How many crashes does it take . . . ?

[throttles]

Blame Garmin, I’m 39 but Garmin says my fitness age is 24 😬🤷🏻‍♂️🤣🤣🤣

[Theunissa]

8 minutes ago, Scary Rider said:

Joh, ek het al effens deur my hemde gebrand, maar darem nog nie blase. Blase op my bene met 'n kortbroek op die trekker wel🙈. 

Op 'n trekker in die son mid Desember is dit warm 

[PhilipV]

@Robbie Stewartthere is nothing wrong with dialing it back. It's not an all or nothing thing. 

Many years back, as a student, I realised that riding bikes won't be paying the bills. This coupled with gnarly crashes forced me to rethink how I ride downhill. Pretty much where you are now. And that was where I forced myself to ride slower, but try to be smoother and brake less, the mantra was to flow down the trail like water. I still ride all the lines, I just dialed it back to become better at it. 
Fast forward about 16 years and I'm still riding as loose as a politician's moral compass.

I had a bit of a speed wobble last year after my father got diagnosed with cancer and I went bos on all my rides. Roekeloos. But after breaking two helmets in less than two months in crashes that I was both lucky to walk away from, I realised that I needed to deal with **** instead of trying to ride away from it. Now I'm back to riding sideways and braking less and having more fun while being safer. Albeit slightly slower. Win-win. 

 

Robbie, if you can, buy the Status. It will be massively more capable and safer than your camber on the rougher trails. 

A more capable bike, is essentially safer when ridden af 7/10 instead of 9/10.

[Meezo]

I disagree with everyone

Buy the new bike! 

 

 

.... O was that not what this was about 🫢

[ChrisF]

Just now, Meezo said:

I disagree with everyone

Buy the new bike! 

 

 

.... O was that not what this was about 🫢

 

No matter the question, that is always the correct answer

 

Some very insightful answers.  SO easy to get sucked into longer jumps, more narly trails .... and the infernal chase for a PB (certainly my current weak point)....

 

 

Think we are all on this journey .... just at different points along the journey.

['Dale]

@Robbie Stewart  

A few ideas:

1. Do not make any decisions while you are hurting and disillusioned. Focus on recovery and mental scars healing first.

2. Reflect on your equipment - do you have the right tool for the level of technical requirement necessary, as well as the protective gear that aligns with the risks that you take. This includes the tyre choice and tyre pressure. Avoid taking short cuts here.

3. Skills training refresher course in the short term, assuming that you have been through a skills course?

4. Are you overestimating your current ability or do ‘hero moves’ that leads to a mental error in execution? This is a deep inward enquiry.

5. Avoid getting to the trails either tired/flattish or overcaffeinated/hyped. A calm clear mind is best. Finding flow state is key, pun intended.

Sterkte. 

[Brawler]

I'm currently asking the same question as I sit here all grumpy with a fractured rib (on the second ride on a new bike!).

After riding for 25 years I've come to see accidents happen and it's part of the sport. You can do A LOT to prevent and minimize them but you will see your gat eventually. All of my (***) falls have been doing stuff I've done a million times before.

I decided a while ago I'm definitely toning it down a bit. I'll still be riding most trails, drops and jumps but I'm not putting pressure on myself to do everything like I used to. Just enjoy being out there on the trails with friends and the beer after. 

[Robbie Stewart]

7 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

How old are your tyres? Despite my front looking quite new it’s lost a lot of grip over the past 6 months. The rear is fubar. Lack of grip leads to lack of trust in the front which leads to accidents 

They are due for replacement. They're not fubar yet but they have had a good life to date. But my crash was due to a pedal strike so dunno if the tires factor into the equation. I was going on the trail direction and suddenly I was being thrown to the right straight into a pile of rocks.

[DieselnDust]

2 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

They are due for replacement. They're not fubar yet but they have had a good life to date. But my crash was due to a pedal strike so dunno if the tires factor into the equation. I was going on the trail direction and suddenly I was being thrown to the right straight into a pile of rocks.

Ok those accidents are really more due to rotten luck than anything done wrong

[Robbie Stewart]

6 hours ago, betaboy said:

I popped a wheelie on my kids high end racing BMX which of course is a lightweight track specialist machine and I backflipped and couldn’t function as a human for 4 days. My wife continued to remind me about the skateboarding demo I tried to do I few years back. 🫣🙈🤣😂 have to agree, after 45 there is no more bounce, just one big ouch!

Doing manuals in the street in front of my house I lifted too high, stepped off and snapped my ankle in three places back in September 2021. That was my last trip to hospital. I'm trying to avoid doing that again.

[Robbie Stewart]

6 hours ago, dasilvarsa said:

Maybe Your Front Tyre is Pumped too Hard.

What Pressure you running in Front ?

Try 1.3 Bar.

Funny you say that. After the crash I saw it was indeed way too hard. It was at 1.80 bar, but I'm a big boy, so maybe 1.50 rather

[DieselnDust]

6 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Funny you say that. After the crash I saw it was indeed way too hard. It was at 1.80 bar, but I'm a big boy, so maybe 1.50 rather

I run 1.5 front and weigh 72kg

[Robbie Stewart]

@PhilipV I'm sorry to hear about your dad. That really sucks man, and I wish you all the best in this difficult road. You make some valid points there about riding within your safe ability and still enjoying it. I can take some lessons from that. Thanks.

@'Dale In short, I'm not making any rash decisions I'll regret but in the same instance I think it's still good to press pause and reconsider what's important and what's not. Yeah, my Camber is not up to what I'm asking of it and despite having kept up with my demands of it, I am realising that either I stop riding like I do, or I order that Status. Planned for August though. Some other responsibilities need my attention first.

As for skills. I'm self taught. Maybe that is a part of the problem.

[Robbie Stewart]

7 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I run 1.5 front and weigh 72kg

Ja. Let's just say I'm not quite double your weight, but a good 2/3's 

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, Brawler said:

I'm currently asking the same question as I sit here all grumpy with a fractured rib

Yep. I have this too. Breathing deep is fun. So is lying on my side.

[DieselnDust]

7 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Ja. Let's just say I'm not quite double your weight, but a good 2/3's 

then I reckon 1.8bar isn't too hard

there is a few things that can start to affect how the bikes steering feels.

Headset bearings are one

Tyre grip and casing flexibility is another. New tyres always grip better

Check fork air pressure and even stiction. If the fork is starting to feel slower to compress and rebound without you having changed anything its probably time to get it serviced and moving more freely. This affects steering a lot to the point where the bike can feel vague

Rebound setting may be too slow could also affect steering