How many crashes does it take . . . ?

[Robbie Stewart]

I'm curious to see if I'm alone in my self assessments about crashing.

So, to start, I'm a 27 year old trapped in the body of a 47 year old. The problem with this is that the young man in me wants to do stuff that my middle aged body doesn't want me to do. 

Case in point. This morning on the Hoogekraal Cobra I did the whole smash into rocks and opened a can of whip-ass and hurt for breakfast. All because in my mind "I can", but the costs are starting to add up.

I'm wondering if the time has come to call it quits? I enjoy riding but crashing less so.

In the last month I've now gone down three times. Twice on the Conties Rhinos and today on the Cobra.

And to think I was considering pulling the trigger on a new Status.

What say the mob?

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

 I say keep on riding, but take it easy for a couple of weeks. i.e. no 27 y.o. Funny business. Take care of your body and then perhaps consider riding less aggressive and being more risk averse. 
 

Falling is the pits. Falling multiple times in short succession is even worse. Sorry man, and speedy recovery. 

[Psyrax]

Call it quits and you will regret it. Keep on riding, just dont do the stupid stuff. I myself are mid 40's now and I know there are certain routes and tracks that I can do, but I'm self employed and my age means I will recover longer and not able to work if I take a bad tumble. 

 

Keep on riding, walk around the crazy stuff and let's keep on enjoying this sport for as long as possible. 

 

 

[robbybzgo]

It really helps to go look at where it all went wrong. Front tyre washout on loose gravel/ front tyre worn or old and losing grip/ weight too far forward/over the bars/ riding too fast and/or bad choice of line taken/ riding too slowly and loosing momentum/ concentration loss or not having sussed out which was the best line to take?

Suggest you go walk them, suss out where it went wrong and pick your line and when you're ready...go do them again...

[Me rida my bicycle]

When in doubt/scared go faster so fast you know it's going to really hurt if you crash so you don't 😜. 

Buy a HT and hold on for dear life. Down those lines it really gets my heart going, so much so I can't hear my mind saying "you're gonna die" 🤣🤣

Edited February 26, 2023 by Me rida my bicycle

[betaboy]

1 hour ago, Me rida my bicycle said:

When in doubt/scared go faster so fast you know it's going to really hurt if you crash so you don't 😜. 

Buy a HT and hold on for dear life. Down those lines it really gets my heart going, so much so I can't hear my mind saying "you're gonna die" 🤣🤣

… the “you gonna die” part has an age restriction! Take care, don’t go making all our premiums hike before Christmas! 😅

[RobertWhitehead]

Personally: I will call it quits but not stop "cold turkey", rather gradually start dialing it back. You will notice that riding will become less of an addiction and more fun. I used to spend hours outdoors with friends slogging away to some sort of coffee / breakfast destination that's a cazillion miles away from home (or so it felt). It used to mean that I am away for 3-6 hours at a time and then the bike needed a scrub and a tinker afterwards. 

This ritual meant: 

1) an hour prep prior to the ride

2) if I planned a 100km outride it meant at least 5 hours of moving time

3) stopping mid way to fuel up translated to another hour

4) washing, tinkering and cleaning afterwards (bike and self) - another hour. 

This tallies up to 8 hours of fun in the sun. 

I then sat down and had a look at why I was riding, was it the social aspect of spending time with friends and talking rubbish at the stop? No it wasn't. 

Was it to be outside and to enjoy the 34 deg heat first hand? Nope, I have a very light skin so if I venture outside I have to take a bath in sunblock. 

Was it because I yearned for the veld and "needed" the rush of flying at 25-30km/h through a nicely manicured piece of single track? Meh

The main reason why I put myself through the effort of riding outdoors was to gain fitness and to become stronger. This came at a cost of 8 hours and I started asking myself whether or not the sacrifice of time was worth the gains I saw? Long story short, the answer to me was no & I now prefer spending 3-4 hours on the trainer (if I wanted to get 100km) with 15-20 min of prep along with another 20min afterwards to get cleaned up. Same result yet almost half the sacrifice of time - winner winner chicken dinner . 

