As I have got older I find that I scare myself but usually its only after the event.
Mostly its after riding something really steep or technical, I will then relive it while nodding off to sleep and get all freaked out about what I did.
Most recently it was while taking a photo on the coast. This photo
https://flic.kr/p/2oo6rqR
It was a calm day and I was fine while taking the pic but that night I had proper panick while trying to sleep. Thinking what if I slipped or there was a gust of wind etc.
Am I alone in this sort of behaviour ?
Last race at FoD.... just as i went over the drop too slowly 😀
Last Friday. Walking into a tent at a wake, full of cousins and second cousins I'd not seen for twenty years or so. 😳
When I crashed learning to snowboard a few weeks back (and probably fractured something in my pelvis). I knew as soon as I landed that it was different to bike crashes, and it's the first time I've not been able to just stand up and figure out what the damage is. All that night I kept jerking awake as my brain went back through the crash moment again. Jerking is not good when sudden movements hurt!
Riding my gravel bike on muddy, rooty trails in the local woods.
I forget I'm on it for a moment and take my normal MTB line, then it's heart-in-mouth until I'm safely through (or not).
Last March trying to ride up Great Slab on Bowfell. It was damp and just beyond the limit of what was rideable for me. I figured if I went very slightly diagonally then I should just be able to do it. However this meant a standing start with the back wheel pointing over the drop. This random bloke I had never met before offered to give me a TT start and I was absolutely crapping myself...
If I pedalled before he let go then I'd spin out, fall over and slide down the slab. If I left it too late after he let go then I'd roll backwards over the edge.
In the end it worked fine.
But to answer your question more generally... " too long ago ", which I think is part of the reason I'm depressed at present. I think my functions have partially shut down as I never do any proper adventures any more.
[Humble brag]Last September I was in Whistler, [/humble brag] and I set myself a challenge on some of the larger jumps on B line mostly and some of A-line, The first time on them going at take off speed genuinely scared the carp out of me.
I recently walked into the pub to meet Mrs Binners and my blood ran cold as I saw her sat with two of her mates, one of whom had just split up with her husband
Riding some of the (very - to me at least) steep stuff at Chapel House on an old 26" Orange Five, in the rain, after mainly riding road bikes for the last six years. Although it did make me wonder if it'd be easier on a 29" FS with 160mm+ travel...........
Sunday afternoon, relaxed after four days of riding in a row, driving home. Almost changed lanes leaving the motorway as I approached traffic lights at the end of the off ramp. Changed my mind at the last second, just as a motorbike I hadn’t seen undertook me.
20 mins ago. A fire suppression system I'd finished testing 10 minutes before triggered.....
Four wheel slide on the M62 in the snow wasn't much fun, was going quite slowly too.
Yesterday - Rollerblading lessons.
Signing up for this year's Ardrock Enduro.
I'd done my first Enduro, Boltby Bash last year. That was me just about maxed out in terms of my riding ability, and that was when I was riding pretty well, and the conditions were great. Still propped up the bottom 10% of the timesheets! Reckon Ardrock is a step above, so slightly shi**ing myself.
Before that, crash-landing from a set of steps and breaking my little finger, just over a year ago. Just got my timing/body positioning wrong, and in the blink of an eye, that also seemed to last 5 minutes in super slow-mo, I knew I was going to hit the hard ground badly but there was nothing I could do by then ... that video replayed in my head for months, and I still get the jitters now when riding steps.
I've just refitted a bathroom. Didn't realise the consequence of a mirror placed on the wall to the side.
"Who's that fat bloke in the shower?!?!"
Opened my draw at work yesterday and realised I had run out of anti stab morning juice... then remembered I had moved the coffee Friday to stop work place tealeaves.
I get night terrors ( not the same as nightmares) I wake up in a full blown panic. Does that count? I am absolutely terrified for a few minutes
Other than that I got scared a few times on my big bike ride. Fear of what I had committed to do. Fear of being alone for so long.
Getting into a car with youngest_oab, first time out on L-plates after only 3 lessons with his instructor...
Standing on top of the trig point thingy on Snowdon earlier this year. It was blowing a gale, I don't do heights, and I'd knackered my knee. Getting 'off' was not fun.
Using crampons and axe for the first time in years on Ben Lui a couple of weeks back. Not as scared as my mates who'd never used them 🤣
Depends what you mean by "scared". With my knacked old joints I don't particularly want to come off a climbing wall going for the last move, and might say 'it's a bit scary', but I'm not actually scared, just weighing it up.
