Lessons of Minor Falls
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Early on, Onewheeling on the grass on soft, damp earth I hit a hidden hole at less than eight mph and took my first ever shoulder slam (of three total). That time that ground happened to be as wonderfully soft as a deep feather bed, so the lesson -- detailing to me the dynamics and shoulder location to expect to hit in that sort of fall -- actually felt enjoyable.
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And it started me thinking about researching and creating some kind of shoulder armor. The examples I found were soft shell and higher up on the shoulder than where I hit. So, I kept thinking.
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In a thrift store, nearly a year later, I happened on a pair of professional baseball umpire knee and shin guards and immediately recognised their potential. At home I measured my upper arm, and on my table saw cut off the ankle portion of one of the guards. Being cold early spring weather, I stuffed the guard into my coat sleeve and kept it in place with velcro.
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A week or two later, Onewheeling in the spring rains and near-continuous puddles, fifteen miles away from my car, the board started acting up (probably from water on the BMS of my V1). The board cut out at about twelve mph and I took my second shoulder slam -- this time wearing the home-adapted shoulder armor -- resulting in ripped scuffs on my coat, but not even a bruise on my arm or shoulder! I was ecstatic at how effective the armor was! And then luckily the BMS let me ride gingerly all the fifteen miles back to the car. At home I took the suspect BMS out.
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Another year later, after a hard shoulder slam at twenty mph, which gave me a sore shoulder but no real damage, I added a couple d30 pads to the armor, tucking them in a convenient joint. And when I whacked my head (in my helmet) in a fall in December I had NO damage to my shoulder, or, thanks to other pads, to my body hardly at all (only a slight bruise on my leading hip). -
Two of the most curious falls I've taken were when I plugged in a CarvePower booster before turning on the Onewheel. The board let me mount and start to go -- but just a very few seconds later popped up with sudden, extreme pushback, which then immediately dropped. And I tumbled. Happened more than once? Embarrassingly, yes!
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@s-leon said in Lessons of Minor Falls:
plugged in a CarvePower booster before turning on the Onewheel
Interesting it let you start. I think my XR outright refuses to budge if I do something similar. I wonder if FM changed that for the XR or just later HW versions (beyond 4206 maybe when they remove CnR).
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@lia -- I should have noted this was with a V1. And yes, it is curious that the CarvePower booster by itself would power up the controller -- at least briefly.
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@s-leon Oh I assumed the Plus.
Good to know though, false starts already have me falling over so a moving one could be much worse. -
Another few minor falls were similar. The CarvePower booster was feeding in current at about five amps, but then braking downhill in addition would add to that, triggering 'overcurrent', throwing up the nose, and shutting down -- resulting in freewheeling downhill, skidding on the back bumper, which would be doing almost naught to slow me down. Some of the scratches on my gear are from those falls.
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More than a year after I switched to EGO batteries, that familiar nose pop-up and motor cut-out happened again, this time the fall cracking two ribs. An XT60 to XT90 connector had broken and separated while I was braking and with the connection to the sole and only battery broken, the regen had nowhere to go, triggering 'overcurrent'. -
Lesson 1; Don't accelerate up steep hills. scratched ppe
lesson2; Watch for gravel near the edge of the road when carving hard. rolled out w/a couple bruises
lesson 3; Don't slalom the goose shit so hard a and fast that the broard turns out from under you. helmet hit 1st and died saving my life
lesson 4; Don't go for "one last ride" at dusk after drinking past the "3 beer zone". Unseen pothole gravel trail, slammed my already pulled hip from pint ghosting earlier that day, embedded gravel in helmet and forearm, concussion didn't remember crashing riding back to the truck and driving home, wondered how my arm and hip got fucked up in the morning , surprised to see gravel stuck in my cracked helmet. memories came back a couple days later, hip took weeks to get back to normal
carving turns all year round
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@b0ardski -- I do not envy your lessons!
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@b0ardski said in Lessons of Minor Falls:
Don't go for "one last ride" at dusk after drinking past the "3 beer zone".
lol
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@b0ardski said in Lessons of Minor Falls:
lesson 4; Don't go for "one last ride" at dusk after drinking past the "3 beer zone".
my rule for the cutoff for snowboarding is 2 beers... i don't even know if that would be a good idea for me on a OW... maybe 1, but definitely not more than 2.
Sage OG Pint (Battleborn Floater)
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@franko said in Lessons of Minor Falls:
my rule for the cutoff for snowboarding is 2 beers...
lol id get soooooo sloppy after just one!
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Had a small fall yesterday, pretty daft one but it happens.
16km into my 76km ride yesterday I came across a raised plastic cover over a hole done by roadworks just after a slightly dropped curb. Normally neither of these would be an issue but due to the spacing between them it apparently was enough to lock up my tire forcing a low speed nosedrag.
Sounds like I need to learn to recover those better as I managed to get back level but in doing so hand my front foot slide off the pad so much that only my toes were on the left side. While coming to a stop to reposition myself I went under 1mph having my board commit treason and disengage; sending me off balance.
In that moment I knew I was going down so was able to prepare and graciously plop on the ground. Not actually sure how I landed but no scrapes or bruises. Sadly the ground was muddy so my NEW JACKET got mud on it >:( Fortunately I had time before my doc's appointment so I made a quick swing round Tesco to pickup some wet-wipes, tissues and a drink to cleanup and clear my head.
Lessons I learnt:
- If I'm barely still on the board after a bump just jump off, don't try to come to stop as it's just more time for something to go wrong.
- Sometimes it's okay to just let the fall happen. Instead of fighting it prepare for impact.
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@lia -- Falling on new clothes reminded me of something Robert Allen said to me when we were likely the only two Onewheel riders in Northeast Ohio. A newbie, I had confessed to wearing safety gear under my clothes. He laughed. "I wear gear to protect my clothes!"
Since then I have not worried about showing my gear.
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@s-leon Gear to protect the clothes.
Would be a good idea. I wouldn't mind scuffing anything else, even the denim jacket I'd be fine with getting more character on it. This was a nice tan suede cropped jacket though which is super warm and comfy, bit too cold for the denim.
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@lia said in Lessons of Minor Falls:
Lessons I learnt:
If I'm barely still on the board after a bump just jump off, don't try to come to stop as it's just more time for something to go wrong.
Sometimes it's okay to just let the fall happen. Instead of fighting it prepare for impact.My fall on the soft sand under pine needles the other day was similar. Problem is, I really try to stay on my board as much as possible, which causes my brain to think of "jump off" as a last resort, by which time I'm already at number 2, laying on the ground! LOL
GT-S > GT > Pint X > XR > +
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@onedangt That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I try to stay on too well beyond the point of no return lol.
