Been riding since 1995 and largely major incident-free till 2007 when i broke my collarbone which in total took 3 operations and 18 months to fix. also meant lost earnings as i’m a contractor and couldn’t get to work to fulfil my contract. Also managed to break my scapular in 2008 although that fixed relatively quickly.

Got into road biking pretty seriously from 2010 and have barely ridden mtb since then, partly just because of the hassle of constant cleaning and maintenance and cost and time of driving 90 mins to go for any kind of decent ride. partly i just fancied a change after having rather overdone mtb for so long.

Been riding mtb a bit more this year, and really enjoying it but a small mistake a couple of weeks ago and i now have a plate and screws in my wrist. I’m 42 so broken bones are more serious than when i was younger and now self employed contractor so i’ve lost a load of income and am relying on the generosity of my client to not terminate my contract + don’t want to get a reputation for unreliability.

i’m wondering if it’s really the best idea to hangup my camelbak, stick to road riding and just call it a day…

Thoughts?

Having broken my collarbone about five years ago, and missed a few weeks of work as I waited for surgery, I realised I just couldn’t afford the risk. I’m a pretty crap rider anyway, and I couldn’t imagine getting any better by riding even more tenderly.

That said, I have taken my kids out a number of times, and used it as an excuse just to enjoy the trails without taking risks.

As a result, I find I can still enjoy the mud without worrying too much. And now, with a new road bike, I can compete with myself on pavement instead.

The driving/time element frustrated me too. Been lucky but also ride within my limits so few injuries. Up to you!

because no one ever broke a collarbone road riding Saxonrider 😕 😆

I’m sat here with a broken tibia/fibula from a sub 10mph road riding fall,

whats the point giving up something you enjoy based on ifs or buts, theres always going to be injuries even if you sit at home wrapped in bubble wrap

You have been unlucky, but remember, you are unlikely to get run over falling off in the woods. Whereas on the road…………….

Why not ride local trails instead? Few things beat a good ride starting and ending at home without any faffing about. It might be less adventurous than the “decent” riding you travel for, but presumably that’s also the sort of riding that’s getting you hurt.

Why not ride local trails instead?

I think the OP is London-based (if memory serves he used to post lots of threads about property prices).

To answer the question myself – I’m the same age and I’m only just getting back to my fastest again after a broken arm two years ago. The fitness was no problem but the mental side took longer and I couldn’t put my finger on why I was holding back a bit.

Anyway, I’m loving it more than ever now, the feeling of staying off the brakes on a fast, techy descent is a buzz I can;t really get from road riding.

Or if I was to try to replicate it on the road I think the consequences of coming off would be way more serious.

Buy that insurance Steve Peat advertises.

Edit: this one

Similar story here: 43 and my user name refers to what looked like a bi-annual tradition of summer-ruining accidents; torn ankle ligaments 2007, then a snapped tibial plateau (knee) 2009, then a snapped elecronon (elbow) and torn-off tricep tendon 2011. 2013 was a tense year, fully expecting to do a collar bone 😀

I got back into road riding to get fit from the last of these accidents, and for the whole hassle/travel/inconvenience factor (plus working shifts also means I can squeeze a ~2hr from-the-door ride in before or after work).

I haven’t given up mountain biking, I just go for quality not quantity, wear pads, and ride slightly more within my limits and aim more for smooth technique than bigger/faster/further (though none of my injuries were caused by that sort of riding, just me rationalising).

I’ve ‘given up’ MTBing many times after some pretty serious injuries (broken knee, ankle, radius and ulna, elbow, ribs, collar bone, shoulder blade, both wrists etc) but by the time I’ve healed I keep coming back for more.

I’ve got a road bike which I like riding but it doesn’t give the same buzz as riding the MTB.

I’ll probably ride MTB in some shape or form until I can’t ride at all.

If you are accident prone riding an mtb surely it means 3 things?

1. You are riding above your skill level

2. Do something about your skill level

3. Slow down/do easier stuff

I recently went on a skills course and now have got my confidence back, plus I am riding the bike better which means I am less likely to crash. Combine that with riding within limits and there is no reason to crash..

+ learn to crash properly, honestly can save a lot of injury!

I broke my arm recently pushing it too hard on a DH day. Really messed up my summer biking plans. I’ve decided to pull back a bit on the uplift days from now on. Planning on doing some more sedate riding & trying some longer distance bikepacking trips. Why not just try something a bit different? Ie change over to a HT, swap the forks out for rigid forks etc. Basically still have a great day mtb ing but at a slower pace. That way hopefully the next fall won’t be as bad.

On a side note, interesting that your using the road riding to avoid injury, I’m the other way around. Not used the road bike in years. Watched too many episodes of 24 hrs in A&e. ..at least an accident on the mtb I’d just a broken bone and not an argument with a HGV!