Likewise middle of last week I found myself surfing (not very well) an east coast reef at head and a half to double overhead on sets about 400m out from the cliffs, and on my own. There's a point at which you've been paddling against a rip to get to the peak when the rip starts to take you onto the peak and you're quickly too deep. Whatever, botched the takeoff on a wave and had my first hold-down in ages down in the dark, and had to reach up to my ankle to climb up the leash to find the surface. And then took another on the head and had to do the same again before getting out of the impact zone.
But I don't think I was scared. You get a bit on an adrenaline jolt probably but it's more "well I shouldn't really let that happen again too often" wry sort of thought. If my leash had snapped as can happen (kind of once a year is normal so I'm overdue I think) it would have been more serious.
I think these days I keep doing these things so my comfort zone does't contract too far too fast. I started getting proper scared faffing on middling to low grade rock climbs, which is why I stopped.
Last week.
Mid week ride on my own with no other riders around.
Crashed and landed on my "broken" side.
Didn't even think about it until I got home.
Then realized I should really rein it in a bit when I'm riding solo.
@sofaking
Are you about for a ride this week?
Last night I woke up screaming. Scared the beejeezus out of the wife as well. No idea what I was dreaming about.
I get night terrors ( not the same as nightmares) I wake up in a full blown panic.
Same here. Normal theme is that I am convinced (normally for at least a minute after I've woken up), that I've just swallowed some object, it's lodged in my windpipe, and I'm about to choke to death. I'm getting better at talking myself out of it now. 🙂
When reminiscing about the tech diving I used to do. Heading into a 70+ year old wreck 60m deep with a cobbled together pile of plumbing parts keeping me alive.
Yesterday driving on the M40.
JazusHchrist! Iam so glad I live in a part of the country where the idiots in the population are spread out a bit.
So much excessive twonkery and lack of road skilz/awarenes. 😔 😟
4 weeks ago I crashed on the Cafall trail at Cwmcarn - dislocated shoulder and fractured humerus. Luckily I had phone signal and was able to call my wife. The pain was horrible and I could barely move. No one came down the trail and it was nearly two and a half hours before my wife and a Ranger found me.
This happened mid-afternoon on a dry, relatively warm day. I was genuinely scared and shudder thinking about how different the outcome could have been if it had been later or much colder or if I had smashed my phone.
The whole episode, including the resulting hospital stays, operation and worry and hassle it was/is causing my family has made me reconsider where and when I ride, especially solo, and I have decided to sell my trail bike and stick to xc and bike packing from now on. No more tech' or gnar for this old bloke.
(Anyone want to buy an upgraded 2016 Giant Trance 2?)
last year i was cycling the wandsdyke (an offroad trail near avebury/devizes).
i was going a bit too fast down a descent with ruts tractor/4x4 ruts etc and hit one at about 20 mph. oh bleep i thought i am def going over the bars and crashing hard. thankfully my bike just rode it out and i continued on.
i had had a bad crash at low speed going up a road hill about 3-4 years before where my bars had got caught in a hedge and slammed us on the ground (i was riding one handed at the time). my arms are not the same since cannot fully straighten them nowadays due to said crash. i know it sounds funny but it def wasn't as i couldn't get up off the ground for about a min afterwards due to my arms being ****ed.so have always been wary of crashing ever since then.
This Saturday at Dyfi on a very wet Race Track. I think its good to "push it" a little bit and give yourself mini scares. Especially as you get older.
@fasthaggis - I too was driving on the motorway (M25) yesterday. It was shocking the amount of absolute dangerous driving witnessed. Seems the latest thing is to drive up to the bumper of the vehicle in front as fast as possible then only overtake when almost touching the bumper. Just so much bullying.
On Saturday I skied the Black piste 'Agate' in Flaine, France. The piste is very narrow, steep and with rock drops in places. Hubby talked me down from the OMG bits.
Not including bits of rides which make me think twice (nothing very radical but enough for me).....
Crashing at Porridgepot (November 2021), riding alone, realising I'd done more than a bit of bruising as I lay there, no one around and Porridgepot pretty empty, eventually getting to my feet but realising I couldn't walk. I was scared.
Happy ending in that 3 great guys came and rescued me (well documented on my thread here at the time). Btw, I'd fractured my pelvis and it has made me think twice about what I try and ride.
