The buddy is knocked over, moaning on the ground. Many have experienced this. Fortunately, in the vast majority of cases, he gets back up a few minutes later and rides on, perhaps slightly shaky and no longer quite so willing to take risks.

But what if he has seriously injured himself? Do you know what to do? What to look out for, where and how you should and shouldn't touch your companion? For many people, the compulsory emergency assistance course for the driving test was a long time ago. If you don't ride a car, you may never have completed such a short course.

There are many first aid courses. Participants usually practise for emergencies in traffic, at work or in everyday situations. However, bike accidents in the forest or in the mountains are different, require different reactions and professional help may not be available as quickly. Specific training courses for female mountain bikers could help them to act correctly in an emergency. Web research shows: There are several service providers in Germany and Austria that offer just that.

In Germany, for example:

danihornsteiner.de
www.dimb.de

In Austria, for example:

elements-outdoorsports.at
flatsucks.at

The offer in Switzerland

There are no existing offers in Switzerland. First aid is part of the guide and tour leader training. However, if you simply want to acquire the knowledge as a private individual, you need to look around a little more specifically.

The Swiss Alpine Club offers courses in rescue and first aid in the mountains. These courses are mainly attended by people who want to complete a tour guide training course. However, they are open to anyone who is interested in the subject. On request, the SAC employee promises that mountain bike situations can also be discussed and practised if there is interest.The company Notfallhandling.ch can also offer first aid for mountain bikers, as Managing Director Urs Bürki explains on the phone. Specific courses for companies and clubs are part of the business. Putting together a course for mountain bikers is no problem, he promises. All instructors are professional paramedics and are familiar with the situations that occur when things go really wrong while biking.The most important tips have been compiled by the people behind mtb-travel.de. If you want more than just a few pointers from the web, you can contact one of the addresses above. Ride wishes everyone accident-free bike rides.