Next month I should hopefully have saved up enough pennies to either

a) pay for a day’s tuition

b) pay for a neck brace (yes, I will get it fitted and always wear with a spine plate and full face with it)

I’m thinking a) will probably mean I am slightly less likely to require b) and that a) will be a whole lot more fun. However, b) is probably the most sensible option and one of those things that you regret not doing only when it is far too late.

Any opinions?

I broke my neck once.
Tbh it wasn’t a lot of laughs. If you don’t get the neck brace buy income protection ins. instead. It saved my house/arse while I was off work.

neither

Tuition from the jedi master.

neither

Personally I’d go for the neck brace: Your riding may benefit from the additional piece of mind.

How much of your riding would you use the neck brace for? As in what percentage of your riding is downhill. A coaching day should improve all your riding all of the time. All my biggest injuries have come from xc rides!

Neck brace if you’re a downhiller. In which case you’ll be good enough not to need training, surely?
I have also broken my neck… That was the one time in 15+ years of riding I’ve needed one… (and in that crash the helmet was far more valuable.)

a tattoo will make you look better on the trails and better in hospital should the worst happen.

Training.active safety not passive. Make the crash less likely

GW AND jambo, you both anti tuition?

no, but the question was what would I do…

training.

cryptic as ever.

Ok then, Jambo, what would you do if you were me (i.e. a bit crap rather than a riding god)? I know you were considering a neck brace a while back so would appreciate your input cos, well you know about stuff

DezB – Member

Neck brace if you’re a downhiller. In which case you’ll be good enough not to need training, surely?

^that’s funny. How did you come to that conclusion?

I’ve already had a day with Jedi, and the mental skills he gave me were worth every penny. However, I do wonder if it would have the same effect second time around.

DH is prolly 50% of my riding, but then, like said above, most of my spills are on XC rides. However, the worst near-misses (i.e. the ones that could have resulted in something drastic if I hadn’t have managed to salvage it) have been on DH trails.

Income protection, hmm, now there’s an interesting thought. Biggest worry of mine is not being able to pay the mortgage. Such a nightmare when it pops into my head just at a critical rooty don’t-blummin-brake section 😕

soobalias – Member

a tattoo will make you look better on the trails and better in hospital should the worst happen.

**** it I’m going with this option ^

I decided against a neck brace in the end. I rarely wear a full-face these days and without one they are significantly more dangerous than not wearing one at all.

Maybe I’ll regret it one day but I ride for fun, and I find most armour overbearing and restrictive. It makes riding no fun for me, I get tired quicker and subsequently make more mistakes. I find having consequences to crashing focuses the mind a little and makes me less likely to bail from things I could maybe ride out. Conversely, there are big drops/gaps that I don’t ride. I’m not racing so it really doesn’t matter and I’m past the stage where peer pressure will push me into something I’m not comfortable with.

As for training. I’m sure I could get something out of a training day but again im not racing so if I’m happy hitting everything I ride then I feel no need. From what I know/recall with your riding it’s not you havent got the skills. It’s a mind game and who knows how to fix that. I found regular riding with significantly better/faster riders works wonders for dragging your skill levels up…

Spend it on cake.

tree-magnet – Member
Spend it on cake.

And this.

Thanks Jambo. I pretty much always wear a fullface so that wouldn’t be a problem. Wearing armour doesn’t bother me tbh, and I was also wondering whether wearing a brace would actually force me to keep my head up more which can only be a good thing.

However, I understand even pushing wearing a brace without a fullface is believed increase the risk of neck injury. Having to take the brace off for pushing up (or keep the full face on all the time) would be a royal PIA as I struggle enough with the big bike as it is. I think that’s the deciding factor right now for me as ultimately I ride for fun, and really struggling to the top of the trails would significantly take the fun out of it.

I tend to always ride with better riders and it does help, particularly as most of them are lovely and happy to spent time talking through stuff they do. However, having 1:1 skills training with Jedi really made a huge difference in just a few months, much more than the hours and hours of trying to follow people down trails because he instinctively knew exactly what I was struggling with.

It is ultimately a mind game for me without a doubt. So maybe what I need is more tattoos, hypnotherapy and cake.

whether wearing a brace would actually force me to keep my head up more which can only be a good thing.

From the guys I know who wear them, the opposite is true. On steep tracks they restrict how far back you can tilt your head and therefore see.

Is getting a less capable bike and getting your kicks on slightly less lethal routes an option? I only say this as I went to the test day at Llandegla yesterday, had a go on a Mojo HD (exactly the right bike for the blue/red mix of the demo loop I know 😉 ) but I know from that little play that any crash I had when pushing it on that bike would be huge, whereas I could have fun on the Yeti Big Top all day and almost certainly live 🙂

edit, didn’t go to Llandegla to try the HD, it was there, no one else was having a go and it seemed rude not to…

From the guys I know who wear them, the opposite is true. On steep tracks they restrict how far back you can tilt your head and therefore see.

Decision definitely made then.

Is getting a less capable bike and getting your kicks on slightly less lethal routes an option?

I ride my HT most of the time atm, even for the DH stuff. Tend to save the big bike for uplift days and the really rooty stuff that makes me flap.

Getting my kicks on slightly less lethal routes? Well, it’s an option I suppose, but my main goal in life is to be able to ride any trail thrown at me (not necessarily well, mind!) and not have to be in that awful position of having to get off and push because it’s too technical. Yeah, it’s a big goal, but as long as I am progressing towards it I’m happy. I think I would soon get very bored of being stuck on routes I find easy.

🙂