No one likes to crash, but every rider has to deal with it from time to time, some more than others. Here are some tips that can help you bail relatively safe and protect you from a potential injury...

Tip 1: Wear safety gear. This is the most important piece of advice that I can give you! If you wear gear, you will have a much better chance in dealing with lots of different crash situations.

Tip 2: Slide on your knees. If you are wearing hard-capped knee pads, you have a very good chance of being able to knee-slide away from any wreck. If you know you are going down, ditch the bike and try to land on the caps on the hard plastic caps. Aim for the transition to make it a smoother slide. This works best on ramps, but it can be transferred to dirt jumping in some situations...

Tip 3: Let your wheels take the hardest impact. This is what method Matt Hoffman uses on vert, but it can be transferred to all types of riding. If you are coming down and you know things are not right, you may want to stay on the bike and let the wheels take the initial impact. This may tweak your wheels, but it will save your body. It is possible to still ride away in some situations. If not, after your wheels touch down, your body's trip should be a lot softer.

Tip 4: Bail out! In some cases, your only option is to jump off. Throw your bike down and away from you. See the pictures in this section for the various ways to bail. From this point, you can either attempt to slide on your knees or "hit the ground running" and try to run out of the crash. It is extremely easy to seriously injure your ankle by trying to run out of a crash, so be careful.

Tip 5: Roll!! Don't just flop to the ground, this can break a leg, an arm, an ankle... any number of things. Use the speed you have to roll over your shoulders and onto your back. Keep tumbling until you can stop. This may get you dirty, but it will save you the pain of a broken bone...

Tip 6: Wear pads!!! This cannot be repeated enough. Wearing pads can prevent many, many injuries, and keep you riding!