Ride pace

[Dirk]

Oh, sugar, can't like that.
But in your case cars were involved I seem to remember.
I meant falling off without collision, like failing to see potholes.

Female friend of mine fell off right in front of me at Exeter quay.
She was doing about 5 mph on a slight bend, overreacting to a child cyclist wobbling across her path.
Ended up as a hospital job, breaking her nose and very bad bruising to her shoulder.

Another female friend fell off at low speed on gravel at a T junction - broke her wrist in 5 places.

I can see a common denominator......

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I can see a common denominator......

Yes, men don't fall off. Never. Ever

 

[Dirk]

Yes, men don't fall off. Never. Ever

No - they were both on bicycles, silly!

 

[snorri]

Yes, men don't fall off. Never. Ever

They do, but it's never their fault

 

[stephec]

I would dispute that!

So would I after a painful incident at 2mph on black ice.

 

[dfthe1]

8.8 mph you don't hurt if you fall off.

88mph and you get this

 

[r04DiE]

There isn't one. However, what will follow will be posts from innumerable people who will tell you what their own averages are - none of which will have any relevance to you whatsoever.

Absolute rubbish. BTW, I average about 28km/h on my commute.

 

[ColinJ]

8.8 mph you don't hurt if you fall off.

I would dispute that!

So would I!

2 of my most painful crashes were when my bike was stationary.

Fall #1 happened when I decided to do a u-turn on a narrow road that wasn't u-turnable! I turned my front wheel too much, stopped dead, and toppled over onto my right knee. The pain was so bad that I almost threw up!

Fall #2 was just a few days later when I was distracted by 2 attractive women in a convertible sports car next to me at an uphill to a t-junction. I wasn't paying attention to clipping in when I tried to set off, my foot slipped off the pedal, and I toppled over onto my other knee. That was ALSO so painful that I nearly revisited my breakfast!

One thing you don't get in low speed crashes is masses of road rash all over your body but the vertical impact is the same no matter what speed you were going at.

There is a school of thought that suggests that you get less of a wallop when falling at speed, but I can't quite see how that would be.

Yes, men don't fall off. Never. Ever

See above!

 

[Dirk]

.....There is a school of thought that suggests that you get less of a wallop when falling at speed, but I can't quite see how that would be.

I would say that there is some truth in this.
In my motorcycle road racing days I hurt myself more after a 30mph high side at Ty Croes (Anglesey) hairpin than any other crash.
I remember seeing Mick Grant come off an 1100 Suzuki under the bridge at Starkeys at Donington. Very fast crash - probably 120mph+ - he walked away.
I saw another guy highside at Mallory hairpin, again at about 30mph, and he died.
I think it has something to do with the angle you hit the ground at- high speed a bit like skimming a stone over a pond; low speed like a sack of spuds being dropped.
In my drag racing days I got spat off at over 100mph at Santa Pod and walked (crawled and limped) away.

 

[ColinJ]

I would say that there is some truth in this.
In my motorcycle road racing days I hurt myself more after a 30mph high side at Ty Croes (Anglesey) hairpin than any other crash.
I remember seeing Mick Grant come off an 1100 Suzuki under the bridge at Starkeys at Donington. Very fast crash - probably 120mph+ - he walked away.
I saw another guy highside at Mallory hairpin, again at about 30mph, and he died.
I think it has something to do with the angle you hit the ground at- high speed a bit like skimming a stone over a pond; low speed like a sack of spuds being dropped.

But the vertical component of the impact is the same in every case. It is only the horizontal component which is changing ...

Having said that, I crashed my mountain bike 3 times one New Year's Day on black ice and got away with only minor bruising. Despite going pretty quickly at the time I didn't get any friction burns because I just slid along on the ice.

It is probably more a question of how you fall. If you fell on your head from 3 feet up it would possibly kill you. If you jumped down off a 3 foot high wall and landed with knees bent then you would be fine.

A mate of mine crashed his motorbike at 100 mph once and got away with minor burns. (He said he could feel his leathers getting burned away as he slid along the circuit, so he rolled to his other side to spread the damage!) Obviously if you hit something solid at a serious speed then it would make a nasty mess of you.

 

[Pale Rider]

I a bit like skimming a stone over a pond.

Something in that.

My fall on black ice earlier this year was slow speed, but flopping to the ground and sliding on the ice for a few metres didn't hurt.

 

[Moodyman]

If you ever get to the point where you are averaging 20+ mph for 20-30 miles then you would be fitter than most of us! If you could average 25+ mph then you would be very fit.

Or benefitting from a massive tailwind. Second half of the Scarborough ride.

 

[ColinJ]

Or benefitting from a massive tailwind. Second half of the Scarborough ride.

True, that!

 

[si_c]

Or benefitting from a massive tailwind. Second half of the Scarborough ride.

That was the reward for the Llandudno ride.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Something in that.

My fall on black ice earlier this year was slow speed, but flopping to the ground and sliding on the ice for a few metres didn't hurt.

You can do a fun experiment with your phone (not mine).

First try throwing your phone quickly forward across the floor. Retrieve it and you may be unlucky and smash the screen but more than likely it will be a few scratches.

Now drop it from the same height directly on the floor. More than likely the screen will smash.

There is probably some physics reasoning for it, but coming off your bike at speed onto a slippery surface tends to look spectacular but hurt less than you think.