Crashed Yesterday

[tzvia]

OMG...

Rest and heal up quick!

[Bethany1]

Saw the doc today. Said it would just take time to recover and take it easy as my brain can only process so much and then it needs to rest. I hate the cobwebs in the corner feeling of a concussion. After 4 days, I thought I'd be up and around more, but I'm still slow going. The one thing that is driving me nuts is not having my glasses. I look blind with my sunglasses, but I'm grateful I have them until I get a new pair.

Nice thing about seeing the doc was that I've lost 5 pounds from the last time I was there.

Part of me is scared to get back on a bike let alone go back to the trail. I'm sure that's normal too.

DH said when he went back to find my glasses and phone the back disc brake was gone. You can ride the bike with the brake being used.

When I'm up to it, I'll get up to the LBS to have them look at it.

Is there a trick to stopping on dirt? Regardless of what I did throughout the trail, I wasn't slowing down enough. It wasn't even a controlled slide. By the time I hit the hill and went through the dip, I knew I was done for.

I'm still new..2nd time through the course but if you can't stop on dirt, you are just asking for another accident. I didn't realize DH and I had gone the wrong way on parts of the trail the first time so my memory map was completely confused. The trail isn't marked very well so it's easy to get lost.

[Wahine]

Bethany, I'm glad you're OK. Rest up and take care of yourself. Be patient. Concussions can be slow to heal and trying to force things to go faster will only make you recover more slowly.

This is a time to treat yourself gently.

[shootingstar]

Hope you stick to pavement for awhile when return to cycling. Take an easy. I fell last summer...on flat gravel path. Ridiculous, but it simply me not even thinking about where I was going.

[OakLeaf]

Bethany, maybe ask about stopping techniques in a separate thread in the MTB section so more people will see and answer. I'm strictly a road rider, all I know is that when traction is iffy on two wheels (moto or bici) you need to use more rear brake, just feather the front which is the one that gives you steering and control, and shift your weight backwards to give more traction to the tire you can brake more aggressively with. Hopefully some of the MTBers will have more detailed tips and videos that you can ponder while you're healing and practice when you return.

[goldfinch]

Bethany, you might find a dirt/gravel road with some hills and practice braking there, feathering the brakes and taking it easy on the front brake, which has more stopping power. Try keeping one finger on your brakes and as others say, and shift your weight back on the downhills. Practice braking just up to but not the point where your front wheel locks. Having you front wheel lock up can flip you off in no time. You had mentioned before having a few near misses and not being totatally comfortable on the 29'er. I think stepping back to working on skills on easy trails and dirt roads can help.

I am not a mountain bike rider. Yet. But I did ride motorcycle dirt bikes for some years.

But take lots of time to heal first!

[Becky]

A couple of good threads about braking:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=1668

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=2691

They helped me learn to correctly use my front brake, and I'm much more comfortable on descents and turns as a result.