400km and still waiting on first crash

[Shad0z]

 

you dont have to be superstitious. Its like when thinking about that something can fail. You try your hardest not to. But always somehow fail. youre usually better off not thinking about that you didnt fail yet.. Thats why i typed this comment.

On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 12:49 PM, Shad0z said:

but dont "wait" for your first crash. some have been lucky not crashing for 3000km. dont wait for your first crash. just enjoy  

 

 

[Ipsiain]

2 hours ago, Shad0z said:

well. scary. at what speed? at low speed i would call it more of a fall off. a "crash" you have yet to experience. the feeling of falling off and "crashing" to the ground

but falling off can still be as bad if unlucky

Id estimate between 5 - 10 mph. I crashed into the wall, ( euc and knee ) then fell onto the ground ( hand and forearm ) with enouph momentum to role and slide a tiny bit on my back ( had back pack on. ) It supose it was more of a tumble than a crash. But its by far the biggest incident ive had so far, and considering the thread title and the fact i started it I couldn’t wait to share! 

[ED209]

15 minutes ago, Shad0z said:

 dont wait for your first crash. just enjoy  

As long as you have some sort of helmet, wrist guards, knees guards, elbow guards etc, routinely check the condition of the wheel and ride sensibly you shouldn't  worry as much. ☺

[Ipsiain]

2 hours ago, mezzanine said:

It's funny, I'm the least superstitious person you'll meet, but even I would never post something about how I've not fallen off my wheel.  

Im not superstitious at all. There were some factors involved which were not there every other time ive ridden. Sunglasses on in low light, and i was following my girl on her bike. I guess it was too much for me. And i hit the deck like a mear mortal. At least i feel like we’ve got more in common now

[RooEUC]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 2:44 PM, Marty Backe said:

Some of my worst injuries occurred under 5-mph. I think you're operating under a false sense of security. But it seems most of us need to get injured before climbing on the safety bandwagon. I hope your first lessons-learned injury won't be too severe.

At under 5mph I wonder how much all your safety gear helped during those ultra low speed falls.  And I wonder how much experience you had with sports that require balance before you started into the EUC hobby.  I think age makes a big difference too.  I cannot imagine falling off my EUC at 4mph in the locations where I ride and sustaining my worst injuries.  We're talking about falling over at walking speed. It would have to be a very unlucky set of circumstances to do major damage.

I could break my back climbing the 3 small steps at my front porch but I'm not going to start wearing a helmet and back protector to pop to my mailbox every day because there's a very small chance of injury climbing those steps.  And I'm saying this as someone who has had skiing, snowboarding, motocross racing, power-kiting, push-bike, electric skateboard and road motorcycle accidents.  I think when I am your age I too will be fully kitted out with knee-pads, helmet, wrist guards and that little cape you wear at the back of your helmet to protect you from sun damage.  We get more fragile as we get older and that's something to consider when doing any sport that involves the risk of impact.  I already feel much less robust than when I was 19.  If I get an EUC that cruises above 20kph or just any kind of Gotway, I'm going to be wearing some gear.  But when riding my current EUC which cannot keep up with joggers, away from traffic, I feel ok without gear on.  

[Marty Backe]

31 minutes ago, RooMiniPro said:

At under 5mph I wonder how much all your safety gear helped during those ultra low speed falls.  And I wonder how much experience you had with sports that require balance before you started into the EUC hobby.  I think age makes a big difference too.  I cannot imagine falling off my EUC at 4mph in the locations where I ride and sustaining my worst injuries.  We're talking about falling over at walking speed. It would have to be a very unlucky set of circumstances to do major damage.

I could break my back climbing the 3 small steps at my front porch but I'm not going to start wearing a helmet and back protector to pop to my mailbox every day because there's a very small chance of injury climbing those steps.  And I'm saying this as someone who has had skiing, snowboarding, motocross racing, power-kiting, push-bike, electric skateboard and road motorcycle accidents.  I think when I am your age I too will be fully kitted out with knee-pads, helmet, wrist guards and that little cape you wear at the back of your helmet to protect you from sun damage.  We get more fragile as we get older and that's something to consider when doing any sport that involves the risk of impact.  I already feel much less robust than when I was 19.  If I get an EUC that cruises above 20kph or just any kind of Gotway, I'm going to be wearing some gear.  But when riding my current EUC which cannot keep up with joggers, away from traffic, I feel ok without gear on.  

My slow speed falls had nothing to do with age. One fall occurred when I was still using a cheapo $300 EUC sometimes at work. I dropped ~1-inch from a small curb onto some rough pavement. The wheel didn't have the power and cutout. Instant face-plant. Road rash on my palms (my wrist guards would have prevented that injury) and torn skin (and pants) on my knees (knee pads would have prevented that).

