Face Plant protection

I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?
Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

On 9/1/10 1:32 PM, Will wrote:
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?

You can practice on soft grass at slow speeds. It used to be fairly
common to teach beginning pacelining that way, but it's also handy for
learning emergency maneuvers.

Kevan

On 9/1/2010 1:32 PM, Will ? wrote:
I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?

Not reliably in all situations.

Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

Unless you do something very reckless and roll over, falling on your
face from a recumbent trike is practically impossible.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

On Sep 1, 1:32*pm, Will wrote:
I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?
Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

There is the full face MTB helmets, close to a motor cycle helmet.
Probably would want to wait about 6 months, give your jaw a little
extra time to heal.

On Sep 1, 5:54*pm, Kevan Smith wrote:
On 9/1/10 1:32 PM, Will wrote:

Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?

You can practice on soft grass at slow speeds. It used to be fairly
common to teach beginning pacelining that way, but it's also handy for
learning emergency maneuvers.

Kevan

That's interesting, I'll read up more on emergency maneuvers that I
can practice on the grass. I have done emergency braking on the grass
for quick stops, but that was the extent of the practice. How is
beginning pacelining taught on the grass?
I'll start reading some books, perhaps they'll also help improve
safety.

On Sep 2, 8:09*am, Mike A Schwab wrote:
On Sep 1, 1:32*pm, Will wrote:



I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?
Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

There is the full face MTB helmets, close to a motor cycle helmet.
Probably would want to wait about 6 months, give your jaw a little
extra time to heal.

Interesting, what do you think about this one for just the road?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/-_-/5360033697/
I will practice falling, but ultimately protecting my face with a full
face helmet sounds like a good idea.

On Sep 2, 8:09*am, Mike A Schwab wrote:
On Sep 1, 1:32*pm, Will wrote:



I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?
Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

There is the full face MTB helmets, close to a motor cycle helmet.
Probably would want to wait about 6 months, give your jaw a little
extra time to heal.

Interesting, what do you think about this one for just the road?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/-_-/5360033697/
I will practice falling, but ultimately protecting my face with a full
face helmet sounds like a good idea.

On Sep 2, 8:09*am, Mike A Schwab wrote:
On Sep 1, 1:32*pm, Will wrote:



I just recently suffered from a major fall (face plant) that fractured
my jaw and teeth in many pieces. I understand that falling is a part
of riding, and I accept that it happens, I just don't like falling on
my chin at 20 mph.
I was riding along second in a pace line, when I turned my wheel just
as it went over a slight dip, I over steered due to that, corrected
and rode a bit with my leg clipped out and my bike wobbling a bit, as
soon as I stopped the wobble I was falling.
I don't know what caused the fall but what should I have done in that
situation? Should I have tried not to correct and just tuck and
protect my head?
What would you do?
I want to ride again, but the doc says that I cant fall on my jaw
anymore.
Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?
Taekwondo? Judo? Mountain biking?
Maybe I should ride with a motorcycle helmet, or ride a bent...

There is the full face MTB helmets, close to a motor cycle helmet.
Probably would want to wait about 6 months, give your jaw a little
extra time to heal.

Interesting, what do you think about this one for just the road?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/-_-/5360033697/
I will practice falling, but ultimately protecting my face with a full
face helmet sounds like a good idea.

On 9/2/10 7:42 PM, Will wrote:
How is
beginning pacelining taught on the grass?


They ride slowly and practice pulling off, drifting back and being very
close on a wheel. They learn not to overlap or touch. They usually ride
in a largish circle with the instructor in the center. It doesn't take
much of that before they get on a road.

People don't have the patience for that anymore. People new to group
rides now seem to either just jump in with no idea what they are doing
and try to pick it up or get scared off it.

When I first learned, I picked some slower touring type people to ride
with. I didn't try to go really fast in a paceline until I was confident
I could handle it.

Kevan

On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 17:42:38 -0700 (PDT), Will
wrote:

On Sep 1, 5:54*pm, Kevan Smith wrote:
On 9/1/10 1:32 PM, Will wrote:

Are there any classes, practices, one can do that can teach me to
either not fall or fall more gracefully off my bike?

You can practice on soft grass at slow speeds. It used to be fairly
common to teach beginning pacelining that way, but it's also handy for
learning emergency maneuvers.

Kevan

That's interesting, I'll read up more on emergency maneuvers that I
can practice on the grass. I have done emergency braking on the grass
for quick stops, but that was the extent of the practice. How is
beginning pacelining taught on the grass?
I'll start reading some books, perhaps they'll also help improve
safety.

I would think that practicing falling would be more dangerous than not
practicing falling. I've commuted 40,000 miles over the last 12 years
or so without landing on my face, so the odds of doing so (anecdotal
evidence admittedly) see to be fairly small. But if I keep trying to
fall off a bike, I'd almost certainly manage to injure something.

Use a big helmet to protect the jaw.