How to fall properly

[Alj]

Assuming you got helmet, pads, all the protective gear, there is possibility that something is going to happen out of your control (like wheel cut off) and you are flying on your shoulder or landing on tarmac with you hip and dislocate shoulder, break collar bone or break your hip joint, the injury you cannot really protect yourself with any kind of gear.

So besides all the good stuff this is one really unpleasant things that would stop many people from owning the wheel..... unless you can develop some sort of muscle memory to handle that. For example i know how to fall from skis safely without any injury,  even better, my muscles know because every time i fall I do it the same way. Perhaps there is a way to fall from the wheel that for the big part eliminates risk of getting into ambulance and i may train this way somehow prior to getting into risky stuff.

 

I could not find any materials on the subject. Does anybody have any experience here? Or any useful information?

[Alj]

Probably borrowing tricks from skateboarders might help  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hundbrub8iQ

... and skaters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCLEt3hvHjM

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Alj

[Lindsey]

23 minutes ago, Alj said:

Probably borrowing tricks from skateboarders might help  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hundbrub8iQ

... and skaters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCLEt3hvHjM

 

 

There is no time to cope with unicycle power wheels.

When a low voltage cut or speed cut occurs, you lie on the ground without having time to cope with it in a second...so-called Superman...

Knees, wrists, faces, faces, wrists, and knees may be slightly wrong, but the unicycle electric wheel is literally one wheel,

so it is not as easy as it sounds to deal with the crisis.

You must have full-face helmets with basic knee and wrist protection and enjoy electric wheels...!!

Edited May 14, 2020 by Lindsey

[Alj]

1 minute ago, Lindsey said:

 

You must have full-face helmets with basic knee and wrist protection and enjoy electric wheels...!!

I do have, but like i said, all of that does not save your shoulders and collar bone. Need to have some safety plan, master some skills, otherwise this device will be banned sooner or later.

[Lindsey]

10 minutes ago, Alj said:

I do have, but like i said, all of that does not save your shoulders and collar bone. Need to have some safety plan, master some skills, otherwise this device will be banned sooner or later.

You're right.

I've told you about low voltage and speed cuts. It may be possible, as you say, at a very low speed.

Well, I don't think it's going to be easy to ban electric wheels.

[RockyTop]

@Alj I was going to direct you to the videos that you already found. While it is true that things happen too fast for most people having muscle memory of how to fall helps. Anything you can do to slow the fall down helps. If you know you are going to fall try to slow the wheel first. If you are about to hit the ground try to keep your elbows slightly bent. Stiff / locked arms break .  I have fallen many times and have controlled the fall every time. When things go wrong everything slows down for me. Many other people say the same thing while others just remember sliding on the ground. 

[Mike Sacristan]

I was riding with a friend the other day. We were riding off-road and there was a slope going up next to some stairs.
Stairs to the left. Dirt incline to the right of the stairs going up. And to the right of that... just a huge drop.
I was pretty worried about falling off the path... so I ended up hitting a rock that was sticking out of the stairs.

I was instantly teleported to the ground. I landed like I always do, outstretched hands/arms and in a plank position.
My right hand/arm/shoulder took a bit more of the fall than the left.

Falling off an EUC is very disorienting. One second I am riding and the next split second I am on the ground.
Zeeeeero time to react. I am beginning to wonder if my brain is turning off while I fall because I can never remember the actual fall.

For surviving crashes I would highly rate not being overweight and also having a strong body / strong shoulders. Some kind of athletic body.

If anyone is curious about falling you could always run at around 10 mph and then launch yourself into the air like Superman and see how you land. 
Or just drop from standing into a plank / push-up position.
Start from your knees maybe. It's scary stuff.

[Alj]

7 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

I was instantly teleported to the ground. I landed like I always do, outstretched hands/arms and in a plank position.
My right hand/arm/shoulder took a bit more of the fall than the left.

I hope your arm have survived.

7 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Falling off an EUC is very disorienting. One second I am riding and the next split second I am on the ground.
Zeeeeero time to react. I am beginning to wonder if my brain is turning off while I fall because I can never remember the actual fall.