A 1-mph injury occurred early on when I was doing a 180 and I under-steered and immediately was sent straight to the ground. If I had wrist guards my hands wouldn't have hurt for the next month.

I really don't think age or fitness has anything to do with possible injuries. We are standing on a very unstable platform with someone limits out bodies ability to recover from inputs. Sometimes you're just going to hit the ground.

I can't count the number of slow speed falls I've had while trail riding in the mountains. My knee pads have saved my knees countless times.

YMMV. Good luck.

[Adumb]

Man in Afghanistan we must have crashed my mates wheel 50 times between us, luckily for me I personally only had 2 bad ones, luckier still it wasn't my wheel hah. 

[RooEUC]

1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

 

I really don't think age or fitness has anything to do with possible injuries.

 

If that's truly what you think then perhaps you should think a little more about it.  I can assure you that when a 14 year-old falls off a park bench onto some firm grass the risk of breaking bones, puncturing a lung or sustaining internal bleeding is much less than when an 87 year old does it.  Likewise, when a 50 year-old falls off a skateboard there's a substantially higher risk of injury than when an 18 year-old falls in exactly the same way.  When people are young they are more flexible, more supple, less brittle and heal faster than when they are 40, 50, 60, 70 years old.

Your examples of sustaining your worst injuries at sub 5mph are under quite particular circumstances.  You were still learning, you were riding a low power, less reliable EUC and you were hopping off or onto a curb.  When I was learning I fell off (or jumped off) at low speed many times.  I did not ever feel in danger of any injuries that would cause me tears.  The speed was just too low for me to worry about breaking a leg or losing teeth.  Now that I have a year under my belt and something like a decade of e-boarding behind me I am still ultra careful.  I have no desire to do tricks or ride backwards.  I never forget that my wheel could cut out.  In some of your videos you ride close to and past pedestrians in a way that I personally think is too close and not careful enough.  I have seen you act less considerate of others than I would be in the same environment.  I'm not saying you ride like a maniac (you absolutely don't) but you take more risks with other people's safety and comfort than I do, in my opinion.  I think it's hypocritical to be shaming me for not gearing up when I see videos of you riding around populated areas in shorts and a T-shirt - no knee pads, no wrist guards, no helmet, going forwards at speeds higher than I can go and even riding backwards, which adds further risk.

I'm sure you wear gear when you ride the Monster but I would hazard a guess that I would come out less hurt falling off my 18kph EUC without safety gear on than you would when falling off your 55kph Monster with safety gear on.  By choosing a much faster wheel you are already taking on more risk, helmet or not. 

I'm at risk when jogging through forest trails because I may trip over a tree root and fly head first into a sign post or tree trunk.  Still, I do not jog in a helmet and knee pads.  We take calculated risks every day we get out of bed.  One has to find a balance between safety, practicality and comfort in everything one does.  If we hurt ourselves, that's one thing.  But the more important thing is to not put others at risk, as they have not chosen to take the risk of injury at our doing.

 

 

[Marty Backe]

35 minutes ago, RooMiniPro said:

If that's truly what you think then perhaps you should think a little more about it.  I can assure you that when a 14 year-old falls off a park bench onto some firm grass the risk of breaking bones, puncturing a lung or sustaining internal bleeding is much less than when an 87 year old does it.  Likewise, when a 50 year-old falls off a skateboard there's a substantially higher risk of injury than when an 18 year-old falls in exactly the same way.  When people are young they are more flexible, more supple, less brittle and heal faster than when they are 40, 50, 60, 70 years old.

Your examples of sustaining your worst injuries at sub 5mph are under quite particular circumstances.  You were still learning, you were riding a low power, less reliable EUC and you were hopping off or onto a curb.  When I was learning I fell off (or jumped off) at low speed many times.  I did not ever feel in danger of any injuries that would cause me tears.  The speed was just too low for me to worry about breaking a leg or losing teeth.  Now that I have a year under my belt and something like a decade of e-boarding behind me I am still ultra careful.  I have no desire to do tricks or ride backwards.  I never forget that my wheel could cut out.  In some of your videos you ride close to and past pedestrians in a way that I personally think is too close and not careful enough.  I have seen you act less considerate of others than I would be in the same environment.  I'm not saying you ride like a maniac (you absolutely don't) but you take more risks with other people's safety and comfort than I do, in my opinion.  I think it's hypocritical to be shaming me for not gearing up when I see videos of you riding around populated areas in shorts and a T-shirt - no knee pads, no wrist guards, no helmet, going forwards at speeds higher than I can go and even riding backwards, which adds further risk.

