Here's a repost about an accident i had not too long ago... hopefully it helps someone decide to suit-up when they're on the fence about it.... Hey guys, Just wanted to rave a little bit about the importance of riding gear. Friday after work I had a pretty big get-off on a step down section i've been eyeballing for a while by my house. to make a long story short i hit it at a bit too much of an angle at it aimed me toward a large pile or rocks after the second drop. as soon as i was in the air i know i was a bit too far to the right and tried to scub off speed but it still threw me back first into the pile. i was wearing a full fox suit with a back protector. the back plates broke on impact and i ended up breaking me L1, L2, and L3 vertebrae. The ER dr told me had i not been wearing this I would not be using my legs anymore. Usually when i'm freeriding I have my armor on but i generally don't have it on for the usual aggressive riding and anything xc. short of casual xc rides it will probably be something i use a bit more after this. next time you're questioning how much gear to wear, side on the excessive side. Here's the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5891963100431626028 (am i now at 21 more to go??) d
Maybe I'm not pushing hard enough. The only real injury I've had was (I suspect was a minor fractured wrist). Back in high school, I lived in a housing development under construction. They used to block the streets with stacks of 2x lumber. We had a great idea of leaning sheets of plywood on the sides of these 3 foot stacks to make double jumps out of them. Well I went too fast and cleared the landing ramp and landed on the street. I stuck the landing which wouldn't have been a big deal except that I was on a 10 speed road bike with flat bars. My wrist hurt like hell for a month, but I hid it from my parents the entire time. Closest I've gotten to breaking a bone.
steve you have a family and a mortgage...there's a fine line between pushing it and being out of work for an extended period of time.