This is true if you think with your brain. But when you pull your hand from the hot stove you normally do not think. You start to think after it already happened. People call it "muscle memory" but it is just declarative memory mechanism which is much faster than "thinking" and there are certain techniques known to develop it.

7 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

For surviving crashes I would highly rate not being overweight and also having a strong body / strong shoulders. Some kind of athletic body.

That ship probably had sailed for me as i'm going into my 5x being an office worker. the "Young people live forever" thing no longer works for some reason (some condition is missin).

7 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

If anyone is curious about falling you could always run at around 10 mph and then launch yourself into the air like Superman and see how you land. 

That is probably not very precise. I watch videos of falls and what people do is try to run first when they get off the wheel. THen it depends on how fast was your speed on the wheel vs your fastest running speed. If you can outrun your wheel speed you just do not fall. So launching yourself from the truck that goes 30mph is more precise analogy. And for any person who does not live forever it raises reasonable question, how can i make it to be not so scary and still be fun. instead of getting fun no matter what.

7 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Or just drop from standing into a plank / push-up position.
Start from your knees maybe. It's scary stuff.

Yes, out of suggested techniques (rolling/planking) i find that planking is more feasible to be trained.  (Rolling also has a big chance of hitting hip joint.) And it is also easy to practice/create a "muscle memory",  1. put all your gear on 2. jump into plank from standing like 100 times, rotating your head so you look to the side. (this will also show you how effective are your knee/elbow/wrist pads)  Repeat this exercise every couple months. That in theory should work, i wish there was some expert here on a subject to comment if it does.

[Mike Sacristan]

1 hour ago, Alj said:

I hope your arm have survived.

Thanks! No damage at all. Half way through the cruise we did a 90 minute workout at an outdoor gym. 

1 hour ago, Alj said:

This is true if you think with your brain. But when you pull your hand from the hot stove you normally do not think. You start to think after it already happened. People call it "muscle memory" but it is just declarative memory mechanism which is much faster than "thinking" and there are certain techniques known to develop it.

Yeah that's probably what got my hands out. 

1 hour ago, Alj said:

That ship probably had sailed for me as i'm going into my 5x being an office worker. the "Young people live forever" thing no longer works for some reason (some condition is missin).

And yet here we are riding on a single wheel lol. 

1 hour ago, Alj said:

That is probably not very precise. I watch videos of falls and what people do is try to run first when they get off the wheel.

I have seen that as well and that seems to be the case when people know they are going to fall. Normally they will take a step or two and then try to get down on their knees/kneepads and then slide it out into a crazy corkscrew. 
 

1 hour ago, Alj said:

 

THen it depends on how fast was your speed on the wheel vs your fastest running speed. If you can outrun your wheel speed you just do not fall. So launching yourself from the truck that goes 30mph is more precise analogy. And for any person who does not live forever it raises reasonable question, how can i make it to be not so scary and still be fun. instead of getting fun no matter what.

Yes, out of suggested techniques (rolling/planking) i find that planking is more feasible to be trained.  (Rolling also has a big chance of hitting hip joint.) And it is also easy to practice/create a "muscle memory",  1. put all your gear on 2. jump into plank from standing like 100 times, rotating your head so you look to the side. (this will also show you how effective are your knee/elbow/wrist pads)  Repeat this exercise every couple months. That in theory should work, i wish there was some expert here on a subject to comment if it does.

Haha 30 mph... there is no saving us lol.

I just suggested 10 mph as something more feasible... and even then... it would suck landing and be extremely painful and probably cause an injury.

 

[Daley1]

ive fallen off going slow,going fast and riding backwards and most are unexpected with small to no warning.The one thing that keeps me riding is the use of good quality safety gear. Cheap slider on a wrist guard broke my hand so everything is good quality now.U cannot train for every unexpected event but u can mitigate it by being strong flexible, and geared up!.

