how dangerous is mountain biking?
Discussion
Its as dangerous as you want it to be.
Pottering through the woods, canals, bridleways etc is as safe as it gets. You will come off occasionally going slowly with a soft landing.
Blasting through root strewn descents in the dark, that gets dangerous.
Personally I'd rather come off offroad than on - at least its soft, tarmac hurts... A 25mph off on ice on road was my worst injury (and only road crash) last year. Offroad I came off probably a dozen times, with nothing more than a few scratches and some minor bruises.
Then again I think the downhill lot are insane...
Pottering through the woods, canals, bridleways etc is as safe as it gets. You will come off occasionally going slowly with a soft landing.
Blasting through root strewn descents in the dark, that gets dangerous.
Personally I'd rather come off offroad than on - at least its soft, tarmac hurts... A 25mph off on ice on road was my worst injury (and only road crash) last year. Offroad I came off probably a dozen times, with nothing more than a few scratches and some minor bruises.
Then again I think the downhill lot are insane...
walm said:
TheLemming said:
Then again I think the downhill lot are insane...
Wouldn't stop you following them off a cliff though, would it... 
As for tough DH stuff, I am happy to admit I've done two days - one at Antur Stiniog, the other at Bringewood - this year where, to be honest, I could not have gone back and done more either the day after, or the one after that!
I though it was me being soft, but my mate who was with me on the second of the two days is a chippy, so he's a lot stronger and more active than someone who sits behind a desk posting on Pistonheads, in between the odd bit of work, but even he felt like he'd gone three rounds in a boxing ring the day after.
I though it was me being soft, but my mate who was with me on the second of the two days is a chippy, so he's a lot stronger and more active than someone who sits behind a desk posting on Pistonheads, in between the odd bit of work, but even he felt like he'd gone three rounds in a boxing ring the day after.
Digga said:
As for tough DH stuff, I am happy to admit I've done two days - one at Antur Stiniog, the other at Bringewood - this year where, to be honest, I could not have gone back and done more either the day after, or the one after that!
I though it was me being soft, but my mate who was with me on the second of the two days is a chippy, so he's a lot stronger and more active than someone who sits behind a desk posting on Pistonheads, in between the odd bit of work, but even he felt like he'd gone three rounds in a boxing ring the day after.
bloody hell you sound just like me, plus my riding buddy who is a chippy to - how bizarre. I though it was me being soft, but my mate who was with me on the second of the two days is a chippy, so he's a lot stronger and more active than someone who sits behind a desk posting on Pistonheads, in between the odd bit of work, but even he felt like he'd gone three rounds in a boxing ring the day after.
At the Forest of Dean I can do a lap around the cross country course in the morning and spend the afternoon on the downhill sections and without a doubt 1:30sec off downhill track takes more effort than 1hour of cross country.
aka_kerrly said:
bloody hell you sound just like me, plus my riding buddy who is a chippy to - how bizarre.
Wood butchers - they're everywhere. 
I can distinctly recall my single run down the double-black at the end of the day at Stiniog. You watch video of it and it cannot convey how steep it is. I remember laughing because my arms, whilst not loaded to the point of fatigue, felt like I was doing press-ups and the whole-body effort was immense. I'm fairly sure that there are steeper DH courses about too.
Digga said:
Unless you've been asleep/concussed, you will have noticed the very highly-publicised deaths of road cyclists in the capital. There are, obviously, also regional fatalities and injuries to add to this.
In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
In case you're memory deficient, you'll have noticed the media telling us that MMR causes autism, cell phones cause cancer, and playing GTA turns you into a murderer. I trust inferences about risk made by the media less than I do my own, and I don't trust those much either.In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
If you have data showing me it's more dangerous on a per mile, per hour or possibly per event, basis, show it to me and I'll quite happily believe you - I don't really care which is more dangerous, so I've never bothered looking it up. That's not an unreasonable burden of proof: so if you intend to convince me without it I'm justified in calling you a self-important t
t and anyone who is persuaded a panicky easily-convinced moron.Edited by paranoid airbag on Tuesday 11th February 19:36
Kawasicki said:
I'm not a skilled bike rider.
Kawasicki said:
I usually fall off once or twice per hour, scuff and bruise myself a bit, nothing more. I've been riding mountain bikes for twenty years and never had a serious injury.
World's luckiest man! Good effort!I come off about once a year, and also have never had a serious crash.
I learnt to MTB when I was in my 40s and came to it with no off road bike handling skills.
