Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Crashology

I believe most crashes can be grouped into three types.

Type I (Cosmetic Crashes): These wrecks are usually caused by a lack of skill or confidence. As a result they are usually lacking in speed and intensity. Without those two elements there is usually ample time to prepare for impact, thus the only injuries are usually to your pride. You gain no respect from your peers for these cosmetic crashes. To witnesses you simply appear inept.

These are wrecks of mine and Rocky's. They are both probably Type I wrecks but the fact that concrete has absolutely no give, up's these to somewhere between Type I and Type II.





Type II (Mojo Killers): This is where they start to get fun. In a good 'mojo killer' the recipient has at least a decent level of skill (enough to be dangerous). To witnesses he appears a victim of circumstance. These wrecks are almost always at high speed and never foreseen by the rider. For this reason they are rarely caught on camera. Here are a couple of examples.

Snowboarding Example: You're pretending to be in the Super G, on a steep freshly groomed run, whey you catch your back edge and before you can so much as blink, your head hits the snow at 40 MPH.

Mountain biking Example: With a smooth fast single track in front of you, your greed for speed urges you to make one more pedal than was prudent. That pedal catches on an unseen tree root. This pulls the bike ever so slightly from it's previous direction and when the tires grab the ground again the result is you flying through the air with nothing to protect you but a layer of spandex.

A good "mojo killer" leaves you in-tack physically, but mentally you are like a heavyweight boxer who has been knocked out for the first time. Sure after shaking the cobwebs out and re-gathering yourself you're ready to fight again, but the killer instinct that fueled you has been replaced with the fear of a knockout-punch. Your riding style has instantly grown 30 years more conservative. You're no longer able to cut loose and really enjoy the activity at hand. In a nutshell you have lost your "mojo" and only time will tell when it will return.

Below Rig and I discuss a Soft Type II crash I had a few weeks ago.

Type III (Hope you have health insurance): The third type are the ones that leave you not only mentally shaken but force you to completely admit defeat by rendering you physically unable to finish what you started. From my experience these wrecks are usually the product of riding beyond your abilities, poor judgement and almost always some good old fashioned hot-dogging. Type III wrecks are the only ones I really can afford to keep track of as the others are too numerous. Going into last weekend I had only suffered 3 type III wrecks. Yeap, you guessed it, I scored number 4 on Saturday. It happened where two of my previous three did, in a snowboard park. I just can't resist those big gnarley looking jumps. That story will have to wait for my next post. It is past my bed time.


6 comments:

Mindy said...

That's too bad, at least maybe you have a good story to blog about and hopefully it has an okay outcome.

Rachel Elder said...

This is a good day. I get home from work and check the blogging world only to find a post from my favorite blog...RANGI'S WORLD! This post had me laughing pretty much the whole way through (Im sorry. Im sure to the men getting hurt it wasn't as hilarious). Both skateboarding videos were funny, sorry its the truth. I feel really bad you hurt your knee though, I swear! That stinks. I hope it gets better soon:(

Ps. Rig's vid is so stinkin cute:)

cheryl said...

Rangi hope you get better some how sooner than later. My wrecks have all been some where around a level one , but I've had some good wounds to show for them. I'm waiting to see a picture of your leg on the blog, and see if I should make you a shirt that says... "I do my own stunts!" At least you will have plenty of time to blog... I just don't know what you will be able to blog about now that you are laid up.

Shoell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Go Cubbies said...

Beetle told me about your knee, I am sorry man. At least you have march madness to keep you occupied while you are laid up. You will have to ask Roman and Beetle about my longboarding crash in high school. I would rate it at a two however Roman and Regan would probably give it a weaksauce one. Here's to a quick recovery.

Darrell said...

i am sick about your most recent serious crash. Having seen the wild abandon that you exhibit on a mountain bike i have to say that I am not entirely surprised. Most of my falls have been type 1 crashes that most injure just my ego. I look forward to your next post and the "dets" on your big crash.