Accidents happen

[Smaug]

I think you are probably wiser than these guys, maybe not intentionally going at break-neck speeds on highly technical terrain and not getting airborne.

I bet this happens often on downhill mountain bike courses.

The last kick in the nuts for this guy was that landing on his GoPro mount caused him to break all his ribs.

The only bright side I can see is that he's only paraplegic instead of quadraplegic. That's very lucky, since he broke his neck too.

 

[pagheca]

I think you are probably wiser than these guys, maybe not intentionally going at break-neck speeds on highly technical terrain and not getting airborne.

I usually try to be careful, but this sport is so adrenaline-pumping that you can overdo it...

However, I agree with you that there is a selection bias in action: dead people is notoriously unlikely to answer interviews and post videos on youtube.

 

[JerryB]

People have been doing stupid things for a very long time......you can't fix stupid.

 

[biknut]

There's old riders, and there's bold riders, but there's no old bold riders.

 

[pagheca]

I will tell you a story.

In March last year I was involved in a very serious car accident.

I was driving in the mountains for work in my pickup truck and had to stop and take pictures every few hundred meters. I was wearing my safety shoes, which are mountain shoes very wide and totally unsensitive. After a curve I had to cross the opposite lane to enter an exposed, unsealed rest area. There was poor visibility so I sped up. I was also in a great hurry. Immediately afterwards I braked... but unfortunately the sole pressed the accelerator too.

There was no protection so.... I literally flew off the road on a cliff!

After about 3 meters a la Tom Cruise luckily there was a very soft scree. So, I kept going downhill for about fifty meters and stopped gradually bumping into several large rocks. During the flight I kept the steering wheel straight. Amazingly, the car kept its balance and did not tip to the side , otherwise I would have rolled downhill for a hundred meters or more and I would not be telling the story...

Instead I got out totally unharmed, with the car quite badly damaged (but not to be written off) without even the airbags deployed.

Some of my colleagues saw me from underneath and came to the rescue. They thought I had died of a heart attack... I don't want to brag at all, but I am a person who strangely maintains control very well in dangerous situations, which also saved my life on a couple of other occasions (one in Antarctica, others in the mountains). I went to eat at the canteen and then continued my work. My colleagues could not believe it!

But clearly it was a wake-up call.... Mistakes are made and should be taken into account. I no more wear safety shoes while driving. Second, I use extra care when driving on that, very dangerous road (450 curves counted!). I recount the episode to say that indeed one must be careful. Very careful. Especially in mountain environments. MTB or cars. No differences.