Sometimes...you just gotta let the wheel fall...

[Planemo]

So yesterday whilst out for a nice ride I was at a crossing, stationary, and had made the decision to cross when the lights changed and a bike floored it away from the stop line, so quickly I decided to abort the cross. Rather than stop at the side of the road (I had only just moved off the pavement) and negotiate turning the wheel on the spot etc I decided to jump off the back of the wheel, catch the rear roll bar and get it out the road asap. It was all great at this point and I managed to get it back on the pavement. Then, because the wheel tilted a little and also had my hand trying to stop it going anywhere, it went and done what I can best describe as the 'Gotway dance', or for those of you who don't remember back that far, a similar situation to that when you aren't concentrating with the rear mounted handle on the MSX and it gets out of hand on you, merrily flailing around like an 80's kid on speed at a rave.

All I was thinking of was not dropping the Sherman. I am waaay too OCD about getting scratches on my wheels. So I hung onto that bastard for dear life. I managed it, but it was only about 30 mins afterwards that my index finger swelled up to twice it's usual size and I now have some rather nasty black bruising around the knuckle. I've no idea how it actually happened but it was definitely during the life-saving event. Further, it wasn't until I was de-kitting at home that I also noticed a bloody great bruise on my lower shin. Again, it could only have happened at the same time.

So the moral of the story is, sometimes you just gotta let it fall. I won't have any lasting injuries and my Sherman is still scratch free, but in hindsight...yeah...I wouldn't recommend always trying to keep a wheel upright just to prevent battle scars. Potentially it can break fingers 

[level9]

I think this is one of those situations where learning to ride backwards is very useful from a safety perspective. One should be able to stop and immediately reverse back all while maintaining full control of the wheel. I'm still working on it myself..  

[Planemo]

An interesting observation. Although I'm not convinced it would have helped in my case. Not only was it a 'drop kerb' ie there was an up-slope immediately behind me back onto the pavement (would need to therefore be pretty skilled at backwards riding to negotiate it from a dead stop), I also think it would have taken longer to ride it out ie come to a dead stop in the road, start reversing, negotiate the drop kerb etc. In my case, the wheel was actually still moving when I jumped off, grabbed the handle and yanked it back onto the pavement. A very quick solution and yet the bike was still in line with me when I and the wheel were away from the road.

Further, the whole scenario was avoidable. It was entirely my fault, I should have just waited for the next crossing light to appear but I thought I would get across in time. And I would have done, were it not for the bike virtually pulling a wheelie away from the lights as soon as the amber appeared with the green. So, in future, I will just wait and then this particular issue will never happen again.

On top of that, I can't think of another scenario in 3 years of riding where the ability to ride backwards would have been beneficial to me. Don't get me wrong, if someone was able to magically give me the skills to do it with zero effort/practice I would take it, but I really can't be bothered to learn a new skill that I personally don't seem to have any use for. It would probably be more worthwhile to me to hone my seated skills, but I can't even be bothered to do that given I like standing carving too much 

 

[Mike Sacristan]

I was at the skate park with my friend the other day. He doesn't own a wheel but sometimes I fool him into riding my MSX. He tried a slope that went up and then down... which is quite disorienting for new riders. He took a little fall off the wheel but still held on to the wheel as to not drop it. I told him to just let go of the wheel. The wheel spun up a little and gave him a nice mark on his abdomen. I've seen other riders try to grab the wheel and save it. If you can grab it and save it... sure... if it's tumbling or falling or tipping... it's usually too late.

Next time it will pull your finger off. I don't like scratching my wheels either.. or damaging them... but that's life.
I "try" not to drop them... and that's enough.

Also... as a guy who likes to ride backwards and fool around with skill work.... I doubt riding backwards would help much in a situation like this and could even cause more harm than good.

[meepmeepmayer]

When the wheel goes its own way, best to let it do its thing and save yourself. You tend to hurt yourself when you prioritize the wheel. My shins certainly can confirm, and we had people hurting their knee nastily and whatnot from trying to catch a wheel instead of cooly running off and letting it tumble alone. So unless it is heading straight for water or some other person, no need to get involved, it is going to fall over soon anyways.

Edited March 29, 2022 by meepmeepmayer

[level9]

One of the issues I have at least for myself - particularly around other people/vehicles - is that one has a certain social responsibility to maintain control over one's vehicle at all times (whether EUC or anything else). These things can be dangerous when uncontrolled. I've literally had burn marks/rubber embedded into my skin in such cases as jumping off and trying to grab the wheel. So speaking from experience . If you voluntarily jump off the wheel then you've effectively relinquished all control. Then attempt to regain that control by grabbing it, presumably in a moment of panic as the OP experienced. Never ideal. If you attempt to grab the wheel and miss, it may very well keep going - and into someone else and/or traffic and cause an accident. Plus, most wheels don't have nice roll bar/grab handles like the Sherman.

I'm also very much less than convinced that jumping off a wheel, then attempting to regain control by grabbing a wheel that is currently still undergoing forward momentum - away from you - and yanking it back to a previous position is somehow faster than just maintaining control and reversing. No way. It's easy to demonstrate. Just look on youtube at a pendulum maneuver. AFAIK nothing and no other maneuver can stop and immediately reverse faster than an EUC. But yeah.. it does require skill. 

[Planemo]

36 minutes ago, level9 said:

If you voluntarily jump off the wheel then you've effectively relinquished all control.

No I hadn't. My hand was already on the roll bar before my feet left the pedals.

And re social responsibility, it was the safest and quickest way to get me and the wheel out of the road. All I cared about was others. I wasn't letting go of that wheel for anything, injuries or otherwise. My one and only concern was clearing the road for others.

And I'm with Mike, reversing in MY situation would have taken backward riding skills that 99% of riders don't possess. And if control was lost on the sloped kerb whilst riding backwards, all manner of nasty shit could happen. The only nasty shit that could happen with my method was injuring myself, which I can deal with.

This is the only time since I started riding (3 years) that my wheel has spun out whilst I have had hold of it. I have never collided with anyone or anything, nor have I ever crashed. This is as a direct result of taking onboard a great deal of social responsibility as any of those culminations immediately put others at risk in the places I ride.

I'm aware of pendulums.

[Tawpie]

I'm in the "abandon the wheel" camp. But I've never had to make the choice when there were others around. Good on you @Planemo, and I'm glad your injuries aren't terribly serious.