At one point I briefly had five bikes, and Mom would tell her friends "We always forbid MMc to have a motorcycle, now he has five..."Originally Posted by camel
At one point I briefly had five bikes, and Mom would tell her friends "We always forbid MMc to have a motorcycle, now he has five..."
I hope you heal quickly Josh. Sounds like you took a pretty gnarly fall.
My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
My personal experience has been that the number of injuries on mountain bikes is higher (but most are relatively minor), but severity of injuries have been worse on motorcycles (especially road riding).
I wonder if your experience is affected by location. Moab and the St. George area are two world famous destinations for mountain biking. There are probably a large number of cyclists riding unfamiliar trails that are outside of their skill level. Park City also has some large bike parks now as well.
Bike park trails often are heavily compacted like a BMX track, so crashes can have higher consequences because the ground has very little "give." This is the exact opposite of a motocross track where the dirt is very loose because the bikes roost a lot of the dirt on each lap. Motorcycle PPE tends to be a bit better as well because weight is less important, and you don't need the same range of motion for pedaling.
Modern improvements in mountain bikes have also made it possible to go much faster on the same trails. I took about 10 years off from mountain biking, and the change in trail speed is pretty crazy. Even riding local singletrack, it's quite common to hit 25+ mph. Riding at much higher speeds with just lycra and a half shell helmet is probably a recipe for more severe injuries.
Thanks everyone for the well wishes. For those of you who were particularly concerned, I picked up my bike yesterday, and it's fine. I did a really good job of absorbing the impact with my body, so my bike took only a minor hit.
Glad to hear it. And good job... a true mountain biker sacrifices himself to save the bike. Many years ago I was riding a cliffside trail in Downieville with a mountain bike Hall-of-Famer and the owner of a major bike company. The hall of fame guy left us in the dust, and the owner tried to ride beyond his abilities causing a crash that nearly took him over a 100' cliff. He ended up halfway over the edge, hanging onto his priceless full-carbon prototype with one hand. Any sane person would have let the bike fall.Thanks everyone for the well wishes. For those of you who were particularly concerned, I picked up my bike yesterday, and it's fine. I did a really good job of absorbing the impact with my body, so my bike took only a minor hit.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
And here we have proof of the activity’s participants. As if we didn’t know already (says the guy who rides his Surly in the snow).
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
[QUOTE=joshs;1367647]Modern improvements in mountain bikes have also made it possible to go much faster on the same trails. I took about 10 years off from mountain biking, and the change in trail speed is pretty crazy. Even riding local singletrack, it's quite common to hit 25+ mph. /QUOTE]
Yup. When I got my first bike with front suspension (Klein Pulse back in 1997), I found myself going much faster on trails than with my previous bike. Now bikes have hydraulic disk brakes, F&R long travel suspension, etc and you can reach speeds formerly unheard of on rocky terrain.
It's one of the reasons I've gone back to a fully rigid bike. Not only is the maintenance requirements much lower, I'm less likely to do stupid stuff, which is important when one approaches 50. One of the local mountain bike ambassadors, a guy in his 60s, was into big air and pushing himself and ultimately broke his neck and died as a result several years ago. He had just retired.
Chris
Puhlease. Snow biking is fun biking and safe if you're not stupid.
Now, ice biking with studded tires is a different kettle of fish...
Chris
I just bought a new hardtail frame to ride more on local trails that has similar geo to my Ripmo (so that it doesn't feel really weird switching back and forth). I'm hoping to increase the fun at lower speeds. I'm not sure I can deal with the arm pump of going fully rigid.Yup. When I got my first bike with front suspension (Klein Pulse back in 1997), I found myself going much faster on trails than with my previous bike. Now bikes have hydraulic disk brakes, F&R long travel suspension, etc and you can reach speeds formerly unheard of on rocky terrain.
It's one of the reasons I've gone back to a fully rigid bike. Not only is the maintenance requirements much lower, I'm less likely to do stupid stuff, which is important when one approaches 50. One of the local mountain bike ambassadors, a guy in his 60s, was into big air and pushing himself and ultimately broke his neck and died as a result several years ago. He had just retired.
Chris
If you want to really bring down the speed, and bump up the fun without shaking yourself to death, you might throw a leg over a rigid fatbike and see how it treats you. They’re to suspended 29’ers what an 883 sportster Harley is to a BMW R1250 GS Adventure bike. Heavy, slow, solid, steel, and fun. Most def slow though. Reminiscent of a seemingly bygone era.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
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