[Mike Sacristan]

This is what we do when we have too much spare time.
Which is way too often.
16 minutes in.
We can add that to the list of "ways that we will never fall". 

 

[Alj]

27 minutes ago, Mike Sacristan said:

We can add that to the list of "ways that we will never fall". 

 

Nice one. This requires either leather jacket or spine hardshell to be added to the gear list.

[Rehab1]

42 minutes ago, Mike Sacristan said:

This is what we do when we have too much spare time.
Which is way too often.
16 minutes in.
We can add that to the list of "ways that we will never fall". 

 

Informative fun video! I could have benefited from your rolling technique. 

[Mike Sacristan]

1 minute ago, Rehab1 said:

Informative fun video! I could have benefited from your rolling technique. 

Glad you enjoyed!

And maybe, maybe not! We could just as easily end up diving onto the top of our heads doing that kind of stuff lol. 

It's fun to roll around on grass a bit though... and educational as well. Things we took for granted as children.

[mrelwood]

The only time I’ve gotten hurt with an EUC for more than an ankle bruise was at around 20km/h. Since the wheel sank in a soft gravel pit, my balance was way forward and despite being able to get two “running” steps, I wasn’t able to get my feet under me. Trying to do so was probably bad in this specific instance, as I then fell down partially on my shoulder as my other hand was still waving for balance. I think.

 Since then I have actively tried to mentalize myself not to try to desperately stay on my feet. I wear gear so I plan on utilizing them instead and soften the fall to a slide.

Being realistic, my physical shape isn’t going to change much for the better due to a medical condition, so practicing or preparing for a roll would most likely end up quite badly for me.

[travsformation]

20 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

I was instantly teleported to the ground.

Falling off an EUC is very disorienting. One second I am riding and the next split second I am on the ground.
Zeeeeero time to react. I am beginning to wonder if my brain is turning off while I fall because I can never remember the actual fall.

That's my experience too...one second you're riding, the next you're on the ground.

@Alj I was intentionally testing the acceleration limits on the V8 once (from walking speed) and it cut off...even though I knew it was likely to happen, it just happens too fast...when the gyroscope switches off you have two forces working in conjunction to make sure you slam into to ground as fast as possible: your head and upper body heading quickly towards the ground and your feet and lower body being pulled backwards by the wheel (which is no longer supporting the force you're applying to it), which accelerates the speed of the faceplant. I was barely able to put one hand in front of me, which slid inwards, with me ending up laying flat on the ground with my chin resting on my arm. Wrist-guards and just barely fast enough reflexes saved the day (while stupidity caused the situation in the first place). 

Imagine standing on a log and leaning forward beyond the limits of physics because you're wearing a bungee jumping harness and being sustained by a rope. A cutout is the equivalent of suddenly cutting the rope 

The lesson being: Don't think about what you can do to minimize damage when it happens, but what you can do not to find yourself in that situation.

Another fall that comes to mind was when I failed to notice a speed-bump at 40+ km/h. One minute I was riding, the next I was at least 4m from the speed-bump, laying sideways on the asphalt, wondering what the hell had happened. Ended up with my head resting on my shoulder, with my arm extended in front of me. Wrist guards and elbow guards saved the day (as well as my knee guards and backpack). Got a bit of road rash on my side and a bruise on the base of my fibula, but in my book that's walking away unscathed from what could have been nasty.

I've said this before in other threads, but I think it's worth repeating: there's no amount of preparation that can prevent/minimize injuries in any fall. Certain techniques can help in certain situations, but the nature of EUC falls involves so much variety and unpredictability that's it's virtually impossible to be generally prepared. You can execute a judo roll in certain falls, you can apply skateboard falling techniques in others, but you can't develop muscle memory for scenarios you can't recreate (and wouldn't even think of), whether it's clipping a pedal, getting thrown off from a nasty wobble (not knowing which direction you'll be thrown), falling after swerving to avoid a jay-walking pedestrian...

The best thing you can do is to try to prevent falling in the first place. Be aware of your limits, don't take unnecessary risks, don't over-estimate your skills, develop environmental awareness so you know at least where you don't want to fall (curbs, parked cars, guardrails, lamp posts, etc) and which direction to bail if you sense you're losing control. 

