Posted: 12/30/2008 4:59:45 PM EDT
|
I'm getting pretty good at crashing. Like anything else, it requires time and practice to improve upon.
I'm getting a lot of practice lately on the dirt bike. I've noticed that with all the really good crashes, it's damn near impossible to remember any details of the crash or what seemed to cause it. Take last Saturday for example... A friend and I headed out to Hollister Hills (45 min. away) for a day in the dirt. We hit a few trails and then came upon the MX Track. After a few laps, I decided to hit the jumps with a little more speed...  ...
Next, I'm in the air, looking down and seeing sky instead of earth... hmmm... something's not right here... So I push the bike away from me, and plan to land on my feet/ass. Awhile later, I see a white flash and hear a weird noise as my head hits the ground before any aforementioned bodypart, much to my surprise. It's a strang thing to hear your own head hit the ground. 
Anyway, apart from a little nausea and dizziness that went mostly away after an hour I seemed to be ok. We rode on. Fast forward to today, I went back out (solo this time) and was having a great time on the trails. I found a few that we hadn't ridden last weekend. While on a descending trail after a pretty lengthy hillclimb, I managed to simultaneously grab too much throttle and get offbalance, resulting in a dismount that I hadn't really planned on, ~40mph. Now I have a bruised left hip, and a pretty impressive road rash on my left arm leading up to a chunk of meat missing just under my elbow. It looks like something actually took a bite out of my arm, I have no idea where it went. I'm pretty lucky to have avoided any serious injury, particularly to my head. That is where I keep my brains, I'm still trying to remember that... 
ETA; Post up your own crash stories if you want. Or just call me an idiot, whichever you prefer. |
|
I too am an excellent crasher. I've always said "If it has wheels or an engine I can crash it."
They usually do happen too quickly to remember, but I got hit in an intersection by a truck while on my motorcycle. I distinctly remember it. I saw the truck, heard the tires shriek, and thought to myself. "Shit...this could hurt." Then I remember bouncing up on the hood, putting a huge dent in the hood with my elbow and falling to the ground with the wind knocked out of me. It wasn't fun, but it could have been some much worse. |
|
I have crashed way more than I care to think about or remember, mostly on sport bikes.
For me, I have always been keenly aware of the entire crash, once it starts, time seems to slow down and I remember every minute detail down to things like what number was on the number plate of the guy behind me as he dodged me as I was rolling on the ground. Probably the most important lesson I ever learnedon crashing, was to make fists with your hands and cross your arms over your chest when you crash. I was told this just after breaking a dozen or so bones in my hand, wrist, arm, and before spending nearly 6 months in casts. The guy that told me was loading my bike up for me at the track and showed me the surgical scars on his hands from scaphoid repair surgeries. |
|
I call it "rapid dismounting", and I'm very good at getting from comfy-on-the-saddle to balled up wailing like a pubescent girl in .1 second.
I never know what went wrong, just that it did. That's what riding buddies are for, to stand over you and say "Dude, that looked bad". |
|
Quoted:
I have crashed way more than I care to think about or remember, mostly on sport bikes. For me, I have always been keenly aware of the entire crash, once it starts, time seems to slow down and I remember every minute detail down to things like what number was on the number plate of the guy behind me as he dodged me as I was rolling on the ground. Probably the most important lesson I ever learnedon crashing, was to make fists with your hands and cross your arms over your chest when you crash. I was told this just after breaking a dozen or so bones in my hand, wrist, arm, and before spending nearly 6 months in casts. The guy that told me was loading my bike up for me at the track and showed me the surgical scars on his hands from scaphoid repair surgeries. I haven't done one on my sportbike yet, but I do remember every detail about what I was sure to be a lowside; In an effort to overtake a guy that I had been following for a full lap, I went past my braking marker and wound up entering a turn way hotter than I previously had, at about 100. I was shaking when I got into my pit. I just sat there staring at my bike. 
|
|
Quoted:
I call it "rapid dismounting", and I'm very good at getting from comfy-on-the-saddle to balled up wailing like a pubescent girl in .1 second. I never know what went wrong, just that it did. That's what riding buddies are for, to stand over you and say "Dude, that looked bad". That's pretty much what happened to me. I had recently learned how to do a wheelie and was acting stupid on the bike in the parking lot of my buddy's work..once the front end got light, the next thing i know im laying on my side and my helmet it scraping along the blacktop. My buddy just happened to look up in time to see the bike sliding on it's side throwing up sparks (must've looked really cool since it was at night) and into a dumpster.
Still not entirely sure what went wrong, probably a combination of breaking traction on the rear tire, me being a little off balance and probably surface conditions. But none of that is any excuse for doing stupid shit without frame sliders. Luckily the damages to the bike are very minor considering how bad it couldve been, and I guess it looked pretty sweet too.
|
|
Quoted:
I call it "rapid dismounting", and I'm very good at getting from comfy-on-the-saddle to balled up wailing like a pubescent girl in .1 second. I never know what went wrong, just that it did. That's what riding buddies are for, to stand over you and say "Dude, that looked bad". Hi
I've seen a few of Swingset's "Rapid Dismounts" His pubescent girl is spot on. 
Back in High School I was riding my old PE 175 back on some trails. There was this gnarly section where the trail plunged into a creekbed then right from the creekbed you had to climb this steep hill. Well I knew I had to get some momentum if my little 17 HP was ever going to have a chance at making it up the hill..... Seconds later I realize I'm laying on my ass in a patch of nettles. My killswitch is shattered, but luckily both levers are intact. I was ok myself, just a littled dazed, but I had the same feeling everyone else is reporting... "Wtf just happened?" That was one of my worst off-road crashes. |