Everyone's goal / objective / motivation is different but the point I am trying to make is that once you've identified the "why" the "how" becomes quite clear. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by RobertWhitehead
Skarramoesh

[Jewbacca]

hahahaha

I'm going to suggest you stop trying to shred the gnar at the fastest speed possible, dial it back to within your limits and get fitter.

Maybe even take a break from Strava so you don't feel obliged to look at your segment times.

After years of always having to go the fastestest down the gnarliestest it is massively revelating riding at comfortable speeds, sometimes avoiding all risk and just enjoy being out there.

I say get fitter as science then says you can ride at the same sort of place within your limits for longer. The more tired you get, the less control you have and the slower your brain works. 

So by getting fitter you will probably find that you aren't even much slower, just more in control. 

Getting lighter also makes things easier. 

You can still ride bikes, you just need to change your mindset and take a look at what it is you're trying to prove every time you point the bike downhill

[MORNE]

7 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I'm curious to see if I'm alone in my self assessments about crashing.

So, to start, I'm a 27 year old trapped in the body of a 47 year old. The problem with this is that the young man in me wants to do stuff that my middle aged body doesn't want me to do. 

Case in point. This morning on the Hoogekraal Cobra I did the whole smash into rocks and opened a can of whip-ass and hurt for breakfast. All because in my mind "I can", but the costs are starting to add up.

I'm wondering if the time has come to call it quits? I enjoy riding but crashing less so.

In the last month I've now gone down three times. Twice on the Conties Rhinos and today on the Cobra.

And to think I was considering pulling the trigger on a new Status.

What say the mob?

Karl…

i think you know what i’m going to say. But i’ll echo most of what everyone here has said. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, especially not to people half your age who still need to experience things you have already forgotten about.

I stopped riding a mtb for a few years and you know full well that i’m a calculated risk person because of it now. Some days i can gooi it down the rougher stuff, other days my head tells me not to because I have responsibilities. Real ones.
And then I walk the feature instead. I’ve also fallen my face off…quite literally. If I have to choose between the consequences of that vs. being told or perceived as having no skills or that I am a “xc-duro-bro” who cant gnar at mach 3 to save his life, or that clipped pedals are dumb….then so be it. I don’t care and you shouldn't have to either. I’ve never played well with others in this regard because I’ve never in my whole 39/40 years been a sheep. I’m immune to peer pressure. I do what I want, not what i’m expected to do. 

Take it easy, you don't want to be doing things that will affect the quality of your life in the not too distant future. Especially since you also have a small kid. Imagine not being able to take her somewhere or do things because you were trying to do things on a bike that don't matter AT ALL.  If that means enjoying more mellow trails or just plain going slower and just riding to be outside and have fun, then so be it. 
 

[tubed]

Interesting question - its worth the debate. My view: consider it carefully, then go full gas to that considered limit.

In my case I ignored the building warning signs and stupidly behaved like I was 32 and not 52, I got caught out, massive wake up call, psychologically and physical it was a setback probably further than if I had taken a reasonable step back. So if I had just dialed things back a bit and gone for more of the 'enjoy' as Jewbacca describes I would probably have been able to still push if I was confident, but some of that confidence is now gone and that irritates as even if I know I can make it, I now have doubt.

(PS: my off was not on my mtb or kitesurfing where I like to push, but on my weekly trail run time trial up to a peak and back. I was pushing to beat the fading light, I was cocky, stepped hard on some loose gravel slipped off a ledge and fell head first 3m off the ledge onto the next one and then bounced down several more. Cuts, dislocation, bruises all over). One moment's cockiness - months of rehab and bills).

[W Smith]

1 hour ago, RobertWhitehead said:

Personally: I will call it quits but not stop "cold turkey", rather gradually start dialing it back. You will notice that riding will become less of an addiction and more fun. I used to spend hours outdoors with friends slogging away to some sort of coffee / breakfast destination that's a cazillion miles away from home (or so it felt). It used to mean that I am away for 3-6 hours at a time and then the bike needed a scrub and a tinker afterwards. 

