rideohio
02-26-2007, 04:01 AM
The worst thing about BMX is getting hurt, and not being able to ride for long periods of time. It is very important for a rider to not only learn to land clean tricks and avoid crashes, but know how to fall when you do make a mistake. Each type of ramp has it's own techniques on what your first thoughts should be when you start to lose control of your bike, and how you react. Even though you spend at most a second from the time you start to fall to the time you hit, you still have time to prepare. A lot of what you do depends on your normal riding terrain, ie trails, park, street. Naturally, a park rider will know how to slide out of a mistake, and how to angle the body so weak parts don't take the grunt of the hit. Street riders will know how to get out of quick mistakes that involve being caught up in the bike. And, in my experience, trails riders just know how to make the loudest noise when their body slams to the ground. Here is a list of different types of ramps found in a normal park, and how to prepare for a potential crash.
Quarter Pipes
A quarter pipe is a given ramp in even the most basic park. There is always one around, and they are usually one of the most fun ramps. There are two easy mistakes on this ramp, casing (or hanging up) and pulling off to flat.
Casing:
This is mainly a probably on smaller ramps. When you case, you can usually feel it's going to happen as soon as you pop the coping. The easiest thing to do is plant your foot on the coping when you come back into the ramp. You'll come away from this fine and even with enough speed to continue your run. You can prepare yourself for this by dropping in with one foot on the coping. If you don't notice it till late, you can try to ride through it, depending on a few factors. If the ramp's tranny isn't too tight, the coping isn't too far out (some ramp's coping will be halfway out or more, making it easy to pop off but death to clip), and how bad you are out over the coping. If you think it isn't too bad, then you can just tuck as much as you can and brace to push through back in. Tucking is important so you don't flip to your face into the flat bottom.
Flatbottom:
This is usually a problem on larger ramps with a few inches or more of vert. A rider will learn to air a smaller quarter then step it up to a large ramp and not thing that popping off the coping is not what you want to do here. The ramp's vert will let you float right out. But when learning and trying tricks like flairs and spins, it is natural to come out too far, because casing is unforgiving and very hard to come out of unscathed. When you feel yourself floating away from the ramp, there is not much you can do. It is better to stay on your bike here, though, so that you can use it to soak up as much tranny as you can catch, or using the flex of it to soak up a direct flatbottom. Just try to absorb it with your knees as much as you can when you hit, and lean back to catch any tranny. If you have kneepads and you feel you can do it, throwing the bike away and using it to get you back into the tranny a little, then sliding off the pads might work, but is highly not recommended by me.
Spines
Spines are another great feature in a park, but aren't usually found in public parks due to how dangerous they can be. But once you get used to a spine, you learn to be really comfortable on one. Falling here either involves kicking out the rear too much, which is easy to get away from, or casing, which is just like a casing a quarter, because essentially you are casing a quarter.
Kicking out
When learning a spine, "kicking out" the rear end so you don't case is common. But it is actually better to air to the side over the spine then back in, instead of kicking out bike, which is better when airing straight over it. When you feel that you aren't going to be able to get the bike back under you, you have to consider where you are over the ramp and your body position. If you are in over the coping, you're screwed. Here your only hope would be to attempt to pull over the bike as much as you can and try to turn to land on a big muscle group, such as your thigh. If you are out over the tranny, you can just try to put your hip and side down and slide out, or pull so you land on the bike, if you can, and ride for as long as you can before coming down on, angling so you come down a large muscle
Casing
Casing a spine is though, because you are usually going straight in, depending on how you are riding it. If you know you are going to casing at the peak of your air, you can put your foot down, but you don't feel it till you're almost there tucking and riding through it might be your only option. If you begin to flip, angling so you don't land on your elbow is always a good idea. There are some small bones and ligaments in the elbow that are not covered by large protective muscle, so it is a delicate place to hit. Going for the back of the shoulder is probably the best bet, due to the thick muscles in the back. Also, always try to put a padded limb out first, to take most of the hit.
Box jumps
Here, landing awkward from a trick is almost always the case. This makes it tough to learn how to fall, because there are a lot of bad ways to come down. But mainly kicking out the bike so you slide out, and landing sitting down are the only ways to come down. Planting a foot could be useful, but that won't usually help a bad problem. Again, sliding out on a thick muscle will keep you from getting hurt. Just watch out for flipping and getting your lower leg caught under the bike. Thats how you can get hurt bad.
