Let's be careful out there
Discussion
This article is about a friend of mine...
https://manlyobserver.com.au/bystanders-bring-man-...
Whilst I hadn't seen him for a few months, I had known him and his family for about 12/13 years - our kids had learned to swim together - and we would often meet each other on the local trail.
He was 48 and a fit, experienced, capable and skilled mtb'er riding his local trail. The feature mentioned, 19th Hole, is a technical drop/roll-over with about 5 lines down - a green/blue, a red/blue, and three black. What makes it a challenge is the lack of scope for error.
No-one else was riding with him at the time, so noone knows for sure what happened. But it seems a fall led to severe damage to his vertebrae, which led to cardiac arrest. He was briefly revived but died later, leaving a wife and three children.
Mtb is fun and challenging, and the risks are part of what makes it fun. Lets just remember to be careful out there.
https://manlyobserver.com.au/bystanders-bring-man-...
Whilst I hadn't seen him for a few months, I had known him and his family for about 12/13 years - our kids had learned to swim together - and we would often meet each other on the local trail.
He was 48 and a fit, experienced, capable and skilled mtb'er riding his local trail. The feature mentioned, 19th Hole, is a technical drop/roll-over with about 5 lines down - a green/blue, a red/blue, and three black. What makes it a challenge is the lack of scope for error.
No-one else was riding with him at the time, so noone knows for sure what happened. But it seems a fall led to severe damage to his vertebrae, which led to cardiac arrest. He was briefly revived but died later, leaving a wife and three children.
Mtb is fun and challenging, and the risks are part of what makes it fun. Lets just remember to be careful out there.
Similar thing happened to a friend.
Riding alone,he crashed and ploughed through a bush.The next person down the trail saw the hole in the bush and his curiosity and that odd feeling you get when you sense something isn’t right saved my friend.He was out cold with a broken collar bone and a few broken ribs.
Riding alone is very risky.
Riding alone,he crashed and ploughed through a bush.The next person down the trail saw the hole in the bush and his curiosity and that odd feeling you get when you sense something isn’t right saved my friend.He was out cold with a broken collar bone and a few broken ribs.
Riding alone is very risky.
I had a really bad one pretty much exactly a year ago solo night riding locally and it brought the potential for something like this happening crashing home.
Absolutely tramming down a trail I hit a rock hiding in a shadow which immediately snapped the bars out of my hands sending me into a sort of barrel roll OTB. I hit the ground HARD and the ground couldn't have been harder itself being a combo of solid rock and loose boulders. Fortunately I didn't hit my head or break anything but I was hurt, badly. Took me about 20 minutes of both sitting down heavily breathing and then walking around trying to walk it off before setting off to limp home.
That ride home was the hardest 5 miles I've ever ridden and the crash put me off my bike for about 3 to 4 months with serious tendon damage to my wrist that still gives me grief to today. Still, could have been much worse and it was a wake up call to go steady when I'm on my own!
Absolutely tramming down a trail I hit a rock hiding in a shadow which immediately snapped the bars out of my hands sending me into a sort of barrel roll OTB. I hit the ground HARD and the ground couldn't have been harder itself being a combo of solid rock and loose boulders. Fortunately I didn't hit my head or break anything but I was hurt, badly. Took me about 20 minutes of both sitting down heavily breathing and then walking around trying to walk it off before setting off to limp home.
That ride home was the hardest 5 miles I've ever ridden and the crash put me off my bike for about 3 to 4 months with serious tendon damage to my wrist that still gives me grief to today. Still, could have been much worse and it was a wake up call to go steady when I'm on my own!
99% of my riding is alone, so now I always have Garmin Livetrack/Incident detection and Strava Beacon turned on. At least then I can be reasonably sure that if I come to a sudden halt, someone is going to get notified. I’ve had a couple of false alarms, but at least I know it works.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitness/use-garm...
https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=RfaXahBWkH8Q...