My learning ground was the French Alps, where every 3/4 times a week between May and December I would spend 4hours a day riding all sorts of trails.
I fell off, I went over the handle bars, I hit trees, but as I wasn't into doing anything sillily quite I generally came of n scathed..... Blood wounds only but on had to go to the Cabinet Medical a few times.
Never wore pads but always gloves and helmet.
So really, if your careful and take cognisance of your skill level then you can get by general safe.... Those I've seen get very hurt (helicoptered off by a few people) its because they got suckered into going too hard/extreme/fast..... Similar to those who total it on track days.
My learning ground was the French Alps, where every 3/4 times a week between May and December I would spend 4hours a day riding all sorts of trails.
I fell off, I went over the handle bars, I hit trees, but as I wasn't into doing anything sillily quite I generally came of n scathed..... Blood wounds only but on had to go to the Cabinet Medical a few times.
Never wore pads but always gloves and helmet.
So really, if your careful and take cognisance of your skill level then you can get by general safe.... Those I've seen get very hurt (helicoptered off by a few people) its because they got suckered into going too hard/extreme/fast..... Similar to those who total it on track days.
Digga said:
Unless you've been asleep/concussed, you will have noticed the very highly-publicised deaths of road cyclists in the capital. There are, obviously, also regional fatalities and injuries to add to this.
In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
paranoid airbag said:
In case you're memory deficient, you'll have noticed the media telling us that MMR causes autism, cell phones cause cancer, and playing GTA turns you into a murderer.
It's quite the quantum leap to equate actual deaths of cyclists with the your three insane comparisonsparanoid airbag said:
I don't really care which is more dangerous, so I've never bothered looking it up.
Hmmm sounds like you do care...paranoid airbag said:
so if you intend to convince me without it I'm justified in calling you a self-important tt and anyone who is persuaded a panicky easily-convinced moron.
Yup - swears indicate that you definitely care more than you are letting on.t and anyone who is persuaded a panicky easily-convinced moron.Digga said:
aka_kerrly said:
riding around on flat canal paths hardly poses as threat
Unless you're my mate who rode off the into the cut in the middle of Stoke on Trent.This despite being a fully qualified cycling instructor.
Lucky for me there were no boats or other people around so I could drag the bike and myself out and carry on ridingTall_Paul said:
I took up windsurfing not long after I broke my jaw, probably partly because I knew how much solid ground/trees/rocks can hurt! 
That's a sport with similar thrills (takes longer to learn and get to the stage where you get those thrills though) but having fallen off at speed (30-35mph) hundred of times, more often than not being thrown 10ft, 20ft away from the board, flying through the air in the process, I've never had a single injury. Even wave sailing in decent size waves the only thing you have to worry about is your board/mast/boom hitting you, which rarely happens.
+1That's a sport with similar thrills (takes longer to learn and get to the stage where you get those thrills though) but having fallen off at speed (30-35mph) hundred of times, more often than not being thrown 10ft, 20ft away from the board, flying through the air in the process, I've never had a single injury. Even wave sailing in decent size waves the only thing you have to worry about is your board/mast/boom hitting you, which rarely happens.
You poop yourself the same amount when a wipeout happens but the difference is your brain catches up with what happened and thinks "wow, I'm ok!" Rather than "s
t I've really damaged myself".paranoid airbag said:
Digga said:
Unless you've been asleep/concussed, you will have noticed the very highly-publicised deaths of road cyclists in the capital. There are, obviously, also regional fatalities and injuries to add to this.
In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
In case you're memory deficient, you'll have noticed the media telling us that MMR causes autism, cell phones cause cancer, and playing GTA turns you into a murderer. I trust inferences about risk made by the media less than I do my own, and I don't trust those much either.In terms of fatality, road cycling is worse. In terms of injury it is worse. Granted, on a per rider or mile travelled it may be 'safer', but I'd chose coming up sort on the biggest baddest gap on any DH course every time over being driver over on a road bike by an eight-wheel tipper.
If you have data showing me it's more dangerous on a per mile, per hour or possibly per event, basis, show it to me and I'll quite happily believe you - I don't really care which is more dangerous, so I've never bothered looking it up. That's not an unreasonable burden of proof: so if you intend to convince me without it I'm justified in calling you a self-important t
t and anyone who is persuaded a panicky easily-convinced moron.Edited by paranoid airbag on Tuesday 11th February 19:36
What is beyond doubt - to all of us on here, except you - is that in terms of DEATHS per annum, road biking trumps mtbing, hands down, no stats required.
Calling someone a moron, from that standpoint, is pathetic.
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