[Closed] whats your best excuse for not riding scary bits?

Got a bad knee...dont want to risk hurting it more

If i dont like the look of it etc i just walk it, stuff em.

"I'm crap"

seems to cover most situations.

'i'm too old' is another one, or 'i've got kids now'!

I am old and don't bounce well

it's a little close to the end of the ride (it would be tempting fate)

or

dont want to die this soon into the ride

Don't ever feel the need to make excuses when I dont want to ride something.

The most frequently heard is:-
[i]
"I've gotta go to work on Monday..."
[/i]
So frequent it's become classical nowadays.

Best i've heard recently is;

"I'd need to put my seatpost down to ride that and i don't want to cos it's carbon fibre and i don't want to scratch it"

"Self preservation"

"I'm older than I look"

My name is Sinitta (I don't watch!!)

I'm an XC jeyboy.

Pain, recovery time, fear, absence of gnarr / skills.

Don't like scary bits.

I'm sorry, but im a massive girl pants.

cos im a big hairy shitter 🙂

"I used to clear it on my old <bike name> ... but don't do so much of that stuff these days" 🙂

'you do it then..'

'I can't ride shore'

those are the only 2 excuses I need 🙂

[hora mode]

the rebound damping on my forks is one click out.

[/hora mode]

man or mouse?

eek eek! more cheese please

yesterday it was, "That'd be no bother in the dry, too dodgy today!" Which does have an element of truth to it mind, it was particularly muddy, anything too steep was nuts!

I seem to have developed a heightened sense of fear, which is anoying as no one I used to ride with has.

The pain to risk to success ratio doesn't look favorable. So for that reason, I'm out.

This is clearly the coming out thread 😉

No thanks! I am too scared or don't do heights.

I don't usually give a stuff about making excuses to other people. It's when I start making excuses to myself that I know I'm losing and just need to MTFU. Still haven't managed that damn wall drop near my house, not found an excuse to cover that yet either - I just can't look it in the face anymore.

I'm a girl and we all know girls are crap at riding, and I may even break a nail if I crash.

One friend who used to always be first down the tricky stuff has started doing contract work. His excuse is that he "doesn't get paid sick leave".

I love riding the scarey bits. The adrenaline rush when you've cleaned it is wicked!

I am cowardycowardy custard.

"I'd need to put my seatpost down to ride that and i don't want to cos it's carbon fibre and i don't want to scratch it"

I normally find "erm no i'm just not doing it" will suffice.

Why do people need an 'Excuse' I dont ride some thing because I dont have the skill and dont want to injur myself.

Unfortunately there appear to be alot of people who mountain bike who dont have the skill but still go ahead, fine it a slightly controlled environment where you can learn the new skills.

I might get my blouse dirty if I fall

I've broken my neck once already.

My wife will kill me if I break another bone.

There is a 20ft cliff drop which I used to ride regularly when I was riding well. Two years ago the forestry removed all our other jumps and drops which were the warm up for the cliff... now it's damn near impossible to know if your riding well enough to launch it... and for that reason I don't 😳 , but I know I could and it really bugs me 👿

What does excuse mean?

"I'm sure I just saw a dog off the lead down there"

If its less than a 6 ft drop off I walk down. I live for the adrenaline rush, if the rush ain't there I'm not interested dude.

Last time at Cannock it was "No, I'm not doing those black bits, I've already dislocated my shoulder - twice!!"
And it was true (although I though I'd sprained it at the time). Still did the Weirwolf drop (roll) though that and really, really hurt.

I need my other bike.

I use my ankle as an excuse sometimes, although it genuinely kills, need to see a doctor about it.

Can't put what excuses I hear incase I cause offence in the group I ride with, we hear them all... Serial workmen blaming their tools for climbs, DH, jumps and drop offs... It's comical.

I cant believe people are still complaining about the Werewolf Drop being too hard. I have only seen one person not do it and he is a full on big girls blouse. I would honestly give it a go on a road bike while in the drops. and yes I mean a road bike not a CX bike.

As for excuses I usually go for:
'**** that, I need some more peer pressure to even give that a go. If somebody else went first I would definitely do it.'

Problem with that is it only works when you are with certain people so sometimes I end up having to give things a go. Flipside is that is what I wanted to do but was to scared to try.

Can you imagine the other riders having a wip-round to pay your mortgage and bills whilst you are on sick leave?

