Sorry to hear about the crash. Broken nose ... okay. Vertebra ... eish.
46 is young. The BMX craze hit South Africa when I was just the right age and that translated nicely into madness on a mountain bike when that followed a few years later. When you are in your teens or twenties you know everything and unbreakable and do the dumbest things imaginable. Luckily rock climbing saved me from doing anything truly dumb on a bicycle 😳, and doing utterly stupid things on a mountain with far too little (and inferior) gear had me back off climbing mountains for a bit.
Then I had to work for a living and, fast forward a few decades, found myself with a mountain bike again. Naturally, I could still do all those things I could when I was 19. Only I couldn't. I kept falling over. Kept getting bucked over the bars. So I have re-adjusted what I want out of cycling.
I no longer have to be John Tomac, just enjoying a long twee-spoor with both wheels on the ground is just fine. I haven't smacked the ground or visited the doctor for many months and still love cycling as much as ever. All you have to do is change what you want from it.