I'm currently a bit paranoid about my shoulder, which I dislocated several months ago. It's brought to my attention the fact that while our instinct is to raise our arms to protect our face, upper extremities are pretty weak in terms of absorbing the force of an impact...the force is transferred upwards, so if you don't break your wrist, you might mess up your elbow, and if not, your shoulder and so forth. I'm currently inclined to think that although running off a bail is a natural instinct, trying to get that second foot in front of us might be a big mistake and it might be better to concede, let that first knee buckle, lean back and slide on our knees, like Chooch did here:

It might work in certain situations, but my overall impression is that that's just wishful thinking. As Mike said, there's not much you can do to prepare for things that you don't have time to anticipate, so my advice is to be as cautious as possible, not push your limits, be aware of your environment and GEAR UP, which will likely spare you a lot of pain no matter how you fall. 

[Josh still has got it]

Sadly I didn’t see an answer just more falling sucks on something that is doing everything it can to keep you on it.  After falling a lot the biggest fall I had was riding in Los Angela’s towards dusk and being you can’t ride on sidewalk, which in la I wouldn’t recommend because the transitions suck between blocks.  Plus the people freak out when you are on it.  I can vouch for a crash when someone ran up on me since I was having tech issues and found safer to be off the high traffic road while I was figuring it out.  Back to the car that thought I shouldn’t be on the street since I escaped the circus and he made a point to take me down.  First pass he screamed something at me, I was disoriented but it didn’t phase me.  I gave up from being tired flipped around and by chance even though I didn’t exchange words or finger etc. When his mirror brushed my hand as I’m on a large shoulder, he caught me way off guard and my and at 10 to 15 mph I attempted to dismount since the wheel went to wobble but rolled instead. Everything slowed down during the fall and as I hit the ground sliding the only thing that helped was giving up control over the fall and roll. The only thing that really got hurt was when you try to escape the wheels clutches during a crash you realize quickly you can only crumble.  Once I relaxed my body after hitting instantly it went from super painful trying to control, to I may or gotten a single scuff during my lane and a half roll past my wheel.   Not hitting head is important helmet wrist guards for no broken wrists   Knee pads for sliding jacket for rolling shin guards for long rides on kingsong 16x.  It’s been so damn hot in Tucson there’s no riding for me lately but once things cool down I’m stoked to try to master the art of crumbling. 

 

[Mike Sacristan]

We fall how we fall. Falling off an EUC is really something... I was riding the other day after one hell of a storm. The asphalt was beginning to dry up so I grabbed my EXN and cruised, bought some snacks, etc... dropped it off at home and then went riding in the city to see what is happening these days on a Saturday night. Well... not much since all the pubs, etc now close at 10:30 PM. At a bit past midnight I started making my way home, rode under a tunnel and was going to transition to my Speedy McSpeed bike path. Then I hit the mud patch to rule all mud patches. I looked down to see if it would end soon but it was so damn long... the wheel was sliding out and I corrected it only to slide towards the other side... so on it went in a slow wobble left to right on mud until it shot out to the left and I fell like a pancake to the right.

So there I am sliding on mud and I hear a thud as my forehead hits the curb. Lovely. My first thought was... wow that better not leave a dent. Once I stopped sliding I put my hand to my forehead and there was no gash or anything like that but a tiny bit of blood. I got up, picked my wheel up off the path and moved to the side. A guy on a bicycle asked me if I was okay and handed me my shredlight that I was holding in my hand (and kept holding all the way down and sweet baby jesus that hurt my index finger).

So here I was like not really expecting to fall... then I had a phew seconds of oh long johnson wobble wobble and then BOOM. Sliding on the ground. No back flips no front flips no somersaults and no barrel rolls. You just go down.

Run as fast as you can and have someone kick your legs out from under you. That is how you will fall. It truly is something...

Or... funny story... apparently the Ninebot One E+ can be powered off while riding! Give it a shot! At any speed I dare you!

