How to Fall

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

Is there a way to keep this topic uncluttered?  I think the forum should come up with some essential topics with minimal content that is considered essential.

For example:

-Protective Gear.

-Learning to ride.

-Learning to Fall.

https://youtu.be/tUJwUUAiT4o

https://youtu.be/gV2xiTodph8

-How to prevent cut-outs.

 

[Marty Backe]

Make sure you don't invite @Hunka Hunka Burning Love.  Oooops 

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

lol

 

[dpong]

 

[Marty Backe]

26 minutes ago, dpong said:

 

That's perfect. I loved that, including the slow-mo 

[steve454]

18 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

That's perfect. I loved that, including the slow-mo 

And the helmet flying off.

[who_the]

Great topic, was just thinking a similar thought.

Pre-EUC, I was always taught to roll during a fall to mitigate the initial impact and spread out the force.

During a couple of recent falls in cutout-style EUC crashes, though, I banged my left shoulder pretty good during the roll. Yes, I probably could have tucked a bit more and executed the roll a bit better, but nonetheless it was, shall I say, painful. For a while.

I also noted during the famous Russian-freeway-cutout-at-top-speed-in-the-snow-on-an-MSuper-V3 video that the rider didn't roll, but instead splayed his hands forward and basically slid the fall out on his wristguards and kneeguards and appeared to escape without injury.

Obviously, without wrist or knee protection, and possibly without the snowy surface, things wouldn't have worked out so well.

But my question is: Roll or slide? Or something else?

[Marty Backe]

55 minutes ago, who_the said:

Great topic, was just thinking a similar thought.

Pre-EUC, I was always taught to roll during a fall to mitigate the initial impact and spread out the force.

During a couple of recent falls in cutout-style EUC crashes, though, I banged my left shoulder pretty good during the roll. Yes, I probably could have tucked a bit more and executed the roll a bit better, but nonetheless it was, shall I say, painful. For a while.

I also noted during the famous Russian-freeway-cutout-at-top-speed-in-the-snow-on-an-MSuper-V3 video that the rider didn't roll, but instead splayed his hands forward and basically slid the fall out on his wristguards and kneeguards and appeared to escape without injury.

Obviously, without wrist or knee protection, and possibly without the snowy surface, things wouldn't have worked out so well.

But my question is: Roll or slide? Or something else?

I say roll. But to be honest, every time that I've crash I had no time to 'think' about how I should fall. Unless you practice rolling all the time and it becomes instinct, I don't think you can necessarily control it.

[Marty Backe]

58 minutes ago, steve454 said:

And the helmet flying off.

That's funny, I didn't notice the helmet. Looks like the strap wasn't tied - no point in wearing a helmet unless it's strapped on.

[dpong]

What strap?

I agree you can't think about rolling (when you are falling) unless you were already trained to do so.  As silly as my video looks, I am fortunate that I was actually trained to do so.  Sports as a kid, including American football, Judo, Wrestling, etc., have me instinctually making a ball of myself for rolling, if nothing else.  My serious "faceplate", I didn't have time for rolling, but at least I avoided the stiff-arm that is instinctual unless you are trained out of it.  I didn't actually plant on my face, but closed up my body position and twisted to a side fall.  I'm not claiming expert status, but learned decent instincts to ball up and roll. 

If you are going to fall, embrace the fall, don't try to stop it (with stiff-arm) and try to make a ball and roll if you can.

Fetal position is good for something after all. 

[Marty Backe]

8 minutes ago, dpong said:

What strap?

I agree you can't think about rolling (when you are falling) unless you were already trained to do so.  As silly as my video looks, I am fortunate that I was actually trained to do so.  Sports as a kid, including American football, Judo, Wrestling, etc., have me instinctually making a ball of myself for rolling, if nothing else.  My serious "faceplate", I didn't have time for rolling, but at least I avoided the stiff-arm that is instinctual unless you are trained out of it.  I didn't actually plant on my face, but closed up my body position and twisted to a side fall.  I'm not claiming expert status, but learned decent instincts to ball up and roll. 

If you are going to fall, embrace the fall, don't try to stop it (with stiff-arm) and try to make a ball and roll if you can.

Fetal position is good for something after all. 

I wonder if your instinct changes depending on the surface? Rolling on grass is one thing, but how about concrete?  You did have a very natural roll going for you 

[dpong]

My 'faceplant' was on asphalt.  The grass-roll is hilarious.  Instinct "ain't" got time to think. 

PS. I ride slow for a reason...

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

You have to roll no matter the surface and the only way is to practice. 

When you are ridding you have to get on and say to yourself "be reddy to roll". If you are just cruising looking at the butterflies well you will face plant. Granted if you are crushing at 8 mph you coul posibly relax and if something happened no if deal. But if you are flying you need to change your attitude to hyper focus and ready to roll at anytime because it's one wheel running on bateries, and it will fail because it's a machine and they will fail eventually. 

 

[Mono]

On 2017-4-22 at 1:40 AM, who_the said:

But my question is: Roll or slide? Or something else?

Good question indeed. Football pros almost always slide. My hunch is that sometimes may be just not enough time left to initiate a roll, so rolling might only be the best option if you can plan ahead enough in time.

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

5 hours ago, Mono said:

Good question indeed. Football pros almost always slide. My hunch is that sometimes may be just not enough time left to initiate a roll, so rolling might only be the best option if you can plan ahead enough in time.

 Sliding is just asking for severe abrasion and head impact. Obviously if you where not ready to execute the roll, you got to do the face plant slide. If you roll, you will land on your feet and walk away. anything else is a skin donation, sprain or break. But like riding, you need to learn how to do it. See videos for how to do it. See first posting on this thread.

