Are you a DH safety girl?

[Consuela]

Hi Ladies,

Survey says, which of the following protective gear do you use when DH at a ski resort? Top 10 answers on the board:

1. Full face helmet
2. Goggles, instead of glasses
3. Full finger gloves
4. Shin & knee guards
5. Elbow and wrist guards
6. Chest protector
7. Padded undershorts (i.e. hip pads, etc)
8. Neck roll
9. Pressure suit
10. Clipless vs. Flat pedals

 

[abc]

10. Clipless vs. Flat pedals

? So, which is safer?

 

[tradygirl]

1. Full face helmet
2. Goggles, instead of glasses
3. Full finger gloves
4. Shin & knee guards
5. Elbow and wrist guards

10. Flat pedals (I think flats are better for technical DHing. Easier to bail. :D)

 

[altagirl]

1. Full Face
2. Goggles
3. full finger gloves (Can't even fathom using anything else even on the easiest singletrack on my rigid bike... actually I have Fox Bomber gloves with armor on the knuckles for DH and regular full fingered gloves for everything else.)
4. Shin/knee guards. Long Fox Launch ones for DH, and the shorty version for Super D or gnarly trail riding or when I'm using clipless pedals)
5. If I'm not doing full DH (not wearing the body armor jacket) then I wear separate elbow guards.
6. Chest protector is integrated into the body armor jacket
7. For some reason this is the last thing I put on - it has to be GNARLY for me to pull out the padded undershorts. Not that I don't need them, but they just tend to feel bulky and I guess I figure I can live with a bruise on my hip.
9. Pressure suit - for real DH riding.
10. Clipless vs. Flat pedals. Depends on the course - and sometimes I'll try it each way to figure out what works best for me.

 

[abc]

10. Clipless vs. Flat pedals. Depends on the course - and sometimes I'll try it each way to figure out what works best for me.

Ditto.

I can't decide. If the course is rocky and bouncy (most of the time), I have trouble staying on the platform pedal if unclipped.

However, clipping in does make bailing a tad slower. So only when falling is not acceptable (e.g. trail hugs side of high cliff), I would ride un-clipped. Otherwise, I stay clipped in in order to maximize bike control (hence to minimize the need to bail).

 

[Consuela]

7. For some reason this is the last thing I put on - it has to be GNARLY for me to pull out the padded undershorts. Not that I don't need them, but they just tend to feel bulky and I guess I figure I can live with a bruise on my hip.

Curious, which one of these are you most likely to put on first? You know, I don't mean what order you get dressed in, but as your ride escalates through the continuum of a trip to Jamba Juice to a full on DH.

4. Shin & knee guards
5. Elbow and wrist guards
6. Chest protector

 

[altagirl]

Curious, which one of these are you most likely to put on first? You know, I don't mean what order you get dressed in, but as your ride escalates through the continuum of a trip to Jamba Juice to a full on DH.

4. Shin & knee guards
5. Elbow and wrist guards
6. Chest protector

So if level 1 is just XC riding gear - XC helmet, full finger gloves, shorts, sleeveless shirt...

Level 2 is knee/shin and elbow guards. I think there has been a time or two where I'll just wear knee/shin guards and a long sleeve shirt, but usually if I'm riding a techy trail, I wear knee/shin and elbow guards. That covers the stuff that gets scraped up the most and the pointy joints that hurt for a long time when you slam them into a rock... At this point I usually also add in an ankle brace on my right ankle as I'm too flexible and when I land drops my right ankle tends to be to the rear, flexes too much and pinches nerves. Ouch.

Level 3 is adding a full face helmet. Goggles usually go with the helmet, but that's more often a factor of how hot it is and how much pedaling is on the trail.

Level 4 is the chest/spine protector (body armor jacket) which replaces the elbow guards. This is more hot and bulky, so it's for real DH trails, etc. At this point I also would be wearing burly DH shorts (like moto shorts). And if it's really rocky, I add in the padded shorts underneath those.

 

[Consuela]

To those of you wearing the knee/shin guards and elbow/arm guards, what brands have you tried and which ones ended up as your favorite?

AG, I recall you are currently wearing Fox Launch. You try any others first?

Also, do you get raw spots from strap rub?

 

[abc]

I've had this setup from a small company in Canada, forgot the brand right now. It's pretty good. No rub but there's a bit of restriction feeling from the straps reducing blood flows. Arms/elbow is easier since arms don't move as much as legs.

