Thank you! I was about to crash on my MTB. I was managed to google this video and avoid getting hurt. 5/5. Totaly recomand this for friends.

I wanna make sure Seth gets full credit for the fact that he started this video by grabbing a fistful of front brake at speed to go over the bars on purpose, that's commitment. Well done 👊

We all love Seth so much we’re all just gonna ignore the whole the pickle stem bit? I’m okay with it

Sitting here with my broken thumb figuring out what I should have done

The thing about crashing is it usually goes so fast that the ONLY thing that is going to save you is muscle memory. So the more you crash, the better you'll eventually get at it.

Muscle memory in these situations is going to pay off. Practicing to fall or crash as safely as possible is such a great lesson.

From personal experience, take a breather 2-5min after any more severe crash. I've wiped out on one downhill, which, to our surprise, ended with a stream flowing across concrete in a blind turn (no traction) and hit hard on the concrete. That wasn't so bad, it was just a few scrapes and bruises. I got back on the bike and started the next segment of downhill, only to lose concentration for a second and swerve off the path down a natural ditch next to the course. The bike was almost a lost cause, and I was lucky to walk away only with a constant reminder of my neck making weird sounds from time to time.

This is entirely dependent on the situation, but you can also use the sole of your shoe against the back of your front tire as a brake. Lean back and press the flat of your foot into the tire and gradually increase pressure to slow yourself down. Growing up in the 90s in a place that wasn't financially well off, a lot of kids didn't have working brakes on their bikes and would do this instead.

Decades of experience condensed into 10 mins, making riders safer and enjoying their rides (even when times turn tough). Seth, you are awesome!

I’ll remember this for the next time I’m on the ground thinking about what I should’ve done

Whenever I want to be an MTB KZfaqr, I look at this dedication (him literally crashing multiple times for a video) and I realize I could never. Massive props to your work Seth. This video is a testament to that.

Pro tip for crashing against another vehicle (including cars): In order to minimize the impact, try to steer your momentum into the same direction as the other vehicle's momentum. For example, if a car in opposing traffic stupidly makes a left turn in front of you, try to steer right so that your wheels are facing the same direction as the car's wheels.

I'm currently suffering from a bike crash 2 broken ribs and a soft tissue injury of my shoulder. I have "traumatic amnesia" from the crash and don't exactly know that happened I wish there was a video like this a few weeks ago and maybe I wouldn't have been injured so badly. Thanks for always supporting the community. Come for a super long drive to Winnipeg, Manitoba we have a NICE free public park (bison butte) here with lines that are challenging and interesting. Your viewer from the land where we can only bike hard 4 months of the year (Vancouver doesn't count)

Also, if you are leaned too far back in the air (or "tail diving", as Seth calls it), squeezing your brakes in the air can help tilt the bike forward. The wheels' rotational energy gets transferred into the bike and the bike tilts forward. Just make sure NOT to squeeze the brakes if you are nose diving!!!

Please remember that if you step OFF the bike going uphill don't do it on the valley-side of the trail :-| I have seen guys fall down a steep section like that (they were very luck to only have a bruised ankle) . Please use the uphill section of the trail to step off

FYI if your rolling during a crash don’t put your hands out like he showed. You’ll brake your rists. I know from experience, broke both of them.

I think its safe to say that Seth has really come to be an Ozark Trail rider.

This whole video would have been useful to my wife yesterday, on our first trip to Bentonville. She does use many of these techniques already, purely out of fear of falling/ crashing. More instinctual rather than taught. Her issue was a berm that was slippery and the tail slid out from her. She’s all good and is nursing her scrapes. That over the handle bar trick is something I wish I’d have known years ago. I seem to always be thrown forward. Great video as always.

I just want to say how much I appreciate Seth going through all of the scenarios, and taking the lumps so beginners like myself have a chance to avoid them! Thanks buddy!

As a kid i rode MX MTB and BMX, now just car and MTB. Best advice i saw 20 years ago enduro video in south America. The guide was showing amateurs to skid the front wheel at about 10 mph and lean back. Yes I’ve had a rear line pop, Hayes Sole hydro, not fun.

i learned this the hard way practicing martial arts (Judo). when doing a front jump -> roll, do not land on your hands, it's not hard to break a wrist. learn to go over a shoulder instead. when done properly you can effectively stop from low to mid speed falls in one harmless roll.

Really good advice here. An excellent beginner guide that I wish I had when I started to help crash fear.

