I had a big OTB crash and am off the bike for the moment due to surgery. This gave me the time to do a compilation video of my crashes from the past season. I realized after putting this together, that almost all of my crashes were from OTB’ing. The first and second crash seemed due to bad line choice, the almost crash on the rock roll seemed to be from my body position getting too far forward after the repeated rock hits, and the last crash was from not having enough speed to clear the tech gnar. I was thinking about running both of my bikes in the low frame setting to slacken out the bike, putting radial DH tires on my enduro, enduro tires on my trail bike, and adding a 180mm spring to my enduro bike. These bikes will be terrible climbers but hopefully I will be crashing less. These are all purchase solutions, any other practical solutions?
by Mattman8879
25 Comments
So causally…”broke the head (fucking OFF) my radial bone” jeez bro!
Hell yeah! I haven’t gotten any surgery’s but this video reminds me of me! I’m always falling, wiping out and washing out.
How low are you? It’s hard to tell, but it did seem like your arms weren’t bent enough and you were leaning too far back with chest too high.
Maybe need a slacker bike
This doesn’t appear to be a bike issue per say, to your point it appears to be more line choice than anything…appears like you are going in blind, perhaps not looking ahead far enough then finding out you are too far over your skis after you hit a 90 degree rock. Doubt any bike mods will fix this one.
Who hasn’t OTB’d at Dakota Ridge lol. I’ve had some rough ones there
I have ridden Dakota and Floyd. Both are toaster sized rocks. Check your suspension settings.
What kind of bikes are you riding?
OTB is most typically accomplished by hanging too far off the back and catapulting when 💩 goes south. I can’t see any side angles, so I can’t say specifically that’s what happened. I’d advise to at least meet a coach and have them evaluate a ride and give you some tips. This will likely cost a bit, but you’re already paying the price for saving that money. It’s an inherently dangerous sport, including risk of permanent injury and death, if the waivers I constantly sign are to be believed. So, take it seriously. Getting in over your skis is supposed to be a learning experience, but if one insists on making the same mistakes and having the same crashes, luck runs out quickly.
I’ve crashed in that same spot you broke your elbow. I thought I seriously damaged something in my shoulder and limped down. Somehow ended up okay a couple weeks later, healed on its own.
What’s funny is that feature/drop is stupid easy but you need to stay far right and do NOT go left.
You were even further left than I went.
Heal up fast.
Are you riding clips or flats?
rough terrain man
some injuries may occur
If it makes you feel better OP I am sitting here at home about 30 mins after biting it OTB, I wish I had a video
While I was letting the adrenaline wear off I walked back to see what happened and from what I could tell I had too high a line into a rocky berm and the front sort of got bounced and then jackknifed. I’ve done that run at least 50 or so times without issue.
The lesson I took from it was lower front pressure a bit (I had just inflated it but did it by feel, I checked after and it was pretty high) and always take the first run slow!
It’s not about bike setup it’s about biting off more than your skill level allows. These crashes are rider error. Small stretches outside what you can currently handle lets you cement in the wins. Riding reckless and hoping for the best isn’t repeatable and doesn’t serve you in the long run.
You’re sending beyond your skill level. Slow down and work on technique.
From the couple of seconds I watched it seems your front wheel has magnets in it and is attracted to rocks. As my mate taught me when beginning speed is your friend your suspension doesn’t work correctly when going slow. Your front wheel is bogging down behind the rocks. Either choose better lines or hit the rocks faster.
These are some gnarly trails 🫡 I’m sticking to the jumps flow and light tech
I changed my S4 enduro to a 35mm rise / 760mm width handlebar. Your size may vary, I’m 6′. For me, it lessens the steep feel just a bit, I haven’t otb’d since. But I’m not a pro and this is not medical advice. Your skin must be made out of kevlar. Speedy heals
Prob line choice on the last one.. honestly some decent chunk and shit happens sometimes so who knows, hard to tell from the camera.
Don’t be afraid to dismount and walk the line or walk around if you aren’t feeling it.
I usually glance at the line if it seems gnarly and is a new trail. If I feel any bit nervous or shaky about it after walking it I pick the best line and put that in my pocket for next time. Most injuries I’ve seen are after someone backing back up to hit something they hesitated on.
Finally hit a drop on my favorite trail I ride all the time that I always walked. Never be TC to walk around (not saying that’s your case but sometimes pride gets in the way). My priorities while biking are not to get hurt followed by having fun. Safe biking = more days on the mtn.
Heal up soon!
I’ve ridden most of those trails dozens of times (all but VA canyon). Some poor line choice, but also Dakota and those parts of sluice all require an active riding style. Hard to tell from the videos but to me you look pretty far off the back and are more of a passenger than in a powerful, centered position. On a modern bike that rearward bias is not necessary, so my advice when you heal up is to work on balanced weighting. Be in the center of the bike.
That first one, where you’re squeezing your hand was a nice little flash back. Had my first wreck about 4 weeks back, and I jammed the absolute shit out of my index finger. It is still sore, but I’m almost back to 100%
Several of those bails you drove immediately into large rocks it appears. I think line choice or being aware of your line choice is something to consider. Looking far down the trail so you know where you’re going before you get there. Otherwise heal up buddy and good luck out there
Anyone wouldve went otb hitting that first rock.
If you are used to these trails I would bet that :
– your suspension is not serviced
– you were too tired to absorb and pass smoothly
If your front wheel just stop on a rock, it s because it is not possible to go further ( too much weight on the fork or too much brake)
You need to relax and let the bike work for you.
1st and 2nd are terrible lines. The last feature where you broke your bones does not appear to be “roll-able”. The rock roll feature i actually sorta liked because you bailed well but also looks like you need some speed there too. Speed can be your friend sometimes.
Definitely spend lots of money on bike parts. Then you will never crash. Guessing this is what you want to hear? Obviously you are just a bit shitty at riding bikes like me and most other people. Either get better or slow down ya big jerry!