I
remember a picture on the cover of the N.Y. Times Magazine section, from back in
the ‘80’s, of Eric Dickerson, NFL football player and third in most yards
gained in career. He was a safety conscious and the picture was of him in full
uniform, with arrows pointing to each piece of safety gear. He was a leader in
adopting new safety gear and a lot of the equipment he wore then is now worn by
most of the players.
I
ride 7 days a week, all year ‘round and have lots of opportunities to get
hurt.
I’ve gotten hurt seriously a few times and each time I looked not only for what I could have done to prevent the accident, but also looked at what I could have worn to reduce the seriousness of the event. Since MTB’ing is such a big part of my life, I look at anything that will cause downtime and make the necessary adjustments to minimize or eliminate it.
Here
is my equipment list:
Helmet:
If
one has to debate the use of a helmet in MTB’ing, best move on to something
else. However, I see quite a few riders with their helmet straps not adjusted
properly. The straps must be “snug” and the little plastic piece that brings
the front and back straps together should be adjusted so it rests just under the
ear lobe. That will make the helmet sit square on your head, protecting the
forehead and temples.
Eyewear:
The
loss of an eye is too big a price to pay for the pleasure of riding, so glasses
are mandatory equipment for me. Regular Rx glasses are not adequate as twigs,
branches and debris can easily get behind them and cause serious injury. Once my
Rx metal frame glasses put a gash in my temple when I did a face plant.
Riding
glasses are snug to the face to keep twigs and branches from getting behind them
and hitting the eye. They curve around to protect the eye from the side, and
have a soft nose piece and plastic frames so if you do have a face plant, the
glasses will be less likely to cause an injury.
Knee and Elbow pads:
Knees
and elbows can easily get smashed when falling on rocks. This can quickly end a
riding career. Soft pads are marginally OK. Hard pads are optimum. BMX stores
carry many different styles. I use MSR hard shell elbow pads (about $30). They go on
and off easily. I was wearing soft volleyball type kneepads on my elbows, but I
found that they just didn’t give me enough protection. For knee/shin pads, I
use Fox or Answer (both less than $20). They are meant to be worn under BMX
suits, so since I’m wearing them external to any clothing, the articulated
knee part will flap. I cut a section of the leg from a discarded pair of my
wife’s panty hose and pulled them over the knee to hold the pad securely.
I’ve graduated to making a 10” long tube from stretch material, which lasts
much longer.
The
knee/shin pads that are available do not go very low on the shin so if my foot
comes out of the pedal (fairly often as I’m learning how to “hop”), the
pedal can come around and smash into my shin, just above my shoe. I took an old
pair of the Fox knee/shin pads and cut off the knee part and wear these in
combination with the regular knee/shin pads. May look a little funny, but I
readily notice the difference in the level of pain when the pedal hits.
elbow pads Fox knee/shin pads Answer knee/shin pads Fox "combination"
Full
Finger Gloves:
Not
shorties. And yes, even on the hottest days of summer. Protect that manicure,
prevent nails from being bent back, slivers under the nails, scrapes and cuts.
Body
Armor:
Early this summer, I broke the acromion bone in my right shoulder and required a plate and screws to hold it together while it healed. If I wanted to ride, I had to protect the shoulder from any “hits”. Body armor seemed to be the only solution. Even at 2.2 pounds, I found it a worthwhile tradeoff. I did feel a little silly the first few times I wore it, but after a couple of falls, I started to love my body armor. The shoulder is OK now, but I plan on wearing it all winter because falling is part of the winter trail riding experience. If I was wearing it last winter, I would have avoided a painful injury to the left shoulder, when the bike disappeared from under me and I slid across the ice putting the shoulder directly into a tree.
I chose a Fox “roost deflector” ($100) after trying on various brands. It had the best fit for my body and to me it seemed to have the best isolation system for the shoulders, but I think any on the market would be satisfactory for most riders.
Fox Roost Deflector
Mouthguard/Mouthpiece:
For less than $2, one can buy a mouthguard that will fit perfectly after a few minutes in boiling water. Bite on the hot plastic, and it will conform. Concussions are typically caused by the teeth banging together rather than from the “hit” on the helmet. The severity of a concussion can be reduced by 40% by the use of a mouthguard. I wore one for about a year, just after I did a face plant on a log and split my lip open. My teeth hurt for weeks. I stopped wearing it after that, I think because I felt more confident with my riding ability. But whenever I know I’m in for a rough ride, I break out the mouthpiece. It does not interfere with breathing or drinking, but it does look strange when I smile (which is all the time when I’m riding) and it makes a great conversation piece.
Occasionally,
I inspect the equipment, and I’m amazed at the number of scrapes and deep
gouges in the hard plastic surfaces. This reaffirms that I made the right choice
for me in wearing all this gear. Most in our riding group wears all the stuff
except the body armor and mouthpiece. I also see many riders adding this safety
gear after talking to us in the parking lot, before or after the ride.
If
enough of us start wearing this type of safety equipment, maybe it will become
the accepted practice, just like with Eric Dickerson