I'm sure you wear gear when you ride the Monster but I would hazard a guess that I would come out less hurt falling off my 18kph EUC without safety gear on than you would when falling off your 55kph Monster with safety gear on.  By choosing a much faster wheel you are already taking on more risk, helmet or not. 

I'm at risk when jogging through forest trails because I may trip over a tree root and fly head first into a sign post or tree trunk.  Still, I do not jog in a helmet and knee pads.  We take calculated risks every day we get out of bed.  One has to find a balance between safety, practicality and comfort in everything one does.  If we hurt ourselves, that's one thing.  But the more important thing is to not put others at risk, as they have not chosen to take the risk of injury at our doing.

Nowhere in this entire thread did I shame you 

I don't think I'll have anything of value to add further to this topic - no doubt a relief to you.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

 My take home read of all this is that old people get hurt easier and worse than young people just because they are old, brittle and frail.  Young people resent old people gear shaming them even though they didn't, but they still think they did for some reason because everyone knows young people don't need no stinkin' safety gear because they aren't like old people unless they go as fast and ride like some old people in which case they should be more like old people and gear up if they want to ride recklessly like some old people do. 

Whew , I'm glad I will totally forget about this thread in about 20 minutes as it really didn't add much to my life and made me feel older reading it when I should be feeling like I'm 15 again while riding my wheel safely with safety gear on.  I'm so glad I'm not as old as Marty.  Yet.    But I hope someday I will be able to ride as well as he does over mountains, backwards, and around people.  Is it Friday yet?  I feel that it should be Friday.   Insert appropriate meme:

[Rehab1]

1 hour ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

My take home read of all this is that old people get hurt easier and worse than young people just because they are old, brittle and frail. 

I resent that statement! I am not frail!  ?

[The Fat Unicyclist]

2 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

I resent that statement! I am not frail!  ?

Personally speaking, it doesn't matter how old or frail I get, because I always ride wearing my zorb...

[Roo Williams]

Ridden fixed gear and singlespeed bikes in London and NYC for 13 years and only fell once riding whilst completely incapacitated and pulling the front brake as hard when I was a student. I rode hard and fast!

Owned an EUC for 3 months and had 3 big falls. Lots of skin, blood and now potentially walking around with a fractured foot after riding into various sharp dips in the road that I didn’t see. Usually around 20mph+, always landing on my left knee and left palm (my right foot is the one that stays on the EUC when stopping etc). Fortunately I always wear reinforced motorcycle gloves and a helmet at the least, and now knee pads if I’m doing more than a mile and above 15mph (after injuries). It’s worth investing - broken bones are gonna stop you riding!

[mezzanine]

I personally won't suggest that people wear safety gear anymore.  I thought it was helpful to make that suggestion in the past when I would read about people rationalizing not using protection, but I've lost interest in trying to save people from themselves.  Their decision is usually coupled with an obnoxious egotism that causes me to hope that they continue to avoid wearing safety gear.  If I read about someone being badly injured without safety gear, they won't get an ounce of sympathy from me in the future.  

[Adumb]

6 hours ago, mezzanine said:

I personally won't suggest that people wear safety gear anymore.  I thought it was helpful to make that suggestion in the past when I would read about people rationalizing not using protection, but I've lost interest in trying to save people from themselves.  Their decision is usually coupled with an obnoxious egotism that causes me to hope that they continue to avoid wearing safety gear.  If I read about someone being badly injured without safety gear, they won't get an ounce of sympathy from me in the future.  

It's true knowing how badly they could get hurt, brain damages, or even dead wont make them wear protection. It's not till after a crash that they realize the importance of PPE but by then it could be too late.

I was the same way as a kid, I rode my bike with no helmet and one day had a bad crash. I had a serious concussion, went in to a coma, and have minor brain damage. Ever since that accident I've wore a helmet but it could have easily been worse, I was lucky...others aren't. 

Like u, I used to tell others to wear protection but it was cause and more often than not I was resented for it. So now I just say nothing unless they are young kids then I give a quick lecture and show the scar on my head hah.  

[WARPed1701D]

14 hours ago, mezzanine said:

I personally won't suggest that people wear safety gear anymore.  I thought it was helpful to make that suggestion in the past when I would read about people rationalizing not using protection, but I've lost interest in trying to save people from themselves.  Their decision is usually coupled with an obnoxious egotism that causes me to hope that they continue to avoid wearing safety gear.  If I read about someone being badly injured without safety gear, they won't get an ounce of sympathy from me in the future.  

