Hey, I'm right there with you! I really suck at mtbing cause I totally panic when my wheels start sliding. So I limit my mtb riding to fairly tame stuff.

Enter winter riding! I so wanted to continue commuting this winter. Got the studded tires, did OK until the road were totally covered with packed snow and ice all the time. As soon as my wheels started moving around in the snow I started panicing again. I'm not talking about life threating I'm going down hard slipping, just what should be "controllable" movement of the tires.

My fear in falling is loosely based on the fact I'm on the verge of old fartdom and overweight. If I do go down hard, something gonna break! So my goal this summer is to spend some time mtbing and push/force myself to ride in sand and loose stuff and learn how to handle and recover from slipping. Experience is the best teacher, right? bikerHen