I have, although not ‘officially’, I just sold the bike after a combo of a sprained thumb and slipped disc within a couple of months of one another. At this point I just looked at my newly rebuilt bike and decided it was money that would be better spent on a backpacking trip to Alaska 8) (I was living in Vancouver at the time).

I don’t miss it and feel like I fulfilled most of my ‘ambitions’ on the bike, culminating in approx 6 months riding in North Vancouver including several night rides.

I kind of ride more for exploration and adventure rather than the quality of the trails (which is why I never got into trail centres). I can scratch that itch just as well, if not better, with a pair of hiking boots, which typically means less injuries as well 😀

Why not ride local trails instead? Few things beat a good ride starting and ending at home without any faffing about.

I was firmly in this camp (living in Edinburgh, riding in the Pentlands) but once I got a road bike there was even less faffing between doorstep and riding, in fact, virtually nil!

Skills course?

Only joking, sorry about your wrist.
I rarley Mtb these days,99% of riding time is on the crosser.Similar story to the op re travel/hassle.
After i washed out the front wheel and scalped my elbow I was riding like a cowardy custard.Come to think of it , since year zero(parenthood),I’ve calmed down on the mtb too.
I think it takes a long time to properly rebuild your confidence after each off.I wouldn’t stop though.
Just take it easy….

Got into road biking pretty seriously from 2010 and have barely ridden mtb since then, partly just because of the hassle of constant cleaning and maintenance and cost and time of driving 90 mins to go for any kind of decent ride. partly i just fancied a change after having rather overdone mtb for so long.

Stopped reading at that bit.

Next!.

Nah, I’ve only really had one nasty crash but it put me in hospital for 3 weeks and 9 months off work, 12 off the bike – don’t want to do that again, but I’ve accepted that by carrying on, it’s a small possibility, it still plays on my mind though – 6 years later.

Nowadays with 2 kids and a wife that rely on me and rational fear of breath-taking pain and suffering I’ve toned it down, the DH bike went and whereas before my mantra used to be – ‘try it before you scare yourself off it’ now it’s ‘look before you leap’ and more than 2 ‘refusals’ and I put it off for another day.

It can be frustrating at times, I know I rarely ride as fast as I can, even at my most ballistic I’m at 9/10ths but I want to ride for at least another 22 years (taking me to 60) and my Kids are more important to me that some fleeting moment of glory most people wont see and even less care about.

OP I think you might live near me? (Bromley/Farnborough) if so, there is some reasonable MTB riding around our way, you just need to look for it.

Oh, and I’m the same age (42) and also do less MTB these days – can’t quite put my finger on why, I think I just feel like I get better value out of road biking (less faff/cleaning/etc)

I’m doing the Ride London 100 in 3 weeks, and have promised myself I’ll do a bit more MTB when I don’t need to be stressing about road training.

I gave up in the mid 90’s after the third collarbone break, the quack said if I broke them again I risked severing the brachial nerve.

I took up climbing and then kite buggy racing (went to the World Champs representing England in 2010 :D). When the second child arrived I couldn’t fit all the kite gear and my family in the car so went back to MTBing.

So far, no further broken collar bones, pretty convinced the modern full suss is accountable, my bike has got me out of deep trouble on a couple of occasions when a 90’s hard tail would have killed me.

i buy the full suss argument to a degree. every time i’ve come off, it was my Cotic Soul, which is a bike which handles better and is much more fun at speed, so i do tend to ride it quite hard… and i rode more calmly on my Five before i sold it, and it did feel like it had more grip and control
i may move the Soul on and see how much i miss mtb (i am mainly a stiffback these days anyway) and think about replacing it with a full suss next year …

After a bad crash at Cathkin in Dec 13 that had me in hospital and then off bike for a month I reckoned some gentle rehab in the Glasgow Velodrome (which I was using a lot anyway) would be a nice safe environment while healing. 8 weeks to the day from first crash I got taken out by a crash in front of me and was again unconscious and having a trip in an ambulance 😀 Wife wisnae too amused !

Having ridden mtb for over 20 years I had my first serious accident in May. Shattered my knee cap riding in Squamish. I’ve been off work since (thankfully paid still) and face not being able to ride until early next year. I can’t wait to get back on the bike though, albeit with some decent knee pads.

Been riding since the early ’90’s and had a few bad stacks both off road & on, breaking (at different times) both wrists, both humeruses (humeri?) and on one occasion while racing almost killing myself by crushing most of my ribcage in a bad practice run on a DH.

I’m still recuperating following my most recent crash just over a year ago (shattered top of my humerus into several pieces)and have had surgery on my shoulder. This is the first accident I’ve had that has really knocked my confidence but I’m still really desperate to get out and ride again like I used to.

The big issue is with Mrs. Pinkster. She wants me to give it up because of the various injuries I’ve had previously so discussions about it can at times be interesting.

