Apologies for the poor video quality.
I’ve been riding for a year. I had a rough crash last Saturday that sent me face and chest first into the ground. Cant imagine how bad it would have been without full face and chest armor.
I try to learn a lesson from each crash. What is my lesson to learn here? I’m guessing it boils down to keeping my front wheel weighted when I can’t see what’s coming?
Is the trail design here problematic and worth mentioning to the trail builders, or is this simply a combination of too much speed and not enough skill?
Please be nice, im concussed.
Slightly higher quality vid: https://youtu.be/DhV-eTL9RIE?t=208&is=hZlaXfUx5vEv7x5w
Crash Analysis – Pizza’d instead of French Fry’d?
byu/somethingnotyettaken inMTB
by somethingnotyettaken
16 Comments
Don’t hit a jump at too low of speed.
Actually too slow probably
I think your questioning of the trail is a good indicator of what went wrong. You should be prepared for anything the trail might throw at you. If you can’t react to the trail you are riding outside of your skill level.
You rode directly into an obstacle. What exactly s your question?
It looks like you needed to unweight the front wheel. A good rider would probably manual that dip. Or maybe stay to left side of the trail, it looks flatter on that side.
Definitely not a trail building issue. Definitely a skill and experience issue.
That trail is poorly designed, as one would have to actively pump out the berm to transfer reliably to the left hand side of the trail. Meanwhile, the berm ends with an off camber divot where the trail itself should be.
Target fixation. You were looking at the area you did not want to hit and ran directly into it. Look where you want to go. Not at what you want to avoid
Can’t tell if there was a small jump. But your line tracked over to the right and then I think your front wheel just bit into whatever was over on the right.
Never rule out target fixation. Were you looking at your line and exit 20 feet down the trial… or did you steer towards the right of the trail because you were looking over there?
Keeping my front wheel weighted when I can’t see what’s coming?
Yeah, if you dont know the trail, its up to you to ride in such a way that you can break and avoid anything. If there is no visibility, you are going too fast in this case.
At least that’s my opinion. Some will blame trail builders that trails should be intuitive, but I don’t follow that to the extreme that trails can be ridden blind without care.
And yes, that means, sometimes, you need to ride up that hill twice, or figure out sections by foot. That’s how you get better
I think you got some solid advice already. I just want to point out that this type of crash is why I always wear a full face helmet. I look like a dork compared to the other 95+% of riders that don’t on trails like this, but I don’t care. Pretty much every single crash that sends you forward has a high likelihood of your hitting your jaw area on either the handlebars, tree, rock, or ground. Very easy to lose a tooth, break a bone, or get a concussion doing this even at low speeds.
slop it up boys. slop it up
Gravity is a bitch
Get photochromic glasses, very good in shadows.
The youtube was very helpful.
I mean you got off line and rode straight into a ditch at an oblique angle. I cant tell if your wheel came off the ground. But you tried to turn the bike back to the trail and brake while your front went into full compression. I can see your left index finger disappear at 3:35, which looks like you slammed on the brakes. This is what 99% of new riders do. Turning and braking like that will OTB you on flat ground. You didnt have a hope here.
Its not the trail design. Its you getting off the line because you didnt know the trail. You have to ride in a way where you can account for things like this. Give yourself some margin. Brake properly. Keep your eyes ahead so you can see it coming and dont go fast through things you are not visually sure of.
> I’m guessing it boils down to keeping my front wheel weighted when I can’t see what’s coming?
Ive not heard of this before. Your weight should be in your attack position just like every other time on the bike. So weight on your feet, slight pressure on your hands. That is always how you are going to be the most agile.
You can only go as fast as you can process the terrain. Otherwise, it’s just luck, not skill.
