On falling for the Trikke, then falling off the Trikke

‘Face it: we’re gonna wipe out – whether in life or while carving.’

Elise Bennett

Taking a tumble off of a Trikke is pretty awful, even at slow speeds. You get bumps, bruises, and a bit of road rash – not to mention a couple days of inevitable soreness. That gorgeous Trikke of yours gets scraped up in the process too. We won’t even talk about the whole embarrassment thing … Crashes are just an ugly affair all the way around. But! There’s an upside: falling can make you a better carver! Just as getting a speeding ticket makes most of us drive in a more civilized manner, wiping out makes us pay more attention to how we pilot our Trikkes.

I’ve been riding for about six years now. Thankfully, I have fallen only twice. My first fall occurred while test driving a lightweight, aluminum T8 Air. I did not realize that it was SO much lighter than my old-school, steel T78cs; I literally yanked the front wheel out from under myself while approaching a sharp corner.

It had rained the day of the second fall, and I was going up a gentle slope on a shaded path that had not fully dried out yet. I slowed down and carved only enough to keep moving; I was going two or three miles per hour, max. I saw the pine needles covering the path, but I did not see the lip of uneven cement below the pine needles. My front wheel found the lip mid-carve, skidded sideways, and boom went the dynamite. Rider down. Hard.

“… consider revisiting your last tumble – whether on the Trikke or off …”

The first fall made me acutely aware of the difference in force required to maneuver various Trikke models. But the second fall forever changed the way I ride. Nowadays, I wear a helmet and full pads (except for slow-moving photo ops – although I probably should wear ‘em any time my wheels are rolling). I do not ride after rain or fog unless the path and all the debris on it is totally dry. If I am going up an incline and there is debris on the path ahead, I dismount and walk to the top. If there is a bump or dip in the road, no matter how small, I straighten up and coast over it – no carving allowed. My tumbles made me a safer, smarter rider, and I have not fallen since. *knocks on wood*

Face it: we’re gonna wipe out – whether in life or while carving. Some say that life is not about the falling, but the getting up. I propose a corollary: getting up is all well and good, but learning how not to fall again is more important still. What makes wise carvers (and well-rounded people, I dare say) is a willingness to take a hard look at what went awry and change it.

So consider revisiting your last tumble – whether on the Trikke or off – and determine what you can do to prevent it from happening again. There can be beauty in the fall if you’re willing to look for it!