This ritual meant: 

1) an hour prep prior to the ride

2) if I planned a 100km outride it meant at least 5 hours of moving time

3) stopping mid way to fuel up translated to another hour

4) washing, tinkering and cleaning afterwards (bike and self) - another hour. 

This tallies up to 8 hours of fun in the sun. 

I then sat down and had a look at why I was riding, was it the social aspect of spending time with friends and talking rubbish at the stop? No it wasn't. 

Was it to be outside and to enjoy the 34 deg heat first hand? Nope, I have a very light skin so if I venture outside I have to take a bath in sunblock. 

Was it because I yearned for the veld and "needed" the rush of flying at 25-30km/h through a nicely manicured piece of single track? Meh

The main reason why I put myself through the effort of riding outdoors was to gain fitness and to become stronger. This came at a cost of 8 hours and I started asking myself whether or not the sacrifice of time was worth the gains I saw? Long story short, the answer to me was no & I now prefer spending 3-4 hours on the trainer (if I wanted to get 100km) with 15-20 min of prep along with another 20min afterwards to get cleaned up. Same result yet almost half the sacrifice of time - winner winner chicken dinner . 

Everyone's goal / objective / motivation is different but the point I am trying to make is that once you've identified the "why" the "how" becomes quite clear. 

You hit the nail on the head .

[Theunissa]

1 hour ago, RobertWhitehead said:

Personally: I will call it quits but not stop "cold turkey", rather gradually start dialing it back. You will notice that riding will become less of an addiction and more fun. I used to spend hours outdoors with friends slogging away to some sort of coffee / breakfast destination that's a cazillion miles away from home (or so it felt). It used to mean that I am away for 3-6 hours at a time and then the bike needed a scrub and a tinker afterwards. 

This ritual meant: 

1) an hour prep prior to the ride

2) if I planned a 100km outride it meant at least 5 hours of moving time

3) stopping mid way to fuel up translated to another hour

4) washing, tinkering and cleaning afterwards (bike and self) - another hour. 

This tallies up to 8 hours of fun in the sun. 

I then sat down and had a look at why I was riding, was it the social aspect of spending time with friends and talking rubbish at the stop? No it wasn't. 

Was it to be outside and to enjoy the 34 deg heat first hand? Nope, I have a very light skin so if I venture outside I have to take a bath in sunblock. 

Was it because I yearned for the veld and "needed" the rush of flying at 25-30km/h through a nicely manicured piece of single track? Meh

The main reason why I put myself through the effort of riding outdoors was to gain fitness and to become stronger. This came at a cost of 8 hours and I started asking myself whether or not the sacrifice of time was worth the gains I saw? Long story short, the answer to me was no & I now prefer spending 3-4 hours on the trainer (if I wanted to get 100km) with 15-20 min of prep along with another 20min afterwards to get cleaned up. Same result yet almost half the sacrifice of time - winner winner chicken dinner . 

Everyone's goal / objective / motivation is different but the point I am trying to make is that once you've identified the "why" the "how" becomes quite clear. 

This make some think. I currently train on the trainer with a coach during the week. Saterdag I ride long with certain goals. To me I love going through the veld and wind in my hair. I would struggle for 4 hours on the trainer. But need the trainer to train to do long runs. I do agree on the enjoy part. Thats what it's supposed to be about. But if you aren't some pro what are you rushing for. Cycling can be fun or punishment. I did ride for sight last weekend. And ended up riding with someone else 90%, of the way as a chat. And afterwards I wondered why did I race. I can do this for alot cheaper and less stress 

[Theunissa]

8 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I'm curious to see if I'm alone in my self assessments about crashing.

So, to start, I'm a 27 year old trapped in the body of a 47 year old. The problem with this is that the young man in me wants to do stuff that my middle aged body doesn't want me to do. 

Case in point. This morning on the Hoogekraal Cobra I did the whole smash into rocks and opened a can of whip-ass and hurt for breakfast. All because in my mind "I can", but the costs are starting to add up.

