What mistakes have you made that others can learn from?

cycle monster

Do not jump something if you do not know what is on the other side. My mate did and fractured five vertebrae. This was on a local bridleway on the day he took delivery of his first mountain bike.

My schoolboy error was committed a year ago. I did a black route for the first time and feeling invincible went straight on to the red that I knew well. Problem was that hat having buried an old mate earlier I was physically and emotionally drained, did not stop to take on fluids or food. I kept getting my lines wrong through an inability to concentrate and rather than realising it was a bad idea I decided to go a bit faster and ended up landing on my head. Full recovery took eleven months.

I now plan and fuel myself properly.

Valy

cycle monster wrote:

Do not jump something if you do not know what is on the other side. My mate did and fractured five vertebrae. This was on a local bridleway on the day he took delivery of his first mountain bike.

My schoolboy error was committed a year ago. I did a black route for the first time and feeling invincible went straight on to the red that I knew well. Problem was that hat having buried an old mate earlier I was physically and emotionally drained, did not stop to take on fluids or food. I kept getting my lines wrong through an inability to concentrate and rather than realising it was a bad idea I decided to go a bit faster and ended up landing on my head. Full recovery took eleven months.

I now plan and fuel myself properly.

OMG...

wow


What happened to you in your accident if you don't mind?

cycle monster

Don't mind at all. I was about three miles in, approaching a gentle right hand turn and this is where it gets hazy. I failed to reach the turn and ended up going over the bars. I landed on my head (helmet) but my right shoulder took most the impact. Once I could ride again I went back to investigate and thought that i must have turned the wheel too sharply and too soon. Anyway, nothing was broken but every muscle in the right shoulder region was pulled to buggery. It was three months before I could sleep on my right side and only after eleven months did all of the stiffness disappear.

Unsurprisingly it was several months before I got my confidence back. I tend to prepare and concentrate more nowadays!

Northwind

Don't expect to get good value from an uplift day when riding with congenital faffers.

Don't assume that just because the person in front rode down a line, it must be there. Similiarly, don't assume that just because you just tried to ride down a line that isn't there, you can stop, because there's a fair chance the idiot behind you has followed you.

Wear serious suncream when wearing strappy shin armour otherwise you'll end up with a strangly geometric tan.

chedabob wrote:

You cannot use a bump on singletrack to perform a jump :P Ended up hitting another bump a few feet in front of the first, going over the bars, and bending the rear wheel.

We call this The Glentress Effect . After a few rides at glentress your brain becomes programmed to think that every tiny bump was meticulously placed there by trailfairies so that you can do a jump. Then you take this freshly reprogrammed brain back home with you and see a perfect jumping bump and next thing you know, you're up a tree.

Axleuk

Northwind wrote:

Don't expect to get good value from an uplift day when riding with congenital faffers.

Don't assume that just because the person in front rode down a line, it must be there. Similiarly, don't assume that just because you just tried to ride down a line that isn't there, you can stop, because there's a fair chance the idiot behind you has followed you.

Wear serious suncream when wearing strappy shin armour otherwise you'll end up with a strangly geometric tan.

chedabob wrote:

You cannot use a bump on singletrack to perform a jump :P Ended up hitting another bump a few feet in front of the first, going over the bars, and bending the rear wheel.

We call this The Glentress Effect . After a few rides at glentress your brain becomes programmed to think that every tiny bump was meticulously placed there by trailfairies so that you can do a jump. Then you take this freshly reprogrammed brain back home with you and see a perfect jumping bump and next thing you know, you're up a tree.

The suncream advice is actually very good. I am sure I would never consider putting on suncream with shin pads.

I had an actual belly laugh when i read the term 'trailfairies'. Classic! I must now think of something where I can use the same term *no you're not getting terminolgy royalties*

Hoopz

If you say "WATCH THIS" you are bound to bin it. :oops:

*AL*

Don't ride through horse sh!t whilst laughing.

That is all.

TheNorthernTrain

Don't hang over the back of your bike while going quickly over the top of a small uphill section, it tends to lead to you falling off your bike!

Anyone else find that at times they do something knowing they know they are doing it wrong but still persist in going ahead and doing it?

Mynameisdann

north-sure wrote:

Anyone else find that at times they do something knowing they know they are doing it wrong but still persist in going ahead and doing it?

Masturbation?

ddraver

wood - even at trail centres - is slippery when wet. Luckily I got away with that one!!

In a similar vein to the multi-tool one - Don't lovingly clean and restor your seat post clamp and then laeve it on the side (although you CAN bodge it back together with a light clamp (!!!) Single use only though, could nt get that screw out again!)

Never push on the fireroad - roll down it gently and wait for the single track (1 broken handlebar, removal of skin and lost days Spanish Guiding that one....)

Anonymous

ddraver wrote:

Never push on the fireroad - roll down it gently and wait for the single track (1 broken handlebar, removal of skin and lost days Spanish Guiding that one....)

Not a great tip, just sounds like you misjudged something.
and on that note........

never assume a corner will stay the same "tightness" all the way around :oops:

Dick Scruttock

Buy British it is best. No its not...

Mental Mickey

Old English Proverb. Look before you leap.

I didn't heed this warning and hit a ditch at high speed after throwing my bike over a mound just before it, major faceplant on a road followed, airlifted to hospital.

Same goes for stuff that you may feel is a bit technical for you, if you decide to ride it, it is always a good idea to get off your bike and check it out first to make an assesment, then attempt it, rather than leaping over it blindly for the frist time.

glauciaregina9

A mistake a mate of mine made...

He was recently telling me about the biggest crash he's ever had.

Turns out he hadn't separated the ends of the split-pin that holds his disc brake pads in place. Idiot. Apparently he never had, until the crash :-)

chedabob

Northwind wrote:

We call this The Glentress Effect . After a few rides at glentress your brain becomes programmed to think that every tiny bump was meticulously placed there by trailfairies so that you can do a jump. Then you take this freshly reprogrammed brain back home with you and see a perfect jumping bump and next thing you know, you're up a tree.

I wouldn't mind, but as I was coming up to it, I knew it wasn't a jump, but still shifted up a gear and mashed the pedals to get a bit of speed up :P It was on a blue section of Gisburn. No damage on Hully Gully, but wrote my bike off on a blue section :P Gutted

Another thing I've learnt is that GPX files aren't graded, and generally don't indicate when there's a huge drop coming up :P Pootling along on a nice bit of undulating singletrack, when a huge drop comes out of nowhere, so I slam on the brakes, go over the bars, and end up bending the brake levers on my first ride out on the bike If I'd seen the drop coming, I'd have slowed down, got into position, and gone down it easily.

paul.skibum

I bought an on one.