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    First real MTB crash… what did I do wrong here?

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    12 Comments

    1. speedyspaghetti on

      A little more context here – UC Santa Cruz, Sweetness trail (for those who know). Ibis Ripmo AF, Assegai up front, Dissector in the back. I’ve owned this bike for 3 years now so I’m comfortable with it.

      This is my 2nd washout in the last 2 weeks (first one I caught on video though, and hardest crash) and I’m not sure what I am doing wrong. I feel like I try to keep my weight pretty centered, but I do always feel like the long and slack geo of the Ripmo keeps my front wheel pretty out in front regardless. I’ve hit this trail quite a few times before and I somehow just lost the front wheel and slid out.

      Luckily, nothing majorly injured, just some bruising (mostly to my ego), but I’d like to find out what I’m doing wrong so that I can improve and ride fast without being scared of doing this again.

    3. StevesRoomate on

      It’s hard to tell from the video but the trail doesn’t look super loose right there. I’d also wonder what your tire pressure is. Your arms look pretty tensed up right before you crashed and it looks like you pulled or had a twitch to the right, which initiated the whole thing. Are your bars too wide?

    5. Imposter287 on

      I’m no mountain biking expert, but after that bump in the trail it looks like there’s a cloud of dust from the front wheel. My guess is you’re riding too tense and are too hard on the brakes, probably panicked and grabbed a handful of front brake and locked up the front, causing that slide. I would lower front tire pressure a bit and try not to death grip the handlebars, let them self correct a bit.

    6. Meadowlion14 on

      Are you sitting or standing? It looks like you may be in an odd position over the bike but the FPV makes it hard to tell.

    7. 20mins2theRockies on

      You have the incredibly annoying jump alert turned on. It obviously distracted you…

    8. othegrouch on

      I think you kept your weight too far back. It also seems like the rear bucks you and you turn your bars hard to the right (about 7-8 seconds in) I would try to stay forward, keep weight on the front wheel and play with the rear suspension, maybe slow the rebound?

    9. iride93 on

      It’s really not possible to tell from this camera angle. Most likely it was your body position and/or brake input. But you can’t see body position from a chest cam.

    11. contemporaryAmerica on

      You seem to be moving your hips well behind your seat given I can see it in the video. And those drops aren’t large enough to warrant that… Suggests your weight is way too far back for a trail like this. You likely need to commit your shoulders/chest into the downhill and put weight on your front wheel.

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