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if this guy can walk away from this with out a scratch, you'd be very unlucky to hurt yourself badly on the type of riding you're describing.
as others have said, it's about risk management. ride within your abilities and build up slowly. i've had a couple of serious accidents in my 20 years of riding and after each the first few months back on the bike were a nervy affair, but slowly your confidence builds up again and thoughts of what if are replaced by the child liking whooping in your head at the fun tooling around on your bike is.
however if you still feel the same way after an extended period of time, maybe it just isn't for you. nothing wrong in that. i was the same with climbing - as soon as i got to anything remotely exposed i used to lose my shit (almost literally on several occasions). found the easier stuff less enjoyable, but couldn't mentally cope with the more challenging stuff, so decided to knock it on the head
How easy? I think it depends how you crash.
I broke my collarbone and my elbow by getting caught up in the pedals at about 5mph when pulling away from lights. A slow speed over the handlebars fall onto tarmac.
For whatever reason I didn't put my hand out and went down on my elbow - which is probably why the collarbone broke too.
So if you fall, put your hand out 🙂
Supposedly when they break they heal up stronger than before, so get breaking 🙂
Both my breaks were stupid slow speed crashes on tarmac. [url= https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1CQ&doc_id=5499&v=S ]This[/url] might be of interest, although it may be out-of-date now.
Answering the question in the title... very easy to break a collarbone, judging by the amount I've witnessed 😀 . Many myself or the group calling the ambulance for. The one out skiing and our boarder friend busting his being stretchered off skiing down the slope was one of the more fun ones (not for him. He ended up with a plate in his shoulder).
Despite the numbers, I've managed so far to avoid doing it myself. I'm resigned to it happening sometime. If it happens it happens. I've had my fair share of broken things though, loads of x-rays, and hospitalised for a week once. All of this started when I became more adventurous taking up skiing and MTB 😀
To be honest when it happens to me it's really not that big a deal. Worrying about it happening or witnessing it is worse. It's generally over quick, a bit of pain, and you get sorted out. I've find the pain from breaks to be less of a concern than stomach pains from food poisoning, gut problems, or after seriously way too much the night before 😀
My biggest smash was a doddle for me. Utterly no memory of it and just woke up in hospital on the happy juice.
All my crashes have only made me more determined. I'm more aware of my skills, have learnt a lot more, got more relaxed and fluid on the bike and I try not to be reckless but more confident and not too cautious. Too much caution can be dangerous.
Cheers for all the replies.
In answer to queries – yes I have broken bones before. Upper arm, humerus, when I was 18, skateboarding on the tiniest ramp imaginable – first time I tried it, and I was very nervous going in. That was fairly hideous. And broke big toe abseiling down a cliff in Wales on a mate’s stag do 2 years ago (wearing daps!). Again, first time I tried it and was nervous before starting. Still a bit painful and swollen even now!
As an aside, I’ve fallen off my commuting road bike twice over the past year or so, coming crashing down on my side, shoulder/knee etc. Both times was probably only 10-15mph and where the front wheel washed out. Thankfully no objects to collide with, but encouraging only superficial damage was done. So yes, I suppose the body isn’t made of glass.
Yes, I am generally a bit of a worrier and naturally a bit anxious, which doesn’t help. Encouragingly though, I think you’re right in that more time doing something, tends to reduce anxiety. When I first started driving I remember being a nervous wreck, especially for inner city driving, now I don’t even think about it. As it stands, I only tend to go biking once every 2-3 weeks. And when I do, it’s with other riders who are a fair bit quicker at descents than me. So in my head, I’m trying to keep up and beating myself up mentally when I don’t, rather than enjoying the moment.
Maybe the key here really is to just go more. So perhaps a lunch time training ride at Ashton Court in Bristol (a 10 min ride from where I work), once a week. Super tame blue trail, but still time on the bike. And then try to get to Wales or FOD once every week or two. And if I still feel uptight and constantly fearing the worst come 6 months’ time, then perhaps that’s a sign to give up. Hopefully not though!
I think you need to commit to stuff more with the realisation that you are the least likely to have an accident if you do.
For instance when skiing steep stuff you are most likely to make the turn when you commit fully to it, whereas the chances to making a mistake and then having a fall rise hugely if you don't commit fully.
Same on the mtb, when you come to the top of a steep run in you have to fully commit to going down it and trust the bike and the tendency of the rotating wheels to want to stay upright, whereas if you panic and slow you are more likely to have a fall.
Plus when riding at a reasonable speed your body itself has some momentum to it as well as the bike, so if the bike is overwhelmed by hitting an obstacle and moves around underneath you, you still have a chance to pull the bike back under control. I had this once when the bike tried to wash out beneath me but I was able to pull it back, and when you watch those downhill gods you can see it happen.
(I may be talking rubbish...)
CaptainFlashheart » I did...martial arts
Is that, like, for real or d'ya mean like that time Eton approached you...
😉