Is this normal? Mid life crisis?

voodooman

I got into mountain bikes a couple of years ago (basically it's replacing football and cricket as I'm too old) and try to get down the local trails a couple of times a week but...

Yesterday I went with mates and kids and a video camera to see how extreme we really are.

1 - The biggest "jump" was a mighty 8 inches tops. Wow.
2 - Getting a bit silly and daring meant all of us did at least one face plant. I ended up about 6 feet off the trail, lying in a ditch thinking WTF / you're 42 you muppet.
3 - My body is a catalogue of bruises and my left knee hit the frame and has swollen up (the reason I've been up since 6).

Result

Five alleged adults are now looking at a downhill bike on ebay that we could "share" for a laugh.

I repeat - Is this normal? or a mid-life crisis? does body armour work?

The Northern Monkey

voodooman
Where you from though? is there a DH track?

Don't think I'd share one.. if one of you bailed big and trashed the bike, I wouldn't be apy!

MountainMonster

I wouldn't share a bike, but buy a group buy of really cheap ones, would be good for a laugh. Definitely not mid-life crises though, cause I have been thinking the same thing and i'm only 22.

Blue Parker

well I am touching late 30's had a 20yr gap in mountain biking, and got back into it a couple of yrs ago, started with a hard tail now have a nice full susser. I have looked at armour and from my experiance snowboarding when I wore armour i thought i was invinceable - but alas not - torn rotator, cracked ribs, broken bindings. On the bike with out armour - broken thumb, ripped arm open, multiple cuts but big big smiles...
Re sharing I agree get your own - just setting up so you are happy will be tricky enough let alone other people changing settings and bending the odd thing. I also have the urge to buy a new frame and build a bike (Nuke Proof one) - but the every watchful eye of her in doors prevents me for now - although the nights are drawing in and if i just leave the garage light off long enough....
Getting back to crashing - it is part and parcel if you are pushing yourself, pad will help but I have not found any comfy enough yet - although off to alps next year so fully armoured I will be - akin to King Henry and Agincourt!

Markmjh

Definitely not a mid-life crisis!!!
But don't share a bike! You would never be able to set it up to suit all of you, if someone stacks who pays to repair/replace? Who looks after/cleans/stores it?
Just a whole host of potential issues!!

Why don't you all look at either getting a cheap bike each or all replace current steeds with something that can handle a bit of everything? By the sounds of it you guys don't need full on downhill bikes but will have loads of fun on an agressive XC bike(full suss or hardtail).

Long_Time_Lurker

You're 42. Most people your age are buying porsches, divorcing their wives and shacking up with 20 year old pole-dancers.
(at least that's what my mate has done)
Whereas I'm about to buy a new bike - the budget has suddenly jumped from £800 to £1800 and is still rising.
Even the missus has said, "buy what you want - the way you ride it could be the last bike you ever own!"
(Don't know if that is a positive or a negative thing)

If you are into your riding, start spending.

tsenior

Long Time Lurker wrote:

If you are into your riding, start spending.

contrary to the prevailing wisdom round here, you dont have to spend alot of money to go mountainbiking :?

i dont have any choice in the matter: the older i get and the more i earn, the less disposable income i seem to have the last bike related purchase for the forseeable future was yesterday; spare drivetrain parts and tyres, how boring!

weeksy59

sounds perfectly normal to me and my mates too matey

The brusies, jumps and lying on the floor thinking "You sill old sod" (only 40yesterday)

Keith1983

Sounds like a poor excuse for a mid life crisis! Now go and spend at least a couple of grand on a bike you might not use much and then you can call it a mid life crisis!

TownyDC

grow up.............

signed

Dave
Aged 41 (doing exactly the same thing)

diy

You do have to be careful, I came across a guy on a DH bike, full face lid etc riding a very tame trail (telegraph row at holmbury hill for those who know), extremely slowly. We were filming and we had to stop because we were pissing ourselves too much. I'd post the vid of the rider on youtube if it would not utterly humiliate him.

One thing to note, most cameras completely flatten a trail - you want something like a go pro to make it look more extreme than it is.

But yes - as someone in the 40+ club also, it is rather sad that I take my "big BMX" as the wife call it out to play every weekend.

cooldad

Post it anyway.
But with that sort of rig, was probably shagged from riding the first section.

lostboysaint

diy wrote:

One thing to note, most cameras completely flatten a trail - you want something like a go pro to make it look more extreme than it is.

