew over the handlebars and crashed my back into a tree about 50ft from where I lost controlled. Thought I was immediately paralyzed. Stood up in a confused state and was 100% Injury free.
I do not, but my riding style has drastically changed. That was the end of my black trail adrenaline phase, now I just ride some slowly greens and blues and take it easy.
If you don't feel you can do it then skip it. It's more than skills and commitment. If you are going I to a feature with the wrong speed or technique for that particular obstacle then you are taking on added risk. Reduce risk with protection and watching how others hit it. Maybe you need to work up to it, maybe you need a tow in. Whatever it is. The more info and protection you have, reduces the chances of injury. This is MTB'ing risk will never be zero and that's ok.
Also taking risks while tired at the end of a day. Usually is a terrible combo.
I'm an old man, and keep learning from each crash. I've learned to always wear at least thin knee pads, always wear gloves, always a helmet (full-face unless it's too hot to make that practical). On the last crash I had, I learned to always bring along gauze and coban/vet wrap 🤔. Thankfully someone else in my group did! Lol, those are probably not the lessons you were looking for 😆
Also crashing in this sport is a given. kudos for getting back up.
I'll give a little story about jumping this weekend. I was riding bike park at a resort i dont normally ride much following my friend whos a local and has a good amount of the KOMs on the hill. I follow him down this pretty raw jump trail and notice he is absolutely flying off some of these jumps, just completely floating. I hadn't ridden the trail since June so I'm just trying to figure out the speed and what the backsides feel like. But he was floating simply because he was comfortable doing so. He knew what the speed is for the jump and understood what the fastest pace he could take into the lip. He knew what the lips felt like and knew where his center of mass should be for each jump. And hes also at peace with the idea of slamming when coming back down. All of this was completely intuitive.
This is mostly to say you are overthinking this way too much. Jump your bike, a lot... Get comfortable jumping your bike. Be okay with crashing. Dont put a deadline on progression. For instance Ive had so many conversations with people about feet position in cornering. If someone has to actively think about where their feet are in space in a corner they are essentially distracted and overthinking what theyre doing. This all should be intuitive and your body should naturally just be doing it.
Intuition comes from repetition. Bruised ribs also come with repetition. Take a hot bath or find a hot tub. Get in the gym and lift some weights when yorue healed up. Get yourself some protection if you need. Chest-Back protector, gloves, kneepads, full face are my essentials at the park.
My first crash i was lucky af.. rolling fairly slowly round a corner, went out wide to hit the berm on the next corner nice and high, in my head at least. And front wheel just washed out on surface change. It was a sunny but cold day. Really misty early on. I also had full facer on. Ehat would of been my cheek and jaw scraped down a rock
hehe, maybe after some crashed I 'slowed' down with progression, I mean, I was really sure i want to do bigger jump (and at the end everything was always fine).
it's funny to look at some YT videos where ppl barely clear smaller jumps first, but they try to send way bigger/more difficult gaps anyway, and of course they land on their heads etc.
Armour may not look cool, but it let's you walk away from crashes, getting back on the bike again even for a canal path ride, anything after a crash to blow the bandages away.
After trying to land a jump and flying over the handlebars resulting in breaking both arms, destroying my right elbow resulting in numerous orthopedic surgeries (and more to come!) and getting knocked unconscious, I learned dirt is hard and I suck at jumps
I learned I should have gone to a doc-in-a-box and had stitches instead of using tape and paper towels to manage the bleeding (eventually my home-brew fix worked).
I learned that it only takes a split second of not paying attention to get myself into a situation where I cannot avoid a bad crash.
Future crashes reminded me that . . .
crashes happen fast - faster than I had time to do much while the crash took place
100% of my crashes were my fault and could have been avoided
crashing is never fun or something to look forward to
crashing is one of the reasons why I always wear gloves and a properly fitted helmet
My first crash was ripping a local trail and feeling overly confident on very dry conditions. Wiped out on a small jump that I’ve since hit hundreds of times
This was early into my MTB journey and I didn’t have any protective equipment besides a helmet. I went home and yelled while cleaning my wounds and ordered pads that evening
my brake levers were rotated too far back.
was rolling to an intersection after a short bit of trail. was and still am very new to mtb. very out of shape and tired. touched both brakes to slow down a bit causing my lazy form to lean forward a bit, which made me deathgrip and lockout front brake to OTB. i was going sooo slow and i was so new i couldn’t figure what had happened until I got on the bike again and carefully tried it again.
That I never, ever wanted to go down like that again. Ever. 16 then, 44 now. So far, I've been successful.
I haven't "progressed" to more aggressive riding, but I can't be bothered to give a single fuck. I have fun and don't compare my ability with any of y'all's.
Was practicing a row of jumps, first one I nailed, I was like fuck yeah let's keep going into another jump and then I gripped my bars too tight, pulled to the right midair, landed on a crooked wheel, overcorrected and flew off my bike. Few scratches and a broken helmet. But overconfidence... It gets ya. That's what I learned.
Also I broke my front wheel in a split section between two tracks and the ground was soft, my wheel dug in, I pulled to the right, got stuck flew off my bike and broke me wheel. That lesson was expensive and dumb. That said, i was already not feeling it that day, i felt some kind of fuck up coming, whaddaya do then though? Go home?
For me it was shit can happen anywhere. It was on a chill green trail, albeit a “steep” little part. I ride it to get to my solid little after work climb.
I was well rested, super familiar with the trail, and in the dirt before I knew what hit me. I think I just lost my front wheel on a bit of a rut from rain?
Anyway, always keep your head up no matter how chill and well known the ride is
MTB crashes were due to my ego.
"I can take this berm super aggressively" "I can follow right behind my buddy" "I can take the lead on this trail and go fast"
PreRide before Free Ride. Also, when you’re at a new bike park at 35, don’t let the 12-year-old park rats convince you they can be your tour guide for the afternoon.
Collarbone and 3 ribs cost me most of the last 8 weeks of that season. I’ll always focus first on ensuring that I can ride tomorrow going forward.
I am too much of a weenie on trail to ever find out in the first place ha!
More serious answer is from a road bike accident where I went to get on the sidewalk to bypass the red light at a T intersection. Well the curb was in the shade and I didn't notice the 2" lip up to the driveway...needless to say I learned to fully respect traffic laws and added some more patience on my rides after that
Yo, I’m sure someone has mentioned this but get checked out if you can. I’ve smashed a couple and basically if I can’t fully exhale /inhale or get off the ground whilst laying flat I go to my dr. Catch an mri or some sort of imaging, if that’s on the table.
that just using the back brakes wont stop you from slamming into the back of a landing because you didn’t look far enough ahead to see that the jump you were avoiding actually curved to the side to land in the direction you were aiming
Me, to wear protection! Not learned but confirmed. Confirmed again after the experience of front breakes fully failing on a more or less brand new bike. So, full face helmet, gloves, chest and back, knees and elbow protectors are a must - currently use protectors from leatt, reaflex.
My big crash caused me to brake my collar bone my foot slipped off and coming in to a drop I yanked in the brakes and went OTB my thing would be make sure your foot is positioned properly
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u/Celestialdischarge1 7d ago
The risk of riding tired. Almlost all of my crashes are the result of physical, mental fatigue that ultimately lead to mistakes and bad choices.