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what not to do on a hot day
Pressure suit, shin/knee guards, gloves, camelbak and first aid kit + GPS on belt.
Yes I'm paranoid I'll get hurt again.
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You left out wrapping yourself in cotton wool : )
If its going to keep me out of hospital then I might try it next time
Been there, done that. It's not fun, that's for sure.
But one thing a bad accident and a hospital stay has taught me was the limit of my ability on a MTB. Go past my limit, and I know that the risk of serious accident rises proportionally. It's only a matter of time.
Lucky for me, I know what that limit is now. At least, with some basic armour on like I do, the risk of injury is similarly reduced. I can still be the idiot that people call me.
Happy trails!
The trouble with all this crashing once in a while when the limits are pushed is this: The better you get, the further you have to go to push the limits before something happens, and that usually results in bigger incident.
I reckon MTBing is akin to Skiing in this regard. I used to say one should fall over a lot skiing, but now I hardly ever do [ touch wood and all that - going soon
]. Point is, in both sports I know a fall at high speed is going to really hurt, and don't really fancy that (what a wuus!).
But all is not lost, one can mess around and practice their lower speed skills (getting up and down technical stuff, or playing on the log like Matt was Sunday) without that much worry - think I'll stick to that for a while.
You're right about practicing stuff at low speed first, just like you used to do on a BMX as a kid when you had nothing better to do. I found a tiny little bike track in a local park last night and spent an hour or so trying to nail wheelies, manuals, sandy corners and a few trials maneuvres. Fell off the back and slid out lots and lots but give me another five years... I'll get those manuals nailed before they nail me.
BTW it's amazing how fast you can rail a corner if you get a little over the front wheel, bum just off the front of the saddle, get your inside foot off the pedal and lean the bike in, with the weight right even if you start sliding the back end goes first and it straightens you up, look forward to trying that at the dam.
I agree...slower = less risk = less severe injury falling.
But sometimes its just not the same unless you go and do it once or twice just outside your speed comfort zone. I went to Bobbin Head and Warrimoo for the first time on Sunday just to check them out (and no I wasn't wearing as much this time around!)...I found some of the figure S downhill section in the Bobbin Head track really eroded (especially the centre of the track) and it would have been suicidal to ride through it at speed...but going through it safely and slowly would be pretty useless as far as practice goes for things like that.
Plus if you go too slow you just fall over sideways
Slow and steady wins the race. Or so they say. But what fun is it?
For me it's not so much about practicing things that you should do fast a bit slower, more about practicing things that should/can be done slow or stationary that will help you out at greater speed, ie. track standing, trials hops, drops and balances, wheelies and manuals etc, all the bike balance stuff. Do that in the park or riding round town etc, but out on the trails you have to give it loads ;-}