How to avoid crashing while mountain biking

Question

After the tragic news of Scott Huntley, with myself just an average rider I've had a number of broken bones and concussions that have made me want to quit. Most recently I got knocked out after an OTB. However, my significant other wants me to engage in some form of cardio for my mental health. I want to see if there is a way to safely enjoy the sport.

I have been playing around with the idea of a checklist of things, hard fast rules that will keep me safe:

• No jumps
• Bike in good working order
• 60% is 100%
• Old stuff on new trails, new stuff on old trails
• Don't try to keep up; ride your own ride

These are some I've come up with up the top of my head, but I'd like to hear from you folks if there are any rules or approaches you have to stay safe.

Answer 1

Just some thoughts as an old man MTBer who started in the early 1990's. I have had my share of prangs, one put me in hospital that should not have, some I should not have walked away from but did.

Park your ego... (I found this tough). It helps to put riders into two groups - those who are your mates, and real mates (despite the egging you on and giving you a hard time later) don't want to see you hurt and won't think less of you for taking it easy. The other group either don't know you, or are not real mates, what they think is not your problem.

Get coaching if you have not already had plenty. Learning to ride perfectly is not something that we all do naturally. Part of this is learning to fall. Like all aspects of riding MTB's, learning to fall well is a skill that needs to be learnt one way or the other.

Learn to accept the fall is inevitable before it has happened, early enough to position to maximize chance of best possible outcome. (Martial art training helped me a lot).

Bail early, take chicken line - better to look like a fool and ride another day. In Aviation, some pilots think of every landing is a failed go-round, they commit to the landing at the last moment, only if everything is 100%. Same with tackling features - if you are not 100% on the approach, bail. The moment you have committed to the feature, commit. Make this commitment a conscious decision every time. Worst way to approach features is thinking "Do I, don't I, can I, yes, na, yeh... oh shit!!!"

Look at consequences. Two jumps of equal technical difficult can have very different consequences - simple example is a table to vs gap. Pull up short on one, you get a rough landing, on the other, you get a helicopter ride. What about a 6" plank ride that is 6" off the ground, vs a 16" wide bridge with a 20 foot drop into a ravine? Never ride a high consequence feature that challenges you on your best day. Don't ride the bridge till you have ridden the plank 100 times without falling. Don't take the gap jump till you have taken the tabletop 100 times and landed the ramp every time.

Look where you can have the same fun while reducing risk. If your prangs were caused by speed, slow down and go for more technical XC type trails. If they were big air jumps, maybe get your big air into a foam pit. If they happened at the end of big days because you were tired, don't go hard at the end of big days.

An additional thought is think positively and unambiguously - concentrate on what you want to happen. Your subconscious mind thinks like a toddler and does not understand negatives and ambiguity. "Don't hit that tree" translates to "Hit that tree". "Rock ahead" probably translates to "Ride over the rock ahead", but anything could happen... Instead think "Around that tree", "Stay left", "Take the high line"

Answer 2

Just some thoughts as an somewhat less old man MTBer who started in the late 2010's. I do like your idea of a rules list and I think the ones you listed are reasonable. I'd add that one really effective method is the idea of "preride, re-ride, freeride". Hitting a trail blindly adds a lot of risk. First slowly make your way down the trail to scope out the various features and figure out what is within and beyond your skill level (also these days, it's good to make sure there's no traps on the trail...). After that, do another cautious run to solidify the layout in your memory. Having completed those steps, you are more prepared to go at full speed.

In my experience, this is more or less how risk works:

• Don't get into the mindset that easier trails are totally risk free or that there's some way to totally eliminate dangers. You can reduce risk, not remove it entirely.
• The dashed line represents your skill limit, above which your risk of crashing goes up dramatically. Try to identify when you're approaching this threshold--for me, I notice things like my hands getting really sweaty and I start making comments like "jeez that's really high up..." Don't ignore these signals without acknowledging them. Evolution has given your body many thousands of years worth of survival skills.
• Note that the axes are relative. Take into account that the people you ride with have different skill levels, riding styles, and technical strengths.

Also, when you say to "ride your own ride", that shouldn't be interpreted only in the context of keeping up with the rider in front of you. Unless you accept the risks and you have the appropriate skills, don't try to emulate the riders you see on TV or even the really good rider that hit the trail a few minutes before you. Be careful about those subconscious influences.

Don't ride with the intention of crashing, but definitely be ready for if/when it does happen. As Matt said, learning to fall can save you a lot of pain. Also be sure to wear an appropriate amount of protective equipment.

If the danger is still a bit too much for you, consider alternative forms of riding. Gravel, long-distance XC, BMX (the pump track version, not the skate park version)...there's plenty of ways to keep riding while avoiding some of the risk factors involved with "wild" MTB.