[Quote]On the whole I am pro helmets, but the arguments for helmet use normally ignore the very real facts that helmets increase the likelihood of hitting your head in the first place by a significant margin due to the increased size of your head+helmet – your awareness of you personal space means that in a crash you instinctively protect your head – with a helmet on you do not take into account the extra size of the helmet and so head you hit your head on the floor / tree branch etc.[/quote]

Catching only the extra inch that wearing a helmet adds will be a very oblique, glancing blow at worst, where the damage is not even worth writing about compared to going OTB head first into the ground without one – something that will happen to nearly everyone at some point if they regularly push themselves riding difficult terrain. You’re awareness is worth nothing when you have a split second to react

And a 30 second search returned this:

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/Mobile/article.aspx?articleid=412317

“Risk of head injury in helmeted vs unhelmeted cyclists adjusted for age and motor vehicle involvement indicate a protective effect of 69% to 74% for helmets for 3 different categories of head injury: any head injury (odds ratio [OR], 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-0.37), brain injury (OR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.25-0.48), or severe brain injury (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.14-0,48). Adjusted ORs for each of 4 age groups (<6 y, 6-12 y, 13-19 y, and ?20 years) indicate similar levels of helmet protection by age (OR range, 0.27-0.40). “

Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996

Anecdotal, but I’ve cracked a bmx helmet and woke up in hospital 2 hours later after a fall from height and taking the entire blow to the side of my head. I cannot believe that the injury would not have been worse without it.

The comment about wearing a helmet when there’s busy traffic, icy pavements etc… Doesn’t make sense to me as the risk of injury is much much lower. I’ve been crossing roads for all my life without an injury so far and in 15 years of BMX I visited the hospital maybe a dozen times. Often the better you get, the bigger and more frequent the falls as the riding gets bigger/faster/more technical!

Would honestly carry shots of morphine with me for downhill sessions if I had a supply. Nothing worse than waiting for an ambulance with broken bones.

I’m glad I’ve read this thread anyway, it’s reminded me to put some bandages and plasters in my bag for more minor injuries

Another vote for an 18 incher. Back when I used to ride the bmx competitions there were 2 young brothers about 9 and 10 who used to do flips and stuff on 18s in the amateurs then moved up to 20s when they were about 11 or 12

Great stuff, thank you

Although it’s wrong and illegal I just ride my bike on the pavement if there are no bike paths. I’m far more confident in my own abilities to miss pedestrians and stop when needed than I am in a random driver’s abilities for not hitting me.

My grandad was a roadie and was hit by a car breaking nearly every bone in his body and face and permanently blinding him Back in the 80’s. Not worth the risk for me.

Go faster and stay loose and relaxed

As already said – not ideal when dieting for many.

Back in my bodybuilding days, I found that dieting was made easier by switching to foods with a lower calorie density to remain more satisfied. Chicken, fish, eggs and vegetables are staples, potatoes and oatmeal are filling carb sources, refined carb sources are terrible for satiety. Fats are not to be avoided and good sources can be gained through oily fish, eggs and nuts. Contrary to popular belief, dietary fat and cholesterol barely affect your own cholesteral (Many doctors still don’t know this and wrongly prescribe people low fat diets).

Overall the trick to dieting is remaining in a calorie deficit (usually around a 500Kcal deficit). This is the ONLY diet that can cause you to lose weight. Tracking calories and remaining consistent will give the best progress

Body fat scales are useless at measuring body fat. I used to lift pretty seriously and was around 200lbs estimated 5% body fat and it had me at about 25% body fat due to my weight. You get a better estimate with calipers

Awesome I’ll try emailing them

Wow I may have to re-think the philippines

Thanks that’s certainly something to keep in mind regarding healthcare. The philippines is a bit too far out for the time we are there unfortunately

I have been googling and there’s little information online. Chiang Mai area is all I can find in thailand. Nothing in Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam that resembles downhill and I have found a few things down in Malaysia which is a long way from those other places.

Oh no way. Are there any other places with big jumps like that in the UK?

180/180

I’ll take you up on that Rjc! Sounds great with so many varying runs

cockhill looks awesome, I’ll be sure to check there out soon

Cheers I’ll check those links out. Willing to travel in a 2 hour radius on weekends.

I may head down to the race at farmer Johns this weekend too!