It's a balance of how gnarly the trail is. If there's a lot of potential falls and rocks to land on, I put them on and wish I hadn't. Until I fall, that is. Then I'm glad I had them on! ;-)

Otherwise, I just don't wear much protection and ride a little slow and a bit more cautious. And yes, accept some bruises as a resulting compromise.

I do more x-c than downhill though. When I do go lift-served downhill, I wear both arm/elbow AND knee/shine protection. But in those cases, I usually am not pedaling as much as when x-c. So the extra hassle is ...well, tolerated.

 

[altagirl]

abc - is it from Core Rat?

To those of you wearing the knee/shin guards and elbow/arm guards, what brands have you tried and which ones ended up as your favorite?

AG, I recall you are currently wearing Fox Launch. You try any others first?

Also, do you get raw spots from strap rub?

I also own shin guards from RaceFace (aka Roach). Those are what I used for the past few years. My complaint with those was that the top part - above your knee isn't very long. If you caught a rock or branch on the pad, it pulled it down, or I could get bruises/cuts on the open skin between the top of the knee/shin guard and my shorts.

The Fox Launch are higher there while still being flexible for pedaling and therefore offer more protection. (Also has a nice side effect of not giving me the weird stipe of dark tan that I used to get from about an inch above my kneecap to maybe 4" above my kneecap....)

I did notice some rub on the first long ride. And I was a little concerned, thinking that was going to be a problem - because after a 3-4 hour ride wearing them they had scraped up a couple spots on my thigh. But the weird thing is that they've never done that since - and I've used them a lot now. I don't know if the pads broke in or my legs somehow got less sensitive to it, but it's not been an issue after that one ride.

And I do love the strap closure system on the Fox Launch knee pads.

I think for elbow guards, I've only ever had the Fox ones (2 different styles). And I don't really have any complaints on either of those.

Fit is a personal thing though. If at all possible, I'd hit up your local shops and try on what they've got. I mean - even if we weigh the same or wear the same size jeans, we could have very different shaped/sized calves or arms and end up with different styles that fit us best.

 

[abc]

abc - is it from Core Rat?

Yep! CoreRat it is. (My short term memory is really awful these days. I wonder...)

Light weight and very open design so much cooler than many others. It's really a x-c gear for gnarly single track rather than true DH protections. It has evolved lately though so there're version of it that has more protection but hotter as a result. I prefer the version I have because I just can't stand the heat. And for someone who rarely use guards, a little goes a long way. ;-)

 

[Consuela]

I'm a new owner of....

I'm a new owner of Fox Launch elbow/arm guards and knee/shin gaurds.

After the new purchase, we headed back to Arastradero w/ the little jump session mid-ride and I tried out the elbow pads. I did know they were there at times, but they didn't bother me. Left the knee/shin gaurds for DH at Tahoe.

The elbow/arm guards gave me enough courage to try the next two features at the jump session area. Now, they call it a jump session area, but mind you that I'm not doing the jumps, as the landing areas are pretty crazy. There are these drop-ins that you can ride straight down and then swoop up to the top of this table top and some more mellow stuff like that.

Some folks can catch air at the top of the mound, but I just did a little pause at the top or got my front wheel up a little. I'd probably have to get a running start at the drop-in to get much more than that... But, it is a table top and off the other side is a single track that wraps around it and then a steep embankment that goes down about 50 feet through waist-high prickly weeds and rocks and snakes, so... hahah

Anyway, had a great time and Mr. C seemed to like the little jump session the best out of the whole ride and did all the same features.

 

[Consuela]

1st ride with knee shin guards....

So, I've been wearing my elbow/arm guards for a few weeks now and they saved my right elbow from a owie scrape and bruises 2 weeks ago from a little tip over on my first attempt in the Big Bowl. I did walk away with... let me count them... 9 bruises on my legs. So, that would have been a good ride to debut them! haha

Knowing that I was going to ride the Big Bowl backwards (ie opposite direction, not riding my bike backwards) this past Thursday and still sporting bruises from previous week, I debuted the leg guards. Fortunately, I did not have any spills to get my money out of them that night.

Anyway, I liked them overall. I do have two rub spots on my right leg from the pad. Hopefully, that will be a one time thing like Altagirl had. I think I need to tighten them up around the thigh a little.