It's unfortunate that modern medicine cheats Darwin of his prize. I've often thought there should be a three strike rule at ER. First injury from stupidity and we patch you up the best we can and send you home to learn from your mistakes. Second time for the same kind of stupid injury we send you home with some bits still hanging off. Leave you with some scars and a limp as a nice reminder not to be an idiot again. Third time...out of luck. You are on your own. Maybe Darwin gets his prize and the gene pool gets cleaned up a bit.

As an ex motorcycle rider I used to get angry at all the riders around here in shorts, t shirt, and flipflops. No helmet. Now I just let it go and hope they don't/didn't get to procreate before their eventual fall. 

[RockyTop]

6 minutes ago, WARPed1701D said:

It's unfortunate that modern medicine cheats Darwin of his prize. I've often thought there should be a three strike rule at ER. First injury from stupidity and we patch you up for and send you home the best we can going you learn from your mistakes. Second time for the same kind of stupid injury we send you home with some bits still hanging off. Leave you a nice reminder not to be an idiot again. Third time...out of luck. You are on your own. Maybe Darwin gets his prize and the gene pool gets cleaned up a bit.

When I was a kid my Dad would say" If you try to make something idiot proof they will just build a better idiot."   I have kept that in the back of my mind for 40 years and he was unquestionably correct.  Darwin has been getting robbed. 

[dmethvin]

Age definitely makes it easier to get injured and harder to heal. Levels of hormones like HGH and testosterone go down from about age 30. HGH helps a lot with healing, and testosterone helps muscle mass. 

I went to another orthopedic surgeon yesterday to get a second opinion on my knee. He told me that my ACL isn't totally torn, the other doctor and the radiologist didn't see that. He did say that the ACL gets weaker and thinner with age which makes it easier to tear. The thing is, most people aren't doing crazy sports like EUC riding in their 50s and 60s. By this age they mostly do joint replacements for people like runners who have pounded down their joints to nothing. My physical therapy place is about a 50/50 mix of young people recovering from sports injuries and old people recovering from joint replacements. So I'm the odd one out! It's funny to watch their expressions when they ask "how did you get hurt" and I tell them I fell off an electric unicycle.

[Mark Lee]

3 hours ago, WARPed1701D said:

It's unfortunate that modern medicine cheats Darwin of his prize. I've often thought there should be a three strike rule at ER. First injury from stupidity and we patch you up for and send you home the best we can going you learn from your mistakes. Second time for the same kind of stupid injury we send you home with some bits still hanging off. Leave you a nice reminder not to be an idiot again. Third time...out of luck. You are on your own. Maybe Darwin gets his prize and the gene pool gets cleaned up a bit.

As an ex motorcycle rider I used to get angry at all the riders around here in shorts, t shirt, and flipflops. No helmet. Now I just let it go and hope they don't get too procreate before their eventual fall. 

It's not illegal to be stupid but it's always expensive and/or painful... 

[kour]

On 5/21/2018 at 7:02 PM, Ipsiain said:

Im not superstitious at all. There were some factors involved which were not there every other time ive ridden. Sunglasses on in low light, and i was following my girl on her bike. I guess it was too much for me. And i hit the deck like a mear mortal. At least i feel like we’ve got more in common now

and it's not just hitting the ground that can cause injury - sometimes your wheel will spin and shoot off in all kinds of crazy directions... including over your leg/arm etc...

[Rehab1]

7 hours ago, dmethvin said:

My physical therapy place is about a 50/50 mix of young people recovering from sports injuries and old people recovering from joint replacements. So I'm the odd one out! It's funny to watch their expressions when they ask "how did you get hurt" and I tell them I fell off an electric unicycle.

50/50 mix is exactly what I witnessed during my therapy sessions. My therapist worked with me one on one so I did not have a chance to interact with other patients. Parents and patients will still ask what happened to me. I now find it easier just to pull out my Iphone and turn on YouTube to show them an EUC in action. 

[alcatraz]

I think we deal with risk differently. No doubt with experience first of all. 

It's a good idea to have a thread here with accident stories from people. Like "read this before you get on an euc". Put a small list in each post "What I wished I had worn upon the time of the accident (realistically)" and "what i actually wore".

Take your own measures of precaution but at least be aware. That sort of approach wouldn't step on anyone's toes too much I think.