Thanks Seth! I am a new subscriber and vet mountain biker/CC racer getting back into MTB with my grandsons. You have helped rekindle the fire!

coming from a bmx background, crashin is something i learned to do which is essential in mtb riding...it allows me have more confidence in trying features and specially jumps

Trail runner here. Tucking and rolling after uncontrolled landing can be a LIFE SAVER. It saved me multiple times from really gnarly falls and after some time it became so instinctive that when I fall I just roll and use the momentum to get back up and keep going. I'm not the best at descending so you can trust me as the worse you are at descending the better you are at falling :)

The brake pump and the crank land were new to me, and unfortunately i feel like those will come in clutch!

These are so informative! Thanks a lot!

Great video! Very helpful

Great stuff Seth! Thanks!

You gotta admire Seth's commitment for provoking a proper OTB (without even gloves or elbow pads) for the sake of this video. When I go OTB, my palms, and even elbows quite often get grazed, to say the least.

I feel like there's a very common and painful injury you forgot to mention in the pedal slipping segment

As someone who spent years teaching folk how to fall safely [in a throwing Martial Art], I always cringe when I see cyclists talking about falling from bikes. But for once there was some really useful information here. Though learning how to 'tuck and roll' safely as well as landing to side or rear when you go down fast takes committed ongoing practice. On mats - with good instruction. The main thing you learn is to protect your head and not to put hands out. i.e. unlearn natural instincts. These falling skills are the most important thing I've ever learnt and I was lucky that my main martial art was extremely good at falling practice, not come across another anywhere near as good. These falling skills have saved me many hospital visits despite doing a variety of activities that involves being smashed into the ground deliberately or as by accident. Also made things like skiing where falling over is inevitable, much easier to learn because I had no fear about hitting ground.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge Buddy ! You already made a similar Video a few years ago and it inspired me to actually get a cheap mtb to practice the OTB ejection seat thing. I really want to learn this skill 😅

definitely learned something, definitely interesting and entertaining... as usual. thanks for bringing us more content (mtb related of course) keep up the good work and stay cool

Great video. Thanks!

Learned helpful stuff again and was entertained!

I just love your videos, thanks Seth for teaching and entertaining me 😊 every week with new stuff .And I crashed yesterday so if this video was posted I think I wouldn't hurt my self this much because I can't even walk for longer than a mile😢.

I just started mtb'ing about 6mo ago & you taught me soooooo much!!! Thank You Seth. Appreciate you ❤️

Useful! Thank you!

I was climbing a muddy, steep trail once when I lost traction and stopped dead. My instinct is to unclip my left foot, but it was then that I found out one of the cleat bolts had come out, so I couldn’t. I ended up ditching to the right, stuck to the bike on this muddy hill and had to remove my foot with the shoe still attached to the bike. If you feel more float then you’re used to, check those cleats.

Great video!! Thank you!!

Congrats on 1 mil Seth 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

This is the best MTB video ever - some of these things are second nature to me, some were completely new. Thanks!

i needed this yesterday

Watching this as im halfway off the handlebars. Thanks for the tips.

I sure hope that over time I am able to have more presence of mind to "fall" uphill. I was on the Flume Trail in Tahoe, and lost momentum on an uphill rock step, and didn't get my seat down fast enough. I couldn't get a foot down due to off camber narrow trail and over the edge I went. I did separate from my bike, but I hit everything else on the way down the hill. Thankfully it was loam like material and i stopped tumbling before a downed tree would have forced me to stop. This video was very helpful and I will incorporate the tips as shown.

"You lose points but you don't die". Pretty solid argument!

For tucking and rolling, the finer points of falling fancy are to bring your elbows in line with your chest and try to cover your face with your hands lightly balled into fists, if you got time to actually put your hands to your face rest your hands on your forehead and let your forearms cover your face and chest. bring your chin to your chest. keep your feet and knees together if at all possible so that the weight of impact is always on both of your legs instead of one leg. After you hit let your body roll with the impact naturally and try to stop your roll by using the momentum of your fall to put your feet into the direction of the fall. Hopefully, if everything goes right from going wrong, you'll have protected your legs and arms from getting broken and kept your head from impacting the ground while protecting your face from getting smacked. NEVER EVER TRY TO CATCH YOUR FALL WITH YOUR ARMS OR HANDS. YOU WILL JUST BREAK YOUR ARM. Your body will take the impact a lot better than your arms will.

Last year, while commuting in my hometown of Geneva, Switzerland, I lost all braking power on my mechanical disc brakes on a rainy day going down quite a big hill and I needed a new pair of underpants after that. And after a scooter (motorcycle) totalled that bike, I got hydraulic brakes for my new one and I've been loving it. On my first time out with it, I tore off the pedal from the crank and hit my "jewels" against the frame while going up a steep hill. I was not happy.

I am going to save an injury this week . Thanks for the bike chucking lessons!!

Handy video, once you are at a point of a fall better to avoid a possible injury, pretty useful and very well done...!

