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At the grand old age of 19 I had a crash at a jump spot which put me in an air ambulance. Whilst it didn't cause any lasting damage, it did make me question what I was doing. I realised that getting any good at dirt jumps would take time and commitment, and that really it wasn't worth the effort, and it wasn't what I enjoyed about riding.
A couple of years later I got a dh bike, but didn't really ride it, so only had it for 6 months. It was just too much hassle to get it to the right places to do the type of riding it deserved, which again wasn't what I was interested in.
The two worst accidents I have had have both been bad luck.
I lost 4 teeth when I just decided to push it a bit much without reason, and it went wrong. I broke my ankle in a simailr vein.
I've had a few luck misses too. I don't push to my limits, just ride what I want to and am comfortable with. I don't race, just have fun.
[img] http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCYKPrrhRftGRyOidf2YO1Xjb34aI6PPCduQk53II3vvX1EI8E [/img]
...surprised no one had posted the old motorbike slogan!
For me personally it was the kids coming along as I think's already been said. You try bathing an 18 mth old with an arm in a cast 🙄
Erm, I've never actually "warmed-in" with my riding....
I think I'm just as fast now, but it comes naturally rather than being forced, which is safer.
Decided to tone it down when I woke up with pine needles in my mouth, in the dark, in severe pain wondering how the hell I was going to get to my mobile in my rucksack. 3 months off work spent in a chair playing call of duty and chugging painkillers crystallised I never want to be in that situation again.
I knocked myself out on my own in the woods where no one goes! SE, kids etc....I now have some OS maps at home with all my offroad local riding areas highlighted, its a variation of any of them every time I go out. If I dont come home its a place to start!
I worry more about the crashes were I don't actually hurt anything. At least when there is pain, there is a louder voice in your head to take it easy. Nothing like a few falls when you get up laughing to really give you illusions of adequacy!
Used to do some seriously daft stuff on the bike but I toned it down quite a lot when our little boy came along... responsibilities and all that.
Also taking it a bit easier at the moment as I've recently become a retained firefighter and don't want to clobber myself before training starts in a couple of weeks time as an injury would potentially mean having to wait another 6 months before getting on the run.
Took my mate on a biking Stag weekend with strict instructions from his fiancee not to let him break himself.
He got married one week later looking like John Merrick, aaah happy days.
37? Honestly 37 you're still a kid, I had hair down to my shoulders at 37, we rode down mountains on hard everything, no front or rear, no room int shoebox for suspension... 37 ha kids today don't know they're born..
soft lads all of em 😉
I seemed to attack just about everything (in life) full on until my early 30s ... then I kind of settled into a more sedate groove. Same thing probably happened to my riding. There's stuff I oddly ride now that didn't back then, but there's also stuff that really gives me the heebie jeebies now 🙂
And having a little monkey really changes things.
Not sure my mates would believe me but I mostly ride with a pretty big margin for error. Doesn't mean not riding scary stuff, or not riding fast, but does tone things down a little. I've got a pretty good understanding of my ability so it doesn't have to mean being a big nance, just remaining within that window. I suppose you could call it sustainability, I ride at the pace/level I know I can ride at for a day or a week without pushing my luck too far.
Course, I still do push it too far sometimes, would not be fun without it.
If I were you, I'd have toned it down or gone home JUST before taking that jump.
Hope that helps?
DrP
Before going out on the pull I always had a good tug. I found it made me more relaxed when out.
I've ridden a few times after a couple of beers and I'm super-relaxed, no hesitation etc.
If I combined the two?
Maybe in the carpark just before the start of a ride I should down three cans of Kestrel whilst furiously knocking one out.
What do you think Jedi? Will it help my riding style?
I didn't start riding again 'til my second kid came along 2 years ago, so consequently have been getting fitter/faster ever since. Had my first heavy over the bars (on a rocky descent) two weeks ago, and buggered my shoulder. Docs reckon it may take six weeks to come good.
They say you should do something every day that scares you. Telling my missus that I'd had an 'off' and might be late back (making her late for work) was the scariest thing I'd done in ages.. Luckily I was with mates, so someone was able to drive my car home.
