this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
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A helmet would have prevented some of the head injury, but I don't expect even leathers would have helped a whole lot. Some kinds of stupid just have unavoidable consequences.
The leathers and helmet would probably have helped out with nearly every injury there.
When you’re properly protected for the side you really only have to worry about friction burns and hitting a stationary object while sliding.
Depends on if you get thrown high, or cartwheel, but for sliding leathers and other gear offer a ton of protection.
I rode sensibly for probably 20 years. Gear always. It paid off as I was rounding a corner and kids had left pebbles and chalk in the road. A pebble went under the rear wheel like a marble, so then with no grip the rear just slide out sideways and bike was immediately gone from under me. It was like a cartoon.. Blink blink...then gravity kicks in. I went down into a tucked front roll and then a slide. Stood up with no damage other than my thumb being a bit sore from leading the front roll. Solved by holding a cold beer at home.
Also bike was fine as I had installed frame sliders.
Nice move. I assume this was practiced a bit, like a martial artist practicing a break-fall, right?
Actually yes, I had done several years of breakfalls years prior, and that training became instinct for handling this situation of "Hey I'm up in the air moving at decent speed, with the ground approaching me”
Ah. Ya know, I didn't even look at the username. ;-)
We may have trained in the same organizations, except if you practiced a lotta break-falls then you wouldn't've been under Shihan Sato like me (near Langara station). We only practiced that in seminars.
I last did break-falls when Sensei Pat McCarthy came to the Island and I was there, and I ended up bruising my hip joint (ah jeez did that f'n sting) from a few janky hits.
I did mine in Aikido in Southern Ontario before coming to BC. Breakfalls were the base lessons and practised every session for part of the warm-ups.
When somebody is rotating your arm like a well crank handle the unwinding way out is via a breakfall 😀
Helmets protect the head from shocks and abrasion.
Leather or cordura protects the body from abrasion.
So when wearing these, you can fall with "little" risk as long as you don't hit anything (usually sidewalks, trees, walls, safety barriers, another vehicle...).
A helmet would have prevented what seems to have been some serious injury to the head and face.
See screenshots in my previous comment.
Based on this fortnine video about leather's ability to withstand a ridiculous amount of abrasion, it probably would've helped a lot.