"Well, I dunno. My knee was feeling a bit dodgy when I woke up this morning. Should be fine but I'm not sure if I want to risk it, especially since I'm still getting over the sprained wrist from that big stack last week. Also, did you hear the rain last night? It sounded really heavy so the landing's probably a bit greasy and I'm on my Nevegals not the High Rollers. Another thing is that I always feel happier doing drops on my hardtail for some reason, I knew I should have brought it out today...."

I can normally keep going like this for at least 10 minutes or until everyone else has ridden on, then I wait a couple of minutes before catching up and saying excitedly, "Hey, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be".

I cant believe people are still complaining about the Werewolf Drop being too hard.

I took a non MTB round the monkey and dog on a rigid hybrid on skinny tyres, he didn't even flinch at the werewolf despite 5mm of movement in his headset. He is mental on a motorbike too though.

A simple f that suffices. I ride bikes for fun not to prove my manliness.

seat clamp is stuck, can't let the seat down

"Too nice an afternoon/day/evening to spend in a&e"

"I'm crap"

I'm not using the recommended tyres for here.

I'm an old woman, I'm allowed to walk down 😀

Not so long ago I was pushing up in the Peaks when a group of middle-aged men were walking their bikes down. I really did struggle not to grin/laugh! All of them had a wee excuse and grin 😆

'i only have 26" wheels, i'd need a 29gnar for that

'Cos I'm not. Right ?

Its nice when Stopa isn't there to harangue and heckle you the whole way down it 😆

A friend once said of a local jump line...

'I can't ride that as I've just had a message from the Mrs and she's locked out the house so I've got to go'

30 mins later he was still stood there watching people ride the line.

'I've got a hangover' 😆

This weekend i used all of these on one ride, i kid you not;

"my seat post was too high"

"its ok for you on your skills compensator full susser"

"with those kids watching it would have been tempting fate"

"my new brakes are very on/off with a poor factory bleed"

"i'm hungover"

"i take less risks now with a 9 week old at home"

"takes a while to adjust to different riding conditions doesn't it?"

"i'd stopped anyway, and it would have been difficult to get going over that techy bit".

For ****s, sake.

i take less risks now with a 9 week old at home"

😆

but true!

I've lost my mojo, (fact is I've never found it) 😆

[i]"i take less risks now with a 9 week old at home"[/i]

I broke my hip when my daughter was 9 weeks old, at the local jump spot.

that was a tricky call home...

"no way I'm riding that with this head angle"

My headtube is too long 😉

The "Werewolf" drop? Really? [url=

one?[/url]

The most inappropriately named 'feature' in MTB?

Is that the "werewolf drop".

I had to watch it again to see it. 😆

Valves/logos not properly aligned.

I've heard my self say it:
"I'm on the wrong bike".
Knowing full well I wouldn't do it on a bleedin Session 88.
Also, about the same drop -
"There's no point going down there, you have to walk back up again" 😀

"It's a trap!"

[/Admiral Ackbar]

I'll be fair, that werewolf drop does look a bit steeper from the top, and it's quite a narrow entry into it.
However, I rode it without ever seeing it before with a shoulder that I had dislocated twice and broken once - earlier that day. Not going to say it didn't hurt (I think I cried a bit) but it was easy enough to roll down.

As far as excuses go, 'I'm training for a race, and I'm in with a shout. I can't undo this work' seems to ring a bell....

The "Werewolf" drop? Really? This one?

The most inappropriately named 'feature' in MTB?

no excuses needed. just decide whether you can do or not then ride on 🙂

I'm a pussy

I was about to ride a drop this w/e and bottled it on the lip, so stopped. Fortuitously a mate arrived at exactly that moment and called over to me. So I blamed him for wanting to have a chat (sorry Andy). But of course then I had to ride the drop, the first time I ever have too- and I was a bit chuffed with me for having done it. Go Ambrose, King of MincecoreLite!

Werewolf 'drop'? Jeeez, reminds me of that little step at Llandegla (that's no longer there) that that club had serious difficulty with. There's a vid on youtube somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember the club's name.

"Not on the Fixie"

First time we went to Kielder, I rode Dougie's Day Off in the morning without too much drama, but then had to walk down it in the afternoon as I'd sobered up in the meantime.

I just cleaned my bike this morning and don't want to get blood on it

"What!.....ride that.....with my piles?"

Some days stuff scares me and other days I barely notice it. Some days everything looks steep and others it looks small. I try not to beat myself up about it because life is too short for self induced misery. I just make a mental note of the blockers and then one day it just happens. I'm patient.

for me, i think its just a case of wanting to get home at the end of the day in one piece.