[Toshio Uemura]

On 6/5/2018 at 3:49 AM, RooMiniPro said:

At under 5mph I wonder how much all your safety gear helped during those ultra low speed falls.  And I wonder how much experience you had with sports that require balance before you started into the EUC hobby.  I think age makes a big difference too.  I cannot imagine falling off my EUC at 4mph in the locations where I ride and sustaining my worst injuries.  We're talking about falling over at walking speed. It would have to be a very unlucky set of circumstances to do major damage.

I could break my back climbing the 3 small steps at my front porch but I'm not going to start wearing a helmet and back protector to pop to my mailbox every day because there's a very small chance of injury climbing those steps.  And I'm saying this as someone who has had skiing, snowboarding, motocross racing, power-kiting, push-bike, electric skateboard and road motorcycle accidents.  I think when I am your age I too will be fully kitted out with knee-pads, helmet, wrist guards and that little cape you wear at the back of your helmet to protect you from sun damage.  We get more fragile as we get older and that's something to consider when doing any sport that involves the risk of impact.  I already feel much less robust than when I was 19.  If I get an EUC that cruises above 20kph or just any kind of Gotway, I'm going to be wearing some gear.  But when riding my current EUC which cannot keep up with joggers, away from traffic, I feel ok without gear on.  

Allow me one word based on a really bad experience I had last month:

Slow, low powered unicylces like the Ninebot E+ can be extremely dangerous AT ANY SPEED! Especially for advanced riders.

During „Golden Week“ (a long holiday we enjoy here in Japan during the first week of May) I rode my Tesla up the steepest off-road mountain paths for hours all the way into the deepest wilderness. It was utmost fun.

Now, the following day I rode my fully charged E+ for five minutes in my favorite park (a stylish wheel, low power, and I cruised slowly and with good manners among old people and small kids). And then there was this moderate slope I had climbed one hundred ?+ times before. And there it happened:

The worst face plant I ever had! Bleeding nose and forehead. Wasted kneecaps. ?Lucky enough I wore strong leather ? ?! It feels like someone suddenly pulled away the persian rug underneath your feed and someone else kicked you in the neck at the same time. Unbearable and in front of lots of amazed spectators. Woww! You smile and get up as quickly as you can, ...

... but we all know the after-pain ...

I just got sooo used to the Tesla’s divine power that carried me up the steepest hill for hours without ever failing me, that I completely overburdened my beloved E+ this next day. It is so easy to get used to the magic and expect the insane power of a high powered EUC. And you rely on that and trust it.

And this trust WILL be betrayed by an EUC with lower power at ANY SPEED!      Yes, it will!      So please be careful! Wear protective gear. Visualize your nose ? being your airbag! It bleeds! It bleeds at low speeds ...  Yes, it does!

But - of course - I still love my E+!

 

[Kael]

Girlfriend, who's a cyclist and works for a bike manufacturer, laughed at me last night when I suggested getting a full-face helmet for use with a new wheel that can do 30mph. Said she wouldn't be seen dead with me if I wore one; needless to say I felt a bit upset! Cue a debate on why cyclists don't wear full-face helmets except occasionally mountain biking and how supposedly cycling is just as dangerous as unicycling when hitting potholes. 

I'm thinking it prudent to invest in some kind of knee and elbow pads, for trickier rides. Hopefully something discreet, though. You never know when a nasty crash is coming, but I do admit, I got off relatively well until this winter when I had two accidents within a relatively short time frame. Stupid damp weather.

[ir_fuel]

19 minutes ago, Kael said:

Girlfriend, who's a cyclist and works for a bike manufacturer, laughed at me last night when I suggested getting a full-face helmet for use with a new wheel that can do 30mph. Said she wouldn't be seen dead with me if I wore one; needless to say I felt a bit upset! Cue a debate on why cyclists don't wear full-face helmets except occasionally mountain biking and how supposedly cycling is just as dangerous as unicycling when hitting potholes. 

You want me to send her the pictures of my girlfriend's chin being sewed up in E.R after she face planted on her race bicycle?

And how many cyclists can attain a cruising speed of 28 mph, no matter if it is uphill or downhill? Add to that the fact that a riding bicycle is inherently stable (try launching one at 30mph and look how far it gets without falling over. Now do the same with your euc when it is turned off) and an euc is inherently unstable (well it is very stable, until something goes wrong, and all of the sudden it becomes the complete opposite, no in between).

Fact is that (race) bike riders are inherently underprotected for the sport they exercise. Try crashing your bike at 30 mph and tell me how easy it was to jump off ... The thing is they are much less likely to crash than euc riders, hence the lack of protection they wear (remember all those discussions in the 80's about mandatory helmets in prof. cycling races. Lots of pro riders claimed it would be impossible because of the heat ... and now they all wear them).