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Yep the smaller the more they seem to catch you out!

Thats the hardest thing, trying to explain to everyone who doesnt understand mountain biking, why you dont give up after all the breaks, its hard to explain. I have been off the bike over a week now and miss it already.

Not sure, how serious your injury is, but i just got myself one of these supports http://www.physioroom.com/product/ProCa ... 38143.html definitely recommend it, hopefully will aid my healing too.

Wish i could jump at my local bmx track, doubles are pretty big.

It only happened Thursday. It is a level 3 (out of 6) separation so bad bot not the worst. Im lucky not to have broken it. Thanks for the heads up about the support i will look into it. anything to heal quicker

i meant from a pumping and riding berms point of view. it has lots of features to work up on
i thoroughly enjoyed playing about at towerlands in braintree and even got as far as clearing the small double after turn 3 and the table after turn 2.
the jumps are all rounded so messing it up is a lot harder than dirt jumps

I may have to give braintree a go, once i am back up and running again.

Yeah, breaking it sucks, hopefully a quick recovery for both of us.

I gave myself a hammering at Danbury back in October and in reality the ribs and back muscles are still recovering.

I find with any sport if you are motivated by progression and learning you get to a critical point where the consequences of cocking something up greatly out way the skill required to "give it a go". I agree with what everyone says about coaching (plus 1 for Tony by the way) as it is my experience that these circumstances test the foundations of your skills and confidence rather than a specific skill you may have picked up the week before.

I had this in my kayaking days and was running rivers in the Alps that killed people the next day - at the time I had a lot of faith in my ability and training and was confident - however hearing that some raft guides had died did affect me and I know I am motiivated by progression, so I turned to biking to get the fix that you can only get when you are risking something and pushing yourself.

I think I am at that same point in my biking now. I think the progression of size of jumps etc has stopped - I recognised that the consequences increase greatly from this moment on - and where I am in my life I feel content not to push it any further. I know I still need that progression though - so I have taken up stakeboarding again after a 18 year gap. It is terrifying but the progression of relearning the ramps etc is addictive. In a way this will help me continue biking - I will ride hard, hit jumps and look for that fix - however I will also be content riding the stuff I love on the bikes I love with a great group of mates. In that context giving that 40ft gap jump (the one out the back of Woburn springs to mind) a go doesn't seem as important as it used to - especially if I terrified myself early in the week relearning rock fakies! I find the goals in my own head have moved from "do this new..." "hit this new ...." to "keep doing this..." and "keep hitting this...." a subtle but significant change for me.

Biking is a varied sport and introducing the variety helps me embrace it. If you spend all your time hitting jumps then invest in the skills or you will spend a lot of time on the injury bench. Recognise when these key progresion points are approaching and either prepare and comit with training, kit and confidence or just recognise that thats not for you and you are content where you are. Either way you are rolling with a smile on your face, cocking about with your mates.

Bit of an in depth response but my second son arrived last weeekend and like you it has lead to a sustained period of reflection on the level of risk I take in my spare time.

Healing vibes - hope to see you on the trails soon - I'll still not be on the brakes - but covering them a little bit more than I used to!

Nigel

Nice POV nigel!

Ps. congrats on your latest arrival

I have only been trying to get into 4x/jumping in the last 16 months, and i hadn't been on my bike for about 8 or 9 years before that, so i feel that i have quite alot of room for progression. I have been emailed Tony regarding jumping tuition, see what he has to say.

I also think age also plays a large part in the decision making when riding, i definitely don't bounce like i used too. I have recently quit my job in the RAF to be a full time student in September, so with the sacrifices i have made to change my career path, i dont really want to be missing chunks of studying by being injured. I do tend to detach myself from these thoughts when i ride though.

We will see where it all goes, hopefully i can progress to racing 4x big fun next year.

Steve/Dan sorry to hear of your injuries, hope you both a speedy recovery!

I feel your pain though! Nearly 8 weeks ago on my first visit to Aston Hill i broke my clavicle and managed to acquire some award winning bruises and grazes! They operated on mine and and it feels great now and i have a cool scar much to my girlfriends disapproval! haha! However the doc reckons it will be another 6 weeks before i can subject it to another impact. As breaking it before its at full strength would be disastrous so it will still be a little while before im clocking up any air miles!

The really frustrating part is how it happened! i had no problem riding all the DH tracks on my hardtail but a lapse in concentration resulted in me losing the back end on one of the smoother sections of trail (top of dh3) and i got high sided over the bars. Manged to crack my Giro Remedy Full face - which probably saved my life!

To answer your question ive never thought about giving up, in fact the injury has had the complete opposite effect and im looking forward to working back up to and beyond the level i was at before. Mountain biking is one of those sports where you really need to understand the risks your taking and what you can do to control them. Start off small and work your way up and making sure you always ride within your limits.

In the meantime watch mtb videos, get inspired, build/maintain some trails and then when your ready go ride!

Cheers Tony,

Just a quick question regarding your op, its been a week and half since my op, but i am in still quite a bit of pain, was this the same for? Glad to hear you're healing up well.

Your missus disapproves scars he he, should see how many i have got now!!

A few years back I broke a small bone in comparison (thumb meta carple) and had it pinned - it hurt more after the op and from memory the pain was was bad for about a week or more (ie strong pain killers in order to sleep) so I assume a bigger bone could easily be painful for that amount of time, sorry. Get well soon all!

... http://www.essexhertsmtb.co.uk/mountain ... t2786.html ... seems appropriate. am up for it!