| Of all the Tips I have
posted here, this one is clearly the least credible in the sense that
I have no experience in the matter, nor can I imagine a way to practice
that makes any sense to me (nor would I want to.)
Still, I will post the
thoughts in the hope that the reader will not take them as advice,
but purely my opinions on the matter. Further, I suspect that in
real life one does not have time to do anything deliberate until
after the first impact, and then there may be no decisions possible.
On the other hand, since I have personally witnessed a deliberate
and life-saving maneuver by a woman who had just suffered a highside
accident, I know that at least some people retain enough presence
of mind in an accident that the following couple of ideas just might
help.
Before you try to get
up after taking a spill you must be sure that you have come to a
stop first! Wait a couple of seconds until you are sure.
I don't think most people
will have time to do anything deliberate at all by way of falling.
But perhaps I'm wrong and the above thoughts can in some way be
of assistance.
---
Following the posting of this Tip I received many e-mail messages
which argued that a person simply does not have time to do anything
that could affect the outcome of a fall. I responded with the following:
My comments had very
little to do with how you hit the ground following a 'get off' as
I don't think there is sufficient time to do anything very deliberate
until after the first impact, and then there may be no decisions
possible. Rather, I was trying to suggest that as you are coming
to rest (assuming you can function at all) then you should try to
END UP either loose (as much body contact as possible with the ground)
or tight (as little body contact as possible with the ground - tuck
and roll posture) depending on if you went down on the low side
or the highside.
Despite the fact that
I don't think most people would have either the time nor the presence
of mind to do much 'thinking' during a 'get off', some do. I have
personally seen, for example, a woman in her late fifties do a
50 MPH highside and when she landed, because (I believe - she
can't remember) she was so afraid that the bike would land on
top of her, began a rapid rolling maneuver that saved her life
(the motorcycle stopped 1 foot short of where she did.) I have
personally witnessed this same woman (honest) respond to a huge
wind gust that knocked her bike over just as we were coming to
a stop at a pullout on the top of a mountain and she was thrown
over her bike, this time at about 5 MPH. During this latter 'highside'
she actually did a summersault before hitting the ground - a clearly
deliberate move on her part (we all watched as she tucked her
head down and 'kicked' away from her bike which allowed her to
land on her curved back and then she 'unwound' and stopped her
roll by spreading her legs. (She had gotten away from the bike
that was following her, but wanted to stop rather than keep going.)
Good thing, because had she gone another five feet she would have
had a SEVENTY FOOT fall off the mountain. (There was no fence
or guard rail that would have stopped it.) Incidentally, Elaine
saw both of these 'highsides' , too.
Anyway, I mention
these events because they left a very strong impression on me
that some people DO have the presence of mind to determine how
to END a fall, despite how fast things are happening to them.
I'm not at all sure I'm one of those people, but at least I have
thought about it and know that if I'm in front of my motorcycle
I want to keep moving until I can't move any more - and I want
as small an exposed profile as possible, just in case that bike
catches up with me.
As to the lowside
concept of trying to end up on your back, arms over your head,
feet first - this was originally told to me by a motorcycle 'stunt
man' in LA a couple of decades ago about how he tries to stop
after a dismount. (Not that any of us are into that sort of thing,
of course. <G>)
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