We had someone die on one of our trails yesterday

I get what you are saying, Wahine, but I still felt much more comfortable on the road. Sure, I got off and walked... that was the issue. I was walking most of the time, even in places where it was ranked easy. I was just scared all of the time. What Jolt said pretty much echoes how I felt. I think that since mountain biking is so much more technical, it requires constant practice and I wasn't willing to give up the road cycling to do all of that practice. Some of my road riding skills need improvement, but I'm still able to hold my own in the groups I ride with. I'm a lot more comfortable in certain traffic situations than I used to be. Sometimes, I wish I still had a mountain bike, so I could ride fire roads, dirt roads, etc., but I'd have to travel a ways to find this type of terrain. I have to say, I am amazed at some of the things mountain bikers do, but all I could think about was the risk and what could happen if... hence I was extremely cautious.

Mountain biking isn't for everyone, and it may not be for you Crankin. It just surprises me that it is perceived by so many as being more dangerous than road riding. In the last one year working as a PT I've seen 3 roadies seriously injured, 1 collarbone fracture and minor concussion, 1 collarbone fracture, lumbar fracture and concussion, one serious concussion, neck injury, avulsion fracture of the shoulder and multiple significant contusions. And one friend that ended up in a coma for 3 weeks from being hit from behind by a car. In that same time frame, I've had one mountain biker who was an aggressive rider with a serious hand fracture and grade 3 shoulder separation. I'm just talking serious traumatic injuries here.

Crankin, you are wise to pursue what you are comfortable with, after all, having fun with our exercise is the ultimate goal! ...Your last sentence is telling. Caution (or rather hesitation) is the enemy in momentum sports.....In diving and gymnastics the coaches call it the "flinch factor"... that last minute loss of forward momentum will cause you to fail every time.... This is not to say I ride like a lunatic... but it is critical to commit fully (or not) way before the obstacle or technical section.....My heart goes out to the women I meet who do not enjoy mt biking but keep trying because of pressure from SO... (who is often not a patient teacher.....) I wish they had your conviction to just say..."not for me, enjoying the road..."

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Originally Posted by tealtreak

Crankin, you are wise to pursue what you are comfortable with, after all, having fun with our exercise is the ultimate goal! ...Your last sentence is telling. Caution (or rather hesitation) is the enemy in momentum sports.....In diving and gymnastics the coaches call it the "flinch factor"... that last minute loss of forward momentum will cause you to fail every time.... This is not to say I ride like a lunatic... but it is critical to commit fully (or not) way before the obstacle or technical section.....My heart goes out to the women I meet who do not enjoy mt biking but keep trying because of pressure from SO... (who is often not a patient teacher.....) I wish they had your conviction to just say..."not for me, enjoying the road..."

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Very well put.

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Originally Posted by tealtreak

Crankin, you are wise to pursue what you are comfortable with, after all, having fun with our exercise is the ultimate goal! ...Your last sentence is telling. Caution (or rather hesitation) is the enemy in momentum sports.....In diving and gymnastics the coaches call it the "flinch factor"... that last minute loss of forward momentum will cause you to fail every time.... This is not to say I ride like a lunatic... but it is critical to commit fully (or not) way before the obstacle or technical section.....My heart goes out to the women I meet who do not enjoy mt biking but keep trying because of pressure from SO... (who is often not a patient teacher.....) I wish they had your conviction to just say..."not for me, enjoying the road..."

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I agree wholeheartedly. When I was first learning the guy teaching me told me over and over that I had to trust my bike to ride the bumpy stuff (roots, rocks, etc.) that it was built to do it. My worst fall was the one where I hesitated on a small downhill. If I had committed fully it would have been fine.

Interestingly I had the same lesson/experience on my road bike a couple weekends ago. We were headed down an incline and I was going 20-22 when we hit a wooden bridge. The bridge had every other slat slightly lower than the previous slat. When I hit it there wasn't time to slow down so I had to use my MTB lesson. I got out of my saddle held on and committed. It about rattled my teeth out, but I never lost control of the bike.

I prefer mountain to road riding, but my list of mtb injuries finally managed to take me off the mtb bike. I really miss riding in the woods, but I can't say what caused me to fail. The crash that caused my neck injury that keeps on giving was a slow fall where I hit a root at the wrong angle...it was how I fell that caused the neck-snapping. After that I tried to continue, but went from one mtb injury to another. Were they from not fully committing and second-guessing myself? From not having enough general riding experience before attempting mountain biking? Possibly both in one degree to another. When it worked it was SO sweet though that I hated to give up. I've also known of several who have suffered broken backs on the same beginners trail that I crashed on in the last couple of years.

Good job Thekarens! That would be a bit scary if you weren't expecting it - but you knew what you needed to do and did it!

I DO know that I am far more confident in my general riding than I was prior to mountain biking. Road riding just isn't as much fun as it was before I hit the trails for the very first time. If I ever live someplace there there are less technical riding options such as fire roads I will consider replacing my FS and go for it - but until then I will continue to explore with riding on the road and running on the trails ;) Oh yes, and encouraging women to try it out and follow their bliss if they find they also love to ride in the woods!