By Scott Hickey, PCI # 383
Fort Lauderdale PD (FL)
print
this story
Whenever we conduct the IPMBA Police
Cyclist course at Ft. Lauderdale PD, we are fortunate to be allotted 40 hours
instead of the standard 32. We use the extra eight hours for additional cone
practice, urban riding, and falling techniques. We are frequently asked why
we teach students to fall when the point of the class is to make them better
riders. The answer is simple - for their safety. If riders know and understand
the dynamics of falling, they can fall in such a manner that the risk of
injury is minimized. Therefore, we conduct the falling techniques session
on the first day of the course, prior to any riding.
The first step toward minimizing the risk of injury is to become familiar
with the three most common fall types. The first, the sidefall, results from
an attempt to push the rider off of the bike. The other two are variations
of the "endo", or "end over handle bars." Most riders have already or will
someday become members of the "endo club", especially those who ride outside
of work. An "endo" typically results when the bike's front tire strikes an
object and stops instantly, but the rider keeps going over the handle bars.
The other type of "endo" occurs when the front tire gets turned sharply to
the left or right, causing the bike to stop suddenly and the back end to
kick up. One leg typically gets pinned between the top tube and the turned
handle bars, and the rider goes over the handle bars. The difference is that
the rider becomes entangled in the bike, and it falls, too.
To prepare for a sidefall, think about the dynamics of a bike falling to
one side. If you allow a bike to fall over, the handlebar end and the pedal
will strike the ground first, leaving a gap between the bike and the ground.
This gap can be used to your advantage during a sidefall. As the bike goes
down, tuck your elbow and knee in towards the bike (the side going to the
ground), and attempt to lean in the opposite direction of the fall. The handlebar
end and the pedal will take the brunt of the impact, and once on the ground,
you can use the momentum of the fall to roll with it. We recommend that you
keep your feet in/on the pedals and maintain control of the bike as you land
and roll, in case your fall is caused by a shove. If you keep control of
the bike, you will be able to use the bike as a barrier until you can stand
and engage your attacker, or shove the bike away and go into a ground fighting
maneuver if required.
To prepare for the typical endo, think about what is happening to you. You
are doing an airborne somersault that you are not able to stop, so you tend
to grasp the handlebars tightly as you begin to flip over them. Instead,
as you are going over the handlebars, let go and bring your hand/arms to
your chest and upper torso. As your legs come over your head, straighten
them out, and when you land, keep them straight, allowing the rear, backs
of the thighs, and calves to take the impact. If you bend your legs upon
landing, you run the risk of striking your nose against your knees as your
head bobs forward. Tucking your arms/hands to your body will curb the tendency
to extend them to catch yourself, which can result in a broken wrist or arm.
In the case of the other type of endo, when your leg is pinned to the bike,
you will not be thrown as much; rather, you will head face first into the
ground and your torso will land on the bike. We teach you to reduce the impact
by "bridging" your body. As you are going down, remove your feet from the
pedal retention devices. Position your forearms parallel to the ground and
clench your hands into fists. Clenching tightens the forearm muscles, making
them bulkier. As your body comes down, land so that your toes and forearms
strike the ground, forcing your rear into the air, forming a "bridge" over
the bike. Angle your forearms in slightly, and turn your head to either side
to prevent your face from hitting the ground or your clenched hands. This
"bridge" position will prevent you from landing directly on the bike.
This all sounds like a lot to think about when you are falling, but with
practice, the movements become second nature. Our students practice sidefalls
by landing on wrestling mats borrowed from a high school. Endos cannot really
be practiced, so we simulate them as well as we can using the wrestling mats
and a high jump/pole vault mat approximately three feet thick. We practice
"regular" endos by having the students run up to the mat, plant their clenched
hands, flip their legs over their heads (a mid-air somersault), and land
on their rears, legs straight out and arms/hands tucked to their chests.
We practice the other type of endo by getting the students comfortable with
the "bridging" maneuver, by falling from a standing position and landing
on a mat. We then have each student straddle the bike and, maintaining control
of the bike, we lift up its rear, sending the rider forward so he or she
can bridge over the bike. This exercise gives the students a sense of this
type of fall and landing.
We have found that teaching these maneuvers has greatly reduced injuries,
especially during training. At the recent conference in Cincinnati, my partner
and I were invited to conduct two sessions of Minimizing the Impact of Bicycle
Crashes, which focuses on these falling techniques. Those who attended found
the maneuvers to be very useful in learning how to react to falls and reduce
the risk of injury. If you would like more information about these falling
techniques, please contact me at
SKHick16@aol.com.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2001issue of IPMBA News.
 |
