If your bike goes into a slide, how should an older person with age-related limited mobility, respond?

[Camac]

It's not necessarily the speed of the falling off that cause the injuries. About 2 months ago, on a recreational group ride, a woman coming to a hill did not change to a low enough gear and effectively stalled. Fell with bike on top of her. Broke her ankle. Friday of last week another woman starting off, had not gone more than 23metres on gravel and the wheels slid from under her. Broke her leg. In both cases the women were not young so there may have been a bone density problem, the bike landed on top of them, they were reasonably experienced Ebike riders.

 

[AHicks]

Been thinking about this a little more. I think a lot of your chances for a good outcome should you loose traction, is about how much you're riding. The necessary reactions need to be instinctive, not something you have time to think about.

I went around a corner on a little used paved road here in our sub the other day, maybe a little faster than I should have been going, and felt the rear end slip as I drove through some loose gravel. "Oops" was my only reaction (with a hey stupid, you knew that gravel was there mental admonishment). Never gave that incident a second thought until now. That COULD have been a really nasty incident. I was only going 15mph...... but I'm sure if the bike had gone down I'd be sporting a colorful rash about now.

 

[Camac]

It's not the falling that is the problem. It's the sudden stop at the end. Gloves are essential when you put your hands out to ease the fall. The padding on the palms takes the damage, not your skin. If you can roll when you hit the ground. The inertia of your body is dissipated with less impact than a sudden stop. All this is practical knowledge learnt the hard way.

 

[john peck]

Sooner or later I know I will run over something in the leaves on the rail-trail, and start a slide! If I am doing 5 mph, I might deal with it. I still have very fast reflexes, but no clue how to more than pray if I was to be doing 10-12 mph and the bike initiated a slide. Some suggestions to practice, think about would be appreciated. Many of our trails have steep embankments within 4-5 ft. of the trail edge as an added incentive! Thanks

Actually my worst bike accident occurred while virtually standing still. I´d rather come down at 15 than 5mph; the angle of descent is more
forgiving than falling straight down at 5. I´ve had hundred of falls skiing. Ya gotta roll with the punches! I took a pretty good fall a couple
days back on a steep downgrade, Had to panic brake to avoid being mangled by cross traffic. I rolled off to the side as one might when
tackled. As for slides, the best you can do is know the limits to what keeps the bike under you. If you´re in one, counter-steer...sparingly

 

[john peck]

That's a race for lying down and avoiding, not for entering

That´s just plain suicidal. I´ve had more than enough broken bones; ain´t lookin´ for any more.