So easily could be any of us !

[Chicken Legs]

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding ... =yRDr7jyEB

[In Reverse]

Saw this yesterday and it's been really playing on my mind. The video of him coming off is so innocuous, the sort of thing that could happen at any time in a ride when you're not paying attention and you get up with just a bruised ego and your mates laughing at you.

[RIP]

Absolutely horrendous obviously. Poor guy.

It's interesting you say 'innocuous' Andy - that's the slightly scary bit. If you're piling down some rocky treelined DH course damage is not unexpected. But even on an innocuous pootle like ours a tiny fall can have consequences out of all proportion can't it? Mate of mine had a small OTB and ended up in a coma for 2 months. And good old Rich here with his crash.

Strange question maybe - does seeing this poor fellow's accident make one feel like changing one's own ride in any way at all?

[Chicken Legs]

Like most things if you over analyse what we do you wouldn't leave the front door.
It restores your faith in the human race in these difficult times, to see how many people have chipped in to help this chap in his hour of need, after all it could be any of us !

[Verena]

This is kind of what I do for a living.... as in what he refers to the "Social care from the council is extremely limited and takes months and months even to start the assessment process" I won't bore you with the details, other than to say that we do try our best, within the limits imposed on us... and our waiting times are nowhere near as long.... Got a 29 year old mountain biker at the moment who had a spinal injury, was out alone and just found by the side of the track...
So I work with people of all ages, yes lots of older folk, but also people who have come off horses, bikes, car crashes, falling off mountains, and just getting chronic illnesses, often at a very young age.

Does that change my outlook on life? Hell yeah! Makes me appreciate everything I have, I sometimes feel like I go out there and ride, or run, or whatever, specifically in defiance to all the cr@p life can and does throw at people.

Does it make me ride differently? No, not really. I'm finding that (maybe it's an age thing?) I'm getting more of a worry pot generally, but I don't tend to worry about crashing my bike.

Maybe that's because I've been riding ultra cautiously as long as I can remember, certainly downhill. When I was 11, I was on holiday in France, and my dad and I went on a long day ride on our road bikes. He was going downhill ahead of me, and just a sudden little pop and he'd crashed, probably just hit a small stone. Anyway, he'd fractured his skull, I was all alone with him in the middle of nowhere until some people arrived to help, it was all a bit traumatic, two weeks in a French hospital then more at home.... That experience has stayed with me ever since, so I can't really just "let go" on downhills, always riding on the brakes....

[RIP]

This is kind of what I do for a living....

Always interesting to read an "inside view"

[In Reverse]

Strange question maybe - does seeing this poor fellow's accident make one feel like changing one's own ride in any way at all?

Probably not tbh Reginald. As this thread has highlighted it's impossible to eliminiate risk (in just about any activity) so you just have to accept it and crack on.

I was out on the full sus yesterday riding (well, mostly riding) some techy stuff that's towards the edge of what I'm confortable with. No problems. Riding along a bit of flat tarmac back to the car chatting away, hit some black ice and went down hard. Can barely climb the stairs or lift the kettle to make a brew today Wouldn't have perceived that as being the risky bit of the ride.

[tobasco]

I am much more aware and careful compared to when I was immortal in my 20’s. Not very good at bouncing nowadays.

Looking at stats helps me rationalise, how many people out there on bikes and how many end up in deep poo.

[ScotRoutes]

This is kind of what I do for a living.... as in what he refers to the "Social care from the council is extremely limited and takes months and months even to start the assessment process" I won't bore you with the details, other than to say that we do try our best, within the limits imposed on us... and our waiting times are nowhere near as long.... Got a 29 year old mountain biker at the moment who had a spinal injury, was out alone and just found by the side of the track...
So I work with people of all ages, yes lots of older folk, but also people who have come off horses, bikes, car crashes, falling off mountains, and just getting chronic illnesses, often at a very young age.

This is what my wife does too - Scottish NHS. As it happens, it's mostly the elderly, especially at the moment. She's really supposed to be doing reablement but there are so many long-term folk that she rarely gets the chance.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I once had eight customers die over one summer. It didn't stop me riding and probably didn't slow me down but it did bring it home to me that life really is very short and every day's a gift.