But yes, that scared me.
Telling work today I was having 3 months off in Autumn to head south in my 20 year old van.
Healing vibes dove1
I'd say don't rush into selling the bike, prices are shit now anyway. Get all healed up and back riding before deciding.
You may have used up your bad luck now anyway.
half hour ago when i went to see if any of my bikes had universal derailleur hangers.. they don't.. i unscared myself
Sunday - riding some steep loose twisty stuff after a few months of not riding anything challenging.
It actually really helped me find my mojo again.
Mind you my limits are firmly at at "failure =< broken collarbone or less"
I typed something earlier about a v-brake cable pulling through and I couldn't stop didn't appear to click Submit... but that was nothing compared to 15 mins ago on the ride home - woman in a Focus approaching the roundabout I was on from my left Waaaaay too fast, didn't see me, maybe it was a-pillar blindspot, but I think she was going far over the 30mph limit as she wasn't even in view as I started across. Suddenly I see a flash of blue on my left, no way that's stopping, braced for impact as much as you can on a bike.. saw me just in time and had to mount the kerb to assist with her braking. I screamed some obscenities just out of fear and relief. I'm home! Jeez.
I guess that's moer a case of someone scaring me rather than me scaring myself!
10 years ago, white water rafting in Axat in the Pyrenees.
we were on a biking holiday in may. day off we decided to go rafting.
got to the place there was only 1 guide for the five of us. i found this odd.
so we set off from a steady flowing bit heading down a gorge, gorge de st george i think.
pretty quickly we were in fast rough water. i was sat on the back right corner.
we went over a drop and the raft folded and i was flung into the air and out of the boat.
instantly i was pulled under. when i came up the raft was gone.
i got in the correct position to be carried down stream in fast rough water. after a few seconds i saw a spot downstream i could get to, to wait to be rescued.
i managed to swim to the side and grab some branched. the water strength was massive. i could only just hold on, and i was at the wrong side of the river to the road and path.
after a few minuted i could no longer hold on so let go, i was dragged under low hanging branches cutting my face.
i floated out into mid river and some picked up loads of speed.
the boat had pulled up on my left, as i floated past i was told to try and get to the side again.
after a few seconds i went over a massive drop on some rapids. i was taken straight under the water into a massive stopper, which was holding me down under the water.
i was starting to panic and thrash about. i banged my foot on something so kicked off it, which made we move out of the stopper and back up and able to breathe.
i then managed to swim to some rocks again on the wrong side, but waited there until i was rescued by the guide with a rope.
truly truly terrifying.
sofaking
Full Member
That sounds pretty terrifying @tonPosted 12 minutes ago
it was mate. i am not easily scared or put off, but this incident put me off going in water for a few years.
also had a couple of bad nightmares involving being trapped in a drainage pipe on the side of the gorge, as the river and pipe fill up.
horrible dream.
martinhutch
Same here. Normal theme is that I am convinced (normally for at least a minute after I’ve woken up), that I’ve just swallowed some object, it’s lodged in my windpipe, and I’m about to choke to death. I’m getting better at talking myself out of it now. 🙂
You sure you don't have sleep apnoea?
In the last month I seem to have developed a horrible form of it that includes actually stopping breathing before I have drifted off!
I'm now only sleeping in 2hr max chunks and awaking choking with the feeling there is an obstruction in my throat. Its getting to the point that I hate the thought of going to bed and am spending the day in a permanent state of anxiety 🙁
Driving on a singletrack road I do regularly for my postie job, catching a glimpse of a car coming towards me, but not really slowing as I know there’s a big passing place on my left just around the corner. Starting to brake as I enter the passing place to realise it’s gravel, not tarmac, there’s a big rock bluff at the end as the tyres are simply skidding on the gravel. Shaking my head as the other driver, a local, as he passes by giving me quizzacle looks. Missed the big rock bluff by inches…
Summer the year before last, riding alone in a remote quiet valley with no phone signal. Caught a pedal going uphill, fell about 1.5m head first down a steep rocky river with my bike on top of me.
A few weeks ago I lost the front wheel on a very icy turn after a steep chute. Went full whack into a a large log with my chest, couldn't breathe for ages, made horrid gurgling and wheezing noises while rolling around like a goon. Considered I may have punctured a lung and that I was quite a long way from any help.
...I hadn't, by the way. Still, spooked me quite a lot.