[Mono]

1 hour ago, Carlos E Rodriguez said:

See videos for how to do it. See first posting on this thread.

I actually watched the vids and I really like them (I also was training Ju-Jutsu for a year or so, so I have some basic idea of what a roll is supposed to look like, but I also know there are other techniques in case). These guys in the vids are artistic pros, trained for hours and hours and they plan very well ahead in time what they will do. Therefore I couldn't convince myself that a roll is what I should do as an emergency measure. On the other hand like in the first vid after stumbling during a run off, the roll seems a perfectly viable technique.

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

59 minutes ago, Mono said:

I actually watched the vids and I really like them (I also was training Ju-Jutsu for a year or so, so I have some basic idea of what a roll is supposed to look like, but I also know there are other techniques in case). These guys in the vids are artistic pros, trained for hours and hours and they plan very well ahead in time what they will do. Therefore I couldn't convince myself that a roll is what I should do as an emergency measure. On the other hand like in the first vid after stumbling during a run off, the roll seems a perfectly viable technique.

That s what I would think the scenario is. Cut-off one-step second step into a roll.

[Marty Backe]

1 hour ago, Mono said:

I actually watched the vids and I really like them (I also was training Ju-Jutsu for a year or so, so I have some basic idea of what a roll is supposed to look like, but I also know there are other techniques in case). These guys in the vids are artistic pros, trained for hours and hours and they plan very well ahead in time what they will do. Therefore I couldn't convince myself that a roll is what I should do as an emergency measure. On the other hand like in the first vid after stumbling during a run off, the roll seems a perfectly viable technique.

This is so theoretical. I wonder how many of the people who talk how to fall, etc. have actually taken falls. And I'm not talking about 5mph falls. Like 15 - 20 mph, and not perfect conditions. If your riding fast and your pedal hits something all bets are off.

I'm convinced that wearing good protection for all the hard points (elbows, knees, hands, head) is the way to go instead of trying to imagine how you will successful fall in the 1000 different possible scenarios.

[Pingouin]

Hi,

I think that as EUC rider we should always be prepared to jump off the EUC, the difficulty is to jump without face planting, the theory is to put your strong foot in front first, flex your knees and run (avoiding falling is not possible if the speed is too high), but we all know that theory is nothing without practice..

I think most people are not willing to damage their EUC while training to jump off their EUC. Even though it's not the same thing, I have learned how to improve my reflex of getting off my EUC by learning how to ride a "normal" unicycle, and then trying to jump off it, because it can really take a beating and they are not very expensive, but I can see that not everyone has the patience to learn how to ride them.

I have experienced on several occasions this technique, most of the time around 15kph, but also once above 30kph, and still manage to get out of it without a scratch (exept on my EUC).

As for rolling, it must be a good thing for higher speeds, but I personnaly wouldn't do it if you don't wear a helmet (like me most of the time), I would rather break some bones or scratch my forearm rather than bumping my head into the ground, but with a helmet why not, although here again practice is important imho.

[Mono]

1 hour ago, Marty Backe said:

This is so theoretical. I wonder how many of the people who talk how to fall, etc. have actually taken falls. And I'm not talking about 5mph falls. Like 15 - 20 mph, and not perfect conditions. If your riding fast and your pedal hits something all bets are off.

I'm convinced that wearing good protection for all the hard points (elbows, knees, hands, head) is the way to go instead of trying to imagine how you will successful fall in the 1000 different possible scenarios.

I am convinced that taking all appropriate measures to prevent falling is even better than wearing good protection, but they are not mutually exclusive. Yet this thread is about how to fall. I lean in favour of the hypothesis that how to fall can make a difference, so I find it interesting to consider. Is it more important than wearing protection? It probably depends on the person. Most people will have a hard time to actually change their falling reflexes effectively. Let alone that we don't quite really know what the good reflexes are. Yet if...

[dpong]

The first over-lean from which I suffered, it wasn't about roll.  It was about 'splat'.  It happens so fast.  

No rolling going on.

Tucking, however, did occur.  Tucking is better than avoiding by stiff-arming.  Stiff-arming gets things broken quick.

Rolling can't fix all situations.  It is preferable to 'splat'.  When in doubt, roll.  

Also, if you are not going so fast, well, that is a plus.  If you are going 25mph, then god help you, anyway. Probably shouldn't be in context of this discussion about not getting hurt. 

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

all excellent points. The benefits of rolling is that technically if you can execute it to perfection you will finish the roll on the other side standing on your feet like nothing hapend. ITS AMAZING HOW IT ABSORBS ALL THE ENERGY.

 I had one experience on a bicycle. riding fast, hit a crack that force my bicycle to somersault. I did Judo many years and somehow, instinctively I flue over the handle bars, rolled judo style, landed on my feet at the end of the roll. my bicycle did not end up so good after it try to also tumble multiple times. I was as surprised and overjoyed. the other riders were in disbelieve on how I managed to be on my feet without a mark.

It works but I admit that you have to be prepared mentally. Most people instinctively try to run it out, fight the fall, stretch their arms out to protect their face and that is when the serious injury occurs when no protective gear is used. Palms ripped raw, broken wrists, dislocated shoulders, ripped chin/face. Head concussion. 

Crash, no gear, no roll = major injuries.

Crash, full gear, no roll = gear damage, sprains, minimize chances of severe injury.

Crash, roll = good laugh, minor scrapes.

 

Its not one or the other. the roll is another tool for our survival and protection gear should not be an option. Wear the tools. they keep you  riding.