Hello Joan!

BUMMER about the accident. I know it can be hard to overcome "issues" that arise from accidents. I suggest you go get the current issue of BICYCLING. It has a picture of Lance Armstong on the front. It has a real good article about the author's rehab after breaking a collarbone that required some serious surgery. It might have some similarities for you to consider.

OK, next to peddleing, braking comes in pretty important and being a teacher, this lesson should make sense.

1. Your most effective brake is the FRONT brake which is in your left hand...repeat after me...LEFT HAND! LOL No, the brake isn't different than the one in the rear. It is because as you break, the combined weight of the bike and rider shifts towards the front wheel. Proper breaking technique will alow you to apply more pressure on the front without locking it up.

2. THEREFORE...the least effective brake is the rear (right hand brake) which adds another problem...skidding. Repeat after me...REAR IS RIGHT! The harder you brake, the more weight you off-load on the rear so if you brake too hard you can lock it up and if you are in a turn your tail will want to slide out from under you.

3. To compensate for these tendancies practice slidding the butt back as far as possible for aggressive breaking. This will keep more weight on the back and help avoid a swan dive over the handle bars.

4. Brake BEFORE a turn! Braking in a turn can be disasterous if you aren't on top of the situation. Gravel in a turn can do some crazy things.

5. Don't ride a dead horse to the grave! If you loose control...GET OFF THE BIKE! That means get your self into a position to roll instead of planting a straight arm into the ground. (Sound familiar Joan?) The tendency for novices is to feel the bike slide from under them and to hold on hand to the hight side handle bar and extend low arm towards the ground. Planting the palm in the ground is a natural instict but it can lead to serious injuries. Rolling and taking some road rash is perferable to wearing casts and slings. The picture in the BICYCLING article is a perfect example of what I mean.

6. Brakes CAN overheat! If you are on a long, steep down hill and you find yourself constantly on the brakes SIT UP! Go "anti aero". Let your body provide aerodynamic resistance to keep your speed under control. If that doesn't keep you happy, then apply brakes to get below your comfortable speed, release brakes let the speed increase, then repeat.

BTW, the shifters follow the same pattern, right - rear custer, left - front chain rings. That relates to this topic in the situation where you come up on soft/gravel settings, whether that is the gravel typically encountered in many turns or the other times you run into it in an unplanned detour. The trick in these situations is to DOWN SHIFT (easier gear) PRIOR to encountering the situation and slow down. Then, keep your peddle cadance a bit higher. Just like a car that should be downshifted in snowy/slippery conditions, you won't have as much torque so as you peddle you will avoid causeing your rear wheel to spin and increase the chances of loosing control. It takes a bit of practice but the the idea is to apply just enough peddle pressure to maintain a safe speed and, as you become more confident, to GENTLY accelerate as you hit the appex of the turn.

BTW, most of my experience is with road bikes. Trail riding presents some slightly different challenges so anyone confident about commenting on road vs. mountain bike techniques is welcome to chime in.