[Tasku]

Most of us do not ride during rain for good reason. After a proper rainstorm mud will appear, guaranteed. You just never know where the mud will be.
 

2 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

We fall how we fall. Falling off an EUC is really something..

I also thought I could always pull a stunt and roll out and slide it and what not..
But in total loss of control it will be whatever part of your body is closest to the ground, that will slam in. Face, hip, wrist, elbow, knee or shoulder..

Some few weeks ago, was still beginning to summer, chilly weather, so jacket felt good choice to wear.

Felt like the ground was yanked out of my feet and I slided the ground. That what my sudden fall was like.
Full force fall to shoulder, maybe somewhat soften the blow with kneeslide followed with wrists. As my face bounced on the ground, it felt like a long moment. There was no time for anything. Just slam! There you are swiping the floor.

Sliding on sandy- and rocky-path tend to stop sometime, so I just stood up and thought: "Oh man, is my jacked f*d?"

 

Let's see.. Time for Damage report:

Turns out the Lazy Rolling armored jacket... was dusty. Had to wipe it off to get it clean. It could handle rocks and full fall, good buy. Still in usable condition.

Helmet (Arctic Poc SL Spin) got scratches, I was so happy for that helmet, love it. Half my face would have been bloody scraped without the helmet.

Kneeguards, got new scratch marks but (Leatt dual axis) still functional. Made me wonder, if some of the force would have hit me from side, and those kneebraces start to sound way more interesting.

Jacket had elbow and shoulder protection, level 2 D30 and that kevlar.

Wheel had roll.nz cover. No damage to the device. I am soo recommending one (roll.nz cover). I used a patch to cover a broken part. One of those cloth fix-patches. Brushing some dust away and good to go. Later on hand washed it.

Wrist still hurts tho. Still looking for gloves  that would have better wrist protection.. At the time of the fall I had motorcycle gloves, (I had Rev-it touring gloves, usable condition) they did not give me best protection to my wrist. But walked away with swollen wrist from that fall.
 

All because of distraction and a bump in the road that I missed.

Got 8000km now and purchased new body protection gear to wear during summertime (or under clothes).

I calculated that my costs run about 35 cents per kilometre right now.

Kneebraces are expensive, what braces are you people using?

Edited June 14, 2021 by Tasku
styling and typos

[Mike Sacristan]

10 minutes ago, Tasku said:

Sliding on sandy and rock path tend to stop somepoint, so I just stood up and thought: "Oh man, is my jacked f*d?"

 

Sounds like me except it is usually my wheel. I was mostly worried about my limited edition green slim cargo though. I got a slight rip in the sleeve of my medium sized Green Armored Jacket... I will switch to my size Small now anyway and use the Medium for winter (thick sweater under). Stupid me for wearing it during summer.. the elbow pad rotated when I fell.

I work part time at Lazyrolling so I have infinite jackets and hoodies. I ride every day and have crashed the stuff quite few times.. first time I got a rip. The Leatt dual axis are great. I have never had any shearing at the knees when falling but my ankles sure got a nice twist when the EXN + Clark Pads + Spiked Pedal Plates detached from my feet. I felt it the next day going down the stairs but now 3 days later I am all good.

Petra fell 2 weeks ago riding into a pothole. that she did not see. Also distracted and playing around carving. My heart sank into my stomach when I saw her face hit the ground. I wear leather gloves and they are medium friction. Her gloves are pretty high friction and pulled her hands down to her waist... exposing her face to the ground. We have been looking at some decent gloves for her. Her right hand (dominant) took a beating as well as her wrist and fingers. It is easy to say "I want fingerless gloves because it's so hot" but I asked her... if you were forced to fall now... what gloves would you choose? And then all of a sudden motorcycles gloves with scaphoid protection and a medium friction sliding puck became attractive.

Some riders simply attach wrist guard sections to their motorcycle gloves so that they don't have to choose between mangled fingers or broken wrists.