I'm wondering if the time has come to call it quits? I enjoy riding but crashing less so.

In the last month I've now gone down three times. Twice on the Conties Rhinos and today on the Cobra.

And to think I was considering pulling the trigger on a new Status.

 

When you fall ask yourself why? Are you not eating before you go and feel weak. Are you going beyond your limit. Downhill use alot of upper body. Do you Trai for those lines or just take it. I have been telling my dad he is not doing thses things and he seems to fall bad. ( ABIT older). I personally don't think it's your age but lack of practice. 

My reason I say this I used to do Enduro stuff and only trails before 2019.stopped in lockdown. Only started riding now again in Oktober. Mostly gravel Rd and tar. I could do 62 km ride for sight on mtb at 20kph with only 70% effort and chat to someone most of the way. Gravel slower but OK. Now yesterday I went to buffelsdrift to do last ride there. And I suffered go down stuff like super tube etc. My hands arms back and stomach wanted to give in and today Im going to work with difficulty I feel 80 today. But only 38. So I could feel my lack of exercise in the certain stuff. 

[Robbie Stewart]

So, it's a new morning, and things are looking somewhat better than they did yesterday. My wrist is still sore (it was shattered about 7 years ago), and I think I have a possible minor rib fracture in my chest, so I'm definitely going to be dialing back the gnar. I've slowly been reaching this conclusion over the course of the last few months. @MORNE  can attest that yeah, I am not really as fit as I could / should be, but that I have been barreling into tech with a bit of a careless attitude. Peer pressure? Perhaps to a lesser degree. I really do enjoy riding the risky lines, but I'm having to concede that one reaches a stage when it becomes a foolish endeavor. I'm thinking I'm there now.

I don't believe I'll stop riding altogether, but I will be riding for the pure enjoyment of it now, and not because I need to prove anything. I've got the t-shirts, and the scars, and a couple of phodies to prove I can, and could, send it.

@RobertWhitehead you make a valid argument, and I am realising that my cycling has become an addiction. I spend basically an entire Saturday away from my family to feed my habit, and that is a selfish behaviour I need to change. Thanks for opening my eyes to that.

@Theunissa I eat before every ride, I hydrate properly during a ride, and I have sufficient functional strength to ride the line at speed. I'm not Argus (or 5 stage Enduro) fit, but I can manage a hard run around a trail for a lap well enough to most days be the lead up and down. I have ONLY done this kind of riding post Covid, whereas on the last Argus before lockdown I set my fastest time around the peninsula.

@robbybzgo Post crash analysis indicates that I went down after a pedal strike while lining up to do a drop at speed. I know what went wrong, and why. And I'm sure I'd be able to ride it again and not crash there. But that just brings me back to my original question of even if I could do it again, should I? Is it worth it in the long run? And that is where I'm not sure anymore.

@Jewbacca Get out of my head! Your assessment is eerily accurate to the point of being a bit freaky . It seems were more alike than we'd readily admit.

Perhaps my next ride will be to the top of Chappies from the Waterfront just for a change of scenery and then I can clear my mind and set my goals afresh.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I appreciate the candid debate around this topic.

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Robbie Stewart
spelling like a chop

[Me rida my bicycle]

5 hours ago, betaboy said:

… the “you gonna die” part has an age restriction! Take care, don’t go making all our premiums hike before Christmas! 😅

Luckily I have not reached that age restriction yet or at least in my mind. I'm only sniffing 40's behind tomorrow 🤣. My body does feel the shots for longer, not made of rubber and magic anymore. 

[Robbie Stewart]

5 minutes ago, Me rida my bicycle said:

Luckily I have not reached that age restriction yet or at least in my mind. I'm only sniffing 40's behind tomorrow 🤣. My body does feel the shots for longer, not made of rubber and magic anymore. 

What I've now tested and can vouch for is the fact that once you cross over the threshold of 40 you don't bounce anymore. Impacts with this very hard planet of ours are hard and the stopping part is sudden and painful.