These are great responses, thanks!

Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
1 - you realize you are not invincible and you've probably had the experience of having an incident or two yourself or having someone you know well be injured or die. It brings it home.
Good point. My daughter's wreck in 2010, and my cousin's little girl's death a few years before that, were strong blows to my confidence. I didn't make the connection because what does sledding have to do with bicycling? But I realize that I've heard some things about sledding that connect it in my mind to my daughter's wreck. A popular sledding hill here in town, that we used to sled on when my daughter was small, was closed down because someone was killed on it. A friend of mine commented that she won't go sledding herself because she did her ER rotation during the winter and saw a lot of broken faces from sledding. I guess those things stewed in my mind and connected with my daughter's wreck and now I'm not comfortable sledding.

It's not at all logical because I don't mind HER sledding, I just am not comfortable doing it myself.

Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
3 - you inner ear ages as well - I am personally *much*, *much* less tolerant of things that whirl, spin or shake my head a lot. I get dizzy and disoriented more easily than I did when I was a kid. I'm not even interested in mountain biking because I feel like bumping down hill really fast I cannot see well enough or react well enough to be safe…
Oh! That is so true. I hadn't realized it was a physiological change but now that you mention it I see it. My daughter & I went to the park not long ago, and swung on the swings & climbed on things etc. (She's 18...we had a blast!) I did not swing as high as she did or as high as I used to. I didn't like the merry-go-round at all. I can get vertigo so much more easily than when I was younger.