Not to sidetrack the conversation,
I think of a UPD as an unexpected dismount that you end up on your feet. When you land off your feet, that is a fall. So although, a fall can be unplanned, it’s not a UPD. Is this a common/accurate distinction?
I consider a UPD to be any sort of unplanned dismount from the unicycle, if I end up on my feet or off my feet it’s still an unplanned dismount so that’s what I call it.
OK, I think you are right. My first understanding the UPD was different, as I listed, but hadn’t seen a fall differentiated from an UPD. Thank you.
Actually, I use my camelbak to my advantage a lot of times. I’m not very good at running out my falls :)…but on the brightside, it has resulted in me perfecting a falling style that works for me:
I typically fall off the front, making contact once with each foot before initiating the rolling sequence. I usually make first contact with my right hand, which helps me guide the motion. Then in the process of rolling over my right shoulder, I turn my body to land smoothly on the camelbak, which I then grind against the pavement until I come to a stop :).
exactly, that’s always how I think of them, when falling doing a trick, I call it a wipeout, or bail:P
camelbaks aren’t too bulky I guess I should have been clearer, school bags are what prevent rolling… at least usually they do because they tend to be bulky and grip the road and such a little too well.
I always classed a UPD as falling off without meanting too, thus unplanned. But getting ready and training for when it happens makes it a lot less painfull and scary, because you can get out of it safely.
I initially coined the term upd to differentiate bw a fall and the thing that happens when you land on your feet suddenly. Right away the mob loved the term, but it immediately took on its catchall status that it has today, where it pretty much means that the road (or some other culprit like wind) threw you off and you landed either on your feet (a upd) or on some other part of your anatomy (a bad upd).
As for the judo analogy, the part about reaching with the knife edge us absolutely true. I never realized that that is what I do. You def’ly want that arm to be a bit bent.
“just remember that the tuck and roll method is not very effective if you fall with a backpack on.”
Never mind UPDs, three weeks ago I had a FALL! I was on my way home from work with my back pack on with my lap top, a change of clothes, several charts to finish at home that night, then I stopped off at the store, picked up a bottle of wine, a yellow pepper, meat, etc, etc. Between the store and home I rode under a branch that has been growing down into my line of travel. Having gotten tired of avoiding this branch the previous few days I grabbed at it to try and debulk it. That was a grave cognitive error. An error which my cerebellum and motor cortex were unable to overcome. I fell. My gloves and helmet earned their keep that day. I did a one arm outstretched poor approximation of a role. I rolled right over my laptop and the bottle of wine which was neatly stashed in the right side pocket of my backpack. Luckily I rolled to the left. Unfortunately the yellow pepper was in the left side pocket. My brand new laptop survived without a scratch. The bottle of wine was completely intact proving that Gawd loves us. Behold, a miracle has befallen us. Alas, the yellow pepper was mortally wounded. I was forced to eat it to get it out of its misery.
Final tally: 1 sprained left wrist (good thing I didn’t sprain my other left wrist).
Road rash on my left knee (I only have one of those)
Road rash on my left shoulder. Proving to me that I did, in fact, roll. I wasn’t monitoring my progress during the fall. I had to rely on the forensic evidence.
A smash mark on my helmet, but NOT my head.
A pretty deep pedal scrape on my right thigh.
One dead pepper.
The unicycle was fine, aside from some crooked handlebars.
Three weeks later, my wrist is almost back to normal, the road rash is healed and the pepper is still dead.
Thanks for the link to the Ukemi video. That’s something I’ve got to try, about three thousand times so that I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. So it becomes so ingrained in my brain that it’ll be just like riding a uni.
I’m just not sure I want to practice rolling with my laptop in my backpack.
I am ashamed at my great experiance at Crashing
We are not talking UPD here. What is there to be proud of ? A story of surviving doing really stupid things. 
This is a thread about crashing face first into the crap that is in front of you. WTF ?
I am not claiming to be a champion of landing on my face, but as an experienced brown belt in Judo (in 1973), and having used the roll trick to save my ass in motorcycle crash after motorcycle crash:( , the advantage of the snap roll is to skid forward in a way that you hit stuff with your feet rather then your head.
Riding my 36, , I find that my knowledge of Judo motorcycle speed snap rolls is unhelpful. I seem to do sudden face plants, when I am looking around (I love touring)
The ground rushs to my face. I wear these Harbinger plastic skid sticks strapped around my wrist. A hard piece of plastic that allows me to protect my body with my hands. I also wear Converse high top sneakers. I splay my toes outward and keep my unprotected knees off the asphalt with my ability as a weight lifter to totally dominate the situation with brute strength applied into the wrist wraps. Seriously, don’t practice crashing, lift weights, which strengthens your bones as well as your power.
I could see how in some situations (fast downhills) a bail into a roll is the only way to go.
In my personal experiance, I have tended to slam into the pavement in a sudden way, where rolling out wasn’t the answer.
I can’t recommend the Harbinger wrist wraps enough, except maybe they aren’t available anymore.
If you have brutal palm protection, tough high top sneakers, and strong arms, you can just skid down the road palms first. I have gone down suddenly a few times, with no leg protection, sometimes at night. Hit a rock and bam it’s concrete to the face. I have only been mildly scratched so far. I land in a sort of push up position, with my sneakers pointed outwards and dragging. I cannot recommend serious (not gloves) wrist wraps, with the hard core plastic slider, enough. If you are strong enough, you can keep your knees off the pavement in a 10 MPH face plant, if you have brutal hard core wrist plastic sliders (not gloves). It helps a lot it you can bench press your own weight. The face plant (can’t roll out) is the most common crash IMHO. 