losing your nerve as you get older

northernneil

I went rock climbing in the glorious sunshine yesterday and enjoyed myself, but boy oh boy the older you get the more your balls shrink.

I was climbing stuff I used to solo (no ropes) when I was in my teens and theres no bl00dy way I would do that now.

Same with cycling, I notice more and more how much I am riding the brakes on fast descents.

Guessing it just sort of levels out till you find a level you are comfortable at as you get older?

ColinJ

Your balls probably stayed the same size but your Glans Sensibilis is now functioning correctly!

I was out for a local walk yesterday and went along a path at the top of Heptonstall quarry which is popular with climbers. I tried looking over the edge but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I can see the appeal of climbing but you'd never get me to do it no matter how many ropes you gave me! Well, not without sedating me with valium first...

bristolpete

northernneil wrote:

I went rock climbing in the glorious sunshine yesterday and enjoyed myself, but boy oh boy the older you get the more your balls shrink.

I was climbing stuff I used to solo (no ropes) when I was in my teens and theres no bl00dy way I would do that now.

Same with cycling, I notice more and more how much I am riding the brakes on fast descents.

Guessing it just sort of levels out till you find a level you are comfortable at as you get older?

The Fear gets you in the end....

downfader

I've always been afraid of hieghts. Count yourself lucky you got up there.

bagpusscp

Nope.It just depends on how mad you are.Me on a rope. :shock:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74418119@N ... 908725174/

I am the wrong side of 50. 8)

iain_j

I'm glad it's not just me then

I used to love walking along the very tip of mountain ridges like Striding Edge, Crib Goch and the like, the more exposed the better. If the well-worn route dipped below the crest I'd make a detour and scramble back up to the top. All on tiptoes, confidently skipping past those scaredy-cats on their hands and knees. I wanted to do the Aonach Eagach but my mates wimped out on the day.

Then, one day, my nerve went. I was down on all fours on Sharp Edge, holding on to the rock with a death grip, unable to go any further. Even Striding Edge which by my old standards was pretty tame, had me jelly-legged.

Same goes for descending on the bike. A few years ago, I was a speed freak, hardly touching the brakes, but now I get twitchy when I get above even just 30mph

OffTheBackAdam

It's a well-known fact, that the young are indestructable.
As the young age, they gradually realise that they aren't and also gain that burden called "Responsibilities"!

Anonymous

Don't live in a cage of fear, like a trapped animal.

Splottboy

I remember doing Crib Coch on the Snowdon 13 Peaks walk in 85.
There was a young fat girl clinging to a rock, and her family trying to get her off, but she wouldn't let go! They got the RAF helicopter up to get her off later.

The guy I was with said, he scrambled up a bit of scree to get to flat bit. When he got to the top, he looked over thinking it was flat section...and there was a 600ft sheer drop !!!

It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end...

Mettan

iain_j wrote:

Then, one day, my nerve went. I was down on all fours on Sharp Edge, holding on to the rock with a death grip, unable to go any further. Even Striding Edge which by my old standards was pretty tame, had me jelly-legged.

Yes, reminds me how easy it is to get out of your depth on something like Tryfan - good hard scrambling, then the dreaded "sh@t - can't go up any further on this line, can't climb down........" :oops:

batch78

Don't climb anymore because the fear was getting greater and greater, really taking the fun out of it, descending on the other hand is becoming faster as I age, strange! :?

batch78

And as an after thought, what about drafting other vehicles?

Never had the nerve to get within spitting distance when I was younger but, today, after passing slow moving traffic, I tucked in behind a horse box at 30mph plus for a tow of about 2 miles, awesome being able to sprint up short climbs and keep with the flow of traffic.

passout

Found the same with Mountain Biking - getting sensible......

Cressers

+1

after a while falling off is no fun anymore and healing takes longer. While our aging bodies fail, those trees endure...

Bunneh

Bloomin' trees! Chop them all down and replace with rubbe poles.

ColinJ

I've always had a fear of heights and that seems to be getting worse, but funnily enough I reckon that I'm getting more daring on the bike as I get older! I'm not a great descender but on audax rides and sportives I overtake loads of riders on descents. I see people braking on straight 5% descents - what's that all about!

Le Commentateur

Think I'll stick to reading about it and looking at the photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35197167@N ... 514569924/

Cressers

Bloomin' trees! Chop them all down and replace with rubbe poles.

I accounted for one weedy specimen, I hit it with such force it's trunk split, but that serves it right for throwing itself in my path. (I was OK but my helmet made an ominous cracking noisr...)

jgsi

northernneil wrote:

I went rock climbing in the glorious sunshine yesterday and enjoyed myself, but boy oh boy the older you get the more your balls shrink.

