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Falling
An irritant aspect of bicycles maybe the only aspect is that if you leave it on it’s own it will fall.
It will sometimes fall with you riding it.
A bicycle is a dynamic object that has a dynamic equilibrium, for example when in surplace, it is then dynamic immobility.
Falling is not a nice thing. But it will happen from time to time, and inevitably the ground is one of those reality checks: we tend to think of it as being distant and for granted (one of the few drawbacks of being in an upright position), all the while being a constant player of our existence.
Therefore the important part becomes how you fall, which is something you have to learn.
Never expose parts of your body presenting an angle to the ground: elbows and knees for example.
Try not to oppose the fall with your hands: it’s best to fall sidewise, gradually distributing the impact of the fall on a line as long as possible. Don’t try and stop falling all of a sudden, it’s actually better to try and make the fall last: rolling is better.
If we can it would be best to try and enact the movement of falling leaves, but this is a very hard task and I’ve only seen it done once by an old teacher of aikido.
And of course have no fear.
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