The Go-pro is as bad as most for that, if not worse. It's down to the field of vision that it uses. 170deg on the standard and 130deg on the HD. Unsurprisingly the HD doesn't flatten everything quite as badly. We use allsorts of cameras in waves for surfing and windsurfing as well as using them on mountain bikes and there's no substitute for a decent narrow field video (or still) camera!

Shackster

diy wrote:

a very tame trail

Ooh I don't know, it's got that HUGE drop-off near the bottom!

Definitely need body armour for that! :roll: Could get nasty if you don't do it right...there is that large root in the landing area (which of course me and my radical mates clear easily).

(speaking as one who's about to go over 40 next Friday and bought a full-sus earlier this year....)

smokymcjoe

Keith1983 wrote:

Sounds like a poor excuse for a mid life crisis! Now go and spend at least a couple of grand on a bike you might not use much and then you can call it a mid life crisis!

+1

S-M

I had my mid life crysis when i hit 23

At 21-22 i gave up fast cars, bought a sensible vectra diesel and then tried to settle down and get on with life.

At 23 i came to my senses and flogged the stupid diesel car, then bought an impreza, which i then proceeded to spend a further 13k (yes, owch! and that was mostly just parts), until the recession hit, i got rid and grew up (again)

I started my second mid life crysis this year, around 16 years after i last rode a bike (now 33), i picked up another bike, and to be honest i have pretty much smashed myself to bits the last few months, i will be onto my 6th week on sunday since i had a huge crash, i still can not get through a day without pain killers and i still walk with a limp, my rib cage is still hassling me, although i think it has nearly stuck itself back together, i was happy that my shoulder did not dislocate (again) as this popped out of its socket about 3 months ago.

I can actually now ride a bike for 15 mile before my hip will not allow me to continue, its easier to ride a bike than walk because it is not really bearing any weight.

To be honest i am fooooking sick of pain, about 3 months worth of it now and its getting a little tiring, MULTIPLE times i have thought "wtf am i doing" codine, co-codamol, diclofenac, enought Ibroprofen to make a bomb and i might as well have been sprinkling paracetemol on my food instead of traditional condiments.

Yet 2 nights ago when i was out doing 15 mile on the bike (it seams great for physio on the mangled hip tbh) i rode past the scene of my last big crash, went down a little berm/downhill section and thought "yeeeehaaaaawwww"

Yet i sit here in front of this pc, with a box of Paracetemol and Ibroprofen beside me as my knee/hip hurt sitting on this fooking office chair.

Itching to get my crashed FSR bike fixed and give it another go

Stu Coops

S-M wrote:

I had my mid life crysis when i hit 23

At 21-22 i gave up fast cars, bought a sensible vectra diesel and then tried to settle down and get on with life.

At 23 i came to my senses and flogged the stupid diesel car, then bought an impreza, which i then proceeded to spend a further 13k (yes, owch! and that was mostly just parts), until the recession hit, i got rid and grew up (again)

I started my second mid life crysis this year, around 16 years after i last rode a bike (now 33), i picked up another bike, and to be honest i have pretty much smashed myself to bits the last few months, i will be onto my 6th week on sunday since i had a huge crash, i still can not get through a day without pain killers and i still walk with a limp, my rib cage is still hassling me, although i think it has nearly stuck itself back together, i was happy that my shoulder did not dislocate (again) as this popped out of its socket about 3 months ago.

I can actually now ride a bike for 15 mile before my hip will not allow me to continue, its easier to ride a bike than walk because it is not really bearing any weight.

To be honest i am fooooking sick of pain, about 3 months worth of it now and its getting a little tiring, MULTIPLE times i have thought "wtf am i doing" codine, co-codamol, diclofenac, enought Ibroprofen to make a bomb and i might as well have been sprinkling paracetemol on my food instead of traditional condiments.

Yet 2 nights ago when i was out doing 15 mile on the bike (it seams great for physio on the mangled hip tbh) i rode past the scene of my last big crash, went down a little berm/downhill section and thought "yeeeehaaaaawwww"

Yet i sit here in front of this pc, with a box of Paracetemol and Ibroprofen beside me as my knee/hip hurt sitting on this fooking office chair.

Itching to get my crashed FSR bike fixed and give it another go

Know exactly how you feel but still funny to read my problem is my mind can do things my body can't on a mountain bike :roll:

diy

cooldad wrote:

Post it anyway.
But with that sort of rig, was probably shagged from riding the first section.