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/22435...
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitness/use-garm...
https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=RfaXahBWkH8Q...
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/22435...
Careful? Yes, as careful as I can be without sucking the fun out of riding. Always.
But these things do happen... https://wokingham.today/fit-and-healthy-cyclist-di...
Swinley MTB trails, Red 25/26 (aka: Kevlar).
He was riding alone so no one actually saw what happened. Another rider found him on the trail and tried to help him but he didn't make it. I do most of my riding alone, but these incidents are pretty rare so I don't spent my whole time on the bike worrying that I'm about to die just over the brow of the next hill.
But these things do happen... https://wokingham.today/fit-and-healthy-cyclist-di...
Swinley MTB trails, Red 25/26 (aka: Kevlar).
He was riding alone so no one actually saw what happened. Another rider found him on the trail and tried to help him but he didn't make it. I do most of my riding alone, but these incidents are pretty rare so I don't spent my whole time on the bike worrying that I'm about to die just over the brow of the next hill.
I'd say 95% of my riding is solo. I've also ridden tech night rides solo.
I've also ridden France> Swiss and back off road, DH etc solo on rest days from my group.
Nowadays you spontaneously grab a ride to fit in so a group ride is a rare planned often full day thing.
RIP dude, fellow rider. Trail brother.
I've also ridden France> Swiss and back off road, DH etc solo on rest days from my group.
Nowadays you spontaneously grab a ride to fit in so a group ride is a rare planned often full day thing.
RIP dude, fellow rider. Trail brother.
yellowjack said:
Careful? Yes, as careful as I can be without sucking the fun out of riding. Always.
But these things do happen........ I do most of my riding alone, but these incidents are pretty rare so I don't spent my whole time on the bike worrying that I'm about to die just over the brow of the next hill.
I don't do any trial riding, but pretty much hit 30mph+ every commute mixing it with metal death traps controlled by people some of whom spend more time staring at their phones than the road, pot holes every where, and pretty hard/solid tarmac to break any falls.But these things do happen........ I do most of my riding alone, but these incidents are pretty rare so I don't spent my whole time on the bike worrying that I'm about to die just over the brow of the next hill.
I've only just go over a big off a few weeks ago, pretty sure did something bad to my ribs as I couldn't walk properly for 2 weeks. But this week I was back slip streaming buses, bunny hopping potholes on a 20kg commuter bike+pannier.
The reality is surely any one who rides a pedal bike understands the potential for the worst outcome is always there. But that is part of the 'buzz', if I wanted to be 'safe' I would just take the car for the commute, but sitting in a car, stuck in traffic, heated everything etc is so utterly boring and devoid of drama I personally judge the risks of the pedal bike to be OK in exchange for having some excitement in your life. I honestly couldn't wait to get back to commuting on the pedal bike vs car.
None of us can escape death, its a 100% guaranteed outcome of life. But we all have different thresholds of risk, if you are worried about dying on a pedal bike due to any reason, the answer I think is simply not to ride one.
Edited by gangzoom on Saturday 12th November 06:38
That's where it's handy having a decent GPS headunit that allows live tracking.
If anything happens and you're not seen past the normal time, a quick check and they can see your location and some data (HR, speed and power etc)
I do all my riding alone, so this helps ease the stress on my OH
If anything happens and you're not seen past the normal time, a quick check and they can see your location and some data (HR, speed and power etc)
I do all my riding alone, so this helps ease the stress on my OH
The reason for my OP was just as the title says. - let’s be careful out there. We’ve all got different experiences, so better or scarier than others, and many of us cycle solo, me included both on- and off-road.
What this particular incident and death forced me to remember was that no matter how good or fit you are, or how well you know the road or trail, sometimes life just bites you on the arse.
What this particular incident and death forced me to remember was that no matter how good or fit you are, or how well you know the road or trail, sometimes life just bites you on the arse.
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