To anyone questioning wearing body protection. My POC VPD backpack is likely the only reason I was able to get up and walk away from a crash that broke 3 ribs and caused sever shoulder trauma. I’m upping it once I’m back on the bike adding flank and chest from now on.
by helmetgoodcrashbad
4 Comments
what sort of riding got you those shiners?
yeah, I have old school upper body fox jacket ( hard panels on front, back, shoulders and full arms). It’s bulky, I get VERY sweaty and etc etc. I was questioning the need of shoulder plates as they are prob one of the most cumbersome part of. Then I OTB-ed and landed on my shoulder with full 210 something lbs of my own weight. I had shoulder sore a little with no visual issues. My friend same day took very similar OTB and ended up with fracture and connecting tissues pull.
The more protection you can get – the better it is at the end.
This is obviously setup for the park only. I have pretty light protection for normal trail riding, but crashes there are also less intense.
Another thing that grew on me recently is detachable chin bar helmets. Not many manufacturers are making those now. But it’s nice to climb up with normal helmet and then send down park type of DH run with full face config. I only use full DH rated detachable helmet, I don’t trust lightweight one since the weight penalty not that bad.
But at the end of the day – you never know. Some of my worst accidents happened on mellow stuff when you don’t pay attention cuz it’s mellow and not wearing much to protect you.
It all depends on what type of riding and your skill level though. If you’re doing an all day all mountain ride, even if the downhill bits are black diamond, wearing full protection gear usually isn’t feasible with the climb up. Same with XC trails, you can get beat up pretty good on small features or simple mistakes at speed but you have to manage protection vs heat/exhaustion and everyone has different levels of comfort.
Where did the ribs break? On the front, or on the rear where the bruising is?
I cannot stress this enough – you must keep mobile while recovering, and do some exercises while they heal, or scar tissue will make it almost unbearable- try [THESE](https://youtu.be/PQwlu7FVJPY?si=alGVgsinySLizvvH) . It’s counter intuitive, as it hurts to breathe, so you breathe shallower, but that can lead to other serious complications. Also don’t watch comedy, as laughing hurts. A lot.
Leatt 5.0 3DF impact shorts may just have been high enough on the side to help with that side bruising…
Heal fast and you’ll be back out shredding in no time.