So again... first rule on how to fall properly. Don't fall lol. But if we end up dressed for war and constantly fearing a fall then maybe it's time to heal up a bit. I usually cool down for a few days or weeks after a fall since I know I won't be able to handle the next fall as well. Lucky I healed just in time from my fall at the skate park 3 weeks ago landing on my ass.

[Tasku]

49 minutes ago, Mike Sacristan said:

I work part time at Lazyrolling so I have infinite jackets and hoodies.

I have lazy rolling hoodie too. I had hopes it would have been good during hot weather, but it just was too hot.
@Mike Sacristan Could Lazyrolling update recommended temperature for clothes in site? 
Like range: -10- (+)15 Celsius for armored jacket.
For armored hoodie I feel like +12 - 19 Celcius. But for that recommend I would combine it with wind resistant slim jacket in some cases.
That would make it much easier when picking season item. 
I have not found as much use to hoodie as I have for the jacket. Combining hoodie with slimmest possible wind resistant jacket opens wider range of options.
Both too hot for the hottest days of summer, in retrospect I should have gone for the slimmer jacket..

My new summer gear is armored shirt, with level 2 3D0.
It is nice cause I can still put t-shirt top of it.
During hottest summer days I can make pitstop to lakes and dip the t-shirt. Take the lake with me 

I totally forgot to mention that I carry medikit and "icepack" with me all times.
The "icepack" is something pharmacy sells, there is fluid and "rocks", break the waterbag and you get icepack. Cold treatment can reduce swollen and bruising considerably when used at scene of incident. Considering how common getting swollen joint during fall is, these things only cost few euros.

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Tasku

[Mike Sacristan]

6 minutes ago, Tasku said:

I have lazy rolling hoodie too. I had hopes it would have been good during hot weather, but it just was too hot.
@Mike Sacristan Could Lazyrolling update recommended temperature for clothes in site? That would make it much easier when picking season item. 

Good idea! I will suggest it to the team.
I wore the cotton hoodie for the first time today. I prefer the Performance Hoodie with the breathable mesh.

It's gonna be +27C later this week... that will be the ultimate test. For Sweden anyway.

 

[OldFartRides]

Tell Petra I hope she feels better. You too.

Best,

P.S. I could watch her tumble all day.

[supercurio]

5 hours ago, Tasku said:

As my face bounced on the ground, it felt like a long moment. There was no time for anything. Just slam! There you are swiping the floor.

Helmet (Arctic Poc SL Spin) got scratches, I was so happy for that helmet, love it. Half my face would have been bloody scraped without the helmet.

Thanks for the report on the POC Artic SL Spin, I'm glad it worked just as hoped for you, despite you were not riding on... snow!

Edited June 15, 2021 by supercurio

[Tasku]

6 hours ago, supercurio said:

Thanks for the report on the POC Artic SL Spin, I'm glad it worked just as hoped for you, despite you were not riding on... snow!

Dunno, sure feels like powder smooth rides. Some of that money that I used to spend overseas snowboarding down the hill, I spent into EUC. It has that downhill vibe to it. Nothing beats that fresh powder and hill down but this is something very easy to get into, almost everyday during off season.

Most of my gear is motocross or motorcycle level.  For the helmet, I could not find as light helmet as Poc Arctic Spin SL. Most motorcycle helmets also block my hearing way more than I want, not the case with this helmet.

And I know this is a long browse for many of us, the helmet. Gear you are not happy with, ends up not used. 

Also I could not fit motorcycle or motocross helmets to my backpack with such ease. Did I mention the air vents that you can toggle? Cold or hot, these air vents rock! The jaw part can be installed with low detach, strong force detach or permanent install. If I remember right this helmet has triple layer protection, with gel. Only thing motocross helmet would have better, would be more material in chin area. This model is bit 2019 model so if anyone want something that comes easy to grab everytime you go out, look on the "-50%" sales cause you find this model out there.

Hopefully someone else finds a helmet, of *any kind on their head. That's my 2 cents of this, and I get it, that one look is not for everyone, but I hope you find yours.