I think my fitness level has possibly overtaken my skill level, so perhaps a skills course is in order? Certainly feeling a bit more mortal since. 😐
igf, you are too kind dude
jedi - Member
igf, you are too kind dude
I wasn't calling you a 'kid' you're *middle aged dude, sorry as my mrs might say, you need to start to think about taking it easy.. 😆
[i]* they do think folk are going to live to 112 :wink:[/i]
I struggle with long sentences
Always slower solo as no one is there to pick up the pieces
Sometimes you are just not in the zone
Overall though, given what we do, crashing is inevitable
me take it easy??? never 🙂
Not having a job with sick pay or a DH bike slowed me down, or at least stopped me from launching off big jumps and drops. I've never slowed down on more normal singletrack DH stuff though.
Now I have both again, training is in full swing to regain the title of '233,045th Greatest Freerider On The Planet'.
Kids and work have not slowed me down as such but I've changed my mind set when I ride - I focus more now on technique and control rather than trying to just go fast. I there are definitely lots of gap jumps and drops that I think I could do if I went for it but don't because there is no point taking the risk. But I'd say I ride just as fast now, but always try to be well in control. I've also chilled out and accepted I will never be a world cup rider, not even in my own head!
Will, you'll always be 233,044th in my eyes. 😛
45 years old now and getting slower up the hills ... but ... still getting faster down them with each year that passes.
Did the Mega for the first time this year. I'll be back next year and I'll be faster.
Still progressing here. Not backing off yet.
Bought a Patriot last night. 😀
20 years of MTB yielded 4 broken ribs, 1 broken ankle, 4 broken bones in hand, 1 broken collar-bone and many stitches, but when I turned 65 I realized it was way past time to exercise some caution.
Don't mind the hike-a-bike bit now when I weigh that against further bodily carnage. Always said I would quit when I reached 70 (next month), but probably won't---although Mrs Busydog is of a different mind.
The age thing never occurs to me, ditto responsibilities; that's what credit cards are for.
If I'm tired or not riding well then I'll have a break but I still feel like I'm learning and don't want that to stop just because I've got a mortgage and a family, they completely get what I do and quite like it really. I'm a 'rad dad' innit? 😛
I get scared of stuff but that's half the buzz for me, i still can't quite get my head round the fact that we are jumping gaps that you could park a truck in and riding ladders as high as a house. Make me laugh out loud every time I get something new. 😀
After many years doing silly things and 'extreme' sports I finally broke a bone (broken ribs from snowboarding don't really count as no cast), wrist from a small fall when bouldering. Not back to full on biking yet but i know the accident has already changed my mind set. Family responsibilities (child, job, mortgage, etc) and the realisation that i'm not indestructible has really made me think. Having a cast on for the summer seriously curtailed our family holiday plans, and my ability to do the things i enjoy. Prior to accident i was considering the sensibility of keeping my patriot. Having to go faster than my ability to make things interesting, leading to a couple of near misses, was making me question if it was too much bike for me. Have now bought a LTHT frame to swaps bits on to, as i seemed to enjoy my old STHT more without going silly. Will see how it goes when i get back out properly (only done flat 'family' rides so far) as my wrist feels so vulnerable. I know it will hold me back, which may be a good thing as i was potentially approaching a big accident. Still gotta have some fun though, no point living wrapped in cotton wool. That balance is different for different people and also at different stages in their life.
When i get back to the car park.
I generally tone it down a bit if there is exposure. Or if the physical penalty for failing a section is heavy.
All you guys crashing - do you not think it's about time you got a 29er?
The wheels will fall apart before you get fast enough to crash. 🙂
I find it very hard to slow down once I get a bit of flow on a nice descent. I've never been much of a crasher though, never broken a bone.
This thread is giving me the heebee jeebies though.
Married, 2 young kids, self employed sole trader in a hard physical job. Months out of work would hurt but it never really enters my head whilst riding.
I recently went to Spain riding and watched this vid before going as we planned to ride it. The section from 6.15 onwards freaked me out and I couldn't help but think of the dire consequences resulting from a fall.
Once there though, you focus on the trail and enjoy it. Really enjoy it! Rode the whole thing amnd didn't really find it scary at all.
