Let’s talk about Risks
Upon re-entry to MTB, quite a few rational people I know have asked if mountain biking is worth the risk.
The most notable injury lately, was a recent friend in Colorado riding with a and former basketball player, approaching 7’ tall. Merrily riding along and boom — over the bars (OTB) and not one, but two simultaneously dislocated shoulders. Somehow, out in the wilderness, these brave lads figured out how to pop both shoulders back in and get home without a drama. Sadly- bad things happen to experienced riders.
Mountain biking risk visualized across 3 general quadrants:
- Push your skill threshold, with measured risk, and you’re likely to be fine.
- Push your skill threshold and get stupid, you’re going to crash.
- Exceed your skill threshold and cross into the land of stupid plus maximum risk, you’re going to get hurt.
- Balance the three, and if you’re lucky you’ll dial into a gold zone of achievement, growth, and fun.
In the bigger picture of cycling, road riding is an increasingly perilous activity. Ca. 2004, the biggest risks were getting doored in Boston or getting run off a Texas road by a raging redneck. Now a days, you have millions of zombie drivers checking out their latest IG posts while happening to be driving. At least on the trails, your main danger is yourself. And trees. And gravity if you’re into air and feel your inner Peter Pan every time you start to fly.
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In the modern ecosystem of trails, you can mostly find green, blue, black, and double black ratings. Like snowboarding or any other gravity related sport, if you avoid the stupidity zone, a natural progression is readily available. Or, if you have defects like mine, you can just try out a double black ‘for the hell of it’ and see what happens, but if you do you’re gambling.
After nearly 2 seasons since re-entry and a handful of races, here is what I’ve learned:
- Build back the base skills on simple trails and run them harder and harder until you are bored
- Get on a full-suspension bike with disc brakes — 20 year old bikes are risks unto themselves
- Find experienced riders and avoid trail bros (the truly injury prone)
- Get the gear — proper shoes, knee pads, full face helmet, goggles, full length gloves, GPS — you’ll eventually need all of it.
- Ride with a partner if at all possible, or at least use a Strava beacon
- Look for steady incremental gains vs. quantum leaps in ability
- Blind riding incurs natural risks and surprises — even the pros take it easy sighting new trails
- Pay attention to yourself — some days are just not ‘on’ and it’s OK to back off
