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Risk and the penalty for failure.


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Everyone should decide for themselves what they ride and what they don't ride. That said, it is SO much easier to ride something like that when following somebody who knows the trail and rides it right in front of you. You can see their line, their moves and their pace. So you know what to do and what to expect.

 

But I'm with you, I would chose not to ride a lot of that.

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The older I get, the more I feel that way... and not having health insurance helps keep risk-taking to a minimum as well. Of course, it's all subjective and I know some people think that the way I ride today is still risky and I love me some Arizona trails, but I draw the line at White Line.

With that said, I have always been afraid of heights, but have also been amazed at what I have overcome without realizing it in the moment, all because I was so focused on the trail and the ride that I didn't even notice the exposure... I've even gotten home and reviewed my GoPro footage only to get to sections where I thought, "oh crap! I didn't even notice that on the ride!"

Edited by gotdurt
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^ This.

I've developed a moderate fear of heights since having kids. Not sure if it's the added sense of responsibility or what, but I'm bothered way more by it than I used to be. That being said, I can still ride through sections that I would now feel very uneasy walking only because of the tunnel vision on the trail in front of me.

And following someone else in front of you helps a lot.

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10 hours ago, cxagent said:

Everyone should decide for themselves what they ride and what they don't ride. That said, it is SO much easier to ride something like that when following somebody who knows the trail and rides it right in front of you. You can see their line, their moves and their pace. So you know what to do and what to expect.

 

But I'm with you, I would chose not to ride a lot of that.

Yeah, but the counter to that is following someone who knows the lines but is soooo much better than you. I suffer from this all of the time chasing Chuck and Nando. I've gone down things I shouldn't have trying to keep up.

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2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Yeah, but the counter to that is following someone who knows the lines but is soooo much better than you. I suffer from this all of the time chasing Chuck and Nando. I've gone down things I shouldn't have trying to keep up.

If you made it successfully down these things, then perhaps you should have. Also, if you were truly that worried about it, then you wouldn’t. 

I just don’t derive the same joy from being scared anymore. I’m finding with old age I’m enjoying things that create new pathways like learning drums and reading books. Man I used to loathe reading. 

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I remember the first time I jumped off a cliff into the sea. It was at Rick's Cafe in Negril, Jamaica, off the highest jumping point at that time... Maybe 40'+.

This is back in the early '80s, and at that time all that was there was a formed concrete finger kind of thing that jutted out maybe three feet from a low wall and was about 10" wide. And you had to walk out onto it before jumping. The thing about it is that once you walked out onto it you were kind of caught between a rock and a hard place, as to turn around on that little concrete section was pretty difficult.

And of course, people at the bar were watching.

So out I went.

When you're to the side looking at others jump it doesn't look too high. But when you're on that little piece of concrete looking down, you're like, "What the hell am I doing."

Anyway, I remember taking the step out into thin air. It was the weirdest feeling because you knew there was no turning back... You were out there and it was happening.

At first I was thinking, "Oh shit, is this going to turn out right."

But about half way down I started thinking I need to make sure I don't get twisted and land sideways instead of with my feet.

Then about two thirds of the way down, when I knew I would be okay, I started thinking it was very cool.

Then I hit the water and it was over... All in about two seconds.

Funny how long two seconds can feel.

That was the only time I did that jump.

Edited by RidingAgain
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On 2/7/2019 at 10:12 AM, Morealice said:

Niiiice. I’m just getting started so I have a way more modest setup. The DTX562.

 

F6578264-D595-444C-BDE7-F74BAF451084.jpeg

 

wife's even more modest Alesis kit. Kept the neighbors happy:classic_ninja:

IMG_20170311_091842.jpg

 

As far as risk goes. I had a pretty bad crash on madrone acting like bender and landing like evel knievel at ceasers last year and it has made me a little (too) cautious when it comes to hucks/drops. Gotta get past that.

Edited by ATXZJ
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42 minutes ago, gotdurt said:

There's a fine line between badass and stupid as hell.... or is there overlap?

It is easy to tell the difference AFTERWARD.

If they made it and rode or even walked away - that is badass.

If they didn't make it or had to go to the doctor - that was stupid as hell.

Not much overlap in my mind.

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On 2/8/2019 at 5:00 PM, cxagent said:

It is easy to tell the difference AFTERWARD.

If they made it and rode or even walked away - that is badass.

If they didn't make it or had to go to the doctor - that was stupid as hell.

Not much overlap in my mind.

There is still that grey area where they made it and walked away, but their balls are bleeding.

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