Obviously, I rode it dab free, unlike the mincer in the vid 8)
Had a big off in Les Gets in June. Did a high speed forward somersault over a tabletop on Les Chavannes!! Broken wrist and collarbone, and a bruised ego later, I am definately slower/more nervous since my return.
I am off to Jedi in Jan to sort my head out.
Age and responsibility definately has an effect though - it's the reason I left a job I loved in the military.
It's just not possible for me to slow down for the simple reason that if I did my riding is so chilled and not fast I'd end up travelling backwards. 🙂
Kids and general work/life responsibilities keep me fairly sensible, in fact on a recent trip to the Alpes I decided that [proper] DH just isn't for me no matter how much I wish it was. Just to hairy. That said my passion for riding requires sailing close to the wind and attacking trails with as much speed as I can... Last four rides have seen me over the bars at least once pushing it a bit too far... 😳
For me it was a photo of a muscle in my wrist, taken during key hole surgery, caused by cycling.
I should have been looking at a "rope" but I have a very frayed bit iof fuzz and string.
If it goes, I get dreadful surgery and lose the movement in my wrist forever. So I still ride fast, and hard, but I just don't crash. Which sounds stupid but it works. I am doing more off road touring and less trail centres. Run bars with massive sweep, and bouncy fork when properly off road, to take the load off the wrist.
I had a fairly painful crash on the dual slalom at chicksands on Thursday, caused by 2 major factors.
1. my friend (15 years younger then me) was in the other lane.
2. A very helpful local guy offered to follow me down and film my run, so we could look at where i could improve.
I hit the first berm faster then i ever have done, started to panic, grabbed some rear brake, then did a superman impression.
The rear slid up the berm, and over the top, before gripping and sending me into orbit, landing on my chest 10 feet further down the course. My ribs hurt like fek 24 hours later, and i really think i need to slow down 🙂
My crash this year led to my first nightime A&E visit. Waking up with both arms in casts is not something I want to do again. I crashed hitting a tabletop on my HT. Unfortunately I can't remember the accident so can't learn from my mistake. Unlike mark90 I am now riding my FS more and my HT less as it gives me a better chance of recovering when things go wrong. I've not hit any tables since and do plan to keep my wheels nearer the ground in the future.
I had an off back in April. New bike (29er) and monged up the end of Yoghurt Pots - sliced my arm open on a sharp rock so ended up in A+E. Knocked the confidence a bit (as it was such a 'simple' off) but a session with Mr. Jedi properly sorted the confidence. That and learning to ride a clown bike.
Having a kid did it for me. I'm definitely more cautious as a rider, especially when on new, unknown trails.
Have offset that by getting better as well though. So I'd say I'm more refined as a rider and less of muppet.
Only ever really before I go on holiday on the last couple of rides I do. 42 now and still ride as quick downhill as I did just the downhills aren't as big. Only one big crash thankfully hitting a sheep and getting knocked out in my late 20's whilst heli-biking. Going self employed toned it down for a while but then I thought what's the point cutting back on my weekend warrior action? Back up to speed though I have noticed a lot more people are faster than me these days.
I got married June last year aged 40. But 5 months prior I came off on some wet cobbles heading to a trail, was a stupid and needless accident. It was downhill about 25 miles an hour and I went straight into a wooden post at the side. My chest took the impact but it was nearly my face... Almost passed out and ended up in a&e after my vision went. Thankfully it was just a bit of shock and stuff. I did start feeling better when this guy came in the hospital with his finger hanging off saying 'there was a bit of paper jammed in my printer...' laughter was the best medicine and made me feel less of a numpty.
But definately slowed down after. I'm back up to speed but still keep a bit in reserve. I really should do a session with dirt school or something though.
46, type 1 diabetic, 3 kids (2 teenagers), office job, but still manage to bomb it down and sprint up the hills on nightrides and weekends. Lost 2 stone since the beginning of the year (was 13 now 11). Getting faster up the hills than I ever have done in the past. Kids are now looking to come out with me - which is awesome. They are into their BMX/Scooters. Worst incident - 2 broken ribs on a mad downhill in the dark with a flat - when I was 40.
in my case: when i accepted that i'm a talentless moron with all the skill, balance, grace and athleticism of john prescott.
really, what's the point of even trying? - who was i ever trying to impress?