Rails
I haven't really ridden very many rails, but from what I know it seems that falling on rails seems to be a free for all. Again, just try to pull your elbows in and watch out for ankles, and go for large, thick areas of muscle, your natural pads.
But the best way to stay unhurt is to not fall. So learn how to ride all the ramps, and don't stick to just the foam pit.
Quarter Pipes
A quarter pipe is a given ramp in even the most basic park. There is always one around, and they are usually one of the most fun ramps. There are two easy mistakes on this ramp, casing (or hanging up) and pulling off to flat.
Casing:
This is mainly a probably on smaller ramps. When you case, you can usually feel it's going to happen as soon as you pop the coping. The easiest thing to do is plant your foot on the coping when you come back into the ramp. You'll come away from this fine and even with enough speed to continue your run. You can prepare yourself for this by dropping in with one foot on the coping. If you don't notice it till late, you can try to ride through it, depending on a few factors. If the ramp's tranny isn't too tight, the coping isn't too far out (some ramp's coping will be halfway out or more, making it easy to pop off but death to clip), and how bad you are out over the coping. If you think it isn't too bad, then you can just tuck as much as you can and brace to push through back in. Tucking is important so you don't flip to your face into the flat bottom.
Flatbottom:
This is usually a problem on larger ramps with a few inches or more of vert. A rider will learn to air a smaller quarter then step it up to a large ramp and not thing that popping off the coping is not what you want to do here. The ramp's vert will let you float right out. But when learning and trying tricks like flairs and spins, it is natural to come out too far, because casing is unforgiving and very hard to come out of unscathed. When you feel yourself floating away from the ramp, there is not much you can do. It is better to stay on your bike here, though, so that you can use it to soak up as much tranny as you can catch, or using the flex of it to soak up a direct flatbottom. Just try to absorb it with your knees as much as you can when you hit, and lean back to catch any tranny. If you have kneepads and you feel you can do it, throwing the bike away and using it to get you back into the tranny a little, then sliding off the pads might work, but is highly not recommended by me.
Spines
Spines are another great feature in a park, but aren't usually found in public parks due to how dangerous they can be. But once you get used to a spine, you learn to be really comfortable on one. Falling here either involves kicking out the rear too much, which is easy to get away from, or casing, which is just like a casing a quarter, because essentially you are casing a quarter.
Kicking out
When learning a spine, "kicking out" the rear end so you don't case is common. But it is actually better to air to the side over the spine then back in, instead of kicking out bike, which is better when airing straight over it. When you feel that you aren't going to be able to get the bike back under you, you have to consider where you are over the ramp and your body position. If you are in over the coping, you're screwed. Here your only hope would be to attempt to pull over the bike as much as you can and try to turn to land on a big muscle group, such as your thigh. If you are out over the tranny, you can just try to put your hip and side down and slide out, or pull so you land on the bike, if you can, and ride for as long as you can before coming down on, angling so you come down a large muscle
Casing
Casing a spine is though, because you are usually going straight in, depending on how you are riding it. If you know you are going to casing at the peak of your air, you can put your foot down, but you don't feel it till you're almost there tucking and riding through it might be your only option. If you begin to flip, angling so you don't land on your elbow is always a good idea. There are some small bones and ligaments in the elbow that are not covered by large protective muscle, so it is a delicate place to hit. Going for the back of the shoulder is probably the best bet, due to the thick muscles in the back. Also, always try to put a padded limb out first, to take most of the hit.
Box jumps
Here, landing awkward from a trick is almost always the case. This makes it tough to learn how to fall, because there are a lot of bad ways to come down. But mainly kicking out the bike so you slide out, and landing sitting down are the only ways to come down. Planting a foot could be useful, but that won't usually help a bad problem. Again, sliding out on a thick muscle will keep you from getting hurt. Just watch out for flipping and getting your lower leg caught under the bike. Thats how you can get hurt bad.
Rails
I haven't really ridden very many rails, but from what I know it seems that falling on rails seems to be a free for all. Again, just try to pull your elbows in and watch out for ankles, and go for large, thick areas of muscle, your natural pads.
But the best way to stay unhurt is to not fall. So learn how to ride all the ramps, and don't stick to just the foam pit.