The pickle ASMR was great

Man i love how Seth makes bicycle videos man when I see his videos I don’t know why I feel excited ❤❤❤ PERSONALLY Seth don’t ever stop making bicycle videos it’s awesome your my favourite. You are the first person that makes interesting videos You are the best creator keep creating awesome videos ❤❤🎉😊

Brake failure happed to me one time on a jump trail. My brakes stopped working and I couldn't manage my speed. I ended up up clearing the landing by quite a lot and crash landed on a tree stump, it was not a fun trip to the ER. This video probably would have saved me if i had know these things, very important.

I really wish I had seen this a few days ago because it would have saved my face. I went OTB on a step up, but instead of bailing I landed upside down in the ready position. I dragged my face a few meters, ruined my expensive sunglass, mangled my teeth, and smashed my knee. One thing I would add to Seth's video is that if you have not had the pleasure of bailing on a jump, wear a full face; half shells are great for trails, but if you're jumping a double black jump line, wear a full face.

Good ideas Seth!

Dude thanks for this video. I'm riding fairly risk averse but don't mind extra preparedness. Can confirm the foliage trick can work - saved me from hitting a river on a family trip. With my feet I even managed to save my bike and luggage from drowning till my mum got to me and helped me up again.

Those 5dev cranks in your revel are sick!!🔥

I broke my shoulder/rotator cuff after losing traction going around a switchback too fast a few years ago. That really really sucked in so many ways.... Stay safe and keep riding....

I just want you to know I appreciate you for making this video. Especially knowing at our age how sore you were the next day.

Congrats 1m🎉🎉

congrats for the one million!!!!

Another great tutorial 👍🚵🏻

Thank you, Seth. This is about the time of year when I usually hurt myself. I get overconfident and invariable screw up. While I got a good laugh - and a few new usernames for social media - from the terms "lawn dart" and "rag doll" and "tuck and roll" I'm thinking it's probably best if I take up walking on the trails and doing some scouting beforehand.

Never thought about putting your feet on the cranks! Great tips. Thanks, Seth!

Bro I just watched this mid crash thanks so much ❤❤❤❤❤

that first over the bar jump was impressing :D

That crank save method.... going to have to practice that one!

Love these🥰

Absolute madman! Ate the pickle stem first!!!

Just a few days late^^ I just had a gnarly crash on Sunday, where I jumped into a steep rocky section of trail, followed by a nasty tight corner. Missed the line by the slightest bit, couldn´t correct it and wrapped myself face first around a thick tree behind the corner... broken nose and concussion... Now I need some quality YT content to distract me from not being able to ride my bike for at least 5 weeks 😞 You made a good start Seth^^

Me when I'm about to crash: My bike comes first.

When I was a bmx kid I used my mom’s butter knives as tire levers. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Seth!

Seth! The pumping technique helps not only on bikes. I'm gonna tell u a little story, i was riding with my family in a car ihe mountains and at one pount my front left brake pad just explode. I felt a little kick in the steering wheel, my brake pedal fell off to the metall. I was ready to use a handbrake, yet it was still on a decline, thus dangerous. A few pumps (felt like a hundred in 3 seconds lol) made my brakes functional again (rest 3 pistons pushed the pads and front left piston directly to the brake disk. Your video will definitely help bikers and drivers out there. Thanks

I smile everytime i see a berm peak notification! Keep up the good work♥️

I have been riding for 18 months now. Mainly gravel and light trail. I got an old giant that I knew had a very worn crankset. One day I was really putting some power down springing and the chain skipped on 2 very worn teeth and the cranks jumped straight to the bottom of the stroke. I got launched into the bars, Bent the right shifter with my right groin, went over the bars. Tumbled and smashed my head on the ground. Damn I am glad for helmets. Wear your helmets people. The bruising was brutal especially on the right side. Learned a lot that day about not ignoring bike maintenance.

that end card montage went hard🔥🔥

My favourite crash ever, was this one time I was going around a big berm, and my front tire suddenly caught and turned 90 degrees in a split second, sending me flying forward over the handlebars, but somehow I did a perfect somersault out of it and landed on my feet without a scratch or bruise. It was actually kind of fun.

I’m more experienced skateboarding and really know how to fall! But falling on a mtb is a whole different deal, another great vid Seth. Per usual.