I may re-assess the type of riding that I do off road but I’m certainly not giving up on it entirely. Got too much invested in bikes and kit, and I’d crumble mentally completely if I could never do it again.

BTW, I’m 49 and a 1/4

I’m feeling a bit queasy now…

Are serious injuries (requiring hospitalisation and time off work)typically a result of bombing down hills at breakneck speed?

Also, are they fairly common?

I’m thinking about getting into mountain biking, but being self-employed means I would be daft to take excessive risks. I’m used to riding bikes on-road, but more timid off-road. Is mincing more likely to protect me from misfortune, or put me at even greater risk?

Funkydunc exactly what I thought.

I can ride faster but slow myself on purpose so I can still future proof myself. I still slide/have fun too

Its called running a detuned engine a la F1 …saves and protects your engine for more races 8)

I think the OP (and anyone else who repeatedly breaks bones) could try riding a little more carefully. Or have those of us who have not broken things just been lucky? It’s not that I don’t ever fall off, but I don’t tend to fall off at high speed.

(Also, to be fair, a tandem doesn’t tend to pitch you over the handlebars, a sideways topple is more common.)

Did a knee ligament in 2010 which didn’t heal well, resulting in a drastic reduction in riding..
Torn rotator cuff in 2013, and just done my rotator cuff again last month..
I’m not even riding to the shops at the moment as a consequence.

None of these injuries were cycling related

I’ve been lucky, no serious injuries, one where I was heading face first into a tree at speed after a dropoff but managed to wrap my arm around another tree just-in-time.
Ive always ridden within my ability, which is fairly average technically, and not fast. The best rider I know does the same, his ability level is very high, but he’s not had a serious injury either.

I’m 45 this year and only been riding for about 8 years, I’m a bit accident prone (broken hand, rib and messily broken ankle in the last 5 years) and also seem to mend slowly. I don’t live anywhere where there are groomed trails, DH etc etc so I only ride natural trails and do the odd stage race. I still freaking love it and would find it hard to consider life without the pleasure of a good off road ride, there are too many things to love about riding a bicycle off-road! I do get more cautious in the build up to a race and don’t know how to jump (and haven’t tried since my last painful and badly thought out attempt).

I would also second the previous advice about skill courses, next time I’m in the UK I definitely want to do one.

I’ve certainly slowed up and now so much more wary. Still love a quick bimble on the single track and wonder why I’m not out more. I first started in 82, was in early mtb events, we had 30plus in the odd early ones, remember them growing from that to 150 to nearly 3000 in one! Never damaged anything for the first 25 years, then gradually broke a collar bone, shoulder, two more collar bones and a knee. Don’t sleep so well now never mind, run, swim, paddle or ride! All pretty annoying but don’t regret it either, I loved it and enjoy the odd mile or two I do now.
Strangely I have retired to motor racing, because I can still do that and have some fun with it. It has speed, tinkering, some skills and a good crowd so seems the same – in my head at least.
Take care out there but don’t slow down.

My knee break was DHing in Morzine.

My elbow/tricep was at walking pace on a flat section of Penmachno – front tyre pinged off edge of a rock, I fell sideways and elbow hit edge of another rock.

Last year I rag-dolled down a 50foot deep rock strewn ravine (rest of group genuinely thought it was fatal 😯 ) and rode away from it. Often no correlation between size of crash and severity of injury.

Broke both wrists last year, left had 2 breaks right 3 that needed 2 plates and screws. I love riding mtb and still do ride although I have seen sense and dont take the risks I used too, even though the accident happened on a flat farmers track! Im 48 and dont fix as easy as I used too, I love the sport and cant let go so have just changed the way I ride a bit

Hmm, I *keep* falling on my face. There’s definitely no correlation between type of crash and injury. I’ve tumbled down a 10m drop – barely a scuff. But had to have stitches after coming off on a gravel fire road. Then I’ve been taken out road racing. Fractured cheekbone. Spoiled my looks again. At this rate I’m not ageing, just sandpapering bits off my face with gravel until it looks older.

It does worry me a bit. But then again, I took this up when I was 38 and I can’t tell you the delight of learning how to get down stuff, of speeding along and of being the fittest I’ve ever been 5 years later.

I’m realistic, I came into mtb with 2 big leg injuries and osteoperosis, so there’s a pretty high chance I do myself enough mischief to not be able to ride how I want. And I think that’d possibly leave me not riding at all. Already got a fair amount of pain from mtb injuries… But I won’t stop til I have to, what’s teh point of living like a cripple to avoid injury?

I’m realistic, I started riding in 1990 & luckily have had no serious injuries, the worst one being 3 years ago when I came off & landed squarely on my head, knocking a tooth out & thinking I’d broken my neck. My bottle went & hasn’t really come back so I ride even more within my capabilities/skill zone!
Being close on 59 doesn’t help the healing process either.