I was climbing stuff I used to solo (no ropes) when I was in my teens and theres no bl00dy way I would do that now.

Same with cycling, I notice more and more how much I am riding the brakes on fast descents.

Guessing it just sort of levels out till you find a level you are comfortable at as you get older?

I think it is more , the older you get the more you want to cling on to life but not really spit in the eye of death and have him wafting his scythe about.. my brother and I are going to 'combat' the Rhinogs tomorrw.. 20 years ago we stil had it in us to do one of the biggies of Lliwedd, where I managed to smash me face in...and yes, descending - used to solo abseil without a care in the world ) are the stats still there for more climbers killed abseiling than climbing?) .. nowadays loathe to go over 25 mph descending for fear of hitting a pothole and breaking summat on the bike.

Cressers

Or else it's just not as much fun as it used to be...

Stewie Griffin

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

It's a well-known fact, that the young are indestructable.
As the young age, they gradually realise that they aren't and also gain that burden called "Responsibilities"!

Spot on! Scars and scabs used to be trophies too, now they are just proof of stupidity :P

Cressers

It's the aches and pains that get me...

dennisn

My snow skiing has started to become a little less steep and a little more groomed.

Nuggs

The sense of one's own mortality increases in direct proportion to one's age.

However, I do wonder if, once you reach a certain milestone, you just don't care anymore and so balls out down some mountain in France with only thin air between you and the floor 2,000 metres below becomes 'on' again?

dennisn

Nuggs wrote:

The sense of one's own mortality increases in direct proportion to one's age.

However, I do wonder if, once you reach a certain milestone, you just don't care anymore and so balls out down some mountain in France with only thin air between you and the floor 2,000 metres below becomes 'on' again?

I, for one, am still waiting(at 61) for that milestone. You say your balls will get bigger when this happens? Nice added bonus. I'm waiting.

el_presidente

There are old climbers and bold climbers but no old, bold climbers

Nuggs

el_presidente wrote:

There are old climbers and bold climbers but no old, bold climbers

Like they say in parachuting: if at first you don't succeed.

northernneil

JGSI wrote:

northernneil wrote:

I went rock climbing in the glorious sunshine yesterday and enjoyed myself, but boy oh boy the older you get the more your balls shrink.

I was climbing stuff I used to solo (no ropes) when I was in my teens and theres no bl00dy way I would do that now.

Same with cycling, I notice more and more how much I am riding the brakes on fast descents.

Guessing it just sort of levels out till you find a level you are comfortable at as you get older?

I think it is more , the older you get the more you want to cling on to life but not really spit in the eye of death and have him wafting his scythe about.. my brother and I are going to 'combat' the Rhinogs tomorrw.. 20 years ago we stil had it in us to do one of the biggies of Lliwedd, where I managed to smash me face in...and yes, descending - used to solo abseil without a care in the world ) are the stats still there for more climbers killed abseiling than climbing?) .. nowadays loathe to go over 25 mph descending for fear of hitting a pothole and breaking summat on the bike.

yes they are - my mate is still happy to ab off using just a rock in a crack, I know thats what they are designed for but I did 3 abseils at the weekend and had each one backed up at least once with 1 more bit of pro.

and still got scared

dennisn

I can paint a barn with someone else's blood, but my own, well.......

Bunneh

You're all a bunch of girly girls! I got up this morning, shaved with a cheese grater, used parafin as my aftershave then went on a 30 mile run with the cat. On the way back I overtook a police van, 2 parrots on a motorcycle and some Russian gardeners in a giant bubble.

Bloody hell that was some strong booze last night...

neeb

A little more careful and calculating maybe - partially through knowledge and experience (I understand now how much quality of life depends on having a fully functioning body, and how easy it is to b*gger it up), partially through being aware that recovery from injury is more difficult the older you get.

More scared? I don't think so. If anything I find it easier to control fear now than when I was young, green and tender... one way of looking at things is the older you get, the less remaining life you have to lose... I'm only 43 though, so I guess that still counts as young in many people's books.

One part of fear is just a sensible awareness of your limitations of course. If you are not as coordinated or as well practiced as you once were, you are going to be scared doing things you used to do when you did those things more often. When I lived in Scotland I used to scramble in the Cuillin, the Curved Ridge in Glencoe etc - if I tried that now I'd probably be pretty scared, but mainly because I haven't done it for a long time. It was scary the first time I did it too..