Something not often mentioned... that I learnt from skateboarding in the 7'0's, Riding pushbikes in the 80's into trail bikes tight up to 2020 including YZ250's.... ...and DH Mountain Biking from 2000 but properly (well mediocre if you watch my vids) from my 50's circa 2018... HOW TO LAND FACE FIRST WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF DAMAGE. It began with Skateboarding... where a stone only 6mm (1/4") could see you superman into the tarmac.... right through to flat out full throttle offs on a 2 poke motorcross bike... I found keeping your elbows out and fists closed in front of your chin like a pose for a boxing match... When you land (And I even practiced this this just running on a grass field and leaping head first forward to the ground)... you land in a sort of 'elbows out' bench press... thumbs slightly up (about 45deg, not palms down). This allows you to slow down your impact in a bench press landing, keeping your face from the ground... If it looks lie your going to tumble... from this position you can lift an elbow, lowering that wrist (Like you were going to punch yourself in the groin...) and roll over that forearm, shoulder and back... (This I practiced too... you can run flat out... leap forward, roll over the outside of an arm, across your back and butt, and end up back on your feet). This has failed me twice... Once at 40, Highsided my YZ full throttle top gear in a paddock when I hit whoops.. but I was flicked about 8ft into the air and was probably doing about 100kph so a KO followed by TKO and a popped shoulder was probably getting off lightly... and the 2nd was on my way down on an impromptu double that I completed... but the YZ didn't.. and slthough my reactions are fairly good for (then 46yo) I didn't get my arms back from the bike departing my knees... and rolled a wrist on a peck before it fot in place at about shoulder level (broke my radius apparently (after a month I finally got it checked out.. I had fairly well set itself by then)) Anyhooze... Watch any faceplant video of (even seasoned riders) and they often open hand straight arm land on a crash... I use my lower side palm and forearm for a landing and still have my teeth (well I lost a cap through the full face helmet on the KO but like I said... it was a decent unpoweed flight.. Not that anyone will read this or give me a thumb for my effort... but seriously, from a 40+year seasoned trail bike rider.... Close your fists, Use your forearm springs!

I have a small scar on my forehead from a recent downhill crash, glad I'm watching this to avoid future incidents

Nice! Hopefully, I could remember any of this.. ☺

WE NEED MORE COOKING WITH SETH THE VIDS ARE SO GOOD AND SO ENTERTAINING AND THEY HELP ME WHEN I AM EATING.

I remember my first weeks of Dirt Jumping back when I had my cheap ebay Dirt Jumper. I had just advanced to the medium table line and spent the whole evening before on it when after the first few rides of the day my right crank suddenly snapped upon landing. Apart from a slight scratch on the inside of my lower leg where the sharp edge of the remaining bit of the crank arm had made contact with my leg I managed to land safely on just my left leg and stop the bike without crashing. Part of me must've seen it coming tho, just before that exact ride I was like "I wonder how much longer this thing is gonna hold up!" And lo and behold, the above situation happened.

Congrats on 1 million

A few weeks I went off a drop and as soon as I landed it shot me to the left face first into a tree. Not sure there was much I could do there (aside from not doing whatever I did on my landing that made me shoot the wrong way 😅)

I think something worth adding is considering how you might bail when doing a run up on a new obstacle i.e. noting that there are rocks on the left side so bail to the right.

“Your taint is all kind of messed up” really got me 😂

For those of us that ride clipped in, there is an additional measure of forethought and complexity to making that instinctive, immediate bail from the bike successful. I have not yet fully mastered it and at times, still wonder if riding clipless is worth the risk should things really go sideways.

congrats on 1 milion!!!

Those 5dev cranks are sick!

I was DH racing on Cannondale super vee that we shoved a double stroke length shock (we had to modify the tabs) and turned into an 8 inch travel rear with a Risse upside down fork with 6 inches up front. It had a 13 inch bottom bracket height. When I got my Frank The Welder Motorhead frame and ripped down the same trails on my first run, I clipped a pedal and got thrown so fast I was instantly grinding my new helemt in the rock garden. I don't know how I didn't get hurt. Just naturally ready to crash. Be ready for it is my advice

If you're tail heavy you can tap your rear brake and it levels you out. Practice it on a step up

Nice video and cant wait till I get a mountain bike

This video is very good and it all will work but I have two problems with it. If you hit front tire first on BMX you can lean back and your want to pull your arms up but also allow your arms to be able to pump once you tires on the ground on a mountain bike you want to go back some but don’t be in line with your tire and push as hard as you can with your legs and if you land to where your about to loop out bring your legs up some and push your front tire down as hard as you can.

Congrats on the 1 million.

I'd be interested to see you do more on stuff like this. If you could get someone who's familiar w parkour bailouts that'd help too cuz a lot of the same stuff applies minus the bike. Or a trials/bike park specific bailout one.

"Your taint is all sorts of messed up" More than you know Seth. More than you know

That's a good reason to have strong triceps and pecs as a bike rider. I'm sure I have more than enough, but it isn't nothing to do a full range-of-motion dip so quickly. Especially if you're fairly heavy like me. I'm a well-muscled, typically 187-206 lb guy.

Great video! I couldn’t stop staring at your crooked visor the whole time though. Haha!