how to crash?

[ozzieboy]

+1 on crash practice using dirt bikes...lol...That's what they are designed for...falling off. The variety of ways you can mess yourself up are nearly infinite:thumbup:. My favourite example was a high side that I held onto and ended up in a totally vertical hand stand on the handle bars....Teetered there for what seemed forever and fell back towards the seat. My relief at having not come off was short lived when I realized what was about to happen to my family jewels so I clamped my knees together and slid back into a seated position and throttled on again:rockon:...lol. Managed to get myself some applause too...lol. I've hit almond trees, run over logs in long grass and been knocked off by dogs. There's no real right or wrong way to crash 'cause there are so many ways it can happen, but fully agree with what others say to do afterwards. Get yourself out of harms way in the quickest, simplest method possible. Dignity means nothing:thumbup:.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Wolfman]

one really nasty crash, big highside, result destroyed bike.., and a broken collarbone (snapped in two)..ouch!, once i was off the bike i was pretty much out of control of my own fate, Head is heaviest part of Body, comes down from great height first, shoulder follows pretty rapidly behind it, asphalt does'nt give...Broken Collarbone, bright side was i was wearing full gear, so no gravel rash, and no other bruising, or cuts. Oh and when i left the bike, i missed a tree by about nothing, i actually brushed the trunk as i flew past it!...

Point of the story is, sometimes you cant do much to control your destiny, once your in the event, but you can wear good gear, and it will help to save you from some harm in most cases.

:thumbup:

 

[Kilbane83]

I've gone down.. uhh.. 5 times? Once was sand in a slow sharp turn, the bike was simply not there anymore. It was actually a pretty odd experience.

The second was wet concrete, not the textured stuff, the slick as hell when wet stuff. Again a low speed turn, wet concrete is as slick as ice. Bike was simply gone, felt the rear tire break that time and said oh well and let her go.

Third was due to a f-150 cutting me off and taking my front end out while leaning in a slow left hand turn, nothing I could have done there. In that case I actually had time to react I suppose, I made sure it was going to force me to lowside, got my left leg ready to get out from under her before she slammed into the ground, and slowed enough not slam into the back of the truck and end up in his bed.

Put on diablo strada's at this point. And had a full set of beat em up track plastics.

The fourth was oil at the track in a decent hairpin at around 55mph. Again the bike was simply gone no time to react. Spread my arms and legs out and slide to a stop. Bike slid down the track a good 20ft no damage to either of us. Didn't even rash my suit.

Fifth and most recent (about 4 months ago) was my own fault. I had been practicing endo's the whole week (in a closed parking lot with police permission before the flames come my way), went back to regulaur tire pressure and grabbed too much brake. The ground was uneven and came to a sharp point, tire left the ground locked up midair, hit the ground and washed out. **** happens saw it comming, almost saved it, let go of the brake but it started to headshake pretty bad so I bailed to avoid highsiding. Was less than 15mph.

All in all I figure crashing is part of learning. As long as you don't crash the same way twice you'll come out wiser. Most the time you won't have time to react, but if you do it enough can minimize the damage to you and your bike for the most part. Most of all don't panic, know what's going to happen, try to save it if you can, but most importantly remember it's cheaper to fix your bike that it is to fix you.

 

[CdnMedic]

I've been racing dirt bikes for a few years, and I've seen a bunch of motorcycle vs car accidents as a medic.
In my personal experience in crashing, it's best not to fight it! Just go with the momentum. Typically, if I'm highsiding I will "tuck" so I land in a rolling motion with my shoulders hitting first and then slide on my arse, keep your arms tucked across your chest (prevents arms from breaking, arms protect the ribs a bit and it puts your collarbones in a position less prone to breaking) and use the legs to try and slow down if you can. In a lowside, all you can do is ride it out, spread out your body weight (again, on your back)
If you are going to land on your head/neck use your arms and the momentum to avoid hitting your head and crushing your neck. I would take a broken arm over brain damage of spinal damage.
As stated, it takes practice to learn how to crash, I can't crash how many times I've crashed, including a few 5th gear wide open over 60 foot gap crashes... not a single broken bone yet! However, you can get road rash in the dirt too!

 

[reiobard]

say ur going down....what do you do?

do you let ur body go limp, do you allow it to tense up, do you tuck into a ball as best you can, do you cross your arms over your chest, do you straighten your legs or slightly bend them at the knee, what do you do?

Stop falling and stay up instead...