Matt Hall

While riding my bike along a fairly busy street and playing intermediate duck-and-cover with buses and taxis, someone opened his car door as I was passing. It snagged my handlebars and flipped me over onto the ground.

Despite not training for some time, I found myself doing a right-hand forward breakfall onto the road (admittedly, it was a fairly sloppy one as my grazed elbow testifies!) and finishing, somewhat dazed, in a slightly shaky yoi facing the driver.

Aside for the fact that Jitsu had taught me to land safely, it had also taught me to remain calm — the first thing I thought of while falling was to check for cars behind me and get out of their way as well.

The look on the driver's face when he saw me in yoi was priceless.