I'm gonna take this down in a while - its not nice to take the pee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u-NbFc5qM

386ka

diy wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Post it anyway.
But with that sort of rig, was probably shagged from riding the first section.

I'm gonna take this down in a while - its not nice to take the pee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u-NbFc5qM

What is the song in the background?

DickBarton

If I did the socialising thing better than I do, that would sound pretty normal to me...nothing mid-life or crisis about it...why you worrying? Who is suggesting you are too old for this? Sack them off and upgrade to someone with a younger outlook in life!

1mancity2

diy wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Post it anyway.
But with that sort of rig, was probably shagged from riding the first section.

I'm gonna take this down in a while - its not nice to take the pee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u-NbFc5qM

Poor guy!!

Im almost 42 and I have changed my bike to 160mm travel for the big hits, wasn't getting any air 3months ago now Im going at least 2inch high!!!

diy

386ka wrote:

diy wrote:

What is the song in the background?

random youtube music.

Kiwi John

Mate, I feel your pain, I had exactly this, I am 37 and have in the last six month dusted off the old bike and am charging around Wharncliffe Woods 2 mins from where I live. I was having a breather the other day on my local trail and two young whipper snappers, fully body armoured up, came charging past me at a speed I can't reach in my car! jumping off stuff I would only go down on my arse. It really made me think and then I had two revelations. I was at the carpark of my trail and three guys that were 50+ came out of the woods on Full Sus bikes covered in mud with massive smiles on their faces and on the same day I was looking up Steve Peat who was the DH world champion from a few years back.... I was amazed to find out he is exactly the same age as me and it's not slowing him down. So the message is.. charge hard my friend, it may hurt a little more when you come off but it's just as much fun. They also say, it is healthy to scare yourself at least once a day. Cheers. John.

msp1

diy wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Post it anyway.
But with that sort of rig, was probably shagged from riding the first section.

I'm gonna take this down in a while - its not nice to take the pee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-u-NbFc5qM

Just hope he doesn't see it first, may change his outlook on things.

tenfoot

DickBarton wrote:

Who is suggesting you are too old for this? Sack them off and upgrade to someone with a younger outlook in life!

Amen to that.

Phil, Aged 44 (currently faster than all my younger mates )

voodooman

Some interesting comments to read.

I've tried going faster and it does make the jumps easier - no holding back (except for the refrain in my head - kids, wife, mortgage) from now on.javascript:emoticon(':wink:')

As for getting older, it's me saying it and once you get over 40 at a decent standard of football and cricket there's no hiding place as your pace drops. Funnily enough, I'm the oldest of my cycling mates, and the quickest, but only uphill.

Now the next challenge after years of team sport is some kind of vets duathlon / triathlon including mountain bikes and cross country running. I'm based in Southampton, are there any good ones around?

voodooman

Blog emoticon fail. D'oh.

Duki

It's not a mid life crisis least I hope not. I've always used a bike as a mode of transport ever since my school days (slate and chalk) but only really got into more serious biking about 10 years ago when I bought a high spec road bike second hand off a mate and started doing road riding.

About the same time I bought a Scott Yecora mountain bike for biking to work in the really bad Manchester weather but I never seriously off roaded with it. Just the occasional towpath thrash.

Then a couple of years back my son decided to take up mountain biking, actually more dirt jump and street riding. Then we went on holiday to Scotland hired bikes at Mabie and I was hooked.

I'm 49.5 years old had my Boardman FS Pro for a year, visited Mabie, Dalbeattie, Llandegla and Nant y Arian and had the time of my life. I might not be fit or fast but I thoroughly enjoy myself. Gonna try Gisburn with some mates from work on Thursday if I can get the time off. So if your there and some fat bloke on a Boardman holds you back, sorry in advance.

diy

voodooman wrote:

Now the next challenge after years of team sport is some kind of vets duathlon / triathlon including mountain bikes and cross country running. I'm based in Southampton, are there any good ones around?

if you drop the running bit, the sowthdowns randonee organised by the BHF is a good test of endurance (june and july). Its not an easy ride and something you have to train hard for, but very rewarding. 100 miles and 3500m of climbing - will take you 10-12 hours (pro) 12-14 (hours good).

voodooman

Cheers diy

Think that might be just the ticket. Can't see any entry form for next year, but read some interesting posts from previous events.

12 hours plus in the saddle - my arse hurts just thinking about it.